If your quantity surveyor spends the days before every progress claim chasing photos, timesheets, delivery dockets and variation approvals, most of the time goes on finding the evidence rather than preparing the claim. In the short video above, we walk through that end-of-month scavenger hunt and what changes when the site team records the evidence as the work happens, so it is already sitting against the job when claim day comes.
In the video
- It's the 25th of the month and the QS sits down to prepare a progress claim.
- The first thing they do is start chasing: site photos, timesheets, delivery dockets and a variation approval from six weeks ago, buried somewhere in email.
- All of it lives in different places, and pulling it together takes two or three days.
- If the site team captured it as it happened (a quick daily log on their phone, in a tool like Dashpivot or Fieldwire), it would already be tagged to the job, dated and with photos attached.
- The QS goes from detective to compiler: hours of work instead of days.
What's happening here
Most contracts set a claim date, and the QS works backwards from it. To support a claim they usually need four kinds of evidence, and each one lives somewhere different.
Site photos show progress against each stage or trade. They're on the supervisor's phone, a subbie's phone, or in a group chat, mixed in with photos from every other job.
Timesheets back up dayworks, cost-plus items and labour on variations. They might be in a payroll or rostering app, on paper in the site shed, or in a spreadsheet that gets updated on Fridays.
Delivery dockets prove materials arrived on site, which matters if you claim for unfixed materials or need to check a supplier's invoice. They're often in a ute, a folder in the site office, or a photo someone took and never sent.
Variation approvals are the ones that hurt. The instruction may have come by phone, text or a comment on a drawing, and the written approval (if there is one) sits in the PM's inbox under a subject line nobody remembers.
So the QS opens emails, rings the site, asks the supervisor to look through their camera roll and rebuilds six weeks of history from fragments. None of that is quantity surveying. It's detective work, and it lands on the person you most need checking quantities and rates.
There's a second cost. Anything the QS can't find in time either goes into next month's claim or doesn't get claimed at all. A variation without a clear approval is the most likely to slip, which is why this problem shows up in margins, not just in the QS's workload. We cover that side in The Variation That Never Got Billed.
Why it happens
The information exists. Someone took the photo, signed the docket and approved the variation. The problem is that it stops before it's needed: it is captured on a phone or on paper, and nothing carries it to the job file where the QS works.
Each piece also ends up in its own place: photos in camera rolls, approvals in email, hours in the payroll system, dockets in a folder. People call this a data silo, information held somewhere that other people and systems can't reach. When it does reach the office, it's often typed in again, which is double entry (the same information entered twice), with the delay and errors that come with it.
None of this is about effort. Supervisors are busy, and nobody on site thinks of a photo of a slab pour as claim evidence. Until the process asks for it at the time, in a way that takes seconds, it won't be there later.
What it looks like when it's fixed
On the 25th, the QS opens the job and filters the site records for the claim period. The daily entries are there, each one dated, tagged to the job and, where it matters, to a stage or cost code. Photos are attached to the day they were taken. Dockets were photographed on arrival. Each variation has its instruction, approval and the hours and materials booked against it.
The QS's job becomes checking and compiling: does the progress shown match what we're claiming, are the variations approved, are the quantities right? Questions go back to site about specific gaps rather than "send me everything you've got".
The same records then do more work. Hours tagged to the job feed job costing. Dockets can be matched to supplier invoices. Approved variations go straight onto a register so they're claimed and not forgotten. The evidence is captured once and used several times. Our guide to seeing job profit sooner explains how this fits with getting costs onto the job faster.
Questions to ask in your business
Pick your last progress claim and ask:
- How long did it take from the QS starting to the claim going out, and how much of that was finding things?
- Which item took longest to track down: photos, hours, dockets or variation approvals?
- Was anything left out or deferred because the evidence wasn't found in time?
- Where does each type of evidence live today, and who would need to look for it?
- Does the site team record anything daily, and if so, can the QS find it by job and date?
- Are variation approvals stored against the job, or in someone's inbox?
- When the QS finds evidence, is it typed into another system or spreadsheet?
If the answers point to one or two items causing most of the chasing, start there. You don't need to fix everything at once.
Frequently asked questions
What evidence does a progress claim usually need?
It depends on your contract, but most claims are supported by progress photos, timesheets for dayworks or cost-plus items, delivery dockets for materials, and written approvals for any variations being claimed. The contract and your client's requirements set the detail. The point here is to have that evidence recorded against the job as the work happens.
Do we need a new app to stop the chase?
Not always. Many builders already have a site diary or forms tool that can do this, or one is included in their job management system. What's usually missing is the link: the site record carries a job number the office uses, and the photos, hours and approvals reach the job file without someone forwarding them.
Who should capture the evidence on site?
The person who sees the work, usually the supervisor or foreman, with subcontractors adding their own photos where that's practical. Keep it to a few minutes at the end of the day. We look at what makes that stick in Five Minutes on Site.
What about variations agreed by phone or text?
Record the instruction on the day, against the job, even if the formal approval comes later. A dated note and a screenshot of the text are far easier to follow up than a memory six weeks on. Our progress claim to payment certificate guide covers where the paperwork goes after that.
Talk it through with us
If your QS is spending more time finding information than checking it, we can help work out where the evidence goes missing and how to get it to the job without extra admin on site. Book a free initial chat and we'll talk through how your claims come together today.