Time tracking and timesheets for field techs: a practical setup
The simplest reliable way to track field technicians' time is a shift clock on their phone (clock in, breaks, clock out) plus automatic job and travel time from the status buttons they already tap: On my way, Arrived, Start and Complete. Techs submit their week, a manager approves it, and the approved hours go to payroll.
That setup gives you accurate pay, real labor costs per job and far fewer Friday arguments about hours. Here's how to put it together.
Why is time tracking harder in the field?
In an office, people arrive, sit down and leave. Field techs:
- Start at home some days and the shop on others
- Drive between jobs, stop at the supply house, pick up a trailer
- Work in basements and crawl spaces with no signal
- Forget to clock out when the last job runs late
Paper timesheets filled in on Friday from memory are almost always wrong, usually in round numbers. That hurts you twice: payroll is off, and you can't see what each job really cost in labor.
What kinds of time should you track?
Separate the day into a few clear kinds:
- Shift: from clock in to clock out. This is the basis for pay.
- Breaks: meal and rest breaks, which may be paid or unpaid depending on your policy and state law.
- Job time: working at a customer's location.
- Travel time: driving to a job.
- Other paid time: the shop, the supply house, training, vehicle maintenance, meetings, paperwork.
Splitting job and travel time from the rest shows you where the day really goes. If techs spend a big share of the day in the truck, that's a routing problem worth solving; see our guide to route planning.
Should techs clock time per job manually?
Avoid it if you can. Asking techs to start and stop separate timers for every job, on top of everything else, leads to missed entries. A better approach is to let the status buttons do it:
- On my way starts travel time.
- Arrived or Start stops travel and starts job time.
- Complete stops job time.
Techs already tap these to keep the office and the customer informed. Time tracking just comes along for free.
How do you handle missed punches and corrections?
People forget. Have a clear policy:
- Techs can fix their own entries before submitting, with a short reason.
- After submitting, only a manager can change entries, also with a reason.
- Manual entries can't be in the future and can't run longer than a day.
- Approved weeks are locked unless a manager reopens them.
Requiring a reason for every edit discourages casual changes and gives you a record if hours are ever questioned.
What does a good weekly approval routine look like?
Set a weekly rhythm:
- Monday morning: techs review and submit last week's time. A clock can't be running when they submit.
- Monday or Tuesday: the manager reviews each person's week. Look for missing clock-outs, very long days, short days with completed jobs, and unusual edits.
- Approve or reject with a note. Rejected weeks go back to the tech to fix.
- Close the pay period once everyone's approved, so nothing changes after payroll runs.
The goal is that nobody is guessing about hours when payroll is due.
What about overtime?
Overtime rules come from federal law and, in many places, state law. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees generally earn overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek. Some states add their own rules; California, for example, has daily overtime and double-time thresholds and a seventh-consecutive-day rule.
Because rules differ by state and by employee classification, confirm what applies to your business with your payroll provider, accountant or state labor department. Then make sure your timesheet system calculates overtime the way your rules require, not just the federal default.
Is travel time paid time?
Often, but not always, and this is an area where it pays to get advice. In general terms under federal rules, driving between job sites during the workday is usually work time, while a normal commute from home to the first job usually isn't. There are exceptions, for example when a tech must pick up tools or a truck at the shop first, and states may have their own rules. Ask a professional to review your policy, and track travel separately so you have the data either way.
How do timesheets feed payroll?
Once a pay period's timesheets are approved, payroll needs, per person:
- Regular hours
- Overtime and double-time hours
- Paid non-job time
- Any commissions, bonuses, tips or expense reimbursements
Most payroll services can import hours from a file. Exporting approved hours in the format your payroll service expects saves retyping and mistakes. Check the first import carefully against your provider's preview before relying on it.
How does time tracking help job costing?
When job time is tied to the job, you can multiply each technician's hours by their loaded hourly cost and see real labor cost per job. Combined with materials and expenses, that's how you find which job types make money. Our guide to job costing walks through it.
A time tracking checklist
- Shift clock with breaks on every tech's phone
- Job and travel time from status buttons, not separate timers
- Non-job paid time (shop, supply house, training) tracked by type
- Edits require a reason; approved weeks are locked
- Weekly submit and approve routine
- Overtime calculated by the rules that apply to you
- Approved hours exported to payroll
FAQ
Do I need GPS tracking for timesheets? Not necessarily. Status buttons and a shift clock are usually enough for accurate hours. If you do use location, be transparent with your team about when it's collected and why, and check any state rules on employee monitoring.
What if a tech works with no signal? Use an app that records the real time of each tap on the phone and syncs later. Otherwise, entries made after the fact show the wrong time.
Should salaried techs track time? Tracking helps you cost jobs even if pay doesn't depend on hours. Classification as exempt or non-exempt is a legal question; check it with a professional.
How long should I keep time records? Federal and state recordkeeping rules set minimums, and they vary. Ask your accountant, and keep records at least as long as they recommend.
How ServFlo helps
ServFlo's technician app has a shift clock with breaks, and On my way, Arrived, Start and Complete track travel and job time automatically. Techs can log non-job time like the shop, supply house, training or paperwork, and the app records real times even when it's offline. Timesheets show each person's week with totals by day and job; edits need a reason, techs submit their week, and admins approve or reject it. Payroll lets you set your pay schedule and overtime rules (federal or California presets, or your own), close a period to lock its timesheets, and download a file for Gusto, ADP, Paychex, QuickBooks or a plain CSV. Time tracking is included from the Connect plan up; see pricing.