FIELD MANUAL FOR ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS
GET CLEAN HOURS FROM YOUR CREW. GET INVOICES YOUR CUSTOMERS DON’T FIGHT.
A T&M (time and materials) invoice asks your customer to take your word for it. The charge was fair. The explanation was missing. One line from the field about what got done turns an hours total into hours they can follow: who, where, how long, on what.
Sample packet: no signup · 14-day free trial, no credit card · Then $39/mo for up to 3 workers, or $99/mo for up to 10
01 / THE CONVERSATION
“THREE GUYS FOR TWO DAYS. ON WHAT?”
THE CHARGE WAS FAIR. THE EXPLANATION WAS MISSING.
Your customer isn't accusing you of anything. They're looking at a number they can't reconstruct. A T&M invoice asks them to take your word for it, and when they can't follow the charge they don't conclude that they're wrong — they conclude they're being padded. From there you either discount work you actually performed, or you win the argument and lose the relationship.
What comes back instead of a payment
“Three guys for two days? On what?”
You rebuild the week from memory and hope the dates hold up.
“Why am I paying for someone to drive to the supply house?”
A legitimate charge you now defend line by line.
“This is way more than you told me.”
The estimate conversation, again, after the work is done.
Then there's the invoice sitting 30 days out because nobody wants to make the call, and the $400 written off to keep a customer on a job that was billed correctly. None of that shows up as a loss anywhere in your books. It shows up as a slow month.
You find out after the job is over
Labor cost that arrives with the final invoice is history, not information. Without it landing as the hours land, the next estimate is a guess dressed up as a number.
Rebuilding the week from texts
When hours live in texts and memory, someone spends Friday putting them back together. Hours entered as they happen are already sorted by job and by worker.
Our arithmetic on our assumptions — not your books. All four inputs are yours to change in the calculator. And unbilled hours are only the part you can count. The discount you hand over to end an argument is the part you can't.
02 / THE ANSWER
THE LINE YOUR CREW WRITES IS THE LINE YOUR CUSTOMER READS
Same hours. Same charge. One of them ends the conversation. A record that reads “8.77 hrs” asks your customer to trust you. A record that names the day, the window, and the work answers the question before it gets asked — and there's nothing left to negotiate.
It's also the only version your crew has a reason to go along with. “Clock in so I can check on you” gets resistance, and it should. “Write one line so nobody can chisel us on this invoice” puts them on your side of the argument. Ten seconds at the truck, and the record protects the electrician who made it.
What a timesheet says
8.77 hrs
Loses the argument.
What an answer says
THU 7:02a–3:48p
Pulled and terminated circuits 12–18, second-floor east wing.
Ends it.
03 / THE CAPTURE
ONE TAP. THEY'RE CLOCKED IN.
Your crew opens their phone browser, picks a job, and taps one button. That's it. No app to download, and nothing to learn beyond one tap in and one tap out.
Your Crew Clocks In
One tap from their phone.
One Tap. No Training.
Your crew clocks in from their phone with one tap. No app download. No training. If they can text, they can use FieldTimesheet.
No Bars? The Punch Waits on the Phone
No bars in that basement? The punch is saved on the phone with the time they tapped and uploads the next time the clock page is open with signal. Nothing uploads while the app is closed, and a punch more than 24 hours old is refused and shown to them so the office can add it.
Actual clock screen — mid-shift
04 / THE RECONCILE
HOURS LAND IN QUICKBOOKS WITHOUT ANYONE RETYPING THEM
Every completed entry pushes to QuickBooks Online as a TimeActivity: the worker, the date, the hours, and the electrician's own clock-out note as the description. Your bookkeeper opens structured records Monday morning instead of a shoebox full of scribbled timesheets. No CSV exports. No copy-paste. No double entry.
QuickBooks in 60 Seconds
Connecting takes about a minute. After that, sending a week of entries is one click from the Time page.
One Way, On Your Click
The sync pushes time out; it never pulls anything back, so you add your jobs here and set the service item and rate in QuickBooks when you build the invoice.
Actual time page — one click to QuickBooks
05 / THE MARGIN
KNOW YOUR LABOR COST BEFORE THE JOB IS OVER
Most contractors find out they lost money on a job after the final invoice. FieldTimesheet shows you labor cost against budget in real time. If a $12,000 job is burning through hours too fast, you see it at 60% complete, not at 100%. Catch overruns before they eat your margin, not after.
See Where Hours Go
Every hour tied to a job and customer. Finally know which jobs eat your labor and which ones make you money.
Bid Smarter Next Time
See labor vs budget in real-time. Know if you are over budget before the job ends. Bid smarter on the next one.
Every Hour Has a Name on It
Every hour is tied to the worker who did it and the job it was for, so nobody rebuilds the week from memory.
$99/MO + $8/WORKER
Up to 10 workers on the base plan. No credit card to start. Cancel anytime.
Three workers or fewer? Starter is $39/mo with every feature. Switch to Crew when you hire a fourth. Compare plans
Example: A crew of 15 workers = $99 + (5 × $8) = $139/month
Prefer annual? $990/yr for up to 10 workers — 2 months free. Pick it at checkout.
Want to run the arithmetic on your own crew? Change the four inputs in the calculator.
Common Questions
Everything you need to know before getting started
How do I show a customer what they're being charged for?
Put the work next to the hours. A line that reads “8.77 hrs” asks the customer to take your word for it. A line that reads “Thu 7:02a–3:48p — pulled and terminated circuits 12–18, second-floor east wing” answers the question before it gets asked. That's a documentation habit before it's a software purchase: the sample billing packet shows the format with no signup, and the T&M backup templates work on paper if you never buy anything.
My crew isn't tech-savvy. Will they actually use this?
If they can open a text message, they can clock in with FieldTimesheet. There's no app to download — just tap a link on their phone. One tap to clock in, one tap to clock out. There's nothing to learn and no training to run.
What happens after the 14-day trial?
You'll get a reminder before it ends. If you love it, enter payment details to continue. If not, no charge—your data stays for 30 days in case you change your mind.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. No contracts. No long-term commitments. Cancel anytime from Settings, Billing, Manage Subscription. Download your time entries, jobs, and worker data as CSV anytime from Settings.
Does this track my crew's location all day?
No. FieldTimesheet captures GPS only at the moment of clock-in and clock-out — like a digital timestamp on a punch card. No continuous tracking during the day, no breadcrumb trail. It's there to verify job site arrivals, not to monitor your crew's every move.
Does this replace QuickBooks?
No. FieldTimesheet connects to QuickBooks Online and pushes completed time entries there as TimeActivity records when you run the sync. You still use QuickBooks for invoicing, expenses, payroll, and reports. We handle time tracking so you do not have to type it in twice.
Do I need QuickBooks to use FieldTimesheet?
No. Time tracking, job costing, printable signed timesheets, and CSV export all work on their own — the CSV includes rates and labor costs and imports into any accounting software. QuickBooks sync is optional, and it's one click when you're ready.
Isn't time tracking software expensive for a small team?
Starter is $39/month for up to 3 workers, and Crew is $99/month for up to 10 workers. No setup fees, no per-feature upcharges, no contracts, and a 14-day free trial with no credit card.
Do my workers need to download an app?
No. FieldTimesheet works in any web browser (Chrome, Safari, etc.). They just tap a link and clock in. Bookmark it to their home screen if they want the app-like experience.
What if they are in a basement with no signal?
The punch still counts. With no signal, the punch is saved on the phone with the time they tapped, and it uploads the next time the clock page is open with signal. Three limits: each worker opens the clock page once with signal while logged in, before the first dead zone; nothing uploads while the app is closed (there is no background upload on iPhone); and a punch saved more than 24 hours earlier is refused and shown on the clock page so the office can add the time.
What if I'm not technical?
If you can use QuickBooks, you can use FieldTimesheet. Setup takes about 5 minutes. Plus, you can call us anytime for help.
Is my data secure?
Yes. Every page and every request is sent over an encrypted HTTPS connection, and each company can only see its own data. We never sell your information.
Can I import existing jobs from QuickBooks?
No. The sync runs one way — time goes out to QuickBooks, nothing is pulled back in — so you add your active jobs in FieldTimesheet yourself. For a typical active job list that is a few minutes of typing, once.
What kind of support do you offer?
Call (682) 587-9876 or email support@fieldtimesheet.com. Inside the app, the FieldTimesheet Assistant answers questions and passes anything it can't solve to support.
Paper timesheets work fine for us. Why switch?
Paper works until a customer asks what the hours were for. A paper card says how long, rarely says what got done, and often arrives days later. With FieldTimesheet the crew writes a short note when they clock out, so every entry on the billing packet says what the hours bought.
STOP DISCOUNTING WORK YOU ACTUALLY DID
Don't take our word for it. Judge the output. The sample billing packet is a full job labor report and weekly timesheet, annotated to show why each line ends a dispute. No signup, nothing to cancel.
No credit card. 5-minute setup. Cancel anytime.