Dayworks sheets: what to record on site so the extra work gets paid
In short
A dayworks sheet only turns into revenue if labour hours, plant, materials and a client signature are captured on the day the work happens. Record each category in full with an instruction reference, and submit the priced sheet as its own line in the next payment application.
- A dayworks sheet only becomes payable when it records labour, plant and materials individually with hours, quantities and rates - not as a single total.
- Every sheet must carry a valid instruction reference; work done without an instruction has no entitlement to daywork pricing regardless of how accurately the resources are recorded.
- The client's site signature must be captured on the day the work takes place - signatures obtained days or weeks later create grounds for rejection that are very difficult to overcome.
- Signed sheets become revenue only when priced and submitted as a named line in the next payment application; a signed sheet left in a folder is an unclaimed asset.
- Percentage additions for overhead and profit must appear as a separately labelled line on the sheet - absorbing them into the labour or plant rate gives the QS grounds to query the entire line.
Dayworks sheets record work that falls outside the priced contract scope. What determines whether one gets paid is not the template but the completeness of the record: labour hours by operative, plant with rates, materials with references, an instruction reference and a site signature captured on the day.
A daywork sheet is a site record of the actual labour, plant and materials used on work that cannot sensibly be measured and valued at the contract rates - an unexpected obstruction uncovered mid-dig, a client-directed change with no comparable contract rate, an out-of-sequence task that the original scope never anticipated. What separates a sheet that gets paid from one the client rejects is not the template used or whether it was printed or handwritten. It is whether four things were captured completely, on the day the work happened: each operative's hours by name and grade, plant time with the correct rate, materials with quantities and supplier references, and a signature from the client's representative before they left site. Every one of those elements is straightforward to capture in the moment. Reconstructed two weeks later, any of them becomes a target for challenge.
The Header Information Every Sheet Must Carry
Before recording a single hour or a single material item, the sheet needs enough identifying information to connect it to an instruction and to a point in the project programme. A sheet that cannot be linked to an instruction cannot be paid: under standard UK construction contracts, daywork is a valuation method applied to instructed work, not a route to payment for work done without direction.
The header section of every sheet should carry:
Record the sheet reference and date
Assign a sequential sheet number, note the project name and contract reference, record the date the work was carried out (not the date the sheet was written up), and specify the location on site. A vague date or an approximate location creates a gap the quantity surveyor (QS) can use to delay certification.
Note the instruction reference and who gave it
Record the formal instruction reference - a site instruction number, a written instruction reference, or an email reference - alongside the name and company of the person who issued it. If the instruction was given verbally, note that it was verbal and that written confirmation was requested, then follow up. No instruction reference on the sheet means no entitlement to daywork pricing, regardless of how completely the resources are recorded.
Write a brief description of the work and why it fell outside contract rates
Two or three sentences explaining what was done and why it could not be priced against a measured contract rate. The QS reading the sheet six weeks later needs to understand immediately why daywork applied rather than a variation valued at contract rates.
Recording Labour, Plant and Materials Correctly
A sheet showing a grand total and a signature proves almost nothing. The QS checking the sheet will want to verify each resource line against the agreed schedule of rates, and if the breakdown is missing, they can certify only what they can verify.
Record every operative individually
For each person on the task: full name, trade or grade, start time, finish time, total hours worked, the agreed hourly rate, and the line total. Gang totals without individual names are routinely challenged on the grounds that the number of operatives cannot be verified. Travelling time is recoverable only if the contract specifically allows it - check before adding it.
Record plant with hire or ownership status
For each item of plant or equipment: type and description, whether it is owned or hired (and the hire company reference if hired), hours or days on the task, the agreed rate, and the line total. Owned-plant rates must match the tender schedule; applying a different rate, even a lower one, invites a rate dispute that holds up the whole sheet.
Record materials with supplier references
For each material item: description, quantity, unit, unit rate, and total. Where materials were delivered specifically for the daywork task, include the delivery note number or purchase invoice reference. Materials taken from general site stock need a unit rate that can be verified against a supplier invoice. An unsupported material claim - a quantity with no reference and no delivery evidence - will be queried or disallowed.
Show percentage additions as a separate named line
Overhead and profit percentage additions are set by the contract, not negotiable on the day, but they must appear as a transparent, separately labelled line on the sheet. Absorbing the addition into the labour rate or the plant rate makes the total uncheckable and gives the QS grounds to reject the entire line until a corrected sheet is submitted.
CECA Dayworks Schedule
Many UK main contracts reference the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) Dayworks Schedule for labour and plant rates, with the contractor's agreed rates expressed as a percentage above or below the schedule. If your contract does this, record the applicable percentage adjustment on every sheet so the QS can verify without referring back to the tender.
Getting the Signature Before Anyone Leaves Site
The site signature is what turns a dayworks record into a defensible document. The supervising engineer or client representative who was present during the work is the only person in a position to confirm what resources were on site and for how long. Asking them to sign a sheet a week or two later puts them in the position of verifying something they may not fully remember, and many will decline or refer the matter to their commercial manager, who was not present at all.
A signed sheet in a folder is an unclaimed asset. A signed sheet in the next payment application is revenue.
Get the sheet signed before the representative leaves site. What the signature actually confirms matters: under most contracts, a site signature confirms the resources and the hours recorded - that these operatives and this plant were on the task for this long. It is not, by default, an agreement that the work qualifies as daywork, nor that the stated rates or the total value are accepted. Print a brief note to that effect on the sheet, just above the signature block, so the representative understands what they are signing and is more willing to do so promptly.
Alongside the signature, record the signer's printed name, company, and the time and date of signing. An illegible signature with no name attached is difficult to use as evidence if the sheet is disputed months later in a pay-less notice.
Photograph the signed sheet immediately
Before the representative takes their copy or leaves site, photograph the completed signed sheet on your phone. The photograph timestamp acts as secondary evidence of when the sheet was signed, and the image covers you if the paper copy is later disputed or mislaid.
From Signed Sheet to Payment Application
A correctly signed dayworks sheet is evidence of cost incurred. It becomes a paid sum only when it is priced, submitted as its own named line in the next payment application, and survives the payment notice period without a pay-less notice being issued against it.
Keep a sheet register
A simple log showing every sheet raised, the date it was signed, the date it was submitted, and whether it was included in a payment application. The register makes it immediately visible which signed sheets are sitting in a folder unclaimed, and which have been formally submitted. At final account, the register and the sheets together form the evidential record for every daywork line in the account.
Submit sheets weekly and keep daywork lines separate from measured work
Include daywork sheets in the next payment application after they are signed. Carry each sheet as its own line with the sheet reference attached, separate from the measured account. Keeping daywork lines separate means that a dispute over a single daywork item does not stall certification of the measured work: the two tracks can be assessed independently.
The most common rejection reasons
No instruction reference on the sheet; signature obtained days or weeks after the work; a single total with no breakdown of hours, rates or quantities; percentage additions absorbed into the rate rather than shown as a separate line; plant rates that differ from the agreed tender schedule; and sheets that were signed and filed but never submitted in a payment application.
How Digital Capture Changes the Timing Problem
The timing problem - getting the record made and the signature captured before the representative leaves site - is harder with paper forms than it sounds. A pre-printed pad works for a single tradesperson on a straightforward task. On a larger or more complex job, with multiple operatives, several plant items and a materials delivery to record, completing a paper sheet accurately in the moment is genuinely difficult.
Teams working across construction projects increasingly capture dayworks digitally using a phone or tablet on site. Zigaflow's eForms App allows labour, plant and material records to be entered directly from site with a digital signature captured at the point of instruction - which removes the transcription error risk and timestamps the record automatically. The completed sheet links directly to the job record in Zigaflow's jobs module, so every signed sheet appears in the job's document log without a manual transfer step, and the register of submitted versus outstanding sheets is maintained automatically.
The principle remains the same whether the record is on paper or a phone: the resource data, the instruction reference, and the client signature must all be captured on the day. The form is a container for that information. The discipline of recording it completely, in the moment, is what determines whether the extra work gets paid.
Sources
- Daywork Sheet Template for UK ConstructionSite Samurai · accessed 2026-10-11
- Daywork Contracts in UK Construction: Guide for Contractors and ClientsProcore · accessed 2026-10-11