What records are kept on site each day?

The site diary is the least discussed document on a project and the one that decides most disputes.

When a delay claim, a variation or a defect question arrives six months after the event, the diary is the contemporaneous record. Memory is not evidence and a reconstructed account is worth very little.

What goes in it, every day

**The date and the weather,** including rainfall and any period work was stopped. This is the entry that matters most, because a wet weather claim stands or falls on a daily record rather than on a monthly summary. The mechanism is in [wet weather and programme recovery](/answers/wet-weather-and-programme-recovery).

**Who was on site,** by trade and number, including subcontractors and visitors.

**What work was carried out,** by location and activity, specific enough to be matched against the programme.

**Plant on site** and whether it was working or standing.

**Deliveries received,** and anything that did not arrive.

**Inspections and hold points,** who attended and what the outcome was, which is the evidence behind [quality assurance, ITPs and hold points](/answers/quality-assurance-itps-and-hold-points).

**Instructions received,** from the superintendent, the client or the authority, with who gave them and when.

**Any event affecting progress,** including access denied, a service strike, an authority inspection, a latent condition, or an occupant request.

**Safety incidents and near misses,** and any toolbox or pre-start briefing held.

Why it decides claims

An extension of time claim has to show the event, the date, the effect on the critical path and the mitigation attempted. A diary with the event recorded on the day it happened does that. A claim assembled afterwards from invoices and recollection does not.

The same applies in reverse. A client assessing a claim relies on the diary to test it, which is why a complete record serves both sides rather than only the contractor. The process is set out in [extension of time and delay costs](/answers/extension-of-time-and-delay-costs).

Variations work the same way: a verbal instruction recorded in the diary on the day, with the time and the person, is the difference between a variation and an argument. The formal path is in [how variations are managed](/answers/how-variations-are-managed).

Latent conditions depend on it entirely, because the claim rests on when the condition was encountered and what was known before, per [latent conditions and unforeseen site issues](/answers/latent-conditions-and-unforeseen-site-issues).

Photographs are part of the record

A dated photograph of a condition is worth more than a paragraph describing it.

Which means progress photographs from consistent positions, photographs of anything unexpected, photographs of work before it is covered, and photographs of the condition of adjoining property. The last of those is the live version of [dilapidation surveys before work starts](/answers/dilapidation-surveys-before-work-starts).

Work about to be concealed is the critical case. Services in a trench, waterproofing before tiling, reinforcement before a pour. Once it is covered, a photograph is the only evidence it was done correctly, and it is the basis of the as-built record in [works as executed plans and as-built survey](/answers/works-as-executed-plans-and-as-built-survey).

On an occupied site there is more to record

A school or a facility that keeps operating generates its own record requirements.

What areas were handed back and when, what was closed, what the occupant was told, and any interaction between the works and the operation. Which protects both parties when a question arises about whether an area was available, and it supports the arrangements in [how do you carry out construction while a school stays open](/answers/how-do-you-carry-out-construction-while-a-school-stays-open).

Who writes it and where it goes

The site supervisor, daily, at the time rather than at the end of the week. A diary written up on Friday for the whole week is not a contemporaneous record and it will be treated accordingly.

It is retained for the statutory period after completion, well beyond the defects period described in [the defects liability period](/answers/the-defects-liability-period), because that is when the questions arrive.

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