How do you record daywork so you get paid for it?
Get the instruction first, in writing if you can. Then record labour, materials and plant every day on a sheet, and get it signed while the work is fresh. Your contract sets the rules for daywork and how it is priced.
Get the instruction first
Daywork is work paid for on the time and materials used, usually because it cannot be priced in advance or is not in the contract. The first thing that decides whether you are paid is whether somebody with authority told you to do it.
Get the instruction in writing before you start: an email, a site instruction or a note on a drawing. If it is only verbal, confirm it in writing the same day. Say who told you, what they asked for and that you will record it as daywork.
Check your contract for who can give instructions and how. It may also say how soon you have to notify a claim, so read that before the job starts, not when the invoice is queried.
What to record each day
- The job, the date, and the instruction the work follows, with its reference.
- Labour: each person's name, trade, and hours worked on that task.
- Materials: what was used, quantities, and the supplier's delivery note or receipt.
- Plant: what machine, and the hours it was on that task, including hired-in plant.
- A short description of what was done and where, so someone who was not there can follow it.
Fill it in at the end of each day, not at the end of the week. Memories drift, and hours written up from guesswork are the first thing to get challenged.
Get it signed promptly
Take the sheet to the person who gave the instruction, or who is named in the contract, and get a signature and date before it goes in the pile. A signature on the day is hard to dispute later.
If they will not sign, do not argue it on site. Send the sheet by email the same day with a line saying you are recording the work as daywork, and keep the reply.
Photograph the work as you go, especially where it will be covered up.
Pricing and the contract
How daywork is priced is a matter for the contract. Some contracts set labour rates, plant rates and an allowance on materials; others point to a rate schedule or a price list. If yours is silent, agree the rates in writing before you start.
Keep your sheets separate from the main valuation, and refer to the signed sheet numbers on the invoice. Where the contract says daywork has to be submitted by a certain date, keep to it.
Keep the paper trail
Number your sheets, file them with the job, and keep the matching instruction with each one. When the final account is agreed, a run of signed, numbered sheets with the instruction behind them is the quickest way to be paid in full.