Your In-Depth Guide to Construction Daily Reports

August 6, 2021 by Michael Gober & Denis Gritsiyenko

It’s the end of a long day at the construction site and the last thing you’re looking forward to is drafting your construction daily report.

Before you can recall the details from the day’s activities and compile them into one document, you’re interrupted by calls from the owners asking for status updates.

By the time you finish your report and send it out, it’s nearly time for dinner.

Construction daily reports are essential to managing your construction projects and the more comprehensive, the better.

Yet detailed daily reports shouldn’t cost you precious hours at the end of the day.

Luckily, there are tools to help you cut down on time and still create the most thorough construction daily reports.

Here you’ll find an in-depth guide to construction daily reports and how you can take advantage of those tools to make your job easier.

CM Fusion: Simplify Construction Project Management With Daily Field Reports Software
What Is a Construction Daily Report (aka Construction Daily Log)?
6 Things to Cover in a Construction Daily Report
Challenges That May Arise When Completing Daily Construction Work Progress Reports
How to Make Daily Progress Reports in Construction
Make Daily Reporting Stress-Free: Try a 30-Day Free Trial With CM Fusion

CM Fusion: Simplify Construction Project Management With Daily Field Reports Software

Filling out construction daily reports can be time-consuming, yet it’s a vital part of day-to-day construction project management.

But why make it more difficult than it has to be?

Now with CM Fusion’s project management system, you can say goodbye to the days of creating word documents, searching through emails for proof of work, and hunting down project pictures.

CM Fusion offers construction field reports software that makes creating and tracking daily field reports easy.

Keeping project managers, owners, and stakeholders in the loop is simple with communication on this touch-and-go, cloud-based, mobile-ready platform.

Streamline your field report processes to not only save your business time and money but gain improved insight into your construction projects.

30-Day Free Trial

What Is a Construction Daily Report (aka Construction Daily Log)?

A construction daily report is an essential document required at the end of every workday that details everything that happened on the worksite that day.

A well-documented construction daily log is designed to help both the crew and office teams work conveniently and efficiently.

Why Are Construction Daily Work Logs Important?

Construction daily work logs are important because they keep the project management team informed and aware of project progress and issues.

These field reports play a vital role in informing project managers of the tasks that have been completed, the methods being used to complete those tasks, and how they should prepare for the upcoming days.

More so, accurate and detailed construction daily work logs help construction companies as a whole because they:

Protect from ligation by having easy access to evidence of the physical conditions of projects.
Increase day-to-day crew efficiency by highlighting what work has already been completed and what work still lies ahead.
Improve communication by providing easily accessible updates and image documentation to create professional daily reports.

Who Is Responsible for the Daily Report on a Construction Project?

Typically, the general subcontractor or site manager will rely on specialty contractors to submit a construction daily report which is then consolidated into one inclusive construction daily report.

6 Things to Cover in a Construction Daily Report

No two project construction daily reports are the same.

Each project has its own set of unique needs and your daily log should be flexible enough to address those needs.

To ensure that every construction daily report is extensive and complete, we’ve compiled a list of the six things you should be sure to include.

#1: Weather

Weather and environmental risks need to be assessed on a daily basis.

It’s important to include the weather in your report because it can often affect the trajectory of your project, the performance of the crew, and the wear and tear of the construction equipment.

The weather report for the day should be added along with conditions including:

Temperature
Wind speed; and
Precipitation

Key attention should be noted if those weather conditions caused any delays in work.

#2: Individuals On-Site

All individuals on-site should be marked in the construction daily report.

Crew members on-site that day should be listed, organized, and counted by team, along with the total number of man-hours completed by each team.

It’s also important to document any visitors like …

Owners
Stakeholders
Suppliers
Investors
Local reporters; and
Family members

… who were on site that day for any reason.

#3: Equipment Used

A detailed record of equipment used on a construction site can provide insight into opportunities to increase efficiency.

Be specific and list by type all equipment and heavy machinery present on the worksite.

Provide the number of active hours each piece of equipment was used each day.

Don’t forget to include any equipment idle time on the worksite.

Equipment left idle for a long time can be reallocated to another project or returned to rent only for the days it will be used, ultimately cutting back on costs.

#4: Deliveries Made

Any material deliveries that occurred or were scheduled for that day should be recorded.

Include the type and quantity of materials delivered.

If a material delivery was scheduled and did not arrive, this should be noted along with its potential to slow down construction progress.

#5: Incident and Safety Tracking

The incident and safety of your daily log should always have a complete and continuous evaluation of the safety protocols on site.

A daily verification that all people present on-site hold the appropriate licenses and are safety compliant should be added.

Also, include whether or not a job site inspection has been performed.

It’s equally important to track any hazards, incidents, or otherwise potentially dangerous situations that may have occurred.

#5: Photo Documentation

Having photo documentation is the best way to make sure that all your bases are covered.

Snap photos of things like …

Work progress
Deliveries
Materials; or
Any potential issues

… as supporting evidence to supplement your notes.

#6: Work Accomplished

Document each project activity and evaluate what progress was made on that day.

Include the progress on individual tasks and the status of the overall project.

Challenges That May Arise When Completing Daily Construction Work Progress Reports

Completing daily construction work progress reports can seem tedious and time-consuming, especially if you’re still composing them the old-fashioned way.

If you are manually drafting your construction daily work report by pen and paper or even with a template at the end of the day, you are doing yourself a major disservice.

Wasting time trying to understand your scribbled notes — or worse, trying to recount key elements from memory — can create many unnecessary challenges that make your job more difficult.

#1: Forgetting Significant Incidents

Construction sites are busy places and general contractors and project supervisors are pulled in lots of different directions at once.

Sometimes things might be forgotten if they’re not recorded immediately.

Forgotten incidents can result in:

Miscommunication
Safety risks
Schedule delays; and
Legal consequences

#2: Time Commitment

If you’re waiting until day’s end to complete your report, you have to carve out time to review and decipher the notes you’ve taken throughout the workday.

Add to that the time it takes to compile everything into a template and you’ve wasted at least an hour at the end of a long day.

It’s so much easier and efficient to log daily activities as you go.

Tracking in real-time with daily reporting software significantly reduces office hours and eliminates the need for emails or calls to communicate project progress.

That’s why CM Fusion offers a daily field report software that allows you to easily track activities while you’re on the move with click-and-go features on your mobile or tablet.

This leaves more time for you at the end of the day.

#3: Limited Details

Sometimes important details might be left out if reports are created in a rush or specifics were forgotten.

Daily reporting software allows you to input information quickly and immediately so very specific details can be recorded.

A lack of detailed, complete information can cause delays in schedule, problems with materials or equipment, or even legal issues with liability and disputes.

How to Make Daily Progress Reports in Construction

There are many options when it comes to creating daily progress reports.

When choosing the right method for you, it comes down to answering just a few questions:

Do you want to spend less time drafting your daily reports?
Do you want your daily reports to be thorough with details and supportive evidence?
Do you want to streamline communication between key players?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, keep reading to discover the method that will take your daily progress reports to the next level.

Using a Construction Daily Report Template vs. Construction Management Software

Using a construction daily report template document can seem like a good idea if you’re coming from writing your entire progress log from scratch.

While using a construction daily report template document is an improvement from scribbled notes, don’t stop there.

A construction daily report template can stand in the way of presenting the most efficient, professional construction daily report.

Benefits of CM Fusion’s Daily Field Reports Software

There are endless benefits of using construction management software.

It doesn’t just save you time and effort, it transforms your project management from mediocre to superior and puts it all right at your fingertips.

CM Fusion’s daily field reports software is easy to use with one-touch features that help you:

Log weather activity
Track on-site visitors
Record equipment and deliveries
Create, upload, and save incident reports
Upload site images; and
Keep stakeholders and project managers informed

Now you can:

Focus on the job site instead of spending hours each week on administrative tasks like manually updating and filing field reports.
Keep track of your team’s performance, increasing worker accountability so you’re not overpaying for hours not worked.
Accurately gauge the cost of projects using data from daily, weekly, and monthly field reports.
Increase profitability by ensuring precision in progress and not guessing what still needs to be done.

Make Daily Reporting Stress-Free: Try a 30-Day Free Trial With CM Fusion

Daily reporting doesn’t have to be a nightmare of managing word documents and emails for multiple projects.

With CM Fusion’s daily field report software you can organize your reports in a simple, easy to update field reporting system that’s accessible on a mobile or tablet anywhere there’s an internet connection.

You can save hundreds — even thousands — of dollars utilizing instant project insights from data provided by field reports that you can rely on.

CM Fusion offers a four-tiered competitive pricing model designed to support construction companies no matter how big or small the project load.

To get started on saving time and money, you can now sign up today for a 30-day free trial.

Sign up and schedule a demo to see why the field reporting capability is a favorite within the enhanced project management experience CM Fusion has to offer.