Construction weather report: see a real weather site report

What a weather chart should record

Keep it short. A chart nobody fills in is worth nothing. Eight columns and a weekly signatureis enough for most projects.

How to build a weather chart for your site

1. Identify the weather-sensitiveactivities on your programme. Not every task stops when the weather turns, and you only need to monitor the ones that do.

2. Set your time frame. Most site managers run a rolling seven-day view updated each morning, with a longer view for seasonal planning.

3. Choose your data sources. A forecast for the outlook, on-site measurement for what actually happened. Do not rely on one.

4. Pick your parameters. Temperature, rainfall, wind speed and gust, humidity. Add visibility and lightning if they affect your operations.

5. Choose the format. A spreadsheet with colour coding works well. Green for proceed, amber for caution, red forstop.

6. Update and share it daily. Two minutes at the morning briefing. A chart in somebody's inbox is not a chart.

Which readings matter, and who decides

There are two different questions here, and mixing them up is where weather claims gowrong. Whether conditions are unsafe is a technical question, answered by yourlift plan, the manufacturer's limits and the applicable standards.

Whether a day is claimable is a contractual question, answered by your contract.

We can help with the first by measuring accurately. We cannot answer the second foryou, and neither can any template you download.

Turning the chart into a defensible claim

There are two different questions here, and mixing them up is where weather claims gowrong. Whether conditions are unsafe is a technical question, answered by yourlift plan, the manufacturer's limits and the applicable standards.

1. Baseline the programme first, sothere is a reference point for what counts as a delay.

2. Record actuals, not forecasts. Aforecast proves nothing after the event.

3. Log what the weather stopped, notjust what the weather was.

4. Note the hours lost. Partial daysoften accumulate under the contract.

5. Issue the delay notice inside thecontractual window, frequently seven days or less.

6. Keep the record after completion.Disputes surface long after practical completion.

Filling it in by hand, or letting the station do it

There are two different questions here, and mixing them up is where weather claims gowrong. Whether conditions are unsafe is a technical question, answered by yourlift plan, the manufacturer's limits and the applicable standards.

How Arkil moved from gut feeling to facts

Three or four sentences from theexisting Arkil case study, with a link to the full article.