7 Best Time Tracking Apps Contractors Swear By in 2024

Construction companies are famed for overshooting their deadlines—one report finds that 91% of construction professionals are involved in delayed projects.

While there are many moving parts impacting project completion, accurate time tracking plays a role. When construction companies gain insights into how contractors spend their time, they can allocate resources more effectively and reduce inefficiencies and burnout.

How do they gain that insight, though? Time tracking apps. By ditching spreadsheets and tracking accurate hours, contractors can spend the right amount of time on the right tasks.

Finding the best time tracking software for your business is essential in the construction industry, where every miscounted hour piles up and leads to major losses, and this guide will help you choose the best time tracking app for your needs.

TL;DR: The best time tracking apps for contractors

• Toggl Track is best for teams that want powerful analytics and reporting to maximize their productivity.
• Clockify is best for budget-conscious small businesses needing simple time tracking.
• Harvest is best for businesses seeking visual reporting and a simple payment model.
• TimeCamp is best for companies wanting keyword-based time tracking.
• DeskTime is best for contractors requiring employee monitoring capabilities.
• QuickBooks Time is best for businesses already using Intuit for accounting.
• Workyard is best for businesses needing to track workers’ compensation.

Essential time tracking features for construction professionals

No two construction companies operate exactly alike, which is why it’s important to select the time tracking software best suited to your unique use case. 

What specific features do you need, though?

Whether you need software to accommodate multiple job sites, handle a variety of employee roles, or integrate with other software systems, you should select a solution that meets all your needs.

Construction companies and their contractors will typically benefit from time tracking software with the following essential features:

• Real-time or automated time tracking: This feature allows for the immediate logging of hours, which is important for keeping projects on schedule and within budget
• Tracking billable hours: This is essential for ensuring all billable work is accurately recorded and charged, maximizing revenue for the company
  • Multiple ways to track billable time, including automatic, manual, or online timers, which give you plenty of flexibility for different job sites and workers 
  • Active vs. passive time tracking allows you to pick between tracking user interactions (like moving the mouse or typing) versus a timer that runs quietly in the background
  • Time tracking across devices makes sure it’s convenient for workers to log time in different locations across different devices (like tablets or phones)
• Invoicing and payments: Integrating time tracking and invoicing streamlines the billing process and speeds up payment (keeping everyone happy)
• Timesheet reports: It’s important to make sense of the time you’ve tracked so you can analyze productivity
  • The ability to generate detailed reports can pinpoint areas for improvement and spot any patterns (good or bad)
  • Exports to CSV make it easy to share or look at the reports in other programs, which is useful for presenting or making sense of data
• Integration with project management tools: Keep everything accessible and efficient by integrating with other tools like accounting software, billing, and invoicing
  • Task management allows you to keep an eye on individual tasks and projects and makes workers aware of their personal responsibilities and deadlines  
  • Browser extensions allow you to track time on any page/app and ensure you don’t overlook time spent on any relevant research or communication
• Location tracking: This is important in the world of construction because it gives you an overview of when employees are at their designated job sites
  • GPS tracking isn’t essential because it doesn’t always reflect the complexity of tasks and can be an invasion of employee privacy
  • Instead, geofencing can be useful because it triggers alerts or actions when employees enter a predetermined area (like the job site) without monitoring their exact location
• Ease of use: User-friendly software allows you to spend less time configuring and more time analyzing data. Modern interfaces tend to enhance the user experience because they’re more intuitive and visually appealing compared to their frustrating, older counterparts

An in-depth look at the best time tracking solution for contractors

With a keen eye on what contractors truly need, we’ve curated a definitive ranking for you. We’ve carefully assessed features, pricing, usability, and reporting capabilities to deliver the best options.

1. Toggl Track

Toggl Track is one of the easiest to use, most flexible options for contractors. See what your workers are accomplishing in a workday and sign off their timesheets with a single click. It’s a great option for scaling companies because it comes with all the essential features—from invoicing to time reporting to automated time tracking. You can also generate invoices based on the tracked time.

It’s hard to pick one, but my favorite Toggl Track feature is project tracking. Toggl Track doubles as a project management tool because you can assign workers tasks and then track their time all from the same platform. Then, it’ll use your data to forecast and keep you on time and within budget. 

Pros	Cons
• Detailed and powerful analytics feature • Lots of integrations • Opt-in management tools • Intuitive interface	• The free plan is limited to five users

💰 Pricing & plans

• Free version available. Up to five users. Unlimited tracking, clients, and tags.
• Starter: $9/user/mo. Includes customized reports, tasks, and billable rates.
• Premium: $18/user/mo. Project forecasts and analysis and schedule report emails. Comes with native Jira and Salesforce integrations.
• Enterprise: Has customizable solutions and onboarding assistance.

💬 Why customers love it

Yugo, the founder of a small business, says, “Switching to Toggl Track has been one of the best decisions for our team. From the moment we started using it, the platform’s intuitive and user-friendly interface stood out, making it incredibly easy to track time and manage projects. The detailed, customizable reports provide invaluable insights into our productivity and project progress, helping us identify areas for improvement and celebrate our successes.”

Another verified user at a small business simply reports, “I use Toggl Track daily and since finding it I’ve stopped looking for another option to track my time.”

2. Clockify

Clockify is a great option for businesses wanting an affordable, simple tool. It comes with all the essential functionalities, like real-time tracking, manual entry, and a kiosk mode for shared devices. It makes it easy to keep track of your team’s breaks and time off and create invoices based on expenses and billable hourly rates. Still, it might pose a problem for businesses with salaried employees.

I think the standout feature of Clockify is the auto tracker taking into account idle time. It understands having a work-related program open doesn’t always mean I’m actively engaged, so it monitors my activity levels within those programs. I also value the tool works even when I’m offline.

Pros	Cons
• Low price • Invoicing • Expense management	• Basic reporting  • Reportedly poor customer support • Lack of native integrations • Poor interface design

💰 Pricing & plans

• Free version available.
• Basic: $4.99/month. Comes with features like bulk edit, breaks and project templates.
• Standard: $6.99/month. Comes with invoicing and overtime features. Also integrates with QuickBooks.
• Pro: $9.99/month. Includes scheduling and forecasting features. Allows multiple currencies.
• Enterprise: $14.99/month. Includes single sign-on, custom subdomain, and an audit log.

💬 Why customers love it

Small business programs manager Crystal says, “Clockify makes precise time and activity logging very easy. We can quickly and easily separate our hours by projects and individual tasks. With tangible and illustrative data, we may also create personalized reports and assess team productivity.”

🤔 What customers think could be improved

A verified small business reviewer says, “Their support and the constant bugs lead to a loss of confidence in their product. Their windows app is a constant headache. As an engineer I try to write detailed issues for support people but I found their staff arrogant and unhelpful. Telling me the bugs were features.”

3. Harvest

Harvest is a time tracking tool that doubles as an invoicing tool. It comes with helpful notifications to ensure you log hours and clients pay.

It’s a good option for companies that want to analyze their reports but keep in mind that it lacks profitability reporting (it’s also worth knowing: Toggl Track beats out Harvest in every category on G2).

As a visual learner, I enjoy Harvest’s aesthetic reports. They let you see your team’s capacity and track who might be overextended. This can avoid burnout and allocate your resources more efficiently.

Pros	Cons
• Not a multi-tier plan structure • Simple design • Integrations	• Mainly gives time tracking and reporting (not profitability) • Limited features (no kiosk option) • Dated interface

💰 Pricing & plans

• Free version available. Has only one seat and one project.
• Pro: $10.80/month. Free 30-day trial. Has unlimited seats and unlimited projects.

💬 Why customers love it

Bjoern, founder of a mid-market business, says, “Harvest is very user friendly. The interface is nice, the reporting is solid, and the apps are great. If you are a small company <10 employees, I would say Harvest is a very good choice. It supports a few more complex features, such as different currencies per client. The expense handling is also solid.”

🤔 What customers think could be improved

Jessica, a junior designer at a small business, says “We find it much easier to manage our invoicing with another application which allows us to track our business expenses directly with our business accounts etc. in one place. Harvest doesn’t allow us to do this which is limiting, and so we only use it for employees to track their time spent on various client and office projects.”

4. Timecamp

Timecamp is a tracking solution with attendance management and planning features. It allows you to track your team’s efficiency and use those insights to boost your profits. You can also block users from editing or deleting time entries to combat time theft. The solution includes a geofencing function, but some users report it doesn’t work as expected.

Timecamp’s keyword-based time tracking function stands out from other tools. I can configure certain words to automate my time tracking. When I use those words while working, TimeCamp connects time entries with the relevant task.

Pros	Cons
• Features to counter time theft • Easy-to-use interface • Simple for small businesses with few employees	• Poor mobile device app (for Android and iPhone) • Lag when making time adjustments • Geofencing doesn’t always work

💰Pricing & plans

• Free version available. With unlimited users and projects.
• Starter: $3.99/month. Comes with features like invoicing, excel reports, and unlimited tasks.
• Premium: $6.99/month. Has billable time, budgets and estimates and project archiving.
• Ultimate: $10.99/month. Includes timesheet approvals, pivot table and billing rates.
• Enterprise: $14.99/month. Comes with private support and SLA, set up sessions, and custom integrations.

💬 Why customers love it

Alvaro, a mid-market company producer, says, “The time tracker, the feature I’m using the most to measure my time and budget, works like a charm. Once you’ve set up the keywords, you don’t need to worry about anything else.”

🤔 What customers think could be improved

Michele, a recruiting director at an executive office, says “At times, it just won’t work. We have run into a few times you just can’t do anything in Timecamp and it looks like your entries are missing. We have contacted support and they are on the issue right away but it can be annoying and a waste of time. It is just finicky.”

5. DeskTime

DeskTime has a range of features to support employee time tracking on job sites. You don’t need to download a web app; just click the start/stop button in your web browser.

With project tracking and customizable reports, you can see a detailed overview of your team’s overall performance and project progress. However, it does take screenshots every five seconds and monitor mouse clicks to ensure everyone stays on task, which can feel like an invasion of privacy.

The option to customize user roles is one of my favorite things about DeskTime.

This gives team members different levels of access to the platform. I think it also helps combat time theft because you can make sure only certain workers have “user administrator” access. Lower-level users can still see their data and suggest shift edits.

Pros	Cons
• Has integrations and API • Many customization options • Compare by members/dates • Easy interface	• Some features invade employee privacy • No keystroke tracking • Issues tracking meetings as idle time • Pricier compared to alternative options

💰 Pricing & plans

• Free version available. Only one user.
• Pro: $7/user/month. Reporting features as well as automatic/manual tracking, and productivity calculation.
• Premium: $10/user/month. Comes with screenshots, shift scheduling, integrations, and API.
• Enterprise: $20/user/month. Has unlimited projects, tasks, and data history. Plus, personalized onboarding.

💬 Why customers love it

Osama, a mid-market operations manager, says, “We have been using DeskTime for a long time now and all the features are very useful, the best thing is to see the efficiency in real time. Also different reports are helpful to measure the overall productivity.”

🤔 What customers think could be improved

Roger, a customer service supervisor for a small business says, “A few quirks have been a slight issue for us. Sometimes the task timers disappear or stop counting after a few moments. If you are using the software for multiple departments, with multiple supervisors, it can be cumbersome to figure out levels of permissions, and who can see and do what.”

6. QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time is going to be your go-to if you also use Intuit’s QuickBooks for accounting. You can track time via the QuickBooks Workforce timesheet app, desktop app, or kiosk. Its geofencing feature reminds employees to clock in or clock out when they leave the designated job site. But, it doesn’t integrate well with other payroll software. 

The drag-and-drop scheduling feature makes workflows so much smoother. I like that each schedule is detailed and can be project-based or shift-based. It makes it easy for employees to quickly see their work hours and responsibilities and what other employees are assigned to the schedule.

Pros	Cons
• Works well with Intuit QuickBooks Online and Desktop • Project tracking  • Facial recognition to counter time theft • Customizable reports	• Support not great • iOS Mobile app can be buggy • Extra fees for some add-ons • Not great support for other accounting software besides Intuit

💰 Pricing & plans

• No free version. Only a 30-day free trial.
• Time Premium + Payroll Premium: $85/month + $9/employee/mo. Has GPS tracking and auto payroll.
• Time Elite + Payroll Elite: $85/month + $9/employee/mo. Comes with geofence and job progress where you can add photos and updates to activity feed.

💬 Why customers love it

Manuel, the manager of a small business says, “Quickbooks time is helpful for tracking the number of hours of work done by people. The upside of using Quickbooks Time is the information easily imports into Quickbooks accounting software.”

🤔 What customers think could be improved

A verified user at a construction small business says, “I feel like it has some bugs. I have had multiple instances of clocking in or out, and it hasn’t registered. So I come into work the next day, and it says I worked for over 18 hours…not sure how that can be fixed except with a software update.”

7. Workyard

Workyard is workforce management software specifically designed for construction, home services, and property maintenance companies. It has a GPS time tracker for accurate payroll and job costs, ensuring precise employee hours. But it lacks a tablet app, so workers can’t clock in/out at their job site this way. 

It’s worth noting Workyard is the only tool on this list with labor compliance software. It’s designed for contractors and automates compliance with federal, state, and local labor regulations. This is its most unique feature, enabling you to apply workers’ compensation in your labor costs calculations.

Pros	Cons
• Accurate GPS tracking • Track mileage • Track workers compensation	• Lacks native integrations for CRM systems • No tablet app for clocking in/out • Add-ons cost a fee

💰 Pricing & plans

• No free version. Only a 30-day free trial.
• Starter: $8/mo per user + $50/mo company base fee. Has time tracking and notes and payroll integrations.
• Pro: $16/mo per user + $50/mo company base fee. Comes with labor cost reporting, time clock rules, project tracking.
• Enterprise: Custom fee. With API access and ERP integrations.

💬 Why customers love it

Jose, a manager of a small construction company, says, “The most impactful thing is how using all the tools from scheduling to cost codes to time cost reports helped streamline our business. Shows us where we need to improve and where we’re successful.”

🤔 What customers think could be improved

Patrick, a senior project administrator at a construction company, says, “The fact I’m required to pay more for the application to automatically assign a time card to a geofence clock in is frustrating. They wrap it into Enterprise which includes services I don’t need just to get a feature one would expect should automatically happen regardless.”

How to choose the right software for construction time tracking

First things first, take a step back and really look at your construction business. What are the absolute must-haves? If your crew is always on the move, GPS tracking or geofencing might be your non-negotiables. If you’re juggling multiple projects, seamless integrations with your project management software could be the most important feature. 

A nice-to-have could be a sleek, modern interface your team will love. Or perhaps it’s the option to export to CSV for weekly reports. The key here is to tailor the software to your company’s unique needs, not the other way around.

Keep in mind that as your business grows, your software needs to scale alongside it. This could result in increased costs associated with more users, projects, or complex tasks.

Speaking of costs, remember the benefits of time tracking software will eventually cover the initial cost. Accurate time tracking can lead to more precise billing, better resource allocation, and improved efficiency—all of which can significantly boost your profitability.

Common mistakes to avoid when selecting a time tracking tool

As you can see, not all time tracking tools are the same. It’s important to take time to select the best fit for your company so you don’t need to switch software solutions later on. 

Our Customer Success team has spoken to users who’ve switched to Toggl Track after trying other software. Based on their experiences, here are three common mistakes to avoid:

• 🚫 Selecting a time tracker with employee monitoring features: Employee monitoring can erode trust and create a negative work environment. Opt for tools that respect privacy and focus on productivity without invasive surveillance. Here at Toggl Track, we’re big on anti-surveillance, and for good reason!
• 🔐 Ignoring security and compliance requirements: Triple-check that your preferred time tracking tool meets industry standards and regulations. This will protect your data and maintain the trust of your employees and clients.
• 🫨 Choosing tools with a steep learning curve: People have zero time to waste learning new software just to track their time. Look for tools that are easy to adopt and integrate seamlessly into your workflow, saving you time and effort.

Try a free time clock app

Contractors need to select a time tracker that gives them accurate, powerful insights so they can finish their projects on time and within budget. With so many options on the market, why not try a free time clock app before making a big commitment?

Try Toggl Track for free, the best software to make data-driven decisions with confidence.