Stop Losing Money: Fix Bad Time Tracking and Take Control of Job Costing
The Hard Truth About Time and Money in Construction
Let's get real - in construction and field service, every labor minute costs you money. But if you're still using paper timesheets or outdated systems, you're probably bleeding cash without even realizing it.
Think a few missed clock-ins or wrong job codes aren't a big deal? Think again. When your time tracking is off, everything else falls apart - your payroll, your budgets, your bids, and ultimately, your profits.
Let's look at how sloppy timekeeping is quietly draining your business - and how you can finally fix it.
What Job Costing Really Means for Your Business
Accurate job costing is tracking all your costs - labor, materials, equipment, overhead - for each specific project. When you nail this, you can:
Win more profitable bids because you know your actual costs
Spot which jobs make money and which ones are money pits
See exactly where time and cash are leaking out
Make smarter decisions about crews, schedules, and pricing
And here's the thing - this isn't just for the big companies. Whether you're running three crews or thirty, accurate job costing is the difference between guessing and knowing.
But it all hinges on one thing: accurate labor tracking.
How Your Current Time Tracking Is Sabotaging Your Profits
If your crew is guessing hours, filling out timesheets from memory, or forgetting to change job codes when switching sites, your job costs will be off.
Here's how the problems creep in:
Workers forget to clock in, so hours get "guesstimated" later
Job codes are wrong or missing, so labor gets charged to the wrong project
Paper timesheets get lost, damaged, or filled with errors
Nobody spots problems until after payroll runs - when it's too late
These "small" errors snowball fast. If each worker adds just 15 minutes a day, a 10-person crew racks up an extra 12+ hours a week you didn't plan for - possibly billed to the wrong jobs.
The $25,000 Mistake You're Probably Making Right Now
Here's a real-world scenario every contractor faces:
You bid a project expecting 100 hours of labor. But because time tracking is loose:
Some workers forget to change job codes when moving between sites
Others round up by 15-30 minutes each day
Break times aren't tracked consistently
Hours get submitted days later with guesswork filling the gaps
When the job wraps, you check the numbers and realize you actually spent 130 hours. At $40/hour (wages + overhead), that's an extra $1,200 you never budgeted for.
Now multiply that by 20 projects a year. You've just lost $24,000 annually because of poor time tracking.
And worse? Your future bids will use this bad data, creating a cycle of underbidding that keeps eating your profits.
Where Your Current System Is Failing You
Most of the time, it's not your workers' fault - it's your system that's letting them down. The typical culprits are:
Paper timesheets that get damaged, lost, or turned in late
Generic time apps not built for construction or field work
No way to tag hours by project or job code
Missing GPS verification to confirm work locations
Delayed approvals that let errors slide for days
If your system makes accurate tracking difficult, you can't be surprised when your numbers don't add up.
Want something that actually works on job sites? Check out how TotalTime helps crews track time accurately without the hassle.
This Hurts More Than Just Your Bottom Line
Bad job costing doesn't just eat profits. It creates:
Customer disputes over billing
Paycheck errors that frustrate your best workers
Office staff wasting hours fixing timesheet mistakes
Foremen spending less time on actual supervision
Mistrust when estimates don't match final costs
It's not just about money - it's about your team's morale and your company's reputation.
The Solution: Make Time Tracking Simple Enough That People Actually Use It
The fix isn't complicated: make time tracking so easy and fast that your team actually wants to use it.
That means:
One-tap mobile clock-ins that take seconds, not minutes
GPS tagging that verifies job locations automatically
Simple job code selection during clock-in
Daily reviews to catch issues before they become problems
Quick approval processes for supervisors
When tracking is this simple, you get clean, trustworthy data - and see the true cost of every project, every week.
Why TotalTime Works for Construction Teams Like Yours
TotalTime was built specifically for crews in the field - not for office workers. It's designed for the real world of construction with:
One-tap mobile clock-ins that work on personal phones
GPS verification that confirms locations without micromanaging
Job tagging that automatically tracks hours by project
Live dashboards so foremen can see hours in real-time
Simple exports to your accounting or payroll system
Whether you run roofing crews, plumbing teams, or concrete work, TotalTime fits how you already work - not the other way around.
Real Contractors, Real Results
A Commercial Electrical Company struggled to track which hours went to which building project. With TotalTime, their crew started tagging hours by job at clock-in. Within two weeks, their office manager cut payroll prep time by 60% and had accurate costs for every project.
After switching to TotalTime, a concrete contractor found one project was 25% over budget — all because workers were clocking hours to the wrong job by mistake. Fixing this saved them over $4,000 on labor in just one month.
What Accurate Job Costing Does For Your Business
When you can finally trust your time data, you gain:
Confidence in your bids - no more "guess and hope" pricing
Cleaner client billing with detailed records to back it up
Smarter staffing decisions based on true labor needs
More profitable projects without labor surprises
Accurate job costing is what separates the contractors who just survive from those who grow year after year.
Why Your Team Will Actually Use TotalTime
The best system means nothing if your crew avoids it. That's why TotalTime is designed for construction realities:
Simple enough for your non-tech workers
Works even with gloves on
Takes seconds to learn, not hours
GPS location that works where your jobs actually are
It's so straightforward that even your most tech-resistant workers will use it on day one.
Three Steps to Better Job Costing Starting This Week
Want to start improving right away? Try these simple steps:
Assign clear job codes to every project and make sure your crew knows how to use them
Have supervisors review time daily instead of weekly
Run job-specific labor reports every Friday and review them
These small changes can make a huge impact on your bottom line before your next bid goes out.
The Real Cost of "Close Enough" Time Tracking
Many contractors dismiss small time errors as "no big deal." But those casual 15 minutes per worker, per day? They add up faster than you think:
⚠️ Time tracking errors aren’t small. They silently drain thousands from your bottom line every year.
The Bottom Line: Clean Time Tracking = Healthier Profits
Your job costing is only as good as your time tracking. If your time data is fuzzy, your labor budgets will always be wrong.
With an easy tool like TotalTime, you can:
✅ Track every hour the right way
✅ Know exactly where your labor dollars go
✅ Make better, more profitable bids
Ready to Stop Guessing and Start Winning More Profitable Bids?
Accurate time. Accurate budgets. Better profits.
