Construction daily reports: A big pain for superintendents and foremen

It’s no secret that construction daily reports are one of the biggest struggles for foremen and superintendents. There is no doubt that keeping close track of your project’s daily progress is fundamental. Nevertheless, there has to be a better way to do it than having to spend, at least, an hour after the end of your shift just to manually put together the daily report.

In a nutshell, a construction daily log could be described as an exhaustively thorough record of the different tasks, details and incidents related to a construction project. Information like what type of equipment every task requires or the current progress of the on-site work are included in a daily report.

Before we proceed further, though, we have to understand better why optimizing the daily reporting process can be so important for superintendents. Let’s have a quick look at the everyday life of a superintendent in the following video:

Why superintendents and foremen hate daily reports

As you can see, being a superintendent is both challenging and time-demanding. Despite their great value, daily reports can be the cause of great pain for superintendents and foremen. Below you can find some of the main reasons why it is like that:

They are time-consuming:

First and foremost, daily reports require an awfully long time to be prepared. A day in a construction site can be endless. There is a strong need for someone to monitor everything and keep proper track of every single detail. This means that there is a person working on site who has to sit there every day and spent a couple of hours in writing down everything that took place on site.

Remembering everything is tough:

Another challenge for anyone who is responsible for creating a construction daily log has, of course, to do with remembering everything with great accuracy. Relying on a particular individual to keep a record of all the different  on-site aspects of a project can be dangerous. There are many cases where serious project disputes began from inefficient project progress reporting.

They are holding back productivity:

The time-demanding nature of daily reports is another problem. Superintendents and foremen could do so many different things on site instead of spending their time writing down everything that took place on site. It’s a heavily monotonous job which can harm productivity on site. On top of that, the more repetitive a job is the higher the possibility for a potential mistake due to the lack of motivation. Especially when we are talking about daily logs, there is  no room for failures.

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They are stressful:

Let’s face it, daily reports are stressful! The whole project’s progress is based on them and in that sense they have to be perfectly articulated. It becomes clear, then, that conducting a solid daily report in construction can be a harsh job that not everybody can keep up with. Keeping a bird’s eye view on the site isn’t the most relaxing thing in the world. To make matters worse, daily logs are fundamental when it comes to potential legal disputes around the project. Superintendents and site foremen have to be the historians of the construction site and provide the objective truth. And that can be pretty tough!

How new technologies could help

By now, it’s understandable that being responsible for putting together a construction daily report is hard. Nevertheless, it still is necessary. Thankfully, the progressive modernisation of our industry can offer tremendous help toward that direction. The use of top-performing construction software can be a game changer and save site foremen and superintendents from a lot of fuss. In short, here are some ways in which construction software could help with daily reports:

Increase speed:

Getting done faster with daily reports is the number one desire for everyone who is in charge of working on them in a site. Construction software can significantly increase the speed of the whole process. There is no longer the need for site foremen to write every little detail down. By simply using their mobile device, they will be able to easily proceed with construction reporting. Thanks to this, they keep everyone updated with the latest project changes.

Real-time updates:

An essential element that can transform daily reporting is real-time updates. In that manner, everyone constantly is keeping track of the project needs and growth. Furthermore, real-time updates allow for a more thorough supervision of the different tasks. They also provide the ability for immediate action in case of mistake. More efficient risk management of the project in other words.

Higher accuracy:

It goes without saying that by being able to update your project’s daily log, you can count on higher accuracy of the available information. As we mentioned earlier, trying to remember everything in the end of the day isn’t the safest choice when it comes in documenting the various perspectives of a construction project. That is why, construction software is expected to be the future in daily reporting. Accuracy is key and superintendents need all the help they can get.

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Dispute resolution:

Keeping a detailed and, most importantly, accurate record of your projects’ on site activities can be proved to be valuable if you ever find yourself in the middle of a construction dispute. A daily log can be a great problem solver due to its objectivity. For that reason, its continuous and thorough update is necessary. A construction software can empower the completion of your daily report. It makes it possible for you to monitor both written and visual feedback from your on-site partners. In that aspect, it also removes an enormously burden from the site foremen’s problem.

Better project overview:

It’s evident that, the modernisation of the construction process can offer so many additional elements to the way superintendents and site foremen are overseeing the work on site. It’s not only the faster elaboration of the daily report. The ability of actively interacting with it and making sure that every task proceeds according to the initial plan is vital, too. Lastly, a collaborative approach is encouraged. The right information can instantly reach to the right people.

Conclusion

All in all, daily reports are (and always will be) a critical part of every construction project. However, given the available technology shouldn’t be anymore such a big struggle for the people who are working on them. To the contrary, we have to take full advantage of the opportunity to optimize the construction process as a whole and boost its efficiency. This will eventually lead to a better future for the construction industry and to less stressful days for the superintendents and the site foremen around the world.