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Name people, places and hours, not conclusions

Diary entries that name the gang, the area, the cause and the hours get paid; entries that just say delayed by others do not. Getting it right takes 30 seconds on the day, and nobody can rebuild it afterwards.

Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.

Why it matters

Your diary will be read years later by somebody who was not there and does not trust it. The words delayed by others tell them nothing they can check. They cannot match them to the allocation sheet, the crane log or your main contractor's own diary, so the day's loss goes unproven. An entry with the gang, the area, the cause and the hours can be checked against three other records. When they match, the diary becomes the backbone of the claim.

How to do it

  1. Answer five questions in every disrupted entry: which gang, which area, what stopped them, who caused it and for how long.
  2. Use the names and numbers the other records use: the gang leader, the drawing grid, the plant number, the hours on the allocation sheet.
  3. Leave opinion out: write what was seen and said, not who was to blame or what it will cost.
  4. Read the entry back and ask whether a stranger could check it against another record.

Example

Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.

The facts

A brickwork subcontractor's gang of four is stood down for a morning because the scaffold on block B level two has not been handed over. The supervisor writes up the diary at the end of the shift.

What happens

  1. The supervisor's first go reads: delayed by scaffold, block B. The rewrite reads: bricklaying gang of four, block B level two, no access from 8am, scaffold handover not signed, released at noon, 4 hours lost.
  2. The allocation sheet for that day shows the four operatives on block B for 4 hours with no output.
  3. The scaffold contractor's handover certificate is signed at 11.50am that day.

The outcome

At the final account, 16 hours of labour at £30 an hour, £480, is agreed in minutes, because three records say the same thing. The dozens of entries that just say delayed by others are not paid at all.

To have this set up for you, see our Delay & Disruption Loss Prevention service.