Looking for logbooks to keep on jobsites couldn’t find anything I liked at office max.Anybody got an online catalog suggestion?
ANDYSZ2
I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
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The old standby surveyor's field book is good. Look for your local surveying equipt dealer. They're rugged, graph pages, etc.
How do you see this log book being used? Who needs to see and how will they get information from it?
A simple log book is just chronological and may not be organized in the right format.
One thing that popped into my head is a speed memos. Now the common ones are a double or 3 part form with a carbonless copies. But there are also the 2 part forms that come in a book for taking telephone messages.
With something like that you could have a permate copy in the log book, but also a message to send to the appropriate person. For example if you where review a site and saw that an light box was in the wrong location you could enter in the log and have a copy to send to the electrican.
Look in Nebbs and some of the other forms publishers and see what they have.
Also job shop printers can get the same blank double and tripple copy forms and print them up and bind them into books.
On a similar vien (I'm thinking you are documenting for a reason) - photos!
One of the great bargains of our time (like air travel and phone calls), photos are cheap - $6 or $8 / roll. Digital are essentially free.
I've had photos clearly show who was responsible for a $6,000 mistake (and it wasn't us).
Job site from 2 or 3 angles. Details on the work that week. Before closing up (the attic, the walls, etc) get shots of the framing, wiring, piping, etc. Just 2 weeks later, when you're wondering "Where is that pipe run?" you won't remember otherwise.
I planned on the digital pictures and having a seperate disk for each job site.
What I want to do is be able to drive up on jobsite check the logbook to see who's been working what they got accomplished what problems they have encountered and a phone # to reach the sub directly if I have a question.
My bosses want me to able to cover their jobsites and vice versa and I thought with a logbook on each site we could get up to speed rather quickly.
My bosses have E-mail on their phones and I want to be able to email them pics from the job site so I probably will get them to get me a phone with camara.
Another thing I am going to do is make a giant dry erase board set up so that we can see what subs are scheduled on which jobs and when.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
ANDYSZ2 do you mean as in something like this:
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Daily Job Reports- Intuit Market Products
I've got a FileMaker database system that the same functions and more only it's digital not hard copy paper the benefit of that is it's searchable. I can print out hard copy forms from it and enter the data later but I prefer to do the data entry just once running it on a lap top or PDA. With the some of the new features that were just introduced with the new release of FileMaker 7 I can now easily link photo records to daily reports too and I'm working on putting in that functionality as I'm converting all of my old systems files.
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everybody here just use the big office depot daily calander book.
Jerrald thats almost exactly what I want.
I want to set one on each job site so the subs can keep me up to date and I know what is needed.
My other goal is to set up a giant erase board so that I can look at all the jobs at one time and see who is scheduled to work where and so the subs can get an immediate feel for their schedule and inform me ahead of time if their is a conflict.I want to set this up in the office.I thought about setting up dry erase boards on every jobsite but I think logbooks will be a better way to communicate to me.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
So Andy ya wanna help be a part of the design and beta testing for this FileMaker based Daily Job Report system I have? You can tell me things like what's good and what bad about it. Features you'd like to see. Etc. If your intersted E-mail me via prospero mail with your email address and I'll send you a beta version.
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"My other goal is to set up a giant erase board..."
If you want a cheap but effective source for whiteboard (dry-erase board), look right at your lumber supplier's. There is a sheet material that is essentially Masonite with a white coating. It's used for bathrooms and such. A 4'x8' sheet is only $10-$15.
It's really the same stuff that dry-erase boards are made of. I used these at my workplace for drawings, materials lists, and general communications. They work well, and for that price, you won't have to worry about leaving one behind.
But be sure to use only dry-erase markers. You don't need a fancy eraser, just a clean rag will do. Don't use permanent markers like Sharpies or Marks-A-Lot. Those won't wipe off.
After a while (8 months or so for me), they get clouded, so a good cleaning with window cleaner usually gets them back in shape.
Edited 5/5/2004 7:32 pm ET by melissa
Thanks,
That is what I was planning on using. I am going to make a 4 x8 panel with two 4' doors with dry erase boards on the inside and outside of the doors.this will let me have a permanent schedule board on the inside and presentation boards to use on the outside.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
Great idea, Andy.
I've used them full-size as white-boards, and in our office, I had them covering the two side walls of each work space. So eash workspace consisted of a desk against the wall with two "whiteboard walls" perpendicular to that on each side of the desk. It made for a bright, neat work area, with lots of space to write notes and do up drawings.
And a nice spot to draw a Christmas tree in December... :)
> Just 2 weeks later, when you're wondering "Where is that pipe run?" ....
I've heard of -- but haven't tried yet -- shooting slides of the open walls. Then after they're rocked, set up a slide projector and line up the picture with known points like doors and electrical boxes. It sounds like a lot of work, but it would sure show you exactly where everything is.
-- J.S.
I kept those for a while. Turned out to be a waste of time, totol BS
Go ahead, start keeping them, I guarantee you'll stop.
panama red - "I kept those for a while. Turned out to be a waste of time, totol BS"
Just wondering panama red why did you find them to be a waste of time and total BS?
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well, when I would start in the morning, after unchaining fences, unbolting doors, unlocking knaackboxes, unchaining compressor...generator.....ladders....etc.. now someone wants me to fill in a report like whos there,whattime, whats the temperature, etc... well ,... that's known anyway, right? You don't have to read a daily job report to find out who's there, you, (and I mean a someone who needs to know when I say "you") can get that off timesheets filled in by that employee. (Exept for the weather). I really don't have time for that. Work needs to start.
Subs? who showed up? What did the sub do? The plumber does plumbing. Why do I have to write that down?
What I remember most about those forms is that even if I wanted to fill it in, the columns wouldn't fit all the information, they were to small, especially when your're using a fat carpenter pencil.
The end of the day..... well, cords, hoses, need to be rolled up...ladders, eguipment need to be chained up, knaackboxes need to be locked up, doors need to be bolted shut, fences ned to be chained up, man, I'm outa here, traffic on 66 is backing up, and someone want's me to fill out a report?
I don't see any legal purpose for these forms, after testifying at an arbitration hearing, and being deposed once for a lawsuit someone conjured up. Nobody asked me for my *Daily Job Reports*.
I don't think you'll find anyone out there who fill them out (and I mean daily, not a weeks worth on friday afternoon)
I don't know Panama Red. Your contractor's "world view" is very different than the one we are in here. I don't go or rarely go to any of the jobsites anymore and the Daily job reports are essential for me to see and know what going on.
"Subs? who showed up? What did the sub do? The plumber does plumbing. Why do I have to write that down?"
Yah I want to know if the sub showed up when did they show up and for how long and in what kind of strength (1 apprentice or 3 journeymen) etc and I want to know what they got done and how that is going to affect the project schedule I promised my client I would be on. As for plumbing I want to knwo what they worked on because if they were in North wing running H&C H2O pipe that doesn't do me any good if I really needed the radiant heat in the Great Room done. The plumber worked on plumbing is not an answer.
If the sub or any employee needs materials or has a problem that needs resolution that goes in the Daily Job Report so I can make sure it gets acted on. If it not written down it gets forgotten.
"I don't see any legal purpose for these forms, after testifying at an arbitration hearing, and being deposed once for a lawsuit someone conjured up. Nobody asked me for my *Daily Job Reports*."
It happens all the time it just didn't happen to you on that one occasion. Our extensive reporting has kept us from ever going to court to resolve problems in that the one time I was challenged as to what happened during the course of a project I had such extensive data I resolved the issue without it ever going to court.
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Hey-
when we need to redirect a sub we use phones. Reading notes on a log will probably lead to a queastion you want answered right away. Phone call. No answer...voice mail.
I keep notes when necessary. They get stashed wherever, plan tube...folder...cardboard box with trim.... with the stuff that need sto be saved. The daily job reporting just kind of died out.
How do you get your daily reports, does someone run out daily for them, are they dropped off weekly?
Phone calls and voice mail are fine for hey we need balah blah blah for tomorrow or the next day but things like we need 62 F-86 36" Iron & Brass Balusters in five weeks is another thing. The technician enters that on his/her list of requests on the day he/she requests it (in my company that either on a PDA or paper log form) and makes the phone call to tell whoever what they need . That item then keeps on appearing on a list of pending material as due so that let's say a week before it can be checked on to see if it really coming on time. The material arrives and it get entered having arrived on the job. The end of the week as all the reports are collected and a check can then be cut for the purchase order because it seen on the list as having arrived. If the requested material doesn't arrive as planned there is a record on that technicians behalf that says the material was requested on such and such a date so the supply chain can be traced to see where it broke down and that can then be corrected.
"How do you get your daily reports, does someone run out daily for them, are they dropped off weekly?"
Faxed or emailed daily.
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If you are ever involved in a dispute, wind storm, accident, or law suit, I'll guarantee you'll start up again, plus daily photo's and in commercial work they are even video taping everyday.
Never serious, but always right.
This is my version of log book.
ANDYSZ2
Does anyone get this file each time I try to open it it says its a read only file and won't let me open it.
I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
Edited 5/6/2004 8:50 pm ET by ANDYSZ2
Can't get it open
Never serious, but always right.
Russ an .xlr file is a Microsoft Works file. I couldn't open it either. I run MS Office (Excel & Word) both Mac and Win and none of those would open it.
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This should be the daily log book that I compiled from several fellow posters(THANKYOU).
I took a copy of this to Kinko and had 10 logbooks with a 100 pages each made up cost around 12$ each.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
I think I am going to put this logbook in a large storage box along with a set of plans,a firstaid kit a bunch of pencils and pens, some extra gloves, a roll of toilet paper, a roll of paper towels, several heavy duty trash bags and a list of all the subs cell #s so one sub can call another if a question arises.
Can you all think of anything else to put in onsite box?
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
Andy,
Do you want a critique, now that you done spents $120 on it?
SamT
Yeah I am in it for the long term and if something obvious that I missed comes up I am not afraid to eat it.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
Since management, homeowners, archies, and subs hired don't change from day to day, I would have a cover page that lists all that info, and the job address, you may want to put emergency # there too, fire, ambulance, police business #, any care providers you contract with in lieu of using WC for every little hurt.
Since all subs info is listed in the cover page/s, Subs On Site only needs to list company name and number of workers on site per sub. This would only require 2 fields per listing, and you could list many subs.
Materials needed should have a due date.
Materials RCVD should list invoice number and is invoicecorrect or what discrepancy (on back)
I thought it might be easier to give you an example (Very rough) I made it from memory of what I had to report daily for one boss and with a lot of ideas from your example.
See attachment
SamT
I'm using XL, however, as you can tell by my not having a striking letterhead or colored tagline, or using different fonts, or being able to post pictures, like you and others, and in addition to still spell kat with a k, and publish relies of confused and incomprehensible reasoning, I was not too alarmed I couldn't open it. I'm much comforted even the competent had trouble.
Never serious, but always right.
My Last response should be readable if a little large so go ahead and check that out. I had to scan it and then attach it as a picture.
ANDYSZ2
I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
We take before and after pictures of every job we do. If it gets surveyed before hand we take pictures and measurments as well, and put them in the job folder for the installer to look at and make a game plan with.
Of course all the pics and measurements for the PITA jobs seem to have gotten lost latley. I still haven't figured out why that is.Who Dares Wins.
Note to self:
Working as a sub for people that don't know where material is or what is needed for the job, but need documentation on how many workers I brought to the job and for how long we were there get a higher price.
Geeze what else do you want me too do? Negotiate a better price for materials?
I beg to differ if you are running 10-15 jobs at one time it is quite easy to get something crossed up or a wrong delivery or an unexpected delay because one of your subs crew didn't show etc...why on earth wouldn't you want to keep track of whats going on.How are you gonna improve if you don't keep track of how you are doing with what you got.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
Huh?
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