The Practice of Dayworks Sheet Use by a National Management Contractor

The paper outlines the findings of an investigation into the use of dayworks sheets by a UK National Management Contractor. The investigation was carried out using interview techniques and ethnographic research to gain an insight into how practicing quantity surveyors conceived of the use of dayworks sheets. The use of dayworks sheets in construction contracting is both widespread and widely accepted. As such, dayworks sheets form a formal means of negotiated transaction between the main contractor and subcontractors. The relationships between these different parties is seen as of vital importance to the successful process of construction activity on site. This is an operational relationship. The paper uses an investigation of the practice of dayworks sheet use by a management contractor to reveal the crucial nature of the relationship between the management contractor and the subcontractor. This relationship is crucial to the effective progression and successful completion of the project. The dayworks sheets are considered as an element of the legal relationship between the parties, the contract. This may be termed a cost reimbursement plus percentage contract. The dayworks sheets are a means and media for communication and negotiation between the parties. Dayworks sheets may be treated favorably, to provide incentive for subcontractors for past work or future expected work. Dayworks sheets may be treated harshly, as punishment for prior misdemeanors, or as an intimidatory tactic to suppress any possible future confrontations. Further investigations are intended, and it is hoped that insights into the practice and conceptualization of active quantity surveyors will be revealed as more fieldwork is undertaken.