Site instructions, field reports, daily logs

When a dispute reaches an adjudicator or a court, nobody asks what the project team remembers. They ask what was written down at the time. Three everyday records carry most of that weight: the Consultant's instructions, the Consultant's field review reports and the contractor's daily logs. The owner writes none of them, yet depends on all three. This lesson explains what each one is for, what a good one contains and what the owner's side should check every week.

Learning outcomes

• Explain what a Supplemental Instruction is under CCDC 2-2020 GC 2.2.12, and what to do when one seems to change price or time.
• Describe the Consultant's field review and what a field review report should record.
• List the contents of a contractor's daily log that will stand up in a delay or change dispute.
• Use these records together to test a delay story and the notice deadlines that go with it.

The lesson

Four records, four authors

Each site record has one author and one job. Mixing them up, for example letting the owner's representative issue instructions to the contractor, creates exactly the confusion the contract tries to prevent. Figure 1 sets them side by side.

Supplemental Instructions

Many people on site say "site instruction". CCDC 2-2020 calls it a Supplemental Instruction: an instruction from the Consultant, in the form of drawings, specifications, samples or written directions, that is consistent with the intent of the Contract Documents and does not change the Contract Price or Contract Time. GC 2.2.12 requires the Consultant to issue them promptly, or on a schedule agreed with the contractor, and points any change in price or time to GC 6.1 to 6.3 instead.

The label does not decide the question. If the contractor believes an instruction is really a change, it should say so in writing before it proceeds, and preserve a claim by timely notice under GC 6.6. The owner's interest is a quick, documented answer: either the Consultant confirms the instruction is within the contract, or the owner turns it into a priced change. Timing matters too. Under GC 6.5.5, where no schedule for instructions has been agreed, a contractor cannot claim delay for late instructions until 10 Working Days after it has asked for them in writing.

Field review reports

Under GC 2.2.2 the Consultant visits the site at intervals appropriate to the progress of construction, to become familiar with progress and quality and to determine whether the Work generally conforms to the Contract Documents. That is review, not supervision: GC 2.2.5 keeps construction means, methods and safety with the contractor. In Ontario, general review for Building Code matters is also a statutory duty of the architect and engineers under their licensing Acts. The OAA describes it as periodic sampling, not supervision or inspection, and its general review reports go to the client, the contractor and the chief building official [5].

The Ontario Association of Architects expects a written report after each review, sent to the owner and the contractor, recording what was seen, deficiencies that could not be resolved on site, and the status of changes, instructions, RFIs and shop drawings [2]. For the owner, field review reports are the independent record of quality and progress, and the Consultant's backing for each payment certificate.

Daily logs

The contractor's daily log is the most detailed and most underrated record on the job. CCDC 2-2020 does not prescribe one in general terms; it requires detailed cost records for Change Directive work (GC 6.3.9) and records supporting any claim (GC 6.6.2). Owners should go further and specify daily logs in Division 01, with content, format and a weekly copy to the owner.

Delay analysts rely on these records. HKA's guidance stresses continuous records in one consistent format, each delay event logged with its date, area, impact and duration, and records agreed by both parties [3]. Courts read them closely too: in Dependable Mechanical Systems v Ledcor (2025 ONSC 5100), the superintendent's daily reports and manpower counts helped decide whether trades interfered with each other and whether a subcontractor had staffed the job as promised [4].

Northgate worked example

Northgate Distribution Centre (fictional) is being built by Halvorsen Builders Ltd. (fictional) under CCDC 2-2020, with Ridgeline Architects Inc. (fictional) as Consultant (see the Northgate fact sheet). Northgate's Division 01 requires a daily log, issued to the Consultant and owner's representative each Monday for the previous week. In August 2027 the roof stage falls behind, as lesson 13 showed. The records below are illustrative.

One day in the log

Read together, the logs for August 16 to 27 tell a clear story. Rain stopped roof work for part of August 17 and all of August 18. But the deck shortfall started earlier, on August 10, when the supplier delivered two of five bundles, and it lasted until August 19. The steel erector's crew count is zero on seven working days, five of them dry. The logs suggest the main cause of the M6 slip was Halvorsen's supplier, not the weather.

An instruction that may be a change

On August 17 Ridgeline issued SI-014, showing added support angles under the roof deck at the roof-top unit openings, a detail the structural drawings had left to the deck supplier. Halvorsen's reply two days later says the angles are extra work. The owner's representative logs it as a potential change, and Ridgeline is asked to confirm within five working days whether the angles were already required by the Contract Documents. If not, the owner asks for a price under GC 6.2. Either way the answer is written, dated and in the change log described in lesson 16.

The notice clock

Under GC 6.5.4 the Consultant must receive Notice in Writing of a delay within 10 Working Days after it starts. If Halvorsen treats August 17 as the start of a weather delay, the notice was due by Tuesday August 31. None arrived, which is why the owner's comment on the August schedule update records it. The owner's representative does not decide entitlement; that is for the Consultant and, if needed, the dispute process. Its job is to keep the facts straight while they are fresh: a weekly site report that cross-references the logs, field review reports and instructions, and a one-line note of every notice received or missed.

Owner's move

• Specify the daily log. Content, format, photos and a weekly copy to the owner belong in Division 01.
• Read the logs every week. Compare crews against the look-ahead and flag gaps while they can still be fixed or disputed.
• Route all instructions through the Consultant. The owner's representative observes and reports; it does not instruct.
• Answer "is this a change?" in writing, fast. Set a turnaround for the Consultant to confirm or convert an instruction.
• Keep a notice register. Every Notice in Writing received, with its clause, date and deadline, and every deadline that passed without one.

Common mistakes

1. Daily logs that say "work progressing". Without crews, areas and causes, the log proves nothing.
2. Gaps in the record late in the job. Commissioning and close-out are when records thin out and disputes start.
3. Owner's staff giving instructions on site. They become unpriced changes with no Consultant record.
4. Treating a Supplemental Instruction as final when the contractor objects. Resolve the objection quickly, or it becomes a claim.

Quick quiz

1. Who issues a Supplemental Instruction under CCDC 2-2020?

   1. The Owner
   2. The Consultant
   3. The Contractor's superintendent
   4. The owner's representative

2. A Supplemental Instruction can:

   1. Increase the Contract Price
   2. Extend the Contract Time
   3. Clarify the Work consistent with the Contract Documents
   4. Replace a Change Order

3. What is the purpose of the Consultant's field review under GC 2.2.2?

   1. To supervise the contractor's crews
   2. To determine whether the Work generally conforms and to follow progress
   3. To direct construction methods
   4. To run site safety

4. Which daily log entry is most useful in testing a weather delay?

   1. Visitors
   2. Weather with hours lost, plus crews against plan
   3. Toolbox talk topic
   4. Photo count

5. A delay starts on Tuesday August 17, 2027. Under GC 6.5.4, by when must the Consultant receive notice?

   1. Friday August 20
   2. Tuesday August 24
   3. Tuesday August 31
   4. Friday September 17

Show answers and explanations

1. B. GC 2.2.12 gives the Consultant the duty to issue Supplemental Instructions.
2. C. By definition it does not change price or time; those need a Change Order or Change Directive.
3. B. Field review checks progress and general conformance; means, methods and safety stay with the contractor.
4. B. Hours lost and crews against plan show whether weather, rather than something else, stopped the work.
5. C. Ten Working Days after August 17, counting weekdays only, is Tuesday August 31.

Key terms

Supplemental Instruction

A Consultant's instruction, consistent with the Contract Documents, that does not change price or time; often called a site instruction.

Field review

The Consultant's periodic site visit to follow progress and check general conformance; also called general review.

Field review report

The Consultant's written record of a field review, sent to owner and contractor.

Daily log

The contractor's daily factual record of weather, crews, equipment, deliveries, work, inspections, instructions and delays.

Contemporaneous record

A record made at the time of the events it describes; the strongest evidence in a dispute.

Notice register

The owner's list of every contractual notice received or due, with clause and deadline.

References

1. Canadian Construction Documents Committee, CCDC 2-2020 Stipulated Price Contract, Definitions, GC 2.2, GC 6.3.9, GC 6.5 and GC 6.6. Clause content checked against a publicly posted tender copy; buy the form from CCDC.
2. Ontario Association of Architects, 2.2 Construction reviews, Practice Advisory knowledge base (June 2020).
3. HKA, Project records from a delay analysis perspective (October 2020).
4. Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP, Proving delay and damages: lessons on critical path analysis in Dependable Mechanical v Ledcor (January 2026).
5. Ontario Association of Architects, Practice Tip PT.05: General review, code and non-code (May 2020).

Verified on November 6, 2026.

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