A daily log (or daily report) is the contractor's contemporaneous record of project activity for a single workday. Standard fields include weather conditions, crew counts and hours by trade, work performed, materials delivered, equipment on site, visitors and inspectors, incidents and delays, and any notable communications.
Daily logs serve three purposes. First, they document progress for the owner, architect, and lender. Second, they provide a defensible record for delay claims, change order disputes, and warranty issues. Third, they feed into per-project profitability reporting when labor and material costs are entered consistently. Modern construction software lets crew leads complete a daily log on a phone in under two minutes, dramatically improving compliance compared to paper logs.