FREE Construction Timesheet Template

Master construction timesheets with our intuitive construction timesheet Gantt chart template.

Start with template
Gantt chart template

Why use our Construction Timesheet Template instead of Excel or Google Sheets?

Get started with our Construction Timesheet Template in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.

Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.

Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.

No project management experience? No problem. Tom's Planner offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface that's intuitive and easy to learn. Creating Gantt charts is a breeze, saving you time and effort. Compare that to the time-consuming, frustrating, manual formatting-intensive process of building a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.

Create a Gantt chart in minutes, not hours

Move at the pace of modern business with no learning curve or Googling formulas.

Good luck figuring out how to make a Gantt chart work in Excel or Google Sheets. Excel’s user manual weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages. It takes just five minutes with Tom’s Planner to start planning your first real project plan.

Create a Gantt chart in minutes, not hours

Headache-free collaboration and sharing.

Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.

How to use Tom’s Planner’s construction timesheet template to build and share your construction project.

Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.

Step #1

Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Construction Timesheet Template.

Step #2

Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.

Step #3

You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Construction Timesheet Template based on your project description.

Start with template

What is a construction timesheet template?

A construction timesheet template works similarly to timesheets within any other industry. That is, they help track the time spent on various tasks by employees and contractors, making it easier to bill accurately and track both time spent and compensation earned. They’re also important for other reasons, including insurance and workers’ compensation coverage.

A construction time card template is easy to create and customize to individual needs. This avoids the need to create individual timesheets or cards from scratch, saving you time and hassle. It’s also far easier to use than trying to create a construction timesheet template in Excel or Google Sheets since spreadsheets aren’t ideal for tracking time.

A Gantt chart makes planning labor hours easier

While a construction timesheet can be invaluable during a construction project, a Gantt chart can provide greater utility. With a Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner, you can visually plan labor hours for the entire project, per task, per subcontractor, per team, and more.

The key to a successful construction project is accurate planning, and that includes planning for labor. A Gantt chart helps you avoid pitfalls that occur without accurate labor forecasting and manual time tracking. It also provides you the ability to customize fields to fit different types of projects.

A standard construction timesheet might include some standard fields, such as:

  • Planned and actual start and finish dates
  • Planned hours
  • Task names and subtasks

However, using a Gantt chart allows you to customize fields to fit your project and make time tracking more accurate. Some fields you might include are:

  • Tasks assigned to individual subcontractors and teams
  • Estimated time per task
  • Expense tracking against a schedule of values
  • Dependencies between tasks and subtasks and their impact on labor costs

In short, a Gantt chart makes forecasting labor and time within a construction project simpler and more accurate, improving the odds that your project will be successful.

Types of time tracking systems

You’ll find a wide range of time-tracking systems in use today that can work with a construction timesheet template. These include the following:

  • Manual: In this situation, employees manually record their time in and out on a construction timesheet. They submit the sheet at the end of the week.
  • Active: An employee must interact with technology to clock in and out, such as scanning a badge at a door reader, turnstile reader, or standalone reader. The hours are automatically tabulated.
  • Passive: Passive systems track employees without the need for their active participation. Geofencing is a good example of this type of system, but there are others. These systems don’t rely on workers remembering to clock in or out and don’t rely on manual entry.

When to use a construction timesheet Gantt chart template

Technically, a construction timesheet template should be used daily for tracking time and attendance, as well as for determining pay. However, there are other instances where you’ll want to use timesheets for construction.

Insurance investigations:

Construction is one of the most dangerous industries on the planet. Accident rates are so high that almost every state requires all contractors and subcontractors to carry workers’ compensation insurance. A construction timesheet template helps ensure that you have accurate timecards to track employee time and attendance when it comes to insurance investigations.

When certified payroll is required:

Some construction jobs require accurate timesheets. These certified payroll jobs are most common in government and public construction when you must submit Form WH-347. You’ll need to use a construction timesheet template to create accurate payroll records.

To comply with construction labor laws:

Each state sets its own laws regarding construction labor and how it is tracked. Some cities and counties have their own regulations. For instance, New York has a wage theft prevention act in place that stipulates how timesheets are managed.

Who should use a construction timesheet template?

Anyone who must track pay within the construction industry can benefit from using construction timesheet templates. This includes:

General contractors:

General contractors are responsible for overseeing the entire project. They can use a Gantt chart to accurately estimate the time required for the project itself, as well as for individual tasks and subtasks, helping ensure accurate planning for themselves and others.

Subcontractors:

Subcontractors must be able to estimate the time required to complete the tasks and subtasks assigned to them. They must also be able to synchronize their efforts with other professionals so that task dependencies can be handled correctly.

Clients:

Clients must have a good idea of the time required for an overall project as it will affect their decisions regarding financing. Time estimates are also important for meeting critical milestones within the project tied to pay schedules.

In short, a Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner ensures you’re able to forecast labor and then track time worked, encouraging productivity, efficiency, and accuracy.

Start with template

The top three pitfalls to avoid when planning a construction timesheet

  1. Failure to plan labor hours:

    Time is a critical factor in any construction project. It’s not just about predicting the duration, either. Labor hours play a central role in the end cost to the client, so failure to plan them accurately could lead to cost overruns.

    Solution:

    Use a Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner to forecast time for each task and subtask, and then for the entire project, ensuring that you’re giving the client an accurate estimate.

  2. Failure to track productivity:

    Superficially, hours worked should track alongside productivity, but we all know that’s not the case. You need to look beyond the number of hours logged to see how much progress you’re making on the project.

    Solution:

    With a construction timesheet template, you can configure things so that you know both the number of hours worked and the level of productivity, so you’re never in the dark.

  3. Not using Gantt charts for subcontractor time tracking:

    Subcontractors must be able to accurately estimate the time required to complete the tasks and subtasks assigned to them. This is important for everything from the accuracy of an initial bid to final pay schedule milestones.

    Solution:

    Ensure that subcontractors have access to a Gantt chart to estimate the time required and then submit actual totals during the project.

What does a construction timesheet template include?

Each construction timesheet template will be different based on the needs of the employee, contractor, or business. However, the following are some of the most common things to include on a timecard:

  1. Time in/Out:

    This tracks the times that an employee/construction worker/contractor clocked in and out. This is critical for tracking payroll, but also for other things, like proving that an employee was “on the clock” when an accident occurred.

  2. Task duration: It’s important that contractors and construction companies can track the time it takes to complete tasks. This helps ensure fair compensation but can also help home in on things like the need for additional training or processes that need to be revised.

  3. Breaks:

    Tracking breaks is important for compliance with state and federal laws, as well as for ensuring pay accuracy and safety on the job site.

  4. Attendance:

    Employee performance is important to understand. Attendance includes sick time, approved and unapproved absences, and more. This information can be used when giving performance reviews, as well as determining candidates for promotions.

As you can see, trying to use a construction timesheet template in Excel to do all this would be difficult at the best of times. It’s far simpler and more accurate to use a construction timesheet Gantt chart template.

Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines

1. Pay attention to overtime

Nothing slows a project down quite so much as having to send workers home because they’re in danger of going into overtime. It’s much easier to track time using an automated construction timesheet template than to rely on manual time tracking. Pay attention to the number of hours your employees are logging so that you can control overtime spending without derailing construction projects.

2. Use audit logs

Accountability is as important in payroll as it is in any other aspect of your business. Use audit logs to verify that employees are accurately tracking their time and that there’s nothing suspicious going on. Audit logs can show you a great deal of detail about each clock in/clock out, helping you accurately track payroll and enforce good work habits.

3. Require all workers to track time

It’s all too common for some employees to clock in and out regularly, while others conveniently forget to do so and require manual adjustments from your HR team. Require all employees to track their time using the preferred system (such as an active or passive clock system and construction timesheet template). This helps ensure payroll accuracy but also alleviates an unnecessary burden on your administrative team.

4. Plan the time required from the very beginning

Time tracking doesn’t start after groundbreaking. It begins during the initial consultation with the client and should be part of your original bid. Use a Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner to accurately estimate time and then track and adjust during the project.

Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel

Excel Tom's Planner
Cost License required Free version available
Learning curve Hours Minutes
Create your first Gantt chart Hours Minutes
Making an update in your chart Several minutes Seconds (drag & drop)
Sharing charts with others At some point you will save and email a file titled: version_4_def_usethisversion_reallyfinal.xlsx Online, one source of truth, always up to date, with no confusion
Look & Feel Messy Clean, polished and professional
Dependencies
Filtering
Zoom in/out
Automatic Legend
AI-assist Let our AI assist do the work for you
Export to image or pdf Requires workarounds to export One mouse click

Join 127,018 customers and have your first Gantt chart live today!