Why does the site diary matter after the job?
Delay and variation disputes are argued from records, and the diary is usually the record closest to the event. A claim for more time needs evidence of when a delay started, what caused it and what was done about it. Under the ACT Government's modified GC21 contract, for example, the contractor's initial notice of delay must set out the cause, the steps taken to minimise it and the relevant facts, within 7 days of the delay starting. Those facts come from the diary. An entry written on the day carries more weight than a reconstruction from memory in month seven.
What should each daily entry include?
Use the same headings every day so a missing item is obvious. Short, factual entries are better than long narratives, and a time against each event is more useful than a summary at the end of the shift. Record what was seen and heard, and leave out opinions about fault. If something cannot be recorded on the day, add it the next morning as a dated late entry that says so.
Photos should be referenced from the entry they support, with the location noted, so that someone reading the diary in a year can find the image of the flooded excavation or the blocked access road without searching a phone camera roll.
- Weather at start, midday and finish, and any hours lost, with who made the call to stop.
- Labour on site by company and trade, with head counts.
- Plant on site and deliveries received, with docket numbers.
- Instructions or directions received, from whom and how, word for word where possible.
- Delays, disruptions and their cause, and the work areas affected.
- Inspections, visitors, tests and any incidents, with photos referenced.
How should weather and wet days be recorded?
Record the conditions, the time work stopped and restarted, who made the decision and which trades were stood down. The Fair Work Ombudsman notes that some awards and enterprise agreements include inclement weather rules, which set out what counts as inclement weather and what employees are paid, so your records may be needed for payroll as well as for the contract. Back the entry up with observations from the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station; Climate Data Online provides daily rainfall and temperature records by station. Note the station number in the diary so the comparison can be repeated later.
What about incidents and safety events?
A diary entry is not a WHS notification. Safe Work Australia's guidance under the model WHS laws says a notifiable incident must be reported to the WHS regulator immediately, by the fastest possible means, that the site must be preserved so far as is reasonably practicable until an inspector releases it, and that records of each notification must be kept for at least 5 years. Its December 2025 fact sheet notes that changes to the model laws apply only where adopted locally, so check your state regulator. In the diary, record the time, what happened, who notified the regulator and the notification reference.
Paper, app or platform: does the format matter?
Consistency matters more than format. A paper diary written every day is better evidence than an app used twice a week. What digital tools add is a timestamp on each entry, photos linked to the entry, and search across the whole job, which makes later claim preparation faster. If the diary lives in a project platform, check that entries cannot be silently edited after the day and that the export includes photos. If supervisors prefer voice notes, keep the original recording alongside the transcribed entry.
How can software help with site diaries?
Software can transcribe voice notes into the standard headings, summarise a week of entries into lost time, labour trends and open instructions, and flag entries that mention a direction, a delay or a change for the contract administrator to review. It can also report missing days before the gap becomes permanent. It should not decide the cause of a delay or whether an entry supports an extension of time claim. The supervisor confirms each entry, and the contract administrator decides what to do with it.