The daywork sheets never come back signed
The work was done on daywork, and by the time it's valued nobody will confirm the hours.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
What's happening?
Daywork is usually backed by records made at the time, but your subcontract decides what form they take and what they prove. Sheets often go in weeks late, or never. That leaves everything to be tested later.
By valuation, the supervisor who watched the work may have moved on, and the hours look big in hindsight. What could have been signed off on the day becomes a negotiation from memory. A sheet in the wrong form invites the very challenge it was meant to stop.
The solution
Fill in a daywork sheet for every shift: labour by name and hours, plant, materials and location. Present it for signature while the work can still be seen, in the form your subcontract's daywork terms require. If a sheet comes back unsigned or refused, flag it the same day and keep it with that day's diary entry.
Unpaid Variation Prevention builds that habit into your routine. Sheets already unsigned are not worthless. Variation Claim tests each one against the payroll, the plant hire records and the site diary. It values what those records support under the daywork terms, and treats a signature as confirming the resources used, not agreeing the rates.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A groundworks subcontractor is told to break out an obstruction in a trench on daywork. It takes four shifts at £2,400 each, £9,600 in all. The sheet is filled in at the end of each shift and shown to the main contractor's engineer while the trench is still open.
What happens
- Each sheet records the labour by name and hours, and the excavator and breaker hours. It also records the materials, the location by gridline and who checked the resources.
- The engineer signs the first two sheets.
- On the third, the engineer refuses to sign because he disputes the excavator hours. The refusal is noted on the sheet that afternoon.
- The disputed sheet is kept with that day's diary entry, and the commercial manager is told before the shift ends. The fourth sheet is signed.
- At valuation, the disputed sheet is checked against the site diary and the plant hire record. Both show the excavator on that gridline for the hours claimed.
- The labour record supports one operative fewer than the sheet. So the three signed sheets are valued at £7,200 and the disputed one at £1,800.
The four shifts
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Four shifts as presented | £9,600 |
| Three signed sheets | £7,200 |
| Disputed sheet | £1,800 |
| Certified | £9,000 |
The outcome
£9,000 is certified. The signatures on the other three sheets are treated as confirming the resources, not agreeing the rates. The subcontract's daywork terms fix the rates.