What does a clerk of works sign?

In short, a clerk of works signs to confirm the facts, not the money. When they sign a daywork sheet, they are agreeing that the people, hours, machines and materials on it are right. They are not agreeing that the work counts as daywork, that you will be paid for it, or that your rates are right. Those things are decided later by the quantity surveyor and by the architect or contract administrator, who runs the contract for the client.^[1]

Both sides get this wrong. Some contractors treat a signed sheet as an agreed bill. Some clerks of works refuse to sign at all, because they think signing means agreeing to pay. Neither is right.

Who is the clerk of works?

On a building job, the clerk of works is the client's eyes on site, and they work for the architect or contract administrator. An article on the website of JCT, which publishes the most common building contracts, describes the job as spotting problems early, explaining the drawings, inspecting the work, keeping records, reporting back and giving advice. What a clerk of works is actually allowed to do depends on the terms they were appointed on, so it's worth checking.^[2]

They also keep their own diary. It covers progress, delays, the number of workers on site, the weather, visitors, deliveries and instructions.^[3] Expect your diary to be compared with theirs.

What their signature on a daywork sheet means

• It does confirm who worked and for how long, which machines were used and for how long, and what materials were used.
• It doesn't confirm that the work should be paid as daywork, that you are owed anything for it, or what the rates and prices should be. If they write “for record purposes only” next to their signature, they are not refusing the sheet. They are simply describing what their signature means.^[4]
• The same goes for idle time. If the clerk of works agrees that a machine stood idle for three hours, that doesn't mean it will be paid at daywork rates.^[5]

So why bother getting it signed? Because the facts that aren't agreed on the day are the ones that get argued about later, and a sheet that nobody checked is easy to brush aside. The Society of Construction Law's guide on delay claims, which is widely used across the industry, recommends that records like this are signed by both sides wherever possible for exactly that reason.^[6] Get the sheet in front of the clerk of works while everyone still remembers who was there. Most building contracts expect daywork sheets to be handed in soon after the work, often by the end of the following week.

Can a clerk of works tell you to do extra work?

Usually not. The professional body for clerks of works says they can give advice and agree small changes. However, they must not say anything that could be taken as an instruction, especially one that would cost the client more.^[3] Under most JCT contracts, anything a clerk of works tells you to do only counts if the architect or contract administrator confirms it within a few days. Changes to the work should come from the architect or contract administrator.

If the clerk of works says “just do it”, you can't rely on that as an instruction. Ask the person who can give instructions to confirm it in writing, and write the conversation down in your diary.

On NEC jobs: the Supervisor

NEC4 contracts, which are common on large infrastructure jobs, don't have a clerk of works. Instead they have a Supervisor, who does a similar job: inspecting the work, testing it and looking for defects. The Supervisor has very few powers. The only thing the contract lets them instruct you to do is search for a defect. Any change to the work has to come from the Project Manager.^[7]

NEC4 doesn't include daywork sheets as standard either, but some clients ask the Supervisor to check them anyway.^[8] Where they do, a signed sheet is good evidence of what a change cost. Even so, the Supervisor can't order the change in the first place. Only the Project Manager can do that, unless they have handed that power to the Supervisor.^[7]

How to get it signed without a fight

1. Get the instruction before the work starts, and put its reference number on the sheet.
2. Name every worker, with their trade and hours, and list every machine.
3. Describe the work clearly enough that someone who wasn't there could find it.
4. Hand the sheet over the same day or the next day, not at the end of the month.
5. If they won't sign, ask what they disagree with, and write that down too.

For more on what goes on the sheet itself, see how to fill in a daywork sheet.