Dayworks sheets signed the same day

What is a daywork sheet and who signs it?

Some variations cannot be valued by measurement: opening up to find a problem, working around something unforeseen, an instruction that has no rate in the bills. That work is paid on daywork, meaning the actual hours, plant and materials plus percentages for overheads and profit, under the RICS Definition of Prime Cost of Daywork Carried out under a Building Contract, published with the Construction Confederation and operative since September 2007.

The daywork sheet is the contractor’s contemporaneous record of those resources. On a job with a clerk of works, verifying and signing the sheets is their duty; otherwise it's the contract administrator, the client’s representative or the client. The sheet should be authorised by someone in a position to confirm that the people, plant and materials on it were actually used for the work described.

That signature verifies the resources recorded. It doesn't, on its own, agree that the work qualifies as daywork or that the rates and total are accepted, unless the sheet says so.

What should a daywork sheet contain?

A daywork sheet is a factual record, and it's judged on whether the facts on it could have been checked at the time. Anything reconstructed a week later is worth less than what was written on the day.

Sheets should name the instruction the work was carried out under, so the record ties back to a variation rather than floating free.

• The date, the job and the instruction or variation reference the work falls under
• A description of the work done, specific enough to be checked against the site
• Each operative by name and trade, with hours worked, including overtime
• Plant used, with hours or days, and whether it was hired or owned
• Materials used, with quantities and delivery references where they exist
• The signature of the person verifying, and the date they signed

What happens when daywork sheets go unsigned?

Disputes over daywork arise when the records are incomplete, unsigned, or prepared after the event. The pattern is familiar: sheets are handed over in a bundle at the end of the month, the client’s representative wasn't there when the work was done, and they decline to sign what they can't verify. At the final account the contractor is asking to be paid for hours nobody confirmed.

There is a reported case where daywork sheets were submitted at the time, left unsigned by the employer, and payment was later refused on the ground that the timesheets were unsigned, and it ended in litigation. The contractor did the work; what it lacked was a signature on the day.

The remedy is timing. A sheet signed the same afternoon by someone who saw the work is evidence. The same sheet signed three weeks later, or not at all, is a claim.

How do I get daywork sheets signed with Portal Worx?

Photograph the sheet at the end of the shift, or export it as a PDF, upload it to the job in Portal Worx and send the clerk of works or the client a link by email. They open it on their phone wherever they are. No account, nothing to install, nothing to learn.

They can leave a note on the page (a queried hour, a plant item they didn't see), ask a question, approve or decline. If you asked for it, they enter a one-time code emailed to them before signing, which shows whoever signed had control of that inbox at that moment. They draw their signature and submit.

If a sheet isn't signed by the next morning, you chase it from the same screen. A corrected sheet goes out as a new version; it supersedes the old one, and the old one stays on the record.

What does the signed record hold?

The record is dated and signed, pinned to the exact image or PDF the signer saw, with its SHA-256 fingerprint. Every note, and every version of the sheet, is kept with the job under the variation it belongs to.

At the final account each daywork line points to a sheet signed on the day by a named address, with the date on it. A simple electronic signature is admissible evidence in the UK under the Electronic Communications Act 2000, with the weight decided by the court on the strength of the record around it.

Where doesn't this fit?

One sheet goes to one signer. There's no multiple-approver flow and no delegation, so if the clerk of works is away you send it to whoever is standing in. The file must be a PDF, an image or plain text; an Excel daywork sheet is exported to PDF or photographed first.

Portal Worx doesn't calculate daywork rates or the percentages, doesn't decide whether work qualifies as daywork, and doesn't check identity: the code proves control of an inbox. The page opens on our domain, not yours.

Common questions

Does the clerk of works signing the sheet mean the daywork is agreed?

Usually it verifies the hours, plant and materials recorded, not that the work qualifies as daywork or that the rates are accepted. Say on the sheet what the signature confirms, and the record will say the same.

Can I send the sheet as a photo?

Yes. A photo of the handwritten sheet is fine. The signer sees that image, can mark a note on it, and signs against it. The fingerprint on the record is of that exact image.

What if they query one line?

They leave a note on the page and you see it on the job. You correct the sheet and send a new version; they sign that one, and both versions stay on the record.

How many sheets can I send?

As many as the job produces. Requests and links are unlimited on every plan, from £29 a month.

Does the signer need an account?

No. They get an email, open the link on their phone and sign. Nothing to install and nothing to learn.

Related

• Variation order sign-off before the work starts
• Extra works authorisation signed on a phone
• Snagging list sign-off with a dated record