Construction timesheets
Construction timesheet software, from the logged hour to the invoice
OKTO PSA is construction timesheet software for Quebec contractors. The crew lead fills in the whole crew’s week on one grid. Every hour is tied to the job and to an activity code, which sets the billed rate and the cost rate. It does not run payroll: hours are exported to your payroll software.
Why does a paper job-site timesheet cost so much?
Because the hour worked on Tuesday reaches the office the following Monday, if it gets there at all. In between, it was written by hand, photographed, retyped into a spreadsheet and copied onto an invoice. Each pass takes a little time and invites a mistake. Paper is nearly free. What costs money is everything that happens around it.
Hours arrive late
The sheet stays in the truck until Friday. The office retypes it the week after, and the client’s invoice waits until everything is entered.
The job is not always written down
An hour with no project number gets filed on a guess. Three weeks later, nobody can say which job it really belonged to.
The cost shows up at the end
When hours live in a separate file, a job’s margin gets calculated once the file is closed. By then it is too late to change course.
How does job-site time tracking work in OKTO PSA?
Time is tracked by crew, on a weekly grid. The person in charge enters everyone’s hours at once, and each entry stays tied to the right person for payroll. The software only offers the activity codes allowed on that job, then works out the billable value and the cost as the grid fills in.
One grid for the whole crew
The crew lead fills in everyone’s week on a single screen: one row per employee, one column per day, the total at the end of the row.
Hours tied to the project
Every time entry is attached to the job itself. The real cost of a project shows without anyone rebuilding a report by hand.
The job’s activity codes
Each project limits the codes that can be logged on it: framing, formwork, finishing, electrical. An hour does not end up on the wrong job.
Billed rate and cost rate
The activity code sets both. Billable value, cost and margin are calculated with every entry, not at the end of the month.
Materials leave stock with the hour
Using a material is logged right from the timesheet. The stock withdrawal follows, with no separate screen to go back to.
The week goes to approval
One click and the week is submitted. You can require a specific person’s sign-off before hours move on to invoicing and payroll.
Paper sheet, spreadsheet or OKTO PSA?
Eight places where the difference shows in an ordinary week. The right-hand column describes a way of working, paper or an Excel file, not a product. If you have three employees on one job, a spreadsheet does the work just fine, and we will tell you so.
| Criterion | OKTOPSA | Paper sheet or spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Crew entryWho logs the hours. | The crew lead fills in the whole crew’s week on one grid. | One sheet per person or per crew, retyped at the office. |
| Link to the jobWhere the hour goes. | Every entry is tied to the project. Actual hours are compared with planned hours, phase by phase. | Depends on what the person wrote in the box. |
| Activity codesWhat can be logged. | Only the codes allowed on the job are offered. | Nothing stops an hour from landing in the wrong place. |
| Rates and marginWhat the hour is worth. | Billed rate and cost rate per code. Billable value, cost and margin calculated with every entry. | Worked out in a formula, or later. |
| ApprovalWho signs off on the week. | The week goes to approval in one click, to the person you named. | A signature at the bottom of the sheet, or an email. |
| InvoiceThe path to the client. | The logged hour goes onto the invoice, with no amount retyped, with GST and QST. | Hours are copied into the invoicing software. |
| Materials usedWhat was consumed. | Logged from the timesheet. The stock withdrawal follows. | Noted separately, when someone remembers. |
| PayrollCalculating pay. | No. OKTO PSA exports hours and their codes to your payroll software. | Not either. Hours are retyped into the payroll software. |
The right-hand column describes a common practice, not a specific product. Where the result depends on how careful each person is, we say so instead of guessing.
From the logged hour to the invoice, in six steps
Here is the path of one hour of framing in OKTO PSA, from the job site to the client’s invoice and the payroll file. Nobody retypes it along the way.
- 01
The job sets its codes
On the project record, you choose which activity codes are allowed. Each one carries its billed rate and its cost rate.
- 02
The crew lead logs the week
They fill in the grid for the whole crew. Every hour stays under the right person’s name.
- 03
Materials used are added
Materials are logged from the same timesheet, and the stock withdrawal happens on its own.
- 04
The week is approved
The week is submitted in one click. The person you named approves it before it is used for invoicing.
- 05
The invoice picks up the hours
The hour goes straight onto the invoice at the code’s billed rate. Signed change orders are grouped there with the work order, GST and QST broken out.
- 06
Payroll gets its file
An exchange file sends the hours and their codes to the payroll or accounting software you already use.
Does OKTO PSA run payroll?
No. OKTO PSA logs the hours, ties them to the job and gives them a value. Payroll itself stays in your payroll software or with your accountant. You keep your system, and OKTO PSA sends it what it needs.
What it does
It keeps the crew timesheet, calculates the billable value and the cost of every hour, and shows an estimated labour cost until payroll is closed.
What it exports
Payroll is exported in batches to your accountant or your payroll software, with travel or tool allowances. The estimated cost is replaced by the real cost once the batch has gone through.
What it does not do
Producing pay, source deductions and tax slips. The payroll rules specific to your industry stay in your payroll software.
What it costs, and what comes with it
The job-site timesheet is not sold separately. It is part of OKTO PSA at $300 a month for up to 10 users, $550 for 11 to 20 and $700 for 21 to 30, in Canadian dollars before taxes. The full grid is on the pricing page.
The rest of the job
Work orders, change orders, purchasing and holdbacks are described in the construction module catalogue. To compare products, read the guide to contractor software in Quebec.
Reminders for what was missed
OKTHAV, the built-in assistant, is an optional add-on. It flags hours that were not logged before payroll and answers questions about a crew’s hours.
Your current spreadsheets
Setting up from Excel files is done by our team, for a fixed fee quoted in advance. The steps are on the migration page, and the rest of the path is on the invoicing software page.
Frequent questions
The questions we get asked
Your question is not here?
Write to us. A person in Trois-Rivières answers, within one business day.
Ask your questionIt is the record of the hours each employee worked, day by day, with the job and the type of work. It serves three purposes: paying the crew, invoicing the client and knowing what the job really cost. In OKTO PSA, one entry feeds all three, because every hour carries its project and its activity code.
In the OKTO PSA construction module, the crew lead or the person in charge fills in the whole crew’s week on a single grid. Each entry stays tied to the right person for payroll. Employees do not each have to fill in their own sheet at the end of the day.
No. OKTO PSA does not replace payroll software. It exports payroll in batches to your accountant or your payroll software, and an exchange file sends the hours and their codes. Source deductions, tax slips and the payroll rules of your industry stay in the tool you already use.
Yes. Each project limits the activity codes that can be logged on it. When the grid is filled in, only the codes allowed on that job are offered. An hour of formwork cannot slip into a project where that code does not exist, and every time entry is tied directly to the project.
Each activity code sets a billed rate and a cost rate. Once the week is approved, the logged hour goes straight onto the invoice at the billed rate, with nobody retyping an amount. GST and QST are calculated on the invoice, and signed change orders are grouped there with the original work order.
The timesheet is included in OKTO PSA: $300 a month for up to 10 users, $550 for 11 to 20, $700 for 21 to 30, and a price worked out with you beyond that. Prices are in Canadian dollars, before GST and QST. The CRM and HR are included in every tier.
That is the most common case. You send us your spreadsheets, and our team sets up your clients, sites, contacts and contracts in your instance, configures your taxes and trains your team. The work is done for a fixed fee, quoted before any commitment, after a first look at your data.
Bring last week’s timesheet.
The one that made three round trips before it reached an invoice. We redo it with you in OKTO PSA, from the job site to the payroll file, and you see what goes away. To look on your own first, the interactive demo runs in your browser with sample data.
OKTO PSA prices are in Canadian dollars, before GST and QST. OKTO PSA does not run payroll: it exports hours to your payroll software.