The Daily Report Dilemma: Who’s Writing Your Future?

Series: A Tale of Two Claims | Part 2 of 5

In Part 1 of A Tale of Two Claims, we contrasted two federal construction projects that encountered nearly identical unforeseen site conditions but had dramatically different outcomes. One contractor failed to recover costs due to weak documentation; the other secured a favorable settlement.

Their fates were shaped not by luck or capability, but by how they recorded, analyzed, and communicated events.

In this installment, we examine one of the most undervalued tools in project documentation: the daily report. We’ll show how vague, generic field entries can quietly erode your entitlement, while properly structured reports support forensic schedule analysis, measured mile analyses, and credible change order negotiation.

While the examples come from federal projects subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the same lessons apply to state DOT contracts, public-private partnerships (P3s), and private commercial or industrial builds. Whether you’re working for a government agency or a commercial or industrial client, the ability to prove your position starts with the records you create on site.

Our series include these upcoming topics:

• Time Impact Analysis (TIA) and critical path defense
• Real-time cost segregation and audit-proof tracking
• Strategies for building claims that settle early (or prevail if they don’t)

At Project West: A Routine Report or the First Line of Defense?
Three months after discovery of an unforeseen obstruction during trench excavation, Paul sat across from the general counsel representing his firm in a federal dispute. The federal agency had denied their Request for Equitable Adjustment (REA), but Paul felt confident that the facts were on their side … until the attorney opened the binder of project documentation to the report for the day the obstruction was found.

“This is all we have?” she said. “Trench Two: excavation delayed. Obstruction encountered. Equipment idle. Waiting on direction.”

No schedule reference.
No photos.
No mention of who was notified. No indication of critical path impact.
No breakdown of affected resources.

To the project team, this entry had seemed “good enough.” To the Contracting Officer, it was functionally meaningless.

Meanwhile at Project East: A Different Kind of Record
On the same day, Maria’s team encountered a similar type of unforeseen obstruction: a granite ledge not shown in geotechnical borings. Her team recorded this in its report for the day:

• Activity ID: 3.4.2.A – Zone B Excavation
• Description: Ledge rock encountered at 8:42 AM. Geotech borings in this zone indicated soft fill.
• Impact: Crew #2 idle for 4.5 hours. CAT 336 idle for 3 hours. Subcontractor demobilized.
• Notifications: Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) emailed and called at 9:02 AM.
• Photos: Three (3) geo-tagged images uploaded to field log.
• Cost Phase Code: 2.14.4 – Differing Site Conditions

Maria’s daily report read less like a note and more like an exhibit.

Why Daily Reports Matter More Than You Think
Most project managers consider daily reports “admin overhead.” Something you do because you have to. In many cases, teams copy and paste the same report from day to day with only slight tweaks to the narratives. But when delays arise or costs spike, daily reports become foundational evidence—the paper trail that supports your REA, claim, or change order.

Agencies and private owners alike ask predictable questions:

• What exactly happened and when?
• Did it affect the critical path?
• Were your people and equipment idled, and for how long?
• Did you give timely notice?
• Can you segregate your costs?

Without consistent, detailed field logs, the answers to these questions become speculative. That’s why FAR clauses such as 52.236-2 Differing Site Conditions and 52.243-4 Changes require not just notice, but documentation. And that’s why states like California, Texas, and New York enforce similar requirements for change order consideration and audit compliance.

The Hidden Cost of Generic Reports
Here’s where Paul’s daily reports fell short:

• Activity alignment: No link to the CPM schedule
• Cost traceability: No cost code or phase reference for impacted work
• Responsibility attribution: No records that the issue stemmed from inaccurate contract documents
• Preservation of rights: No indication of the owner being formally notified
• Quantitative detail: No breakdowns of hours lost, idle resources, and scope affected
• Supporting evidence: No contemporaneous photos, subcontractor logs, and communications

The Contracting Officer’s internal review noted these absences: “Contractor narrative unsupported by field documentation. Delay not tied to critical path. Costs not segregated. Recommend denial.”

What High-Performing Teams Do Instead
Maria’s team didn’t wait for a dispute to start building its case. Its reports consistently included:

• Field-level detail aligned to schedule activities
• Clear descriptions of what went wrong, when, and why
• Labor/equipment codes tied to delay impact
• Weather conditions
• Notification tracking: who, when, and how
• Directions received
• Major shipments received
• Rework performed
• Subcontractor input to confirm ripple effects
• Photo documentation, properly labeled and timestamped
• Consistency with Primavera P6 schedule updates and subsequent REA language

These weren’t one-off efforts. They were the product of a culture of documentation best practices developed from Day One, with process guidance from a construction claims consultant who had extensive experience working with the federal government.

Why These Fundamentals Matter for the Government, Too
While this post focuses on how contractors can strengthen their position through better documentation, the same principles apply to the federal, state, and municipal officials tasked with overseeing construction projects.

If you’re a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), Resident Engineer, or Project Controls lead, your daily logs and field documentation serve a dual purpose:

• Protecting the agency from overstated or unsupported REAs and claims
• Enabling faster and more objective evaluations of legitimate change requests

In a high-volume, multi-year construction program, it’s not enough to rely on memory, emails, or poorly written daily reports. Dispute adjudication typically occurs long after personnel rotate off a project. Proper documentation outperforms even the sharpest memory.

A well-written government daily report should perform several functions:

• Clearly describe observed site conditions and deviations from design.
• Note whether issues appear contractor-caused or government-caused.
• Identify whether the contractor provided timely notification.
• Correlate the event to known milestones or activities.
• Attach photos or sketches when possible.
• Provide your own assessment of criticality, when appropriate.

These reports are not just internal records. They often become the government’s primary defense when a claim is filed years later. And when well documented, they allow Contracting Officers and legal counsel to separate legitimate compensation requests from frivolous or inflated demands long before a dispute escalates. Investing time in disciplined field reporting helps protect taxpayer dollars and improves the government’s ability to resolve issues without litigation.

Behind the Scenes: Expert Guidance
Federal agencies and contractors don’t always have in-house bandwidth to do these tasks:

• Train field staff on how to properly build, update, and review schedules.
• Teach cost phase coding.
• Review daily reports for liability flags.
• Ensure field logs are written to support REAs/claims.

That’s where experienced construction claims consultants help behind the scenes. They’re not just brought in after a denial. They’re integrated early, helping agencies or contractors with these fundamental tasks:

• Standardize daily reporting templates.
• Integrate real-time triggers for prospective delay analysis.
• Develop consistent field log narratives that support cost/schedule modeling later.
• Coach staff to ensure contractual rights are maintained.
• Review field documentation to ensure contractual compliance.

Having this infrastructure in place pays dividends when a contract goes sideways. The upfront cost of having an experienced consultant set your project team up for success will pay dividends when the inevitable disruption occurs.

Practical Guidance: Writing for the Reviewer You Haven’t Met Yet
Daily reports should do more than fill a folder. They should prepare you for audit, negotiation, or testimony.

Contractor Checklist for Claim-Ready Daily Reports:

• Reference the relevant schedule activity ID or WBS element.
• Describe the issue clearly, with cause and location.
• List affected labor and equipment, with hours lost.
• Note subcontractor impacts and corresponding emails or memos.
• Include photos or drawings, geo-tagged and timestamped when possible.
• Log notifications to the required party: who, when, and how.
• Identify weather conditions and effect on work at the site.
• Identify directions received from the client’s field representative.
• Identify shipments received.
• Identify any rework performed and the reason.
• Tag reports to cost codes aligned with your accounting system.
• Keep language neutral and factual; avoid speculation.

Think of your daily report as the first exhibit in your claim documentation binder being submitted to the Contracting Officer. If it’s not helping you build the story, it may be hurting your credibility.

The Cost of Missed Detail
Paul sat with his attorney just before their Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA) hearing, flipping through the binder again.

“We didn’t know we needed to write them that way,” he said. “We thought the daily was just for us.”

Maria, meanwhile, had closed out the REA with the Contracting Officer. No rebuttals, no escalation, no hearing. Her documentation did the heavy lifting and told the story before anyone had to ask.

Coming Next: Cost Code Crisis: When the Numbers Don’t Add Up
In Part 3, we’ll cover more:

• Why Project West’s cost model collapsed during review
• How Project East tracked delay-related costs in real time
• What makes cost segregation defensible, not just logical

A strong claim doesn’t just tell the right story. It delivers the right numbers with the evidence to back them up.

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