Glossary
Construction Daily Report Glossary
Plain definitions of the field documentation terms superintendents, foremen and subcontractors use every day. Each term links to a longer guide.
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What is a construction daily report?
A construction daily report is the written record of one workday on a jobsite: who was on site, hours worked, work completed, weather, deliveries, inspections, delays, safety events and photos. It is usually written by the superintendent or foreman and kept as part of the project record.
Also called: Daily report, jobsite daily report
When a schedule, payment or change is disputed months later, the daily report is usually the first document people ask for.
What is a daily log?
A daily log is the superintendent's running record of a jobsite day, covering manpower by company, work performed, visitors, deliveries, weather, issues and instructions given. Many teams use "daily log" and "daily report" interchangeably; some keep the log as raw notes and the report as the cleaned-up version.
Also called: Superintendent daily log, jobsite log
A consistent log makes the formal report faster to write and harder to challenge.
What is a foreman daily report?
A foreman daily report is a crew-level record of one workday written by the foreman: crew size and hours, tasks completed, materials used, equipment on site, problems and safety notes. It feeds the superintendent's daily report and the company's own job costing.
Also called: Crew daily report
Foremen see the work firsthand, so their report is often the most accurate source for what actually happened.
What is a subcontractor daily report?
A subcontractor daily report is the daily record a subcontractor sends to the general contractor, typically listing manpower and hours, work location and description, materials received, equipment, extra work and any delays. Many subcontracts and specifications require it by a set time the next workday.
Also called: Sub daily report
Without sub reports, the general contractor's daily report has gaps exactly where disputes tend to start.
What is sub daily report compliance?
Sub daily report compliance is the share of expected subcontractor daily reports that actually arrive on time. It is calculated as reports received divided by reports expected (subs on site times workdays) over a period, and shows which subs are leaving gaps in the record.
Also called: Subcontractor report compliance rate
Tracking it by sub turns "reports are spotty" into a number the team can manage.
What is a manpower log?
A manpower log records how many workers each company had on site each day, usually by trade, along with their hours. It shows staffing levels against the schedule and is used to support delay, productivity and billing discussions.
Also called: Manpower report, crew count log
Headcount by sub, day after day, is one of the clearest ways to show whether a trade was staffed to plan.
What are labor hours?
Labor hours are the total hours worked by a crew or company on a given day, calculated as workers times hours each worked. On a daily report they are usually broken out by subcontractor and sometimes by task or cost code.
Also called: Man-hours, crew hours
Labor hours connect what the field reports to what the office pays and bills.
What is an equipment log?
An equipment log records the equipment on site each day, including owned and rented units, hours used, idle time, arrivals, departures and breakdowns. Rental equipment is often tracked by tag number and planned return date.
Also called: Equipment report
Equipment records support rental charges, standby time and change order pricing.
What is a jobsite visitor log?
A jobsite visitor log records everyone who enters the site who is not part of the regular crews, such as owners, designers, inspectors and vendors, with their company, time in and out, and purpose of the visit.
Also called: Site sign-in log
It shows who saw what on which day, which matters when instructions or inspections are questioned later.
What is an inspection log?
An inspection log records each inspection on a project: the date, inspector and agency, the area or system inspected, the result, and any corrections required. It lets the team see what has passed, what failed and what still needs a re-inspection.
Also called: Inspection record
Inspections gate the next phase of work, so a clean log keeps the schedule honest.
What is a concrete pour log?
A concrete pour log records each concrete placement: location, date and times, mix delivered, truck tickets, quantities, weather, crew, testing performed and any issues during the pour. It ties the field record to the delivery tickets and test results.
Also called: Pour record, placement log
When a placement is questioned later, the pour log is what connects the slab to the trucks and tests behind it.
What is a weather delay?
A weather delay is lost or reduced work time caused by weather conditions such as rain, wind, heat or cold. Documenting it means recording the conditions, the work affected, crews sent home or idled, and the time lost on the day it happens.
Also called: Weather day
Weather days are only as strong as the same-day record behind them.
What is delay documentation?
Delay documentation is the same-day written record of anything that stopped or slowed planned work: what was planned, what happened instead, who or what caused it, which crews were affected and how long the impact lasted. Daily reports are the main source of this record.
Also called: Delay record
A delay written down that day carries far more weight than one reconstructed months later.
What is a time and material (T&M) tag?
A time and material tag is a field form recording extra work done outside the base contract: the labor, hours, materials and equipment used, with a description of the work. It is usually signed by the general contractor's representative the same day.
Also called: T&M ticket, extra work ticket
Unsigned or late T&M tags are among the most common reasons extra work goes unpaid.
What is a change order?
A change order is a written agreement that changes a construction contract's scope, price or schedule after the contract is signed. Daily reports help support a change order by showing when the changed work happened and what labor, materials and equipment it took.
Also called: CO
The field record is often what turns a disputed change into an approved one.
What is a back charge?
A back charge is a cost one party deducts from another's payment to cover work it says it had to do or fix on their behalf, such as cleanup, repairs or covering for missing manpower. Daily reports and photos are usually the main evidence on both sides.
Also called: Backcharge
Whoever has the better same-day record usually has the stronger position.
What is certified payroll?
Certified payroll is a weekly payroll report contractors submit on prevailing wage projects, listing each worker, their classification, hours and pay, with a signed statement that the required wage rates were paid. Daily manpower and hours records help the numbers line up.
Also called: Prevailing wage payroll report
Mismatches between daily reports and certified payroll invite questions on public work.
What is a pre-task plan (PTP)?
A pre-task plan is a short form a crew completes before starting a task that lists the steps, the hazards in each step and the controls the crew will use. It is reviewed and signed by the crew at the start of the shift.
Also called: Pre-task planning form
It puts the hazard conversation at the start of the work instead of after an incident.
What is a job hazard analysis (JHA)?
A job hazard analysis breaks a job into its steps, identifies the hazards in each step and records the controls that reduce each hazard. It is usually more detailed and longer-lived than a pre-task plan and is often reused for repeated tasks.
Also called: Job safety analysis (JSA)
A JHA is the reference document; the pre-task plan is how the crew applies it on the day.
What is a near miss?
A near miss is an unplanned event on a jobsite that could have caused injury or damage but did not. Reporting it means recording what happened, where, who was involved, the likely cause and the corrective action taken.
Also called: Close call
Near misses point to the hazards that have not hurt anyone yet.
What is a safety incident report?
A safety incident report is the written record of an injury, illness, property damage or dangerous occurrence on a jobsite, covering what happened, when and where, who was involved, witnesses, immediate actions and follow-up. It is written as soon as practical after the event.
Also called: Incident report, accident report
Facts captured the same day hold up far better than recollections gathered later.
What is a corrective action?
A corrective action is the specific fix assigned after a safety incident, near miss or failed inspection, with an owner and a due date. It is closed out only when someone confirms the fix is in place.
Also called: Corrective and preventive action
Open corrective actions with no owner are how the same hazard shows up twice.
What is photo documentation?
Construction photo documentation is the dated, located set of jobsite photos that shows progress, conditions, deliveries, damage and installed work before it is covered. Photos are most useful when each one is tied to a date, an area and a short note.
Also called: Progress photos, jobsite photos
A photo with no date or location is a picture; with them, it is a record.
What is a three-week lookahead?
A three-week lookahead is a short-term schedule that shows the work planned for the next three weeks by trade and area, broken down further than the master schedule. Superintendents update it weekly with the subs so crews and materials line up.
Also called: Lookahead schedule, short-interval schedule
Subs staff and order material off the lookahead, so its accuracy shows up in the daily reports that follow.
What is record retention?
Record retention is how long a contractor keeps project records such as daily reports, logs, photos and safety documents after a project ends. The right period depends on contract terms, the owner's requirements and local rules, so many companies set a written policy per project type.
Also called: Document retention
The record only helps if it still exists when someone asks for it.
What is an end-of-day owner update?
An end-of-day owner update is a short summary sent to the owner or owner's representative after each workday: work completed, crews on site, issues, decisions needed and what is planned next. It is usually drawn from that day's daily report.
Also called: Daily owner email
A short, regular update heads off surprise questions and keeps decisions moving.
What is a text message daily report?
A text message daily report is a daily report built from the texts superintendents, foremen and subcontractors send from the field, so crews report their day without installing or logging into an app. The texts are organized into a standard report for the office.
Also called: SMS daily report
The easiest report to submit is the one that arrives the way the field already communicates.
What are text messages as construction records?
Text messages become part of the construction record when they capture instructions, conditions or decisions on a project. They are most useful when they are dated, tied to a project and saved somewhere the team can retrieve them, rather than left on one person's phone.
Also called: Jobsite texts as documentation
Instructions given by text are easy to lose and hard to prove unless they are saved with the project.
What is SMS consent?
SMS consent is a person's documented agreement to receive text messages from a business, captured before automated messages begin, with a clear way to stop them, such as replying STOP. Field reporting by text depends on having that consent on record for each crew member.
Also called: Text message opt-in
Collecting consent up front keeps reminders flowing without compliance surprises.
What is daily report review?
Daily report review is the office or superintendent check that each day's reports are complete, consistent and on time: manpower matches who was on site, delays are described, photos are attached and missing subs are followed up the same week.
Also called: Report QA
Gaps caught in days get fixed; gaps caught in months become disputes.
What is a daily report template?
A daily report template is a standard form that lists the fields a crew fills in each day, such as manpower, hours, work performed, weather, deliveries, delays, safety and photos, so every report captures the same information in the same order.
Also called: Daily report form
A consistent template makes reports faster to write and easier to compare day to day.
What is a daily report checklist?
A daily report checklist is a short list of items to confirm before a daily report is submitted, such as all subs listed with headcount, delays explained, inspections noted and photos attached. It is a quick completeness check, separate from the report form itself.
Also called: Daily log checklist
A two-minute check at the end of the day prevents the missing details nobody can recover later.
What is a general contractor?
A general contractor is the company that holds the main construction contract with the owner and is responsible for building the project, usually by managing subcontractors, the schedule, safety and the project record, including daily reports.
Also called: Prime contractor
The general contractor is usually the party that collects and keeps every sub's daily report.
What is a subcontractor?
A subcontractor is a company hired by the general contractor, or by another subcontractor, to perform a specific part of the work such as concrete, electrical or drywall. Subcontractors usually owe the general contractor daily reports under their subcontract.
Also called: Sub, trade contractor, specialty contractor
Most of the people on a jobsite on any given day work for subcontractors.