Homebase pricing for electrical contractors comes down to one question the pricing page never asks: what counts as a "location" when your crew works at a different address every week? Homebase charges per location per month, and it defines a location as a physical business address.
That model fits a restaurant. An electrical shop has one address and dozens of job sites. This guide lays out every verified plan price, does the math for a 4, 8 and 12 person crew, and lists what to confirm before you commit.
It also covers the part a pricing page can't: whether the hours you collect will hold up when a customer asks what they're paying for.
Prices below were read from joinhomebase.com/pricing, /integrations/quickbooks and /time-clock on 2026-10-26. Check the live pages before you buy. Prices change.What Does Homebase Cost Per Month?
Homebase has four plans priced per location per month: Basic at $0, Essentials at $30, Plus at $70, and All-in-One at $120. Paying annually drops Essentials to $24, Plus to $56 and All-in-One to $96 per location per month.
| Plan | Monthly billing (per location/mo) | Annual billing (per location/mo) | What the plan adds |
|---|
| Basic | $0 | $0 | 1 location, up to 10 employees. Basic scheduling, basic time tracking, POS integration |
| Essentials | $30 | $24 | Unlimited employees. Advanced scheduling, advanced time tracking, team communication |
| Plus | $70 | $56 | AI scheduling assistant, PTO and time-off controls, departments and permissions |
| All-in-One | $120 | $96 | Onboarding, labor cost management, HR and compliance |
The page says annual billing saves $72, $168 and $288 a year on Essentials, Plus and All-in-One. The arithmetic checks out: $30 x 12 = $360 versus $24 x 12 = $288 is a $72 difference.
There is a 14-day All-in-One trial with no card required. After the trial, if you have more than 10 employees or more than one location, you have to pick a paid plan.
What Do the Add-Ons Cost?
Homebase's add-ons are Payroll at $49 a month plus $6 per employee paid, Tip Manager at $25 per location, Task Manager at $13 per location, and background checks at $30 each. Payroll is the one most contractors will look at, and the pricing page also shows "$29 per month for teams up to 5," so a very small crew should ask which rate applies.
| Add-on | Listed price |
|---|
| Payroll | $49/mo base + $6 per employee paid (page also shows $29/mo for teams up to 5) |
| Tip Manager | $25 per location |
| Task Manager | $13 per location |
| Background checks | $30 each |
Homebase was also running a limited-time promotion on Payroll and the Plus plan when this was checked. Promotions end and have terms, so price your decision on the list prices above.
Tip Manager is built for restaurants. Most electrical shops can ignore it.
Homebase Cost for a 4, 8 and 12 Person Electrical Crew
Because Homebase charges per location and not per worker, the plan price stays flat as your crew grows. That makes it cheap per head. The example below assumes one location: your shop address.
Example inputs: 1 location, scheduling plan only (no payroll), prices from the tables above. Basic is listed only where the crew is 10 or fewer, because Basic caps at 10 employees.| Crew size | Basic | Essentials (monthly / annual) | Plus (monthly / annual) | All-in-One (monthly / annual) |
|---|
| 4 workers | $0 | $360 / $288 per year | $840 / $672 per year | $1,440 / $1,152 per year |
| 8 workers | $0 | $360 / $288 per year | $840 / $672 per year | $1,440 / $1,152 per year |
| 12 workers | Not available (over 10) | $360 / $288 per year | $840 / $672 per year | $1,440 / $1,152 per year |
Now add Payroll, if you'd run payroll through Homebase. Example inputs: $49 base + $6 x employees paid, monthly.
| Crew size | Payroll add-on per month | Essentials monthly + Payroll | Per worker per month (Essentials + Payroll) |
|---|
| 4 workers | $49 + $24 = $73 (or $29 if the up-to-5 rate applies) | $30 + $73 = $103 | about $25.75 |
| 8 workers | $49 + $48 = $97 | $30 + $97 = $127 | about $15.88 |
| 12 workers | $49 + $72 = $121 | $30 + $121 = $151 | about $12.58 |
At 12 workers on one location, Essentials is $30 / 12 = $2.50 per worker per month before payroll. Compare that against per-user pricing from any job-based time clock you're considering.
The real questions are about fit, not price. They start with the word "location."
Does Each Job Site Count as a Homebase Location?
Homebase's public pages don't say whether a customer job site counts as a separate location; its pricing FAQ only says that multiple business addresses are multiple locations. Ask Homebase directly before you sign up. If the shop counts as your one location and crews clock in at job sites under it, the flat price holds. If each job address counts, the math above multiplies.
This matters more than it looks. The plan price is per location, and the QuickBooks connection is per location too (more on that below).
Here is how it shows up on an electrical crew's calendar. A two-person crew spends the morning on a three-month commercial tenant fit-out, then drives to a residential service call in the afternoon to chase a dead kitchen circuit. That is two job addresses in one day, plus the shop. Ask Homebase how that day is counted, and how the hours get split between the fit-out and the service call.
Put the question to Homebase in writing, in these words: "We are an electrical contractor with one shop address. Our crews work at many customer job sites, sometimes two in one day. Is that one location or many, and how is a day split between two job sites recorded?"
Can Homebase Track Hours by Job for T&M Billing and Job Costing?
Homebase's time clock pages don't say it can; they describe labor cost by role or department, not by job, project or customer. Ask Homebase rather than assume it is there or missing.
Here is why it matters to an electrical shop. Payroll only needs to know that Mike worked 8.27 hours on Thursday. Your customer and your job cost report need to know where those hours went.
The Homebase time clock lists GPS-enabled clock-in, geofencing, photo capture at clock-in, kiosk and offline modes, break tracking, overtime alerts and POS integrations. It is marketed to restaurants, retail and hospitality. Those are real features. None of them, on the pages read, split a day across jobs.
Questions to ask Homebase about job tracking:
- Can a worker pick a job or customer when they clock in?
- Can one worker's day be split across two jobs?
- Can I pull a report of hours by job for a date range?
- Can I set a bill rate per job that is separate from the worker's pay rate?
- Can I bill different rates by classification (foreman, journeyman, apprentice) on the same job, separate from what each worker is paid?
Is There a Place for the Crew to Write What Got Done?
Homebase's time clock and pricing pages don't mention a per-entry work note, so ask Homebase whether crews can add one to each shift.
This is the question that decides whether your T&M invoices get paid without an argument. A customer looks at "8.27 hrs" and has no way to check it. So they assume it's padded.
The charge was fair. The explanation was missing. Compare the two lines a customer might see:
| What the customer sees | How the conversation goes |
|---|
| Mike R. - 8.27 hrs | "What did he do for over eight hours?" |
| Thu 7:02a-3:48p (0:30 unpaid lunch), Mike R. - pulled and terminated circuits 12-18, second-floor east wing | The customer can check the work against the line. The conversation moves from "what did he do?" to whether the rate is right, which is a conversation you can win. |
The crew's note is the customer's explanation. Clean hours from the crew and invoices customers don't fight are the same thing, recorded once, at the end of the shift.
How to Get Job-Split Hours and Work Notes With Any Time Clock
You can do this with Homebase, with paper, or with a spreadsheet. The method matters more than the tool. Here is the full version.
1. Make the note one sentence, at clock-out, every time. Not a report. One line. Ask the same question every day: "What did you work on?" Keep it to one question. A form at the end of a 9-hour day gets skipped; one sentence gets written. 2. Give the crew a pattern to copy. Location + what was done + where it stands. Examples:- "Set panel LP-2 and landed feeders, mechanical room. Ready for inspection."
- "Roughed in kitchen circuits 4-9, unit 204. Waiting on drywall."
- "Troubleshot tripping GFCI at exterior receptacles, found water in box at NE corner, replaced box and cover."
| Date | Worker | Time in / out | Break | What was done | Hours | Bill rate | Amount |
|---|
| Thu 10/22 | Mike R. (Journeyman) | 7:02a / 3:48p | 0:30 unpaid lunch | Pulled and terminated circuits 12-18, second-floor east wing | 8.27 | $95.00 | $785.65 |
| Thu 10/22 | Dana K. (Apprentice) | 7:05a / 11:30a | None | Set and labeled panel LP-2, mechanical room | 4.42 | $65.00 | $287.30 |
For more on structuring T&M backup, see T&M billing best practices. To see a finished version of the sheet above, look at the sample billing packet, and the free timesheet templates give you the paper version.
What QuickBooks Online Plan Does Homebase Need?
Homebase's QuickBooks page says it syncs employees and hours with QuickBooks Online Plus. It names no other QuickBooks Online plan. If you're on Simple Start or Essentials, ask Homebase before you count on the integration.
How the hours get there, per that page:
- Employees and hours sync with QuickBooks Online Plus.
- Timesheets go to QuickBooks by downloading a "Payroll Summary for QuickBooks" file for a date range.
- Each Homebase location connects to QuickBooks on its own.
- QuickBooks syncs with one Homebase location at a time.
Also ask whether the hours that reach QuickBooks carry a job or customer. Payroll hours and billable job hours are not the same record.
Homebase vs Other Software Types for Electrical Contractors
Time tracking for an electrical shop comes from three kinds of software. Each is built for a different main job. This table describes the categories, not specific prices; follow the comparison links for details on each product.
| Category | Examples | Built mainly for | What an electrical shop should check |
|---|
| Shift-scheduling apps | Homebase | Scheduling and clocking hourly staff at a fixed address | How job sites count as locations, whether hours split by job, QuickBooks plan required |
| Field service suites | Jobber, Housecall Pro | Quotes, dispatch, invoicing for service calls | Whether time ties to the job you bill, cost of the full suite if you only need time |
| Job-based construction time clocks | ClockShark, busybusy, Workyard, ExakTime | Hours by job or project for field crews | Whether the crew can write what got done, what the customer-facing output looks like |
Neutral side-by-sides: Homebase comparison, Connecteam comparison, ClockShark comparison. For deeper pricing on the field service side, see Jobber pricing for electrical contractors.
When Homebase Is a Good Fit for an Electrical Shop
Homebase is a reasonable pick when most of your hourly staff work at one address. Examples: a counter or supply-side operation, a shop crew doing prefab, or a team where scheduling and HR are the bigger headache than job billing.
It is also a good fit if price per head is the deciding number. One location on Essentials is $30 a month at any crew size.
It is a weaker fit when most of your revenue is T&M at customer sites. Then you need hours tied to jobs and a note explaining each one, and the pages read don't say Homebase does either. If those turn out to be missing, run the manual method above alongside it.
If you would rather have the clock-out note prompt and the customer billing packet in one place, FieldTimesheet is one option, with plans listed on its pricing page.
Checklist Before You Sign Up for Any Time Clock
Copy this list and send it to any vendor you're considering:
- We have one shop and many job sites. How many locations or seats is that?
- Can a worker pick a job when they clock in, and split a day across jobs?
- Is there a place for a note on each entry, and does it show on reports?
- Can I keep a bill rate separate from the pay rate?
- Can I bill different rates by classification (foreman, journeyman, apprentice) on the same job, separate from what each worker is paid?
- Which QuickBooks Online plan does the integration need?
- Is the QuickBooks connection a live sync or a file export?
- Can I print or export a report I could hand a customer without showing pay rates?
- What does it cost at my crew size, monthly and annual, with every add-on I'd use?
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Homebase cost for an electrical contractor?
Homebase charges per location per month: Basic $0 (one location, up to 10 employees), Essentials $30, Plus $70, All-in-One $120, or $24, $56 and $96 on annual billing. For a shop that counts as one location, the plan price stays the same whether you have 4 or 12 workers. Payroll is extra at $49 a month plus $6 per employee paid.
What does Homebase cost for a 12-person crew?
Example with one location: Essentials is $30 a month, or $288 a year on annual billing. Adding Payroll at $49 + $6 x 12 = $121 brings the monthly total to $151. The free Basic plan is not available because it caps at 10 employees.
Does a job site count as a Homebase location?
Homebase defines a location as a physical business address, and its FAQ says multiple addresses are multiple locations. The pages read do not say how customer job sites are treated. Ask Homebase in writing before you sign up, because the answer changes the price.
Can Homebase track hours by job for job costing?
The time clock pages describe labor cost by role or department, but do not state tracking hours by job, project or customer. Ask Homebase directly. If it can't, record the job split on a daily field report and match it to the clock hours.
Which QuickBooks plan does Homebase work with?
Homebase's QuickBooks page names QuickBooks Online Plus and no other plan. Timesheets move to QuickBooks by downloading a Payroll Summary for QuickBooks file for a date range. Each Homebase location connects separately, one location at a time.
What should an electrical contractor send with a T&M invoice?
Send a backup sheet with each line showing the date, the worker and their classification, time in and out, any unpaid break, one sentence on what was done, hours, bill rate and amount. Never include pay rates or labor cost. Send it with the invoice, not after a dispute.
How do I get my crew to write down what they did?
Ask one question at clock-out, every day: "What did you work on?" Give them a pattern to copy: location, what was done, where it stands. One honest sentence is enough, and it protects the crew's work when a customer questions the bill.