Records | Jack Butler-Kettle

= ninety seconds that decide the claim: the same template, the same morning, filled in two ways. The left form can be tested, answered and priced months later; the right form proves only that the writer felt delayed, which was never the question.

The corroboration. The photographs that show the scaffold exactly as the entry describes it, dated by the phone that took them. Records that corroborate each other multiply: the diary proves the photo's context, the photo proves the diary's honesty. An empty box, as opposite, usually means the photos exist on somebody's old phone; the habit that wins is exporting them into the project file while they can still be found.

The diary most sites keep. The same template, filled in the way most sites fill it in: a week in one date box, a trade with no gang or area, a complaint with no cause, and the two boxes that price the loss left empty. None of it can be tested, so none of it has to be answered, and eight months later it is waved away in a sentence. The difference between these two forms was about ninety seconds on the day, and it is usually the difference between a claim proved and a claim discounted.

Hover or tap any row of the left form, or the right form as a whole, for why it matters. Each detail on the left is one the other side must answer; the form on the right is what they can safely ignore.

The same site diary template filled in two ways: every box carrying detail that can be tested, against the entries most sites make.

Problems

Find the one that reads like your problem. Each page explains what is actually happening and the way out of it.

I know it happened, but I can't prove it

The work was done and the delay was real, but the paperwork that would show it never got made.

I have this problem

My site diary won't stand up

There is a diary, and it is even kept daily, but the entries say delayed by others, and I suspect that won't be enough.

I have this problem

Notices keep going out late, or not at all

The contract asks for notices nobody on site has time to think about, and the windows keep closing quietly.

I have this problem

Our record-keeping starts well and fades

Every job begins with good intentions and a fresh register, and by month three the diary has gone quiet.

I have this problem

The instructions happen on WhatsApp and stay there

The work gets done, the record never leaves somebody's phone, and the account pays for it.

I have this problem

We can prove the disruption happened but not what it cost

The diary records that the gang was diverted, not to what, for how long, or whether the substitute work was productive.

I have this problem

We have the photographs but not the dates

Images with no location, no time and no context are worth very little at the point they're needed.

I have this problem

The material exists, we just can't find it

Nothing foldered, nothing labelled, and a position that has to be rebuilt out of an inbox.

I have this problem

Nobody listed what this contract wanted recorded

The obligations were in the contract from day one and no one ever wrote them down.

I have this problem

Services

Records & Monthly Check

Risk mitigationOngoingFor Subcontractors & Main Contractors

I check your project's records every month against what a claim on it would actually need, and close the gaps while they can still be closed.

See how it works

Records Organisation

RemedialHourlyFor Subcontractors & Main Contractors

I gather the records your project already holds and build them into one organised, indexed file that can carry a claim.

See how it works

Products

Site Diary

For Subcontractors & Main Contractors

One five-minute form a day on site, and six flat data tables that build themselves underneath, ready to pivot.

See the template

Daywork Sheet

For Subcontractors & Main Contractors

One sheet per day of daywork: the labour, plant and materials expended, recorded on the day and signed on the day by both sides.

See the template

Labour Allocation Sheet

For Subcontractors & Main Contractors

A daily record of where every hour of labour actually went, allocated against activities you name once and use every day.

See the template

Photo & Evidence Log

For Subcontractors & Main Contractors

An indexed register of every photograph and piece of evidence: what it shows, when and where it was taken, why, by whom, and where the original file now lives.

See the template

Tips

Keeping a diary that counts

A diary entry is evidence only when it says who, where, what and for how long.

Name people, places and hours, not conclusions

Read the tip

Keeping a diary that counts

A diary entry is evidence only when it says who, where, what and for how long.

Write it the same day, every day

Read the tip

Keeping a diary that counts

A diary entry is evidence only when it says who, where, what and for how long.

Record the ordinary days too

Read the tip

Keeping a diary that counts

A diary entry is evidence only when it says who, where, what and for how long.

Photograph with context, then detail

Read the tip

Giving notices the contract recognises

Entitlement usually turns on who wrote what within which window, not on who suffered most.

List every notice window on day one

Read the tip

Giving notices the contract recognises

Entitlement usually turns on who wrote what within which window, not on who suffered most.

Send it in the form, and to the address, the contract names

Read the tip

Giving notices the contract recognises

Entitlement usually turns on who wrote what within which window, not on who suffered most.

Notify first and argue later

Read the tip

Giving notices the contract recognises

Entitlement usually turns on who wrote what within which window, not on who suffered most.

Keep proof that it arrived

Read the tip

Making the discipline stick

Most record systems are built in week one and dead by month three.

Give every record one named owner

Read the tip

Making the discipline stick

Most record systems are built in week one and dead by month three.

Build from what your people already produce

Read the tip

Making the discipline stick

Most record systems are built in week one and dead by month three.

Check it monthly, on a date

Read the tip

Making the discipline stick

Most record systems are built in week one and dead by month three.

Close gaps while the facts are warm

Read the tip

Frequently asked questions

Keeping the records

What records should a subcontractor keep?

Six habits: a daily diary, labour allocation, dated photographs, every instruction in writing, the payment paper trail, and delivery records. Kept daily, they cost minutes.

Read the answer

Keeping the records

Which records actually decide claims?

The ones made at the time by the people who were there: the instruction trail, the notices, and the diaries, registers and photos behind them.

Read the answer

Keeping the records

What should a site diary actually say?

Who was where, doing what, what stopped them and for how long, in names and numbers rather than conclusions like delayed by others.

Read the answer

Keeping the records

Who on site should own the records?

Named individuals, one per record, each closest to the facts that record captures, with someone senior checking monthly that it is happening.

Read the answer

Photos, messages and missing records

Do photos and WhatsApp messages count as evidence?

Yes, if they can be dated, placed and produced, but they support a claim rather than make one, and they must be exported before phones are wiped.

Read the answer

Photos, messages and missing records

We kept almost no records. Is the claim dead?

Not necessarily, but it is smaller and harder: some evidence can be rebuilt honestly from other sources, some entitlement is gone, and speed decides which.

Read the answer