What Should Actually Be in a Construction Daily Report? A Field-Tested Checklist

I’ve reviewed thousands of daily reports over 25 years of managing construction on public works projects. Some of them were excellent — thorough, defensible, and exactly what I needed when a claim showed up two years later. Others were not.

Here’s what I’ve learned: the difference between a daily report that protects the agency and one that creates liability almost never comes down to whether the inspector was paying attention. It comes down to whether anyone ever showed them what “good” actually looks like.

Most inspectors are smart, capable people doing their best with whatever template or system they were handed. The problem is that whatever-they-were-handed varies wildly — from firm to firm, project to project, sometimes inspector to inspector on the same project. And when you don’t define what a complete daily report looks like, you get whatever each person thinks is sufficient. Sometimes that’s great. Sometimes it’s a paragraph that says, “Contractor worked on grading today.”

That’s not a daily report. That’s a diary entry.

So here’s what I believe should actually be in a construction daily report on a public works project — not the theoretical version, but the practical one. The version that has saved me (and my clients) real money in real disputes.

The Two Parts of Every Daily Report

Before getting into specifics, it helps to understand that a solid daily report has two distinct sections, and they serve different purposes:

The Narrative Section is your written account of what happened. It’s where you describe contractor operations, note conversations, document field decisions, and record conditions. This is where the story of the project lives — and it’s where claims are won or lost.

The Tabular Section is your structured data. Manpower logs. Equipment logs. Quantities. These don’t require interpretation or writing skill — they require discipline and accuracy. They don’t tell the story of a dispute the way the narrative does — but they’re what you use to recreate cost information, verify labor compliance, and cross-check a contractor’s claimed hours and resources. When a force account dispute or a certified payroll audit comes through, this is the data that either backs you up or leaves you guessing.

Both sections matter. A great narrative with no manpower data is incomplete. Perfect manpower logs with a one-sentence narrative are useless for understanding what actually happened. You need both.

The Narrative Section: What to Capture Every Day

The best framework I’ve found for daily report narratives is simple: every note should answer the 5 W’s — who, what, where, when, and why. If your note doesn’t cover most of those, it’s probably not detailed enough to be useful later.

Here’s a comparison:

Weak: “Contractor poured concrete today.”

STRONG: “ABC Construction poured approximately 15 CY of Class 560-C-3250 concrete at the north abutment stem wall (Sta. 12+40 to 12+80) beginning at 7:15 AM. Pour completed at 10:45 AM. Concrete supplied by ReadyMix Co., batch tickets #4471–4476 collected and filed. Inspector verified slump and air content per spec section 51-1.02C(4). No issues noted.”

The second version tells you everything you’d need to know if someone asked about that pour three years from now. The first version tells you almost nothing.

Here’s what your narrative should cover each day:

▶️Start and End Times

Note when the contractor started and stopped work. Seems obvious, but it matters for working day tracking and for disputes about production rates. If there were delays — late starts, early shutdowns, weather stoppages — note the times and reasons.

▶️Contractor Operations by Location

Describe what work was performed and where. Use station numbers, grid references, street names, or whatever location system the project uses. “Worked on the bridge” is not a location. “Placed rebar at Pier 3, Bent 2, east face, elevation 42.5” is a location. Organize your notes by bid item or work activity when possible — this will save your PM significant time during pay estimate reviews.

▶️Site Visitors and Decisions Made

This is one of the most commonly missed items. Don’t just note that someone visited the site — note what they looked at, what they said, and what decisions were made.

“City PM visited site at 8 AM” is almost useless.

“City PM visited site at 8:00 AM, reviewed cat tracking layout for thermoplastic striping on Main Street from Sta. 1+00 to 2+00. Approved layout as marked. Directed contractor to proceed with application Wednesday pending weather.” — that’s a record.

▶️Field Directives and Verbal Instructions

If you give the contractor a verbal direction — or the owner does — write it down. Note who gave the instruction, what was said, and the contractor’s response. This is particularly critical for anything that could later become a change order or claim. If you directed the contractor to stop work, remove and replace something, or change their approach, that needs to be in writing the same day it happened.

▶️Safety Observations

An important distinction: safety is the contractor’s responsibility, not the inspector’s. But if an inspector observes a safety concern — inadequate shoring, missing PPE, a traffic control deviation that puts the public at risk — they should document it factually and, more importantly, note who they alerted and what the response was, “Observed worker in trench without hard hat” is incomplete. “Observed worker in trench without hard hat at Sta. 14+20. Notified contractor foreman J. Rodriguez at 9:15 AM. Foreman corrected immediately”, is a record that shows the inspector did their job. If there’s an immediate threat to life safety, the inspector is empowered to direct corrective action or stop work — and that directive and the contractor’s response should be documented in detail the same day.

▶️Weather and Its Impact

Record weather conditions — but more importantly, record whether weather affected the work. “Partly cloudy, 72°F” is fine for the record. But if it rained from 6–9 AM and the contractor couldn’t start grading until 10:30 because the subgrade was too wet, that’s the note that matters for working day disputes later.

▶️Material Deliveries and Testing

Note materials delivered to the site, including supplier and batch/ticket numbers when available. If testing was performed (slump tests, compaction tests, density tests), note the test type, who performed it, and whether results were within spec. Collect batch tickets, test reports, and certifications and file them the same day.

▶️Traffic Control

If the project involves traffic management, document the traffic control setup. Note lane closures, detour routes, flagging operations, sign placement. If the contractor’s TC plan doesn’t match the approved plan, note the specific deviations — and document who was notified and what was decided. Did the contractor agree to correct it? Did the CM accept the deviation as-is? An inspector almost never wants to be the one accepting responsibility for a TC deviation unless it’s an immediate safety issue requiring action on the spot (in which case, document the safety concern, the action taken, and who was notified after the fact). The key is making sure the record shows the deviation was identified, communicated, and that someone with authority made the call on how to handle it.

The Tabular Section: Structured Data That Matters

This is where a lot of reports fall short — not because inspectors don’t try, but because their tools make it tedious. If your system requires inspectors to manually type out manpower tables in a Word document, you’re going to get inconsistent data. If your platform gives them structured fields to fill in, you’ll get clean data every time.

▶️Manpower Log

Track every worker on site with: - Full name (not just “3 laborers”) - Classification (laborer, operator, carpenter, foreman, etc.) - Hours worked — broken down by bid item when possible - Contractor/subcontractor affiliation

Why full names? Because during a labor compliance review or a certified payroll audit, “3 laborers” is unverifiable. “ But, "John Smith, Laborer, 8 hrs — Bid Item 12” is a record that can be cross-referenced.

▶️Equipment Log

Track equipment on site with: - Equipment type and size ("CAT 320 excavator", not just “excavator”) - Operating vs. idle hours - Bid item or work activity associated with the equipment - Condition (operational, down for repair, standby)

This data is critical for force account work, disputed extra work claims, and verifying contractor efficiency.

▶️Daily Quantities

Track quantities of work installed each day — even for lump sum items. For unit-price bid items, this is straightforward: CY of concrete, LF of pipe, tons of AC. For lump sum items, track percent complete or production rates. I know this feels unnecessary for lump sum work, but production rate data becomes invaluable if there’s a delay claim or an acceleration dispute. It gives you an independent record of what was actually accomplished each day.

One thing I’ll add here: breaking down manpower and equipment hours by bid item is sometimes genuinely hard. Your inspector is watching a crew that’s bouncing between two or three activities in a single shift, and splitting hours precisely feels like guesswork. My advice — make the best guess you can and log it. An approximate breakdown that you can refine later is infinitely more useful than no breakdown at all. You don’t always know which bid item will be disputed, and when that dispute shows up 18 months from now, having a record that says, “approximately 4 hours on Bid Item 12, 3.5 hours on Bid Item 15” gives you something to work with. A blank field gives you nothing but a very difficult conversation about what you can and can’t recall.

End-of-shift quantity agreement: This is a practice that the best firms require and most firms skip. At the end of each shift, the inspector should briefly confirm quantities with the contractor’s foreman. You don’t need to agree on everything — but documenting that you discussed it, what you agreed on, and what you didn’t agree on creates a contemporaneous record that’s very hard to dispute later.

Daily Extra Work Records (DEWRs)

If your project has force account or extra work provisions, DEWRs deserve special attention.

Here’s the process that works:

1. The inspector independently tracks labor, equipment, and materials for the extra work — separate from the daily report
2. The contractor completes their own DEWR form
3. The inspector cross-checks the contractor’s DEWR against their own independent record
4. The inspector signs the contractor’s DEWR — whether they agree with it or not
5. If there’s a disagreement, the inspector clearly notes what they disagree with on the DEWR before signing
6. The inspector photographs the signed DEWR and submits it with the daily report
7. Any disagreements are documented factually in the daily report narrative and the CM is notified immediately

The key here is that signing a DEWR acknowledges you reviewed it — it doesn’t mean you agree with every line item. But you need to be explicit about disagreements at the time, not weeks later when the pay estimate comes through.

Photo and Video Documentation

Photos are the most underutilized part of most daily reports. Not because inspectors don’t take them — they do. But they take 5 photos when they should take 30, and they don’t organize or label them in a way that’s useful later.

What to Photograph Every Day

• Pre-activity conditions — before work starts in an area, document existing conditions. This is your baseline if there’s a damage claim later.
• Work in progress — capture the work as it’s being performed. Active pours, rebar placement, excavation, paving operations.
• Post-activity outcomes — after work is complete for the day, document the finished state. This creates a before/during/after record.
• Potential issues — anything that looks like it could become a problem. Cracks, settlement, erosion, improper installations.
• Traffic control setup — document the actual traffic control configuration, especially if it deviates from the approved plan.
• Material deliveries — photograph materials as delivered, including batch tickets, labels, and certifications.

Photo Best Practices

• Timestamp and geo-tag everything. Most phones do this automatically — make sure it’s turned on. A photo without a date and location is significantly less valuable as evidence.
• Upload the same day. Don’t let photos sit on your phone for a week. Upload them to the project platform alongside your daily report.
• Take more than you think you need. Storage is cheap. Recreating conditions that no longer exist is impossible.
  

Report Completion and Submission

A daily report should be completed by the end of the workday, or no later than the following morning. The longer you wait, the less accurate your recollection becomes — and the less defensible the report is if challenged.

Once submitted, a daily report shouldn’t be deleted. Ever. If corrections are needed, submit a revised version with a clear justification note explaining what changed, when it changed, and why. Retain the original. This revision trail is what separates a professional documentation practice from one that creates liability.

The Checklist

Here’s a quick-reference version you can share with your inspection teams:

Every report should include:

1. Date, weather conditions, and any weather impacts on work

2. Contractor start/stop times and any delays (with reasons)

3. Contractor operations described by location using the 5 W’s

4. Bid item or specification references for work performed

5. Site visitors with names, purpose, observations, and decisions made

6. Field directives or verbal instructions given (by whom, to whom, what was said)

7. Safety observations — contractor responsibility, but note concerns observed, who was alerted, and their response

8. Manpower log — full names, classifications, hours, by bid item (best guess is better than blank)

9. Equipment log — type/size, operating vs. idle hours, by bid item

10. Daily quantities installed — including lump sum item progress

11. End-of-shift quantity discussion with contractor (agreed/disagreed items)

12. Material deliveries with supplier, tickets, and certifications

13. Testing performed — type, who performed it, results vs. spec

14. Traffic control documentation — deviations noted, who was notified, what was decided

15. Photos — pre-activity, in-progress, post-activity, issues, deliveries — timestamped and geo-tagged

Why This Process Matters

I know this looks like a lot, and honestly, it is. Remember, thorough daily reporting takes time and discipline. But here’s the reality: every one of these items exists because at some point, on some project, not having it cost someone real money, real time, or a real legal headache.

💡The good news is that most of this becomes routine once inspectors have the right tools and the right expectations. When your platform gives inspectors structured templates with fields for manpower, equipment, quantities, and photos — instead of asking them to compose a narrative in a Word doc and email it — the bar becomes achievable. When the expectation is clearly defined and consistently enforced, quality goes up and the time burden actually goes down.

That’s what we've built BridgeDoc to do. But regardless of what platform you use, defining what “complete” looks like for your team is the single most impactful thing you can do for your project documentation — and for your risk posture.

If you want to go deeper on why daily reports matter for risk management, I wrote about that here — including a story from early in my career that drove this point home for me permanently.

I've managed federally funded projects in California for over two decades, and documentation has saved me more than once. At BridgeDoc, we've built daily report workflows with RE review and approval, and change order systems that link directly to the RFIs and submittals that prompted them—because we've lived the audit process and know what matters. If you'd like to see how it works, I'd be happy to show you.

Book your FREE demo with me HERE!