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An unforeseen problem is much easier to discuss when somebody wrote the date down.

Most disputes on a residential job are not about who is right. They are about what was agreed, on which day, with whom — and by then everyone remembers it differently. Five minutes at the end of each working day is the whole of the discipline.

Project log

Keep a dated record of who was on site, what changed and what was agreed, while it is still fresh.

How this works, and what it does not tell you

How this works

You write an entry per working day. The page assembles the entries you have filled in into one plain-text record you can copy, download or print, and it keeps them on this device between visits. It runs in your browser and sends nothing to Coastal SD Pros or to any contractor.

What it does not tell you

It is not evidence and this page does not claim it is. It holds no photographs and accepts no uploads — the photo line records where you saved a picture, not the picture. It gives no advice about what to do if something goes wrong, and it makes no judgement about anyone named in it. Its only value is that it was written down on the day.

Write it the same day. An entry written on Thursday about Tuesday is already a reconstruction. The two lines that matter most are who was here and what was agreed, and by whom — those are the two that get remembered differently later.

JavaScript is off, so this page cannot assemble the record or add entries for you. Nothing is lost: three blank entries are printed below and the print layout turns them into a paper log with writable boxes. Press Ctrl+P, or Cmd+P on a Mac, and print it as many times as the job runs long.

The project

Fill this in once. It heads every copy of the log you print or download.

Property or room

Enough to identify the job later.

Company doing the work

Exactly as the company writes it, so it matches the bid and the public record.

My single point of contact

The named person you were told to call, and how to reach them.

Agreed start date

The date in the bid, not the date you hoped for.

What the job is, as the bid describes it

In your own words, from the written bid you accepted. This is the line every later entry gets measured against.

The daily entries

One per working day, including the days nobody turned up — those are often the entries you end up needing. Blank entries are left out of the document you build, so there is no harm in printing more than you use.

Entry 1

Date

On site from, and until

Rough times are fine. "Nobody came" is an entry too.

Who was on site

Names if you have them, company names if you do not, and which trade each one was here for.

What was done

Plainly. What was opened, installed, delivered, taken away, inspected or left half-finished.

What changed from the plan, and who raised it

Anything different from the bid: a surprise behind a wall, a material swap, a delay, a new cost. Say who raised it and when.

What was agreed, and by whom

The most valuable line on the page. Who said what, and whether it went into writing. If it was agreed out loud only, write that down too — it is still a fact about the day.

Photos taken, and where they are saved

This page holds no pictures and cannot accept an upload. Write where yours are — the phone album, the folder, the message thread.

Still to follow up

What you are waiting on, and from whom.

Entry 2

Date

On site from, and until

Rough times are fine. "Nobody came" is an entry too.

Who was on site

Names if you have them, company names if you do not, and which trade each one was here for.

What was done

Plainly. What was opened, installed, delivered, taken away, inspected or left half-finished.

What changed from the plan, and who raised it

Anything different from the bid: a surprise behind a wall, a material swap, a delay, a new cost. Say who raised it and when.

What was agreed, and by whom

The most valuable line on the page. Who said what, and whether it went into writing. If it was agreed out loud only, write that down too — it is still a fact about the day.

Photos taken, and where they are saved

This page holds no pictures and cannot accept an upload. Write where yours are — the phone album, the folder, the message thread.

Still to follow up

What you are waiting on, and from whom.

Entry 3

Date

On site from, and until

Rough times are fine. "Nobody came" is an entry too.

Who was on site

Names if you have them, company names if you do not, and which trade each one was here for.

What was done

Plainly. What was opened, installed, delivered, taken away, inspected or left half-finished.

What changed from the plan, and who raised it

Anything different from the bid: a surprise behind a wall, a material swap, a delay, a new cost. Say who raised it and when.

What was agreed, and by whom

The most valuable line on the page. Who said what, and whether it went into writing. If it was agreed out loud only, write that down too — it is still a fact about the day.

Photos taken, and where they are saved

This page holds no pictures and cannot accept an upload. Write where yours are — the phone album, the folder, the message thread.

Still to follow up

What you are waiting on, and from whom.

Closing out

Fill these in at the end, while everyone is still contactable.

The final walkthrough list

The last corrections you walked round and agreed together, and the date you agreed them.

Paperwork I am holding at the end

What you actually have: the signed bid, every change order, the warranty documents, the permit sign-off, the receipts. List what is missing too.

Warranty: who to call, and until when

The labour warranty and the manufacturer warranty are two different promises. Write down who honours each one, how long it runs, and the number to call.

Private by design. This log never leaves your browser. It saves on this device so you can add to it day by day, and nothing is sent to Coastal SD Pros or to anyone else. Because it lives in one browser on one device, download a copy as you go — a log that only exists in a browser you later clear is not a log.

Nothing built yet. Write today's entry, then press Build my project log.

The log you keep Blank entries are left out

Your project log, ready to copy

Download it at the end of each week. A dated file on your own device is worth more than the same words in a browser you might clear.

What a useful entry looks like

Write it the same day, even when the day was uneventful. A gap in the dates is the thing you cannot reconstruct later.
Separate what you saw from what you were told. Both belong in the log; they are not the same kind of fact.
When something changes, note who raised it, what was proposed, and whether it went into writing before the work changed.
Photograph anything that is about to be covered up, and write in the log where the photograph lives.
Download a copy every week. This page cannot do it for you, because it has nowhere to put it.

Important. Coastal SD Pros is a Roscoe Equity LLC publication and homeowner information service. Editorial decisions are independent of advertising and Roscoe Site Pro client status. It is not a contractor, regulator, insurer, law firm or emergency service. This page is general information, not legal advice, and this log is not a legal document. If a dispute reaches the point where the record matters formally, talk with a lawyer rather than relying on a template.

Nothing you type on this page is received, stored, or transmitted by Coastal SD Pros. It stays in this browser until you clear it, which is exactly why you should download a copy as you go.