Construction site diary: what to record every day
A site diary is only worth keeping if it answers a question someone asks months later. Here is what to record, what an entry looks like, and where diaries usually fall down.
Why keep a site diary
Most days, nobody looks at the diary. Then a client disputes a delay, a supplier says a delivery never arrived, or an accident leads to questions about who was on site and what they were doing. At that point the diary is the only record of what happened that was written when it happened, not reconstructed afterwards.
There is no single law that says you must keep a site diary. But many contracts require you to keep records and to give notice of delay or change within set time limits, and a diary is the simplest way to show you did. Records made at the time carry far more weight than recollections written up later.
What to record every day
Keep it factual and quick. If it takes more than a couple of minutes, it will not get done on a busy day.
- Date, site and who wrote the entry. Every entry needs an author and a date.
- Weather. Conditions through the day, and any time lost to rain, wind, frost or heat.
- Labour on site. Names or numbers by trade, including subcontractors, and the hours they worked.
- Plant and equipment on site. What was used, hired in, or off-hired.
- Work done. Which areas, what progress, what is next.
- Deliveries. What arrived, when, from whom, and anything short, damaged or rejected.
- Instructions and decisions. Anything the client, architect or engineer told you, including verbal instructions, with who said it.
- Visitors and inspections. Client, building control, HSE, inspectors, and what they raised.
- Delays and their cause. What stopped work, for how long, and who or what caused it.
- Accidents, near misses and safety issues. What happened, who was involved, what was done.
- Photographs. Dated photos of progress, problems and anything that may be covered up later.
The entry that matters most is the one about a problem. Delays, changes and incidents are the entries people ask for later, so write those up on the day, with the cause and the effect, even when everything else gets a line.
An example entry
| Date | Tuesday 14 October 2025, Heathfield Road |
|---|---|
| Weather | Heavy rain 07:00 to 11:30. Dry and overcast after. |
| On site | Groundworks: 4. Bricklayers: 2. Site manager. |
| Work done | Blockwork to plots 3 and 4 stopped at 08:00 because of rain. Restarted 12:00. Drainage trench to plot 5 excavated, not inspected. |
| Deliveries | 09:40: 480 concrete blocks, 6 rejected as damaged. Photos attached. |
| Instructions | Client's representative asked by phone at 14:15 to move the kitchen window 300 mm left on plot 3. No written instruction yet. Requested it by email at 14:30. |
| Delay | 4 hours lost to rain on blockwork, plots 3 and 4. |
| Safety | No incidents. Toolbox talk on working near open trenches given at 07:45. |
Note what it does: it gives times, names the cause of the lost hours, and records a verbal instruction together with the request to confirm it in writing. Those are the details people need later.
The mistakes that make a diary useless
- Writing it up days later. Memory fades, and an entry that looks reconstructed is easier to challenge.
- Vague entries. "Some delays today" proves nothing. Say how long, why, and who it affected.
- No photos. A dated photo settles arguments about condition, progress and what was there before something was covered.
- Gaps. A missing week is the first thing the other side will point to.
- Unrecorded verbal instructions. Verbal changes are a common source of disputes over cost and time.
- Edits with no trail. If entries can be quietly changed, their value drops. Either strike through and initial, or use a system that logs changes.
- The diary lives in one place only. A paper book in the van can be lost, soaked or taken away by the site manager who leaves.
How long to keep it
As a rule of thumb, a claim under a simple contract can be brought up to six years after the breach, and twelve years where the contract is a deed. Some claims have longer periods, so check with your solicitor or insurer before you destroy anything. Keep diaries at least that long and keep them where you can find them by site and date.
Paper or digital
Want a start? Use our free printable diary template.
A paper diary is fine if it is kept every day and kept safe. The trouble is that it is hard to search, easy to damage, tied to one person, and awkward to send to someone who needs it. A digital diary solves those, as long as it works without signal, is quick to fill in on a phone, and keeps a record of changes.
If you are not sure how your own set-up would hold up, our free 3-minute assessment asks a few questions about how you keep your diary, register and inductions and tells you where the gaps are.
Keep the diary on your phone, even with no signal
SiteHub lets you log the day with photos, weather, deliveries and voice notes on site. It syncs when you are back in signal, every entry is dated and searchable, and every site's diary can be exported as PDFs.
No card needed. £19 a month for your first site and £15 for each extra site after the trial.
This guide is general information for contractors, not legal advice. For a specific claim or dispute, speak to a solicitor or your insurer.