Daywork rates in construction: when to use them for extras (UK guide)
Daywork lets you charge for extra work by time and materials when there’s no fixed price. A UK guide to agreeing rates up front, keeping the sheet signed and actually getting paid.
By The FieldSnap team
When the GC asks for extra work you can’t size up in advance, you have two honest options. Price it as a lump sum and hope the guess is close, or agree to work on daywork and get paid for what actually happens. A fixed price feels safer until the job turns out twice the size you priced. Daywork is the fair answer for extras you genuinely can’t see the end of.
What daywork actually means
Daywork is a way of charging for work by time and materials instead of at a fixed lump sum. You agree the rates with the GC before you start, keep a record of the hours, plant and materials as you go, and claim against that record when the work is done. It needs two things to work. Trust, and a paper trail that makes the trust unnecessary.
When it’s the right call, and when it isn’t
Daywork suits extras you can’t measure up front. Ripping something out to see what’s behind it. Working around a design that keeps moving. Making good work another trade left behind. On those jobs a lump sum is a guess, and when a guess lands short you’re the one eating the difference.
Daywork is the wrong tool when:
- The scope is clear. Then a lump sum is simpler for everyone and quicker to sign.
- You’re not sure who’s paying. Agree who the work is for before you spend any time on it.
- There’s no appetite for paperwork. Daywork without a signed record is just an IOU.
Agree the rates before anyone starts
The rates are the whole game, and they have to be agreed before the extra starts, not settled after. If your subcontract already points at a published daywork schedule, such as the RICS one or your trade federation’s, you’ve got a starting point. If it doesn’t, agree your own in writing. You’re agreeing three things:
- Labour. Your charge-out rates for the operatives, and what happens when they’re stood waiting rather than working.
- Plant and materials. Whether they’re charged at cost plus a percentage, or from a fixed schedule.
- The record. Who fills in the sheet, who signs it and how often. Daily beats weekly.
Keep the sheet boring
The daywork sheet is where this either works or falls apart. Fill it in as you go, not from memory on a Friday. Date, job, hours per operative, plant and materials, and a line on what was done. Then get the GC’s site manager to sign it at the end of each day. One signature a day is easy to defend. One signature a month is a negotiation you didn’t ask for.
Take a photo or two as well. If your sheet says four men spent six hours on that duct, photos of the duct at each stage make the claim a lot harder to argue with.
Tie daywork to a change order
Daywork shouldn’t be an open promise to pay. When you agree to work on daywork, get a change order that records the instruction, the agreed rates and an honest estimate of the hours, signed before you start. You’re not choosing between a fixed price and nothing. You’re choosing between certainty and a controlled claim that’s documented from day one.
Frequently asked questions
What is a fair daywork rate?＋
There’s no single fair number, but it’s nearly always well above the operative’s all-in cost. Say a skilled operative costs you £25 an hour by the time you’ve paid wages, NIC and insurances. A daywork rate of £40 to £50 an hour isn’t cheek. It’s your overhead, supervision and margin, and it’s the rate the GC has agreed to in writing before the work starts.
Is daywork more profitable than a fixed price?＋
It can be, because you get paid for what actually happens rather than what you guessed would happen. It cuts both ways. If the GC thinks the hours are high you’ll have to justify them, which is why a signed, daily sheet matters more than the rate itself.
Can a GC refuse to pay daywork?＋
They can try. If you agreed the rates up front and kept a signed record of the hours and materials, refusing to pay is hard to do with a straight face. If you started on daywork with no agreed rates and no signatures, you’re relying on goodwill, and goodwill doesn’t pay invoices.
What if the GC wants daywork but won’t sign the sheet?＋
Treat it like any extra. Confirm the instruction and the rates in writing the same day, and copy your own office. An unsigned email is weaker than a signed sheet, but it’s still a record, and a record beats a memory every time.
Daywork isn’t the answer to every extra. It’s the fair answer to the ones you can’t price, provided you agree the rates, keep the sheet and get it signed. Do that, and the messy job stops being the job you quietly lose money on.