Site Diary

A site diary is the formal daily record maintained on a construction site. Each entry covers the work carried out that day, trades and plant on site, materials delivered, weather conditions, and any instructions received from the design team or contract administrator. It may also record delays, safety incidents, inspections, and any events that disrupted the programme.

Why the Site Diary Matters in Construction Contracts

A site diary is not a statutory requirement under UK law, but under standard building contracts - JCT and NEC in particular - it carries significant evidential weight. If a contractor later needs to justify a claim for additional time, compensation events under NEC4, or loss and expense under JCT, contemporaneous entries made at the time are the most persuasive evidence available. A written record made on the day an instruction was given is far more credible than a reconstruction made weeks later, as the Health and Safety Executive notes in guidance on CDM 2015 records.

Beyond disputes, the site diary is a practical management tool. It creates a time-stamped account of the project that site supervisors, project managers, quantity surveyors, and clients can reference. Where programme delays need to be explained, material shortages logged, or sub-contractor attendance recorded, the site diary is the record that holds those facts together.

In Zigaflow, the eForms App allows site managers to complete structured daily records on a mobile device at the point of work. Each entry syncs to the central job record, keeping the site diary alongside the project's commercial data.