A Guide to Construction Reports and Reports
The most successful construction companies choose to generate different reports that share all the crucial information needed so that construction work can continue on time and within budget. These reports used to be distributed on paper and then emailed to everyone involved. However, in recent years, as technology advances, everyone can simply click on a program and have all archived reports at their fingertips.
This means everyone can easily reference other reports wherever they are and stay up to date with shared information throughout the workday. Digital reporting can alleviate serious administrative and mental burdens on those responsible, such as foremen, project leaders, and project architects.
What are field reports?
Field reporting is one of the main pillars for the success of every construction project in construction. It gives the on-site team full visibility of the project and a good understanding of what needs to be done. Everyone on site is part of the reporting process, with all tasks and activities closely linked. The slightest delay in one task can have a serious impact on the budget and deadline of the entire project.
How progress is documented plays a substantial role. Traditional reporting requires a lot of time and resources on a daily basis, a serious administrative burden that can harm productivity. How these reports are shared with the rest of the team is also important. Excel and Word were good options ten years ago, but in most cases today they can cause big problems. At that time, everyone worked in isolation, preventing different project stakeholders from remaining in control of the field reporting process. Historically, this has led to costly misunderstandings and project delays.
What is a construction report?
There are many different types of construction reports that cover a wide spectrum of activities. Some of the most common categories of construction reports can be summarized as:
Trend reports are widely used in the construction industry. They offer the most modern in different types of construction and analyze whether their importance in the market is increasing or decreasing. These reports are produced annually to help industry stakeholders get a good overview of the latest market trends and changes.
Material Reports
New materials have disrupted the construction process over the past few years. Construction companies rely on material reports in an effort to stay up to date with the latest changes and increase productivity and construction quality. To purchase material reports, contractors will need to purchase or sign up with organizations/services that create these market reports.
Cost reports
Cost reports are substantial for each construction project. They are always used in the bidding phase of a project to offer an accurate estimate of the costs of labor and materials that will be used. Typically, a cost report is prepared by the contractor and constructed according to the project presented by the client.
What is a construction progress report?
One of the most popular construction reports is the construction progress report, also known as the daily report, which is critical to the success of every project. These progress reports typically contain field notes and a list of activities performed daily. Once construction progress reports are shared, everyone involved in the project will be informed of the current status and what still needs to be completed.
Daily reports are essential for all construction projects and the only path to a cost- and time-efficient construction process. But for daily reporting to be achieved efficiently, a more digital approach is needed.
How do you prepare a field report in construction?
Here are the 10 things that should be included in every daily report:
- Date: The date to which the information refers, which must also be the date on which the report is written and presented.
- Weather Conditions: The weather conditions of that day as it will show why certain tasks were not completed or why everyone left the workplace early or arrived late.
- The condition of the construction site: The physical conditions of the construction site, which may have affected the amount of work performed that day.
- Resource overview: Resources that were available and unavailable that day. This list may include employees, equipment and materials.
- Type and status of work performed in the field: The work that was performed and the status of each work.
- Outages/Delays List: A list of any outages or delays that occurred that day.
- Inventory Checklist: The inventory checklist that will show you what is in stock and what may arrive later than planned.
- Future risks: The potential risks for future delays, so everyone can work to avoid these problems.
- Issues related to safety and the environment: Any incidents that occur, whether related to safety or the environment. The name of the employees, as well as specific data and photos, must also be included.
- Additional notes and comments: There may be days when additional notes or comments are necessary, and they should be included at the end if they do not fit into any of the other categories.
Why are construction reports important?
Leaving any of this information out of the daily report, or choosing to skip a daily field report here and there, can wreak havoc on any project. Lack of a report can result in workers not knowing when they need to be available, or it can result in specific work on site being left unfinished because no one knows the work has not yet been completed.
Daily reports can also be useful at the end of the project if the owner has a problem and wants to go to court over something that was or wasn't done. These notes can prove that everything was done as it should, leaving no questions unanswered.
Making your reporting process digital ensures that no information is lost and that there is an objective source of truth for everything that happened in the field. Forgetting one little thing in your construction reports can make the difference between staying within budget and making a profit and going over budget and ending up in debt.
Essential Items for Data-Driven Reporting
Construction needs to digitize its reporting process in order to better coordinate teams on the ground and pave the way for a less error-prone industry. Here are some of the most crucial elements for data-driven reporting:
Generation and sharing of construction reports
Clear accountability through audit trail reporting
For data-driven reporting, you need a digital tool that can automatically store all data and the latest changes to it. It also makes it easier for project managers to retrieve all this valuable information when needed.
With a system like this, the project team will never have to wonder who did what and can rest assured that photos, videos, comments, progress reports and date changes are all recorded in the system.
Automatic daily logs and website diary
The ability to automatically record all crucial project information can help project managers keep their daily and site logs up to date while completely eliminating manual paperwork. This leads to savings in time and space.
Custom Reports
Projects differ from each other and, by extension, the reporting process also differs. Therefore, being able to fully customize your reports and build them to your project needs is powerful.
