How Do You Write a Weekly Owner Update?

Most owners read the weekly update for three answers: is the job on time, is anything going to cost me more, and is anything waiting on me. Everything else is support. An update that opens with three paragraphs of trades and quantities hides those answers.

Public owners ask for the same thing in their own reports. Connecticut's construction administration manual has its construction administrator produce a monthly report "with a narrative summary of the physical progress of construction", noting potential delays and problems and their impact on "the overall project completion date". The City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering's progress reports procedure says writing one forces the team to compare the project to the plan and to discuss "the corrective actions required to get the project back on schedule".

A weekly update is the short version of those reports. The owner's side of the job is in the owner's guide; this post is for the GC writing to them.

The federal scheduling spec gives a good test for the schedule section. UFGS 01 32 01.00 10 asks each schedule narrative to describe "current and anticipated problem areas, delaying factors and their impact, and an explanation of corrective actions taken or required to be taken". If the job is at risk, say what you are doing about it in the same sentence.

The two pending change orders add up: $4,860 for the floor drains plus $2,450 for a relocated electrical panel is $7,310. The owner can see the total and the one they need to sign this week. And the at-risk status names the cause and the date it turns into a slip.

1. Pick one day and send it then, every week, even when the week was quiet.
2. Start from the records, not memory: the week's daily logs, finished schedule activities, RFIs answered and meetings held.
3. Write the schedule line last, after you've looked at the key dates, and change it only when the dates change.
4. Move every owner action item from the meeting minutes into the decisions list with its date.
5. Keep the numbers in the same order every week, so a change stands out.
6. Reread it as the owner: can they tell in thirty seconds whether anything is late, costing more, or waiting on them?

Don't use the update to argue a delay or a change. Notice of a claim goes the way your contract requires; the update is a summary, and saying a delay is "possible" in an update may not count as notice.

In Conflo's owner updates, starting this week's update fills in a draft from the week's records: the work the daily logs recorded and schedule activities finished, RFIs answered, meetings held and tasks completed. Coming up lists the next weeks of the schedule and upcoming OAC and owner meetings, and issues lists overdue RFIs with who owes the answer, open RFIs that affect the schedule, and open meeting action items assigned to the owner.

The draft suggests a schedule status of on track, at risk or behind, which you can change, and you edit every section before publishing. Each update keeps the project's numbers as of the day it was saved: percent complete, days to substantial completion, open and overdue RFIs, submittals and change orders pending. The pending change order total shows only to people who see the project's money. Once published, the update is locked, and the owner and the GC team can comment on it.

A weekly owner update is one page that answers three questions: is the job on time, is anything going to cost more, and what does the owner need to decide by when. Give the same numbers every week and send it on the same day.

If writing it means rereading a week of daily logs and emails, start from a draft built from the week's records.

See how owner updates work in Conflo

1. 0600 Construction Administration Procedures Manual, §2.4 (monthly progress and schedule reports) — State of Connecticut Department of Administrative Services. Read October 22, 2026.
2. Project Delivery Manual, 5.2 Progress Reports — City of Los Angeles, Bureau of Engineering. Read October 22, 2026.
3. UFGS 01 32 01.00 10, Project Schedule (August 2026), §3.5.2 Narrative Report — U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Whole Building Design Guide). Read October 22, 2026.