Subcontractor Daily Report: Fill & Download for Free

At a large scale, construction daily report apps and construction safety apps can help your firm be more effective, more organized, and ultimately more profitable.Daily reporting apps specifically help keep everyone on the same page and protect firms from potential litigation. There are a number of benefits that come from using an app versus the traditional pen and paper method for creating daily reports. A few of these include:Voice-to-text functionalityAutomatic weather capture and timestampsEmail and text remindersWeekly and monthly summariesSafety and task notificationsSuper Daily - dailies from your subs in a single PDFDashboards for completed dailies, safety incidents, and moreI work at Raken, which has been rated the #1 daily reporting app for construction, and I believe that one of our customer’s testimonials speaks for itself to answer your question:The way that we [used to do] daily reports is we would issue a piece of paper to all the subcontractors and they would fill that out and then we would have to take all of those pieces of paper, combine them, and create one daily report from it. It was very time consuming for my engineers to take all that information, gather all that up, get all of the time, and get into one Excel spreadsheet…As soon as they try [Raken] out, there's no turning back. Everybody's using it, and loves it.— Rich DeLacey, Hensel PhelpsTo answer your question, its less about what our product did and more about the important part of what this quote spells out: using technology to streamline a tedious process can help out the entire crew involved. While I don’t have as much background in safety apps, any case where a system (or app) can increase efficiency and organization for your team is an asset.

Through my experience as Director of Customer Success at Raken, a construction field management software solution, I must say that daily reports are one of the most important documents in residential or commercial jobsites. The main reasons construction daily reports are an absolute necessity during construction work are:Having visibility over operationsAvoiding litigationEmbracing technologyManaging complexityCreating construction daily reports has been a common practice for over a hundred years. Keeping track of job activities, concerns, delays, incidents, and manpower are all of great importance when it comes to keeping the project on schedule and under budget. It’s also one of the most effective ways to ensure data collection from the field, reducing silos, and avoiding miscommunication. The net result from rigorous daily reports is greater visibility and avoiding unpleasant surprises.Speaking of unpleasant surprises, construction litigation has reached an all-time high in the United States. The best defense a contractor has when avoiding a claim or winning a legal dispute is proper documentation, preferably done on a daily basis, done by field workers. Put simply when it comes to a legal dispute, the best documentation will win. In my role overseeing Customer Success Managers at Raken, I have worked with a multitude of clients and I have seen the effect that daily reports have in such claims firsthand. We’ve had numerous clients avoid large settlements due to having better documentation than the other party involved.Utilizing software to collect progress updates from field workers also allows for executives and Project Managers to oversee multiple jobsites remotely without ever stepping foot on those projects. Prior to mobile technology, it was difficult for field crews to dissipate information and communicate project progress to all stakeholders involved. Now, more than ever, Superintendents, Foremen, and Project Managers can all communicate effectively through mobile technology.In addition to a more consistent collection of data from the field, executives who manage companies utilizing mobile technology for daily reports also ensure that data collection is consistent and standardized. This empowers executives to make better-informed decisions on schedules, budgets, and overall profitability of construction projects. As projects become more complex and multiple subcontractors get involved, it’s important that data collection is streamlined and cohesive. Mobile, easy to use daily reports can do just that.

Who usually manages a construction job? Most general contractors employ a “project manager” to manage a construction project. That person has both the inside information on subcontracts, estimates, relations with the design team, and owner’s representatives. They schedule work, order major materials, and do pay requests.When you look at a project manager’s desk, you will likely see four or five binders representing four or five different projects. Some project managers also do estimating for bidding jobs, go to prebid meetings, and handle submittal packages, write subcontracts, and handle other duties. That means it isn’t unusual for a project manager to have less than 10 hours a week to spend on a project…so the reality is, that in this situation, the project superintendent is actually managing the construction end of the job, and the project manager is hopefully handling the paperwork end.Superintendents are on the job day in and day out, and should be dedicated to a single job, not shifting gears and running the roads trying to sub-manage various jobs. I can tell you this from experience, I have been a construction superintendent in one form or another since 1992. I do layout, takeoffs, ordering materials, scheduling subcontractors, time sheets, accident reports, daily reports, safety meetings, and operate equipment/drive nails/finish concrete. My project manager does their part, I do mine, and workers do theirs, and the building gets built.