Dayworks

Three percentages, not one

The contract states separate additions for labour, materials and plant. Applying an average to the lot is quick, and it is the reason the sheet comes back with a query instead of a signature.

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Each addition applied to its own element

The percentages differ because they cover different things. On labour the addition carries national insurance, holiday pay, pension, supervision, small tools and insurance before it reaches overheads and profit. On materials most of the cost is already in the invoice.

QScope applies each addition to its own element and shows the sheet total with the workings, so the figure being submitted is a calculation the other side can check rather than a number they have to accept or argue with.

  • Separate additions for labour, materials and plant
  • Sheet total shown with the percentages that produced it
  • Submitted, agreed, disputed and rejected held as separate states
  • Sheets with no instruction linked are flagged
Dayworks
Sheet DW-014
Labour £2,000 + 130%£4,600
Materials £3,000 + 15%£3,450
Plant £500 + 20%£600
Sheet total£8,650
A single blended addition of 55 per cent on the same sheet gives £8,525. Close enough to look right, far enough apart to be argued about.

Agreed is not the same as submitted

Only sheets marked as agreed are carried into the final account. Carrying submitted sheets as though they were due inflates the account and damages confidence in the rest of it, which is a poor trade for a figure that was always going to be tested.

The transfer to the final account is one explicit click, not an automatic feed. An automatic feed would overwrite a figure you had negotiated every time somebody edited a sheet.

  • Agreed total and submitted total shown separately
  • One click carries the agreed total to the dayworks line of the final account
  • Daywork schedule prints with the additions stated
  • Each sheet links to the instruction that authorised the work
Dayworks
Position
Agreed
£18,420
Submitted
£6,900
Sheets
14
Carried to final account£18,420
Awaiting agreement£6,900
Sheets without an instruction2
Daywork carried out without a written instruction is the hardest money on any job to recover, so those sheets are flagged rather than quietly totalled.

Daywork is a way of valuing a variation

Daywork is not a separate kind of change. It is one of the ways a variation is valued when the work cannot properly be measured at contract rates. The variation is still the thing being paid for, and the sheet is how its value is reached.

QScope holds the variation with its basis of valuation set to daywork, so the account shows why the sheet was used rather than a rate, and the audit trail carries the reasoning.

  • Basis of valuation set to daywork on the variation record
  • Contract clause recorded, so the route is on file
  • Sheet total carried into the variation, not entered twice
  • Approved variations pull into a payment certificate as normal lines
Variations
VO-09 valued by daywork
Basis of valuationDaywork
Contract clauseJCT 5.7
Sheets linkedDW-014
Extension of timeNone
Value£8,650.00
Sheet DW-014 totals £8,650, and that is the value carried into VO-09. The variation records why daywork was used rather than a measured rate.

No instruction, no daywork

A daywork sheet with no instruction behind it is the hardest money on any job to recover. The work was done, the hours are real, and without written authority it will be refused. The register exists so the authority is on file before the sheet is submitted.

QScope links every sheet to the instruction that authorised the work, and flags any sheet that has none, in the same place the sheet is prepared.

  • Each sheet links to the instruction that authorised the work
  • Sheets with no instruction linked are flagged
  • Architect’s instruction, CVI and site instruction all recorded
  • Verbal instructions awaiting written confirmation, shown in amber
Instructions
Authority behind DW-014
TypeArchitect’s instruction
ReferenceAI-022
Date issued5 Aug 2026
Cost effectYes
Sheets against itDW-014
A daywork sheet with no instruction against it is flagged rather than quietly totalled, because unauthorised daywork is rarely recovered.

Agreed dayworks reach the client through the certificate

An agreed daywork total is not paid on the side. Under JCT it is valued in the periodic certificate like any other variation, so retention is deducted once and the statutory dates run down one track.

QScope carries the agreed total into the certificate as a normal line, so the client sees a valuation that adds up rather than a separate invoice arriving out of sequence.

  • Agreed daywork total certified as a valuation line
  • Retention deducted once, in the certificate, as JCT expects
  • Previously certified and this period calculated as you type
  • Certificate prints on your letterhead with the statutory dates
Client Valuations
Dayworks on PC-04
DescriptionThis valThis period
DW-014 valued as VO-09100 %£8,650.00
DW-011 agreed earlier100 %£0.00
Agreed dayworks this period£8,650.00
Less retention at 5%(£432.50)
Net on this line£8,217.50
Questions

What surveyors ask before they start

When does daywork apply at all?

Only where the work cannot properly be valued by measurement at contract rates. Where a rate exists, the rate applies. Daywork is not a choice between two ways of valuing the same work.

Where do the percentages come from?

Your contract particulars. Enter them once per project and every sheet uses them.

What goes into the prime cost before the percentage?

Where the contract adopts the RICS definition of prime cost of daywork, that document decides. A percentage applied to the wrong base is wrong however carefully it is applied.

Can I attach the signed sheet?

Yes, in the files area against the project. Contemporaneous signed records are what make daywork recoverable.

Related

The rest of the commercial picture

Try it on your next valuation

Not your whole portfolio. One live job, one certificate. If it does not save you time the first time you use it, walk away and take your data with you.