How to fill in a daywork sheet

Daywork is a way of paying for extra or changed work by the hour, when it can't be priced from the rates in the contract. You are paid for the time the workers and machines spent on it and for the materials used, plus whatever extra the contract allows on top. The daywork sheet is the record of all of that, and you only get paid for what can be checked on it.^[1]

When to use a daywork sheet

Only use one for work you have been told to do as daywork, or for work that your contract says can be paid that way. Arguments over whether daywork was properly instructed are common, especially when the programme is under pressure.^[1] Work done on a quick “just get it done” and written up as daywork afterwards is the hardest to get paid for. So before the work starts, get the instruction. Write down who gave it, when they gave it and its reference number if it has one, and put that at the top of every sheet for the job.

Keep daywork separate from your normal contract work. If a gang spends the morning on their usual work and the afternoon on the extra job, only the afternoon goes on the daywork sheet, and the times on the sheet should show that.

What to write on the sheet

• The date, the job and exactly where the work was. Use one sheet for each instruction on each day, and number every sheet so they can be followed in order later.
• What was done, in detail. “Broke out and removed 6 m of kerb at the north gate for the new drain connection” can be checked. “Extra works as instructed” can't.
• Every worker, by name and trade, with their start and finish times and the hours they spent on this work. Names matter, because they are checked against the timesheets and the labour allocation sheet.
• Every machine, whether it is your own or hired, who drove it and how many hours it worked. If a machine stood idle and you want to claim for that, record the idle time separately and say why it couldn't work.
• The materials used, with the amount, the supplier and the delivery ticket number, so the cost can be matched to an invoice.

This is the standard layout for a daywork sheet, with every worker named and every sheet numbered.^[1][2]

Getting it signed

The sheet should be signed by the person who checks the work for the client. That might be the clerk of works, the client's engineer, or whoever your contract names. Get it signed on the day if you can, while everyone still remembers who was there. The Society of Construction Law's guide on delay claims, which is widely used across the industry, recommends that records like this are signed by both sides wherever possible.^[3] Most contracts also set a deadline for handing daywork sheets in, often within a week or so of the work, so check yours.

A signature agrees that the workers, machines and materials on the sheet were used. It does not agree the rates or the final price, which are worked out later.^[1][2] Get it signed anyway, because an unsigned sheet is much harder to get paid on. There is more about this in what a clerk of works signs.

How the sheet is turned into money

Your contract decides how the hours and materials on the sheet are priced, and your commercial team will do that part. It still helps to know the names they use. For more background, see what daywork is.

• Building jobs, such as those on JCT contracts, usually price daywork using rules published by RICS, the professional body for surveyors. The rules set out what counts as the real cost of the labour, materials and machines, and how the extra for overheads and profit is added.^[4]
• Civil engineering jobs often use the CECA Schedules of Dayworks, a list of rates published by the trade body for civil engineering contractors. The latest edition came out in August 2025.^[5]
• Jobs on an NEC4 contract don't use daywork in the same way. The price of extra work is worked out from what it actually cost.^[6] Good daily records matter just as much there. On NEC4 jobs that pay the contractor what the work actually cost, any cost your records can't back up won't be paid.^[7]

Why daywork sheets get refused

1. The description is too vague to tell what was done, or where.
2. The hours don't match the timesheets, the labour allocation sheet or the site diary for the same day.
3. It was signed days or weeks later, or not at all.
4. Machine hours are listed with no driver, or idle time with no reason.
5. Materials are listed with no amounts or delivery tickets.
6. Daywork and normal contract work are mixed up on the same sheet.

Most of these come down to one thing: the sheet has to agree with everything else that was recorded that day. If the site diary says the gang was on something else that afternoon, the daywork sheet will lose. If your records really do differ, write down why on the sheet. The same industry guide says that any difference between records should be noted along with the reason for it.^[3]