Construction management Q&A
How do I keep the site journal correctly?
Short answer
- Fill in the journal on every working day, not retroactively at the end of the week.
- Record the crews present, the headcount, the equipment used and the stages worked on.
- Note the weather and any stoppage, together with its cause.
- Attach dated photos of anything that will be covered up: foundations, reinforcement, service routes.
- Record separately the events that belong in the construction technical logbook — site instructions, key inspection milestones, incidents.
What the law says (brief)
- Law 10/1995 on construction quality — the construction technical logbook is compiled during execution and kept for the entire life of the building.
- The construction acceptance regulation (Government Decision 273/1994, as amended by Government Decision 343/2017) — the journal of events forms part of the technical logbook, alongside the design, execution and acceptance documentation.
- Mind the distinction: the daily site journal is the contractor's operational record, while the journal of events in the technical logbook only records events relevant across the building's life.
- Government Decision 300/2006 on temporary or mobile construction sites — the health and safety coordinator keeps the coordination register, a document separate from the site journal.
Practical examples
- Example: for the ground-floor slab pour, the journal for 12 May records a crew of 8 carpenters, one concrete mixer truck, 42 m³ of concrete placed, 9°C, and the time the pour started. That same day has 6 photos of the reinforcement before the pour — the only evidence of how it was built, once concrete covered it.
- Example: four rain days that stopped exterior finishing, recorded with their cause and notified to the client, later support a request to extend the contractual deadline.
Common mistakes
- Filling in the journal once a week from memory — the details that matter in a dispute are the first to go.
- Not photographing work that gets covered up; after the pour there is no evidence of the reinforcement left.
- Not recording stoppage days and their cause, then being unable to justify the delay to the client.
- Confusing the daily journal with the technical logbook's journal of events, and ending up with neither one complete.
How 4construct helps
- The journal is filled in from a phone or tablet on site, offline included, and syncs once back online.
- Photos stay tied to the day and the stage they were taken for, not in a separate folder.
- Subcontractor work statements and client progress reports are generated from the journal automatically.
- Working days with no entry are flagged, so you don't discover the gaps at handover.