What Are Day Works (Dayworks)?
Day works — often written as one word, dayworks — is a method of valuing construction work based on the actual time, plant and materials used to carry it out, rather than a measured lump-sum or schedule-of-rates price. It is charged at pre-agreed daywork rates for labour and plant, plus the cost of materials and an agreed percentage addition for overheads and profit, and it is generally used as a fallback for work that genuinely cannot be priced any other reasonable way — most often small or ad hoc variations.
Key takeaways
- Day works (dayworks) values work by the actual labour, plant and materials used, priced at agreed daywork rates, rather than by measured quantity or lump sum.
- It is typically used as a last resort — for minor variations or ad hoc work that cannot practically be priced any other way, not as a default pricing method.
- A daywork rate schedule sets out hourly labour rates by trade, plant hire rates, and a percentage addition to materials and labour for overheads and profit.
- Dayworks are recorded on a daywork docket, signed by the client’s representative on the day the work is done — same-day sign-off is the most important discipline in the whole process.
- Most contracts price day works only after confirming the item genuinely cannot be valued against an existing contract rate or a negotiated lump sum.
What are day works?
Day works is a time-and-materials method of pricing construction work: instead of measuring a finished quantity and applying a rate, the contractor is paid for the actual labour hours, plant hours and materials genuinely used to carry out the work, plus an agreed margin for overheads and profit. It answers a practical problem that comes up on almost every job — some work simply cannot be sensibly measured or priced in advance.
A small, awkward variation, an emergency repair, or work of genuinely uncertain extent are the classic candidates for day works. Trying to force a lump-sum price onto that kind of work usually means one side guesses wrong; dayworks avoids the guess by paying for what was actually done, recorded as it happens.
Day works is generally treated as a method of last resort in most standard form contracts, used only where the work cannot reasonably be valued against an existing contract rate, a Bill of Quantities item, or an agreed lump-sum price — not as the default way to price every variation.
In plain terms
Day works means being paid for the actual hours, plant and materials that went into a job, at agreed rates — like a tradie charging by the hour instead of quoting a fixed price for work nobody can accurately measure in advance.
What a daywork rate schedule includes
A daywork rate schedule is normally agreed and attached to the contract before work begins, so there is no argument later about what rate applies once dayworks are actually needed. A complete schedule typically sets out:
- Labour rates per hour, broken down by trade or classification — for example, tradesperson, apprentice and labourer.
- Plant and equipment hire rates, whether owned or hired, per hour or per day.
- Materials, charged at cost — usually the invoiced supply price — plus an agreed percentage markup.
- A percentage addition for overheads and profit, applied to labour and sometimes separately to plant and materials.
How day works are recorded
Because there is no measured quantity to check later, the daywork docket is the entire evidentiary basis for a dayworks claim — which is why same-day, contemporaneous recording matters so much more here than for almost any other pricing method. A docket typically records the date, the workers and hours involved, the plant used and for how long, and the materials consumed.
The docket is normally signed off by the client’s representative or superintendent on the day the work is carried out, or as close to it as practically possible. A docket signed weeks later, from memory, is far weaker evidence and a common source of disputes — the whole value of dayworks as a pricing method depends on the record being made at the time, not reconstructed afterwards.
How a dayworks claim is priced and submitted
Once the docket is signed, pricing a dayworks claim is largely arithmetic: hours worked at the agreed labour rate, plant hours at the agreed plant rate, materials at cost, and the agreed percentage addition applied on top, all cross-checked against the schedule of rates agreed at the start of the contract.
| Item | Basis | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour — tradesperson | 6 hours | $85/hr | $510 |
| Labour — labourer | 6 hours | $58/hr | $348 |
| Plant — mini excavator | 4 hours | $95/hr | $380 |
| Materials, at cost | Supplier invoice | +15% markup | $460 |
| Overheads & profit | 10% on labour and plant | — | $124 |
When day works are used instead of other pricing methods
Most contracts set an implicit or explicit hierarchy for pricing a variation: first, against an existing contract or Bill of Quantities rate if a comparable item exists; failing that, a negotiated lump sum or fair and reasonable rate agreed in advance; and only where neither is workable, day works, priced after the fact from the actual time and materials used.
That ordering matters because dayworks removes the certainty a lump-sum or measured rate gives the client — the final cost is not known until the work is finished and the dockets are totalled. Reserving day works for genuinely unmeasurable or unforeseen work keeps that uncertainty to a minimum, rather than letting it creep into pricing that could have been agreed up front.
Who administers day works
The contractor is responsible for keeping accurate, contemporaneous dockets and submitting them for sign-off as the work happens, ideally the same day. The client’s representative or superintendent checks and signs the docket at the time, confirming the hours, plant and materials recorded actually match what they observed on site.
Because dayworks claims rely so heavily on that daily discipline, they tend to work best on jobs with an engaged, on-site client representative who can review and sign dockets promptly — a gap in supervision is usually where dayworks disputes come from.
Day works vs other pricing methods
Day works is often confused with other ways of pricing changed or additional work, but each serves a different purpose:
- Day works vs variation — a variation is the change to scope itself; day works is one possible method of pricing that variation, used when no better basis exists.
- Day works vs schedule of rates — a schedule of rates applies a pre-agreed unit price to a measured quantity of work; dayworks has no measured quantity at all, only recorded time and materials.
- Day works vs provisional sum — a provisional sum is a known allowance for defined work, agreed and reconciled to an actual invoiced or quoted cost; dayworks values work as it happens, based on time and materials rather than a supply cost.
Common mistakes with day works
Most dayworks disputes and underpayments come down to a handful of avoidable errors:
- Not getting the docket signed on the same day the work is done, leaving a weak evidentiary basis for the claim later.
- Forgetting to apply the agreed percentage addition for overheads and profit, or applying the wrong rate from an outdated schedule.
- Using day works as the default pricing method for every variation, rather than checking first whether an existing contract rate applies.
- Vague or incomplete dockets that do not clearly separate labour, plant and materials, making the claim hard to check or dispute.
- Not agreeing the daywork rate schedule until dayworks are already needed, which invites disagreement over rates at the worst possible time.
How My Trade Hub helps with day works and variations
My Trade Hub’s estimation engine measures your job straight from the plans, so the vast majority of the works can be priced against real, measured quantities and contract rates rather than falling back on time-and-materials pricing by default — keeping genuine dayworks to the small share of work that actually warrants it.
Because every variation stays linked to the original measured Bill of Quantities, it is quick to check whether an item can be priced against an existing rate before resorting to day works, and any dayworks that are needed can be tracked and reconciled alongside the rest of the project’s scope and progress claims.
Frequently asked questions
What does day works mean in construction?
Day works (dayworks) is a way of pricing construction work — usually a variation — based on the actual labour hours, plant and materials used, charged at pre-agreed rates plus a percentage for overheads and profit, rather than a measured quantity or lump sum.
When is dayworks used instead of a lump-sum price?
Dayworks is generally used as a last resort, for small or ad hoc work — such as a minor variation or an emergency repair — that cannot reasonably be priced against an existing contract rate or agreed as a lump sum in advance.
What is a daywork rate?
A daywork rate is a pre-agreed hourly or daily charge for labour or plant, set out in a daywork rate schedule attached to the contract, plus an agreed percentage addition to materials and labour for overheads and profit.
Why does a daywork docket need to be signed on the same day?
Because dayworks has no measured quantity to check later, the signed docket is the main evidence of what labour, plant and materials were actually used. A docket signed at the time is much harder to dispute than one reconstructed from memory weeks later.
What is the difference between dayworks and a variation?
A variation is the change to the contracted scope of work itself. Day works is one method of pricing that variation — based on actual time and materials — used when the work cannot practically be priced against an existing rate or a negotiated lump sum.
Does dayworks include overheads and profit?
Yes. A properly agreed daywork rate schedule includes a percentage addition on top of the base labour, plant and materials cost, specifically to cover the contractor’s overheads and profit margin.
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