Benefits of Accurate Time Tracking in Construction

Construction companies primarily use time card data for payroll, but accurately tracking employee work hours can also provide valuable business insights.

Why is accurate time tracking important in construction?

The main benefits of accurate construction time tracking are:

1. Accurate payroll

2. Detailed production data 

3. Better budget and schedule planning

4. Improved productivity

Accurate payroll

The best way to keep your employees happy is to pay them correctly, on time. Accurate time tracking means accurate payroll with shorter processing times and less errors.

Tracking time accurately also saves money for you as an employer. With less accurate methods, it’s easy to make errors or miss discrepancies. When your employees log work hours to the minute, you’re paying them for exactly the work they’ve done, no more and no less.

Detailed production data

Time is money on the jobsite, and even a slight change to the planned schedule can result in major issues on a construction project. This is especially true when a delay or setback isn’t immediately noticed or clearly communicated. 

Accurate time tracking helps stakeholders see what’s happening on the jobsite by the hour. When employees log work hours for tasks tied to specific cost codes, project managers and other supervisors can measure data against estimates to make sure work is on track and within budget.

They’ll see when a task or project phase is taking longer or shorter than expected, and they can quickly coordinate with their teams to make adjustments when necessary.

Better budget and schedule planning

When you track exactly how employees spend their time on the jobsite, you gain a better understanding of your team’s true capabilities.

Use historical project data to plan better bids and make more accurate project schedules. Instead of basing estimates on educated guesses and industry standards, you can review your real production data and see if any common risk factors affected past performance. 

Improved productivity

In addition to planning better bids, review historical time tracking data to identify areas for improvement. Accurately assess your team’s productivity and see if any training, education, or additional tools could make a difference.

You can also use accurate time data to make more informed hiring and purchasing decisions. If your team consistently struggles to complete specific tasks within estimated time frames, you may need to hire additional crew to lighten their workload.

Best construction time tracking practices 

Time tracking can be time consuming, and it isn’t always easy to improve accuracy when your team is busy working on project-related tasks. Encourage employees to provide the most detailed, accurate time data possible with the following tips:

1. Use the right time tracking method

2. Communicate expectations

3. Go digital

Use the right time tracking method

There are many different ways to track time in the field. Your team may use traditional paper or digital time cards, you may have a shared time clock, or you may have an app that each employee uses to clock in and out on their mobile device. Sometimes a foreman, superintendent, or another supervisor will be in charge of tracking time for their entire team.

The right method to track time depends entirely on your individual business’s needs. Choose the method—or multiple methods—that work best and can be used more reliably and accurately for you. 

Communicate expectations

Reinforce the importance of accurate time tracking with your team. Encourage them to take accountability for clocking in and filling out time cards by explaining the benefits.

Make sure that, whatever process you use, you clearly communicate instructions and expectations. Employees should thoroughly understand their obligations for tracking time, choosing cost codes, and logging breaks. 

You may even want to establish an incentive program.

Go digital

Paper time cards can get the job done, but when it comes to accuracy and detail, nothing beats digital. Digital time tracking saves the field and office time by standardizing your time tracking processes and allowing for best in class features like location verification, custom reminders, and automated reporting.

Time tracking software allows for mobile data capture, which is faster, easier, and more accurate than pen and paper. Employees can clock in with a tap and track time to tasks with automatically-added cost codes. They can share completed time cards in real-time, with no delays from field to office. 

Then, when your accounting team needs to review time cards and process payroll, they’ll immediately be able to access all data in a standardized format. No more chasing down time cards before payday. Time tracking software can even integrate directly with your accounting system, saving even more time by reducing manual data entry.

Finally, you can gain automated production insights without having to manually organize and analyze data.