Founders & Small BusinessFree tool
Weekly Construction Progress Report Tool
A weekly progress report from your field notes: work by trade, days lost, the decisions the owner owes you, and a running issues log.
Free to start · Opens in your River workspace, ready to edit and share
How to write a weekly construction progress report
A weekly construction progress report tells the owner what got built this week and where the job stands against the schedule. A good one fits on a page or two. It covers work completed by trade, days lost and why, deliveries and inspections, and next week's plan. Most important, it lists each decision the owner owes you, with the date you need it.
Write only what you could show later from your daily log, photos and delivery tickets. A lender's inspector may check it against the site, and in a dispute your reports become part of the record.
Know who reads it
Most weekly reports go to a homeowner, a lender, or a commercial owner and their architect. Each reads for something different, so lead with what yours needs.
What each reader looks for first
| Reader | What they want first | What to get right |
|---|---|---|
| Homeowner | Is the job moving, and what do I need to decide? | Plain words, with each trade term explained once |
| Lender or draw inspector | Completed work, and a percentage they can confirm on site | No progress claimed ahead of the work in place |
| Commercial owner or architect | Progress by trade against the schedule, inspections and open questions | Exact dates and trade detail |
Lenders check progress for themselves. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a federal bank regulator, says a bank's representative typically inspects the site to confirm work is completed as reported1. Draws are typically based on percentage complete, backed by an inspection report. A weekly report that claims more than the inspector finds costs you credibility.
Start from your daily log
Your weekly report is only as good as the notes behind it. Keep a short log of the same things each day, and Friday's report becomes a summary instead of a memory test:
- Each trade on site, and the crew size
- What each trade did, and where
- Deliveries, including anything wrong or short
- Inspections and their results
- Weather, and the hours it cost
- Owner visits, requests and decisions
- Problems, and who you told
Record weather as facts: the rain total, the hours lost and the work it stopped. Whether it earns extra time depends on your contract. Federal fixed-price construction contracts, for example, excuse delays from unusually severe weather2 and other unforeseeable causes beyond the contractor's control.
To show a week was unusual, compare it with NOAA's free daily weather records3, searchable by ZIP code, and its 30-year averages. NOAA also sells certified copies for legal use.
Photograph the same views each week
Pick a few fixed spots, such as each corner of the lot and the doorway of each main room. Dated photos from the same spots show progress at a glance.
What goes in a weekly progress report
Use the same sections in the same order every week, so the owner learns where to look. Lead with the summary, and leave out any section with nothing to report.
The sections of a weekly progress report
| Section | What it says | Example line |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | Did the job move, and does anything need the owner? | "Framing is done. We need your tile choice by June 15." |
| Work completed | What each trade did this week | "Rough plumbing started Wednesday. Both upstairs baths are roughed in." |
| Schedule | Where the job stands against the plan, and days lost | "Rain cost two days. Drywall now starts June 23." |
| Materials | What arrived, what was wrong and what is on order | "Two bedroom windows came 2 inches narrow and were reordered." |
| Inspections | What was scheduled, passed or failed | "Framing inspection booked for Wednesday." |
| Decisions needed | What the owner owes, by when, and what slips if it's late | "Tile by June 15, or the bath finish slips a week." |
| Next week | What is planned, and what it depends on | "Electrical rough-in, if the panel arrives Monday." |
Explain a trade term the first time it appears: rough-in is the pipes, wires and ducts inside the walls, before insulation and drywall. Skip adjectives like "great progress" and give days and numbers instead.
Report progress you can prove
Give a percentage only when it rests on something you counted, such as two of three baths roughed in. If you haven't measured, say what was done instead. A guessed 80% that turns out to be 60% is the number the owner remembers.
Compare progress with the plan, not just with last week. A federal contract clause on construction schedules requires a progress chart showing the percentage of work scheduled for completion by any given date4. The contractor then marks actual progress on the same chart. On a small job, one line does it: "Framing was planned to finish June 6 and finished June 3."
Your report often backs a payment request, so keep the two in step. California's contractor licensing board says that on home improvement jobs, payments cannot exceed the value of the work performed5, apart from the down payment. If the owner pays late for work that's done, a late payment reminder keeps the request specific and polite.
Ask for decisions with a date
The section that protects you most is the list of decisions the owner owes you. Owners rarely hold up a job on purpose, so make each decision hard to miss: give it a date, and say plainly what slips if it's late.
Decisions needed from you (Hansen residence, week ending June 6)
1. Primary bath tile: please choose by June 15. The supplier needs two weeks, and the tile setter is booked for June 30. A later choice moves the bath finish back about a week.
2. Kitchen pendant lights: please confirm the model by June 10, before electrical rough-in. Moving the boxes after drywall would need a change order.
- One decision per line. Each item can be answered and closed on its own.
- A real date. "By June 15," not "soon" or "next week."
- The reason for the date. A lead time or a waiting trade shows the date isn't arbitrary.
- The cost of missing it. Days or dollars, stated plainly and without blame.
A decision that changes the price or the scope needs more than a line in the report. In California, a change to a home improvement contract's price or scope must be made with a written change order, signed by both sides before the change5. Send a change order, and list it in the report as awaiting signature.
Keep a record that holds up
Carry each open item forward until it closes: what it is, when it was raised, who owes the next step and what it affects. A running issues log shows what has been waiting, and for how long.
A weekly report is usually not the notice your contract requires. On federal fixed-price construction jobs, for example, costs incurred more than 20 days before written notice of an oral or informal change order6 can't be recovered, except for defective specifications. The contractor also has 10 days from the beginning of any delay2 to report its causes in writing. Send notices as separate letters, even when the weekly report covers the same facts.
When to call a lawyer
If a delay or extra cost could turn into a claim, read your contract's notice clause that day. Then talk to a construction attorney licensed in your state before the deadline passes.
Before you send the report
- The summary says whether the job moved and what you need
- Each percentage rests on something you counted
- Days lost are dated, with their cause
- Every decision has a needed-by date and a consequence
- Changes to price or scope have their own change order
- Photos are dated and taken from the same spots
- Last week's open items are carried forward or closed
At the final walkthrough, what's left to finish goes on a construction punch list. Until then, the tool at the top of this page turns each week's notes into the report and issues log. Any figure you didn't give comes back marked for you to confirm.
How it works
Start with what happened on site this week, typed the way you'd say it, or attach your daily logs. River turns your shorthand into a plain report by trade, covering the schedule, materials, inspections and next week's plan. Every decision the owner owes you goes into a running issues log. River won't add progress you didn't report: missing percentages and dates come back marked for you to confirm.
Start with your notes
Type what happened on site this week, or attach your daily logs, and pick who will read it.
River sorts the week
It writes the work up by trade, records days lost and deliveries, and lists every decision the owner owes.
Get your report
A short report in your workspace, plus an issues log sheet, with any missing figure marked to confirm.
Send it, then repeat
Ask River for the email to the owner or a lender version. Next week, start from the same log.
What you get
- A three- or four-sentence summary: did the job move this week, and what needs the owner's attention?
- Work completed by trade, with completion percentages only where your own notes include them
- Days lost and the causes you gave, with weather tied to the specific days it hit
- Materials and inspections as reported: what arrived, what was wrong, what's on order and what passed
- Each decision the owner owes you, with a needed-by date and what slips if it's missed
- An issues log sheet that carries open items forward each week and marks resolved ones closed
Common questions
What should a weekly construction progress report include?
A weekly progress report should open with a short summary, then cover each trade's work, the schedule and days lost, deliveries, inspections and next week's plan. It should also list the decisions the owner owes, each with a needed-by date, and include dated photos. Keeping the sections in the same order each week makes it quick to read.
How do I write a weekly progress report with River?
Type what happened on site this week into the box at the top of this page, or attach your daily logs, and pick who will read it. River writes the report by trade and starts an issues log of open items. Both open in your free River workspace, ready to edit and send.
Will it make up progress I didn't report?
No. Every line traces back to your notes. River won't invent a completion percentage, a cause for a delay, an inspection result or a delivery date. Where the report needs a figure you didn't give, it marks the spot for you to fill in. That matters, because the report may back a draw request or be read in a dispute.
Can I use the report for a construction loan draw?
Yes, as support, but it doesn't replace your lender's draw request forms or inspection. Choose the lender option and the report leads with completed work and the percentages your notes support. Lenders typically have someone confirm the work on site before releasing money, so report only what is actually in place.
Does a weekly report count as notice of a delay or a change?
Usually not. Construction contracts often set their own notice rules, such as written notice within a fixed number of days, and a line in a weekly report may not meet them. When your notes describe a delay or added cost, River adds a reminder in the chat to check your contract's notice clause.
Does it work for remodels and commercial jobs?
Yes. It suits remodels, additions, new homes and small commercial jobs. Pick the reader and the tone follows. A homeowner gets plain words with trade terms explained, a lender gets completed work first, and a commercial owner or architect gets more formal trade detail.
Is the weekly construction progress report tool free?
Yes, it is free to start. Your progress report and issues log open in a River workspace, where you can edit them, share them or ask River to change them. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
Sources
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. “Comptroller's Handbook: Commercial Real Estate Lending.” occ.treas.gov (opens in a new tab)
Acquisition.gov. “52.249-10 Default (Fixed-Price Construction).” acquisition.gov (opens in a new tab)
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. “Climate Data Online (CDO).” ncei.noaa.gov (opens in a new tab)
Acquisition.gov. “52.236-15 Schedules for Construction Contracts.” acquisition.gov (opens in a new tab)
Contractors State License Board. “What is a Contract?” cslb.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)
Acquisition.gov. “52.243-4 Changes.” acquisition.gov (opens in a new tab)
Built by
Chandler Supple
Co-founder & CEO, River
Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.