What the site diary is for
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The site diary is a day-by-day record of what actually happened on a job: who was there, what arrived, what held things up, and what anybody should know later.
It is the cheapest insurance available on a building job, and it only works if it is written on the day.
Why keep one
Section titled “Why keep one”Three reasons, in increasing order of money.
It explains the programme. A job four weeks late with eleven recorded wet days is a completely different conversation from a job four weeks late for no recorded reason. One is weather; the other looks like incompetence.
It supports extensions of time. Most building contracts allow an extension for delays outside your control, and nearly all require notice within a set period. A contemporaneous record is what makes that claim work — a reconstruction is not.
It supports compensable delay claims. A delay caused by a client’s late decision or a design change is often chargeable. The diary is the evidence, and it is the only evidence that exists.
What a day holds
Section titled “What a day holds”| Section | Records |
|---|---|
| Project team on site | Your own people |
| Subcontractors on site | Which trades, and how many |
| Visitors register | The client, a surveyor, an inspector, anyone else |
| Deliveries | What arrived, from whom |
| Project delays | Time lost, and the reason |
| Issues | Anything affecting cost or programme |
| Notes | Everything else |
| Photos | With captions |
Delay today (days) is the headline figure for the day — how much time the job actually lost.
Where it gets written
Section titled “Where it gets written”On the phone, on site, as the day happens. That is what the mobile app is for, and it is the difference between a diary that exists and one that does not. See The site diary on site.
The desktop is for reviewing a run of days, printing a day as a formal diary form, and pulling delays together when you need to claim.
Weather
Section titled “Weather”Weather is recorded against the day automatically, from the site’s postcode — or its suburb, if the project has no postcode yet. Both are set under Edit Project.
That matters because wet-weather delays are the most commonly claimed and the most commonly disputed. A recorded delay sitting next to the recorded weather for that day is a far stronger position than a note saying it rained.