Construction daily report software › Daily report example
Construction daily report example, filled in
Here is a complete construction daily report for one day on a water main job: weather at three times with the rain measured, crew by company with hours, each machine's hours and status, work done with quantities and stations, deliveries with ticket numbers, inspections, delays and an unmarked pipe with causes and hours lost, safety, photos and the superintendent's signature. Below it, what each section is for.
| Daily report No. 37 · Tuesday, October 13, 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Project | Maple Street water main replacement, phase 2 · Job 24-118 · Contract day 37 of 120 calendar days |
| Prepared by | J. Ortiz, superintendent · on site 06:30 to 16:45 |
| Weather and site conditions | |
| 07:00 | 48°F, light rain, wind SW 8 mph |
| 12:00 | 52°F, overcast, dry |
| 15:30 | 55°F, cloudy, dry |
| Rain | 0.40 in between 06:00 and 10:00 on the site gauge (photo P5). Haul road muddy, trench spoil saturated. |
| Crew on site: 14 people, 3 companies, 107 hours | |
| Prime, self-perform | 1 foreman, 3 operators, 2 pipe layers, 2 laborers: 8 × 10.0 h = 80.0 h · Maple St, Sta 3+40 to 5+20 |
| Flagging sub | 2 flaggers × 9.5 h = 19.0 h · Oak Ave detour |
| Paving sub | 4 workers × 2.0 h = 8.0 h · arrived 07:00, stood down 09:00 for rain |
| Equipment: 5 ran, 1 down | |
| Excavator E-12 | 9.0 h (meter 4,812.0 → 4,821.0), working |
| Wheel loader L-4 | 6.5 h, working |
| Skid steer S-7 | 4.0 h, working |
| Trench roller R-2 | 3.0 h, working |
| Dump truck T-21 | 8.5 h, working |
| Dump truck T-22 | Down 10:15: hydraulic leak at the hoist cylinder, tagged out (P9). Mechanic booked 07:00 tomorrow. |
| Work performed | |
| Water main | Laid 120 LF of 8-in ductile iron pipe, Sta 4+00 to 5+20, 5.5 ft deep, trench box in place. To date: 1,640 of 2,400 LF (68%). |
| Valve | Set one 8-in gate valve at Sta 5+15 with thrust block (0.75 CY concrete). |
| Tie-in | Connected to the existing 8-in main at Oak Ave (Sta 4+00), finished 13:40 (P1 to P3). |
| Backfill | Sta 3+40 to 4+00 in 12-in lifts. Lab density tests: 96%, 97%, 95% (spec 95%). |
| Deliveries: 6 tickets | |
| Pipe | Ticket 88412: 7 lengths 8-in DI pipe (126 LF). Due 07:00, arrived 08:05. |
| Bedding stone | Tickets 55120 to 55123: 4 loads #57 stone, 82.4 tons total. |
| Concrete | Ticket 30917: 1.0 CY for thrust block, poured 14:50. |
| Inspections and visitors | |
| 10:30 | Testing lab technician: three density tests (results above). |
| 11:15 | Owner's representative walked the job; asked for a second detour sign on Oak Ave, placed 11:40. |
| 14:00 | City inspector inspected the Oak Ave tie-in: passed, signed field card T-4. |
| Delays, changes and issues | |
| Rain | Paving sub stood down at 09:00: 4 workers, 8 worker-hours lost. Patch paving Sta 1+00 to 2+00 moved to Thursday, October 15. |
| Late pipe | Pipe truck 65 min late. Pipe crew (2 layers, 1 operator, excavator) did trench prep, then waited about 1.0 h. Supplier called 07:20. |
| Unmarked pipe | Abandoned 4-in clay pipe at Sta 4+75, 3 ft deep, not on the plans (P4). 6 LF removed after the owner's representative agreed verbally at 11:20; RFI 14 sent 15:30. |
| Safety | |
| Toolbox talk | 06:45, wet trench walls after rain: 10 signed (prime and flaggers; paving arrived later). |
| Trench checks | Competent person inspected the excavation 06:50 and again after the rain at 10:15: no defects. |
| Near miss | 13:10, a laborer stepped inside the excavator's swing radius while spotting pipe; the operator stopped, the spotter was re-briefed. No injuries today. |
| Photos, tomorrow, sign-off | |
| Photos | 14 attached, P1 to P14, time-stamped. |
| Tomorrow | 08:00 pressure test, Sta 0+00 to 3+40 (inspector notified). Continue main Sta 5+20 to 6+40. Repair T-22. |
| Signed | J. Ortiz, superintendent, 16:45. Sent to the GC's project manager and the owner's representative 16:50. |
The format, section by section
Most daily reports follow the order above: header, weather, crew, equipment, work, deliveries, inspections and visitors, delays, safety, photos, signature. Software keeps the same parts. Procore's Daily Log has separate entries for manpower, weather, equipment, deliveries, inspections, visitors, delays, accidents and photos; Raken's report covers work logs, notes, photos, time and materials; Dozer's PDF has the date, weather and who prepared it, a summary, work done, crew, equipment, issues and delays, and a blank line to sign on paper, with no photo section.
Header
Number every report and give the contract day ("37 of 120"). A gap in the numbering is the first thing anyone checks, and the contract day ties the record to the schedule.
Weather, measured
Write the weather at set times and measure the rain. "Rain in the morning" proves nothing. "0.40 in between 06:00 and 10:00 on the site gauge" can be set against the nearest weather station. Under the AIA A201 general conditions, a claim for extra time for weather has to be backed by data showing the weather was abnormal, couldn't have been anticipated and hurt the scheduled work, so the report should say which work stopped and for how long.
Crew and hours by company
Headcount alone doesn't price a delay. Company, trade, number of people and hours each turn a stand-down into worker-hours (4 × 2.0 h = 8.0 h above). Write subs' headcounts even when they keep their own reports, because your report is the one you control.
Equipment, with meter readings
Hours or meter readings for what ran, and the time and cause for what went down. Idle machines on a delay day are a cost you may want back later.
Work, with quantities and locations
Stations, gridlines or rooms, with the quantity and the running total. "Laid pipe on Maple" can't show progress; "120 LF, Sta 4+00 to 5+20, 1,640 of 2,400 LF to date" can.
Deliveries with ticket numbers
Ticket numbers, quantities, and the arrival time when it's late. The tickets connect the report to invoices, and the late arrival time is the evidence behind the waiting hours.
Delays, changes and conflicts
This is the section that pays for the whole habit. Write the cause, the time, who was affected and for how long, who you told and when. A buried pipe that isn't on the plans, a verbal OK from the owner's representative and the RFI number belong here the same day: a change built on a verbal direction is hard to get paid for if nobody wrote it down.
Safety, and the sign-off
The toolbox talk topic and attendance, inspections, incidents and near misses. "No injuries today" is worth writing; silence isn't the same thing. Then the name, the time signed and who received it.
Four habits that make a report hold up
- Same day, by someone who was there. The federal business-records exception to the hearsay rule (Rule 803(6)) covers a record made at or near the time by someone with knowledge, kept as a regular practice. A report rebuilt a week later from memory loses that footing.
- Facts, not opinions. "Pipe truck 65 min late" rather than "supplier unreliable again".
- Numbers with units. Inches of rain, hours, linear feet, tons, ticket numbers.
- Photos referenced from the text. "P4" in the entry and a time-stamped photo P4 attached tie the picture to the claim.
Using it as a template
Keep the headings and clear the entries, or set the same sections up in whatever app you use. Every tool on the comparison page can produce a report like this one; the difference is how much of it they fill in for you. Some take the weather from the job's location, several turn dictated notes into text, DailyBuild drafts the report from a spoken update, and Dozer's free daily report drafts the sections from the day's tickets, camera alerts and the site's weather plus a few typed or spoken sentences, then makes a PDF. Whichever you use, read the result as if you were the owner's lawyer in a year's time.
About this page
This page is published by Winding AI, Inc., the company that makes Dozer, one of the tools named here. The example report is invented. We earn nothing from links to other tools; links to Dozer carry a tag so Dozer can count visits from this page. Visits are counted with Google Analytics; no ads, and no analytics cookies in the EU, UK or Switzerland. Something wrong? Write to support@winding.ai.