Free template
No fixed price? The sheet is the price.
Some extra work can't be priced before it starts — nobody knows how long the dig-out takes or what's behind the wall. Daywork is how the industry charges for it: agreed rates per hour and per day, recorded on a signed daily sheet. The sheet below is the whole apparatus. Copy it off the page.
Copy-ready sheet Labour, plant and materials Signed daily, before knock-off
01 — What daywork actually is
Agreed rates, signed hours, nothing hidden.
Daywork — “dayworks” on most commercial sites — is work charged at agreed hourly and daily rates instead of a fixed price, for when the quantity can't be known upfront. Commercial contracts build it in as a schedule of rates clause: the variation gets valued at the agreed rates, and the dayworks sheets are the evidence the rates get multiplied against.
Domestic jobs rarely use the word, but the mechanic works anywhere the scope is genuinely unknowable: the customer agrees your rates before the day starts, you record the actual hours, plant and materials every day, and someone with authority signs the sheet. The signed sheet times the agreed rates is the invoice.
02 — Daywork or fixed price
Pick the one that matches what you know.
You know what the work is and what it'll take. Price it, they sign the number, done. This is most variations — and most customers prefer a number they can say yes to. Our variation letter template covers this case.
You can't know until you're in it — latent damage, hidden services, a dig that goes until it stops. Agree the rates, record the actuals, sign daily. The customer pays for what happened, and can watch it happening on the sheet.
Start daywork with rates nobody agreed, or record the day from memory at knock-off time. A sheet signed at 3pm by a supervisor beats ten sheets reconstructed at invoice time — and it's the difference between a claim and an argument.
03 — The sheet
One per day, per lot of work. Signed before you leave.
DAYWORKS SHEET — Job [name / number] Date: ____________ Site: __________________________________ Description of work done: _________________________________________________________________ LABOUR Name / role Hours Rate Amount ________________________ ________ ________ ________ ________________________ ________ ________ ________ PLANT & EQUIPMENT Item Hours Rate Amount ________________________ ________ ________ ________ MATERIALS Item Qty Rate Amount ________________________ ________ ________ ________ Subtotal: __________ GST: __________ Total: __________ Supervisor / client name: ______________________________ Signature: ______________________________ Date: __________
Photograph the signed sheet and send a copy to whoever's paying the same day — the photo is your copy, theirs is the record, and neither side gets to reconstruct the day later. If the customer won't sign sheets, that tells you something about how the invoice will go, and it tells you early.
04 — The rates
There's no published daywork rate. Yours is the rate.
Nobody publishes a standard daywork rate — the rates are whatever you and the customer agree before the work starts. On a contract job that's the schedule of rates in the contract; on your own jobs it's your normal charge-out rate, plus whatever uplift covers the disruption. Materials go on at cost plus an agreed handling margin — say it out loud and put it on the sheet, because 10% and 20% both feel obvious to different sides of the invoice.
The one rule is order: rates agreed first, then work, then signed records. Reverse any two and you're negotiating against a finished day.
Straight answers
Questions people actually ask.
Is daywork the same as a variation?
Daywork is one way a variation gets priced. Most variations are a fixed price agreed upfront; daywork is the fallback for when the quantity can't be known — the contract values the extra work at agreed hourly and daily rates instead. Commercial contracts say so in a schedule of rates clause. Domestic jobs rarely use the word, but agreed rates plus a signed daily record is the same mechanic.
What rate can I charge for daywork?
Whatever was agreed before the work started — that's the whole system. On a contract job, the schedule of rates in the contract fixes it. On your own work, your standard charge-out rate plus a stated materials margin is the honest anchor. There's no industry rate card to point at afterwards, which is exactly why the agreement has to come first.
Who signs a dayworks sheet?
Someone with authority on the paying side: the site supervisor or foreman on a commercial job, the owner or their agent on a domestic one. Your offsider signing it proves nothing, and neither does the neighbour who was watching. If the paying side won't sign daily, get the day's record acknowledged by text or email the same day.
Can I use dayworks on a domestic job?
Yes, if the customer agrees to the rates first — show them the rate sheet before the work starts, not in the invoice. For genuinely unknowable work most customers find it fairer than a price padded for the worst case, because they pay for what actually happened. Either way, the sequence is non-negotiable: rates, then work, then signature.
The next one's coming
The next “can you just” is already on its way.
Price it on your phone, they sign on theirs, you both keep the PDF. Under A$500 it costs you nothing, ever.
No card, no trial clock. Your customer doesn't need an account.