Robert Koci
A contractor asks a question
Canadian ContractorA contractor asks what you do to keep track of your employee's hours
We love it when we can send a question out to our readership on your behalf. Here’s one from a contractor who wants to know how you manage your employee hours:
We’ve been back and forth again and again on how our field crew are to hand in their hours and were wondering “what the heck is everybody else doing”.. We are a rural contracting company, 95 per cent residential. One guy could visit a few or more job sites in a day and perform a few or more tasks at each site ~ we need to know what the tasks are and how long each took…or do we??
Can you show me a few examples or explain what everybody out there is doing as far as hours collecting. Old fashioned time cards?? Calling them in at the end of the day??
We generally like to update client account sheets on a daily basis….
Well? How do you manage your employee hours? Comment here, or email me: rkoci@bizinfogroup.ca
I have given up trying to get accurate information on how long small tasks have taken to be completed. The problem was hours were not always being reported accurately. The guys were most concerned about making sure the total number of hours worked was accurate. Monitoring the progress of crews is partial based on the time taken but also on the quality of work. So site visits are an essential part of my day’s work.
Going for daily updates on hours worked seems like over kill. How often is the client being billed. I go with bi weekly timesheets with clients being invoice approx once a month. Trying to catch the cheats is next to impossible. Eventually they will show their true colours but having honest, trustworthy employees that you can count on is essential.
My question is how do other contractors control the ordering of the jobsite materials. Do you allow or expect your foremen to place orders for materials. Also how does this information get back to the office. PO books, delivery slips?
Has anyone found a good way to keep a jobsite journal. This seems to be a very low priority for the guys on site but I find it a very useful record of what happened when and why. Do other contractors use jobsite journals?
We use an phone app called “abouttime”. Every project is entered into the system as well as tasks. The guys punch in and out the same as if they worked in an office or factory. All of the info is automatically sent back to my computer so that I can look at it daily. There is a ton more capabilities with this app than we will ever use but in my business it have become a lifeline