Construction Timesheet Template
Download a construction timesheet template to track employee hours, crews, cost codes, work locations, overtime, equipment time, approvals, and job labor costs.
Track Construction Labor Hours by Employee, Crew, Project, and Cost Code
A construction timesheet records when employees worked, where they worked, what tasks they performed, and how their hours should be assigned. Accurate timesheets help contractors and subcontractors support payroll preparation, job costing, productivity analysis, billing, change-order documentation, and workforce planning.
This Construction Timesheet Template is designed for subcontractors, specialty contractors, general contractors, foremen, project managers, payroll administrators, and office teams that need a consistent way to capture regular time, overtime, travel, breaks, equipment time, and labor allocation.
What Is a Construction Timesheet?
A construction timesheet is a daily or weekly record of employee and crew labor. It links worked hours to a specific project, work area, trade classification, cost code, activity, work order, or change event.
Unlike a basic attendance record, a construction timesheet should provide enough detail to explain how labor was used. This makes the information more useful for job-cost reports, production tracking, certified payroll support, time-and-material tickets, and project performance reviews.
When to Use This Template
- Recording daily or weekly employee hours
- Allocating labor to projects and cost codes
- Tracking regular time, overtime, and double time
- Separating base-contract work from extra work or rework
- Supporting payroll review and approval
- Comparing labor hours with installed quantities
- Preparing job-cost and productivity reports
- Documenting time-and-material work
- Tracking travel, mobilization, training, or nonproductive time
- Reconciling field records with daily logs and change-order backup
Who Should Use This Template?
This template is suitable for subcontractors, specialty contractors, general contractors, field supervisors, foremen, project managers, payroll teams, job-cost accountants, operations managers, and construction business owners.
It can be adapted for electrical, plumbing, HVAC, fire protection, concrete, structural steel, framing, drywall, roofing, painting, flooring, glazing, excavation, landscaping, civil, maintenance, and service work.
What a Construction Timesheet Should Include
| Timesheet Section | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Employee Details | Identifies the worker, employee number, trade, classification, crew, and supervisor. |
| Project Information | Links hours to the correct project, phase, work area, customer, or service location. |
| Time Entries | Records start time, end time, breaks, regular hours, overtime, and double time. |
| Labor Coding | Assigns hours to cost codes, activities, work orders, schedule activities, or change events. |
| Work Description | Explains the task completed, location, quantity, and related documentation. |
| Equipment and Travel | Tracks equipment operation, driving, mobilization, per diem, and reimbursable travel where applicable. |
| Approvals | Captures employee certification, foreman review, project approval, and payroll status. |
| Exceptions | Flags missing breaks, overlapping entries, excessive hours, incomplete coding, or rejected time. |
How to Use the Template
- Enter the employee, crew, supervisor, work date, and payroll period.
- Select the correct project, phase, location, and cost code.
- Record clock-in, clock-out, and unpaid break times.
- Separate regular, overtime, and double-time hours according to company rules.
- Describe the work completed using specific activities and locations.
- Identify base-scope work, approved change work, pending change work, rework, or service work.
- Record travel, equipment operation, training, standby, or other noninstallation time separately.
- Review calculated totals and correct missing or overlapping entries.
- Obtain employee and supervisor approval before payroll processing.
- Reconcile the approved timesheet with daily logs, production records, and job-cost reports.
An electrical foreman records 10 employees working on two activities during the same shift. Six hours are assigned to branch-circuit installation under cost code 260519, two hours are assigned to approved change-order work in the electrical room, and one hour is recorded as material-handling time. The timesheet separates regular and overtime hours and links the extra work to the applicable change request.
Best Practices for Construction Timesheets
- Record time daily rather than reconstructing it at the end of the week.
- Use consistent employee names, project numbers, and cost codes.
- Separate base work, change work, rework, warranty work, and nonproductive time.
- Require specific work descriptions and locations.
- Apply overtime rules consistently.
- Prevent overlapping time entries.
- Record unpaid breaks separately.
- Review unusual hours before approval.
- Compare labor hours with daily reports and production quantities.
- Preserve approved and corrected timesheets with an audit trail.
Common Construction Timesheet Mistakes
- Submitting time several days late
- Charging all hours to one general project code
- Failing to separate overtime from regular hours
- Using vague descriptions such as “general labor”
- Not identifying the work area or activity
- Combining base-scope and change-order work
- Recording overlapping shifts or duplicate entries
- Ignoring travel, standby, or equipment-operation time
- Approving incomplete timesheets
- Changing approved records without revision history
Frequently Asked Questions
Should construction timesheets be daily or weekly?
Either format can work, but employees and supervisors should record time daily. A weekly timesheet may summarize those daily entries for review and payroll processing.
What is the difference between a timesheet and a timecard?
A timecard typically records attendance and total hours. A construction timesheet usually includes additional project, cost-code, activity, location, and work-description details.
Should change-order labor be tracked separately?
Yes. Record change-related labor under a separate code and reference the applicable directive, ticket, work order, or change request.
Can one employee record time for multiple projects in one day?
Yes. Use separate line items for each project, activity, cost code, or work location so the hours can be allocated accurately.
How should breaks be recorded?
Record unpaid breaks separately from worked time. Break requirements and treatment vary by location, agreement, and company policy, so the template should be configured accordingly.
Who should approve a construction timesheet?
The employee should certify the entry, and a foreman, supervisor, project manager, or authorized payroll reviewer should verify the hours and coding.
Can timesheets support job costing?
Yes. When hours are assigned consistently to projects, phases, activities, and cost codes, approved timesheets provide useful labor data for job-cost and productivity analysis.
Create Reliable Labor Records for Every Project
A structured construction timesheet helps contractors capture accurate hours, improve labor allocation, support approvals, and maintain stronger payroll and job-cost records.
Consistent time tracking also supports productivity reviews, change-order documentation, billing, and workforce planning. SimplySub can help subcontractors organize time records, job details, cost information, documents, and change orders within one workflow.