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A Guide To: Construction Timesheets

What is a Construction timesheet?

A construction timesheet is a method of recording and tracking the amount of time a worker spends on a job. This allows construction businesses to easily track how many hours its employees have worked for and ensures they are being paid the correct amount. 

Why is it important?

Accuracy

Using construction timesheets and an approval system can help to ensure the hours your workers record are as accurate as possible. These means that your workers can be paid correctly and there can be no debates about number of hours worked. By reviewing budgeted hours versus actual hours worked, you can also keep track of a projects budget, schedule, and profitability. 

Regulation

Using construction timesheets can also help ensure your construction business complies with working regulations. This includes ensuring your workers take the required number of breaks and work an appropriate number of hours per day. This can be especially important for those workers operating specialist machinery.

Job costing/estimating

Construction timesheets can be useful when it comes to analysing labour costs. By using timesheet data effectively, it can be used for estimating, tracking project costs and monitoring profitability. This timesheet information can also be useful when reporting planned vs actual costs, allowing for changes to be made throughout the lifecycle of a project.

What should be included on a construction timesheet?

There is no set template for a construction timesheet and the level of detail required can vary from business to business or even from project to project. The simplest construction timesheets are used to just calculate payroll and may only require a start and end time; however they can be as detailed as you want.

Here are some of the features you may want to include on your construction timesheets:
• The individual workers details
• The period of the timesheet
• Total hours worked in the set period
• Contract or cost code

Capturing these additional detail can make it easier for your accounts team to match the timesheet to the correct job and it also gives you more information to use when it comes to your reporting. However, it is important to remember to ensure your construction timesheets are easy and quick to fill in for your workers.

Digitizing your construction timesheets

Whilst using physical timesheets is better than not using any at all, that is not the most effective method. Digitizing your timesheets and using technology or a dedicated app can improve the efficiency and accuracy of your business’ construction timesheets.

Here are some benefits of using digital timesheets:
• Timesheets can no longer get lost or damaged, like physical ones can
• The information captured is automatically uploaded into an integrated system – no need to scan physical timesheets or collate the data into a spreadsheet yourself
• You can ensure all required fields are filled in before the timesheet is submitted
• Workers can fill out a digital timesheet from wherever they are working using a mobile device
• Approval workflows can be implemented, meaning the completed timesheet can automatically be sent to the correct person for sign-off

By using digital construction timesheets as part of your accounting and management software, the data captured will automatically be sent to your system. This means that this data can be attributed to the correct contract or specific job and be used in reporting and dashboards.

Summary

Using construction timesheets is a great way for your business to efficiently manage your worker’s hours and can help improve payroll accuracy, comply with regulations and monitor project profitability. Whilst physical timesheets can be a good start for a construction business, to further boost your efficiency and enhance your utilization of the data captured, it is worth considering digitization.

As an add-on to our construction-specific accounting and management software, Evolution Mx, we offer a timesheet portal that allows you to digitize your construction timesheets and ensures the data captured goes directly into your integrated system. If you would like to find out more about Evolution Mx or our Timesheet Portal, then please contact us today.