What to record on a day labour docket
A docket only does its job if it is complete. Record all of the following before you ask anyone to sign it:
- Date and job or project name
- Supervisor running the work
- Each worker on the docket, with their trade
- Ordinary hours and overtime hours per worker
- Materials used — description, quantity, unit, supplier and invoice reference
- Description of the work performed
- The reason the work sits outside your contracted scope
- Photos of the work and site conditions
- The builder or head contractor representative's signature, with their name printed next to it
Why the same-day signature matters
A docket signed on the day the work is done is a contemporaneous record. The builder's representative confirmed the labour, hours and materials while the work was in front of them. Months later — when the account is queried, the site team has moved on, or the project has changed hands — that signature is what stands between a paid invoice and an argument about what happened.
A docket written up days or weeks after the event is a reconstruction. It can still be useful, but it invites dispute in a way a same-day signed record does not. The discipline is simple: no crew leaves site on extra work without a completed, signed docket.