Cut Overtime Costs with Smarter Construction Scheduling

Overtime Is Bleeding Your Profits 

Let’s face it—every overtime hour drains your profit margin. 

In construction and field service businesses, overtime happens fast. A schedule gets tight, a job runs long, and suddenly your most reliable crew is logging extra hours. Multiply that by a few workers, and your budget takes a serious hit. 

Labor is your biggest expense, and overtime can wreck your profits quicker than any other cost. Whether it’s a last-minute request or poor planning, those extra hours add up—and burn out your best people in the process. 

But here’s the good news: You can reduce overtime without overloading your team or cutting corners. TotalTime’s scheduling tools help you take control of labor hours, protect your margins, and keep your team productive. 

Small Overtime Hours = Massive Financial Waste 

Even a few hours of overtime each week add up: 

Let’s say 10 crew members each work just one hour of overtime weekly at time-and-a-half: 

• 10 hours x 1.5 = 15 paid hours 

• 15 x $30/hour = $450/week 

• $450/week x 52 weeks = $23,400/year 

And that’s just one hour per worker. 

With better crew scheduling, most of that expense is avoidable. Real-time labor visibility lets you reassign tasks before overtime hits. 

The Hidden Costs of Poor Scheduling 

Missed scheduling signals can wreck your labor budget: 

• Crews consistently logging extra hours 

• Jobs running 15–20% over on labor 

• Late arrivals due to overlap between tasks 

• Skilled workers doing low-skill tasks 

These aren’t just inefficiencies—they’re profit leaks. One contractor saved $35,000 a year by syncing crew schedules with material deliveries. The culprit? Poor communication between scheduling and field teams. 

Smart Scheduling = More Profits, Less Burnout 

When schedules are built from scratch or managed by gut instinct, you end up with: 

• Understaffed sites 

• Wasted downtime 

• High-value employees stretched thin 

TotalTime changes that. With simple mobile scheduling, you can balance workloads, plan around known constraints, and spot problems before they become costly. 

TotalTime Works the Way You Do 

You didn’t get into this business to learn software—you came to build and lead. That’s why TotalTime keeps things simple: 

• One-tap scheduling edits from phone or tablet 

• No tech team needed 

• Built for real field conditions 

Your foreman needs to move two workers on the fly? Done in seconds. 

Field-Ready Scheduling Tools 

TotalTime gives you complete visibility into: 

• Scheduled vs. actual hours 

• Crew location and assignment 

• Breaks, shift timing, and job codes 

And you can make adjustments instantly—from any device. No paper, no late-night group texts, no confusion. 

Strategy 1: Stop Overtime Before It Starts 

You shouldn’t find out about overtime after payroll. TotalTime gives you the information so you can see when workers are approaching: 

• Daily hour limits 

• Weekly overtime thresholds 

• End-of-shift cutoffs 

See it all on your dashboard and take action before those extra hours hit the books. 

Avoid the “Monday Morning Surprise” 

Overtime surprises on Monday morning can ruin your week. One remodeler calls it the “Monday Morning Massacre”—when unplanned Friday night hours eat into job profits. 

Real-time labor tracking means foremen know what is going on early. If a worker’s approaching overtime, you decide now whether to keep them or switch tasks. Those quick decisions protect your bottom line. 

Strategy 2: Distribute Workloads More Evenly 

Consistently relying on the same workers? 

• Leads to burnout 

• Increases turnover 

• Adds unnecessary overtime 

With TotalTime, managers can view all schedules side by side, shift workloads across crews, and prevent the same team from being overworked week after week. 

Why Retaining Your Best People Matters 

Skilled workers are expensive to replace. Hiring, training, and lost productivity costs you $10,000–$30,000 per person. 

One HVAC company owner said, "I'd rather lose a $50,000 job than lose my best tech." Smart scheduling helps retain your top talent and reduces churn. 

Strategy 3: Automate Labor Compliance 

Every state has different rules. Some contracts do too. TotalTime makes compliance easy: 

• Automate state-specific overtime limits 

• Set custom rules per job or customer 

• Avoid accidental labor violations 

No need to memorize labor codes. The system gives you the information and lets the foremen or project manager respond in real time. 

Real Contractor Results: $2,400 Saved in One Month 

A roofing company was losing money to: 

• Untracked breaks 

• Late arrivals 

• Overreliance on a single foreman’s favorite crew 

After adopting TotalTime scheduling: 

• Crews rotated evenly 

• Breaks tracked automatically 

• Routes optimized 

Savings: $2,400/month and a happier workforce. 

What Contractors Are Saying 

"No more 6 AM texts asking where to go. The schedule is in their phone." – Mike R., Electrical Contractor 

"We cut overtime by 62% in two months." – Sarah T., Plumbing Business Owner 

"My foremen went from resisting to loving it." – Dan L., General Contractor 

Give Your Team Schedules They Can Trust 

Reliable schedules make for better crews: 

• No last-minute “can you stay late?” requests 

• More predictable workdays 

• Less conflict over timecards 

Happy crews do better work. TotalTime makes it easy. 

Paper Scheduling Is Costing You 

Manual scheduling means: 

• Delayed decisions 

• More overtime 

• Endless texts and calls 

TotalTime centralizes everything. With digital updates, you save hours every week and reduce mistakes. 

How to Get Started with TotalTime 

1. Start with one crew or job site 

2. Set up project 

3. Assign schedules by person, shift, or crew 

4. Monitor and adjust as needed 

Crews are usually fully onboarded in days. Results often show up by the next payroll cycle. 

Common Objections, Answered 

• "My crew won't use an app." — They already use smartphones. TotalTime is simple and fast. 

• "We're too small." — Smaller companies have tighter margins. You need visibility. 

• "We've always done it this way." — And you’ve always had the same problems. Time to fix them. 

Stop Paying for Poor Planning 

Overtime isn’t just a nuisance. It’s lost money, worker burnout, and budget chaos. 

With TotalTime, you:

✅ Slash overtime

✅ Retain top workers

✅ Stay compliant

✅ Streamline crew schedules

✅ Improve job profitability 

✈ Ready to cut overtime and take control of your labor hours? Download The Timekeeping Fix or schedule a demo today to see how TotalTime works for contractors like you.