Commercial & Contract · Best Practice · Construction

Daywork Summary Record

A summary compiling all daywork sheets for a payment period or project.

Last reviewed: 29 March 2026 — This guide reflects UK law as of this date. RICS / JCT remains current with no amendments enacted as of 29 March 2026. Next scheduled review: 29 March 2027.

Legal basis	RICS Definition of Prime Cost of Daywork + JCT Standard Building Contract 2024 (Clause 5.7) + Express contract terms
Purpose	Aggregates all individual daywork sheets into a running total, providing a single summary document for tracking daywork throughout the project
Final account use	The daywork summary is a key document at final account stage — it provides the agreed record of all daywork instructed, submitted, verified, and agreed during the project
Status tracking	Each daywork sheet should be tracked through its lifecycle: instructed, submitted, verified (signed), agreed (valued), and included in interim valuations
Best practice	Maintain the daywork summary as a live document throughout the project — updating it monthly at minimum — rather than compiling it retrospectively at final account

1. Daywork Summary

The daywork summary record is a running daywork ledger that aggregates all individual daywork sheets into a single document. It provides a comprehensive view of all daywork carried out on a project, tracking the status of each sheet from submission through to agreement and inclusion in interim valuations. The summary serves as the definitive record of daywork for both the contractor and the employer's team.

On any project of significant size, the number of individual daywork sheets can run into dozens or even hundreds over the contract period. Without a summary document that aggregates these sheets and tracks their status, it becomes extremely difficult to maintain an accurate picture of the total daywork position. Sheets may be submitted but not verified, verified but not valued, or valued but not included in interim certificates. The daywork summary eliminates this confusion by providing a single source of truth.

At final account stage, the daywork summary is one of the most important documents in the commercial close-out process. It should reconcile exactly with the individual daywork sheets held on file, and both parties should be able to agree the total daywork figure by reference to the summary rather than re-examining each individual sheet. A well-maintained daywork summary can resolve the daywork element of the final account in a single meeting, whereas a project without a summary may spend weeks reconciling individual sheets.

2. Content

The daywork summary record should contain a line entry for every daywork sheet issued on the project, with sufficient detail to identify the work, track the costs, and monitor the status. The following table sets out the essential content.

Field	Detail
Sheet ref	The unique reference number of each individual daywork sheet (e.g. DW-001, DW-002). Must match the reference on the original daywork sheet for cross-referencing and audit purposes.
Date	The date the daywork was carried out, as recorded on the individual daywork sheet. This enables the summary to be sorted chronologically and reconciled against site diaries and progress records.
Description	A brief description of the work recorded on each daywork sheet. This should be concise but sufficient to identify the work without needing to refer back to the original sheet — typically the location and nature of the work.
Labour	The total labour prime cost from the individual daywork sheet. This is the sum of all operative hours multiplied by the applicable prime cost rates before percentage additions.
Plant	The total plant prime cost from the individual daywork sheet, including hire charges, fuel, transport, and operator costs where applicable.
Materials	The total materials prime cost from the individual daywork sheet, including delivery charges and wastage but excluding trade discounts.
Total prime cost	The total prime cost of the individual daywork sheet (labour + plant + materials). This is the base figure before percentage additions are applied.
Agreed additions	The percentage additions applied to the prime cost as agreed in the contract. This column records the total value of the percentage additions (not the percentage rate itself) for each sheet.
Agreed value	The total agreed value of the daywork sheet (prime cost + agreed additions). This is the figure that should be included in interim valuations and the final account for this sheet.
Status	The current status of the daywork sheet: Submitted (sent to CA but not yet signed), Verified (signed by supervisor confirming records), Agreed (valuation agreed by CA), or Included (included in an interim certificate). Tracking status prevents sheets being overlooked.
Running total	A cumulative running total of the agreed daywork value as each sheet is added. This provides an at-a-glance view of the total daywork position on the project at any point in time.

3. Common Mistakes

Not maintaining the summary throughout the project

The most common and most damaging mistake is failing to maintain the daywork summary as a live document throughout the project. When the summary is only compiled retrospectively at final account stage, the task becomes enormously time-consuming and error-prone. Individual daywork sheets may have been misfiled, lost, or never submitted. The status of each sheet — whether it was signed, verified, valued, or included in interim certificates — may be unclear. Reconciling dozens or hundreds of individual sheets months or years after the work was done is one of the most frustrating and costly exercises in final account preparation. The solution is simple: update the daywork summary every time a new sheet is submitted, and review it monthly as part of the commercial reporting process. A live summary means the daywork position is always known, always reconciled, and always ready for final account.

4. Frequently Asked Questions

How is the daywork summary used in the final account?▾

The daywork summary is used as the definitive record of all daywork carried out on the project when preparing and agreeing the final account. At final account stage, the Contract Administrator and the contractor sit down with the daywork summary and work through each entry. Sheets that have been verified and agreed are included at the agreed value. Sheets that have been verified but not yet valued are assessed and agreed. Sheets that were submitted but never verified are examined and a decision made on whether to accept or reject them. The running total on the summary gives both parties the total daywork figure for inclusion in the final account. Without a summary, this process requires each individual daywork sheet to be found, examined, and reconciled — a process that can take weeks on a large project. A well-maintained summary with clear status tracking allows the daywork element of the final account to be agreed rapidly and with minimal dispute.

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