What Should a Daily Construction Job Report Include?

Complete all ten sections for every working day. Sections 1 through 8 and section 10 are internal: they stay in the contractor's records and are never sent to the client. Section 9, the client-facing summary, is the only section the project owner receives. In Dave by voolama (hellodave.ai), the site supervisor submits sections 1 through 8 and section 10 at the User Interaction task. The Agent Interaction node drafts section 9 from those field notes. The project manager reviews and approves section 9 in the Human Review task before it goes to the client. Sourced from the workflow-editor and agents help documentation, DEV v0.11.0, confirmed 2026-08-30.

Section 1: Date and site identification (internal)

Section 2: Crew on site (internal)

Section 3: Work completed today (internal)

List each work item completed today. For each item, record: (a) the work item description, (b) the location on site (building, floor, grid line, or room number), (c) the quantity completed today (linear feet, square feet, cubic yards, or units as appropriate), and (d) the schedule activity ID from the project schedule, if one exists. A vague entry such as 'framing work' is not useful in a delay claim. A specific entry such as 'Exterior wall framing, Building A south elevation, Grid lines 1-4, 240 linear feet of 2x6 studs installed, Activity ID FR-047' is.

Section 4: Materials used and quantities (internal)

List each material used today. For each item, record: (a) material description and specification (example: '2x6 Douglas Fir No. 2, 16 feet'), (b) quantity used today, (c) unit of measure, and (d) supplier and delivery ticket number if the material was delivered today. This section is the source document for material cost tracking and for lien waiver documentation under state lien laws.

Section 5: Delays and causes (internal)

If no delay occurred today, write: 'No delays. Work proceeded on schedule.' Do not leave this section blank. For each delay that did occur, record: (a) the delay description, (b) the cause (weather, owner-directed change, design error, material delivery failure, subcontractor failure, or other), (c) the duration of the delay in hours, (d) the schedule activities affected, and (e) whether the delay is excusable or non-excusable. AIA A201-2017 Section 8.3.1 (aia.org) defines excusable delay to include acts of the owner, changes ordered by the owner, labor disputes, fire, unusual delay in deliveries, and adverse weather conditions. A contemporaneous delay record with a cause is the contractor's primary evidence in a time extension request.

Section 6: Safety observations (internal)

If no incidents occurred today, write: 'No incidents, injuries, or near-misses observed. Site conditions normal.' Do not leave this section blank. For each safety observation, record: (a) the observation type (incident, near-miss, unsafe condition, or safety inspection), (b) the location on site, (c) a description of what was observed, (d) the corrective action taken, and (e) whether the observation requires an OSHA 300 log entry. OSHA 29 CFR Part 1904.7 (osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1904/1904.7) defines a recordable work-related injury or illness as one that results in days away from work, restricted work, transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, loss of consciousness, or diagnosis of a significant injury by a healthcare professional. OSHA 29 CFR Part 1926.20 (osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1926/1926.20) requires contractors to initiate and maintain programs for frequent and regular inspections of job sites.

Section 7: Change requests (internal)

If no change requests were initiated or received today, write: 'No change requests.' For each change request, record: (a) the change request number, (b) whether it was initiated by the contractor or directed by the owner, (c) a description of the requested change, (d) the schedule impact in calendar days, and (e) the status (submitted, pending, approved, or rejected). Dollar amounts stay in the internal record only and must not appear in the client-facing summary (section 9).

Section 8: Photo log (internal)

List each photo taken today. For each photo, record: (a) the file name, (b) the location on site, (c) what the photo shows, and (d) why it was taken (progress documentation, defect documentation, safety observation, or change request support). A photo log entry without a description is not useful in a dispute. 'IMG_4521.jpg' is not useful. 'IMG_4521.jpg: Building A south elevation, Grid lines 1-4, exterior wall framing complete, progress documentation for Activity FR-047' is.

Section 9: Client-facing summary (AI-drafted, project manager approves)

This is the only section the project owner receives. In Dave by voolama (hellodave.ai), the Agent Interaction node drafts this section from the field notes submitted in sections 1 through 8 and section 10. The project manager reviews and approves the draft in the Human Review task before it goes to the client. The client-facing summary must contain exactly three things: (a) work completed today in plain English, (b) any delay that affects the project schedule, and (c) the confirmed next milestone. It must not contain safety incident details, crew names, internal cost codes, or change request dollar amounts.

Section 10: Next-day plan (internal)

List the work planned for tomorrow. For each planned item, record: (a) the work item description, (b) the location on site, (c) the planned quantity, and (d) the crew or subcontractor assigned. The next-day plan is the source document for the superintendent's morning briefing and for comparing planned versus actual progress in the project schedule update.

The Agent Interaction node in the daily job report workflow drafts section 9 (the client-facing summary) from the field notes the site supervisor submits at the User Interaction task. The systemPrompt below enforces the four omissions required for a client-facing construction report. Navigate to Agents in the sidebar, click New Agent, name it Daily Report Client Summary Drafter, click Create Agent, then click Create Version and paste this Config JSON. Sourced from the agents help documentation, DEV v0.11.0, confirmed 2026-08-30.

{
 "systemPrompt": "You are a construction project communication writer for a small contracting firm. Your only job is to write the client-facing summary section of a daily job report.\n\nYou will receive field notes from the site supervisor. The field notes include: work completed today, any delays and their causes, and the next-day plan.\n\nWrite a client-facing summary that contains EXACTLY THREE THINGS:\n1. Work completed today, in plain English that a non-construction owner can understand. No internal cost codes, no crew names, no subcontractor names.\n2. Any delay that affects the project schedule. State the cause and the impact on the completion date. If no delay occurred, write: 'No delays today. Work proceeded on schedule.'\n3. The confirmed next milestone: the next scheduled completion event and its planned date.\n\nFOUR ABSOLUTE PROHIBITIONS:\n1. Do not include any safety incident details, injury descriptions, or OSHA references.\n2. Do not include any crew names, subcontractor names, or labor hours.\n3. Do not include any internal cost codes, budget figures, or change request dollar amounts.\n4. Do not include any information not in the field notes submitted by the supervisor.\n\nLength: 80 to 120 words. Plain text. No bullet points. No markdown.",
 "model": "gpt-4o",
 "temperature": 0.2,
 "maxTokens": 300
}

Temperature 0.2 minimizes variation and reduces the probability of the agent generating content not in the workflow context. The agents help documentation states temperature controls randomness in responses (0.0 = deterministic, 1.0 = creative). After confirming the Config JSON produces correct output for at least two test reports, save the systemPrompt as a Prompt Library entry: navigate to Agents in the sidebar, switch to the Prompt Library tab, click New Prompt, select Category: Content Generation, paste the completed systemPrompt, and save. Then open the agent, select the library prompt, and toggle the Lock Prompt switch. Only Admin and Create roles can lock prompts. When locked, the agents help documentation states: 'workflow designers cannot override it, the agent always uses its locked prompt.'

Three checks the project manager runs at the Human Review task before clicking Approve: (1) the work completed description matches the work listed in section 3 of the field notes; (2) any delay mentioned matches the delay recorded in section 5; (3) no safety incident details, crew names, cost codes, or dollar amounts appear in the draft. If any check fails, click Request Changes and add a Comment identifying the specific item. Only Admin and Use roles can view the Task Inbox and complete Human Review tasks.

This template covers the ten sections of a daily construction job report and the Dave by voolama (hellodave.ai) agent configuration for drafting the client-facing summary. Four explicit boundaries:

• This is not legal or safety advice. The FAR 52.246-12 (acquisition.gov), OSHA 29 CFR Part 1904.7 (osha.gov), OSHA 29 CFR Part 1926.20 (osha.gov), and California Civil Code Section 8800 (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov) citations are to publicly available federal and state documents. Whether a specific contractor's recordkeeping practices comply with federal, state, or local requirements requires a qualified construction attorney's assessment. The author of record is Adam Valine, who oversees infrastructure, data, and financial operations for voolama LLC and is not a licensed contractor, construction attorney, or safety professional. The template's structure is grounded in cited statutes and standards, not in first-hand construction field experience.
• California Civil Code Section 8800 is cited as one example of state lien documentation requirements. Every US state has its own lien law with its own documentation requirements. This template does not address any specific state's lien law other than California as an example. Consult a qualified construction attorney on your state's specific requirements.
• This template does not cover certified payroll reporting. Federal construction contracts subject to the Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. 3141, dol.gov) require weekly certified payroll reports on Form WH-347. This template's crew section is not a substitute for certified payroll reporting.
• Dave by voolama does not send the client-facing summary to the project owner. The platform generates the draft and records the Human Review approval. Sending the summary to the client is a separate step outside the platform, using the contractor's normal email or project management system.