5 Best Construction Employee Scheduling Software & Apps (In-Depth Look)

5 Best Construction Employee Scheduling Software & Apps (In-Depth Look)

A construction employee scheduling software can help you:

1. Streamline Communication

  • The problem: Let’s say you needed five workers at two different job sites tomorrow. Traditionally, you would communicate with them using a manual and inefficient process (i.e., text messages, phone calls, and so on) which would impede your project planning.
  • The solution: When you use crew scheduling software, team members can automatically get notified each time you publish a new schedule or make a change to it (there’s no need to manually reach out to them).

2. Increase Employee Accountability

  • The problem: If employees are dishonest about their day-to-day workload, then the business owner has to overpay (added up over time, this can be a significant financial loss). It becomes increasingly difficult for a construction business to stay afloat if they aren’t optimizing their construction projects and keeping up with general contractors or specialty contractors.
  • The solution: As we’ll discuss below, there are various features in quality construction management software that can help you determine exactly when and where your employees punched in (i.e., GPS Tracking, Photos on Punch, and so on). Putting these measures into place keeps your employees accountable for resource management and saves you money.

In this post, we’ll discuss how Buddy Punch (our product) excels in the above areas. Then, we’ll list four other construction workforce management options, so you can sort through them and identify the best option for your needs.

Best Construction Employee Scheduling Software & Apps

  1. Buddy Punch
  2. Snap Schedule 
  3. When I Work
  4. Connecteam
  5. Hubstaff

1. Buddy Punch

In this section, we’ll cover Buddy Punch’s user-friendly features and functionality related to::

Scheduling

  • Creating a schedule with Drag-and-Drop Shifts
  • Notifying Employees When a New Schedule Gets Published
  • Creating Scheduling Templates 
  • Employees Can Enter Their Scheduling Availability
  • Employees Can Coordinate Shift Trades & Covers within the App
  • Reminder Alerts for Employees Who Forget to Punch In
  • Creating Punch Limiting Rules

Accountability

  • Geofencing
  • GPS Tracking
  • Photos on Punch
  • Facial Recognition

Key Scheduling Features

Drag & Drop Shifts to Create a Schedule

An example of Employee Schedules in Buddy Punch

With Buddy Punch, construction project scheduling is as easy as:

  • Adding shifts for your employees (whether on-site at headquarters or at a remote job).
  • Dragging and dropping those shifts around until the schedule is organized the way you want.
  • Hitting “Publish” so the schedule goes from the draft stage to live.

We wanted to make sure our project management tool was intuitive and simple, so you can easily get schedules created and get back to work (and keep stakeholders happy).

Notify Employees When a New Schedule Gets Published

Publishing a Schedule in Buddy Punch

When publishing a schedule (or making a change to an existing one), you can configure Buddy Punch to automate notifications to employees via mobile push notifications and/or email.

This way, employees are always aware of when and where they need to work, such as sending your remodelers to a new home or having team leaders check out dependencies, without you having to manually reach out to them via text or email. This makes construction project management much more streamlined for you, so it’s easier to juggle crew, labor, and subcontractors.

Note: Employees can also visit the app at any time to view their schedule (without necessarily being prompted via a notification). In addition, they can sync the schedule to their Google Calendar or iCal if it suits their workflow.

Create Scheduling Templates

Saving a schedule template in Buddy Punch

Let’s say you created a schedule for Monday through Friday, and it was going to remain consistent the next week.

Instead of creating that schedule from scratch, you could:

  • Save it as a template.
  • Apply it in the future.
  • Make any edits if necessary in the calendar view.

Note: While this example refers to saving time on a weekly basis, you could also create daily and monthly scheduling templates.

Employees Can Enter Their Scheduling Availability

Employee Shift Scheduling: Unavailable/preferred time

With Buddy Punch, employees can easily enter the times where they are available and unavailableto work.

This information is then displayed to the administrator when they next sit down to create a schedule (per the above screenshot).

Employees Can Coordinate Shift Trades & Covers within the App

Trade Request in Buddy Punch

Let’s say an employee had a shift scheduled from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, but something came up at the last minute. In the construction industry especially, a delayed project can impact others (roads closed, buildings out of service, etc.)

Within the Buddy Punch app, they can request to:

  • Trade shifts with someone who works the same number of hours but on a different day.
  • Have another worker cover their shift.

When a trade or cover request is approved, it can then be sent to an administrator for final approval.

Employees Who Forget to Punch In Can Get Reminder Alerts

Adding a New Alert/Reminder in Buddy Punch: Name, Type, Send alerts to employee, manager, or administrator.

If an employee is on the schedule and they’re not punched in yet, you can configure Buddy Punch to send them an alert via email, mobile push notification, or both.

This alert can also be sent to an administrator or manager.

Create Punch Limiting Rules

Add a New Punch Limiting Rule in Buddy Punch

Worried about overpaying employees who are dishonest about the times they work?

To solve this, you can create Punch Limiting rules. For example:

  • Employees can only submit a punch within their scheduled shift.
  • Employees can only submit a punch five minutes after their scheduled shift.
  • Employees can only submit a punch five minutes before their scheduled shift.
  • And so on (you can create any Punch Limiting rule that fits your specific needs).

Key Accountability Features

Geofencing

Add a New Geofence Rule: Name, Address, Radius, Latitude, Longitude

Let’s say a job site is located at 1201 3rd Street, and you want to limit employee punches to that location.

With Geofencing, you can create a radius (i.e., 500 feet) around the job site address.

Any employee who attempts to punch in or out outside that geofenced area will be met with an error message (and asked to try again).

Geofence map in Buddy Punch

Note: You’re not limited and can create multiple geofences, as well as assign job codes to them.

GPS Tracking

Buddy Punch Time Card Map: Type, Time, Device

With this feature, the GPS coordinates of your construction crew are recorded each time they clock in or out (per the above screenshot).

You can then log in to the administrator dashboard, view the GPS location of each punch, and verify it was from the correct worksite.

Note: While the GPS Tracking feature shows you the punch locations, it doesn’t directly prevent employees from punching in/out outside the worksite (unlike Geofencing).

Photos on Punch

Buddy Punch's Photo on Punch feature

With this feature, crew members take a photo of themselves whenever they punch in or out.

You can then review all their photos at once and verify that they’re:

  • In the correct worksite.  
  • Didn’t have a coworker punch in for them.

Other Features (i.e., Payroll Reports on Demand, Time Off Tracking, and More)

Click here to see a complete list with allof Buddy Punch’s other features, including but not limited to:

  • Payroll Reports On Demand: Each employee’s regular, overtime, and time off hours are automatically added up, and you can download an Excel file with this information (making payroll a breeze).
  • Payroll Provider Integrations: Automatically transfer time from Buddy Punch to your preferred payroll provider (see our full list of integrations, including QuickBooks, Paychex, SurePayroll, and more).
  • Time Off Tracking: Employees can enter time off into their timecard (subject to your approval) and view their remaining time off balance within the app.
  • Overtime Calculations: With Buddy Punch, each worker’s regular, overtime, and double overtime hours are added up.

Online Reviews

At the time of writing, Buddy Punch has 644 reviews and 4.8 stars (out of 5) on Capterra.

Here’s a small sampling of what customers have to say:

Buddy Punch review: "Payday just became that much easier!"
Buddy Punch review: "Absolutely stellar customer support, works exactly as advertised"

Click here to see all of our Buddy Punch reviews on Capterra.

Interested in Signing Up for Buddy Punch?

Try it free, or request a demo in which we’ll show you how to best use the platform for your specific goals.

2. Snap Schedule

Snap Schedule homepage: Employee scheduling software made easy

A growing cloud-based scheduling solution – at the time of writing, Snap Schedule has 13 reviews and 4.5/5 stars on Capterra. It’s a solid option for small businesses and enterprises alike. Their features include:

Snap Schedule review: "Excellent scheduling tool that improves productivity"

Click here to see all of Snap Schedule’s reviews on Capterra.

3. When I Work

When I Work homepage: Build the work schedule in minutes. Share and track it instantly.

As of the time of writing, When I Work has 884 reviews and 4.5/5 stars on Capterra. Their construction employee scheduling app has features including:

When I Work revie: "Easy, effective, and priced right!"

Click here to see all of When I Work’s reviews on Capterra.

4. Connecteam

Connecteam homepage: Manage Your Employees with One Solution

As of the time of writing, Connecteam has 127 reviews and 4.8/5 stars on Capterra. Their features include:

Connecteam review: "Give this product a try - your employees will love it!"

Click here to see all of Connecteam’s reviews on Capterra. 

5. Hubstaff

Hubstaff homepage: Spend less time tracking and more time growing.

As of the time of writing, Hubstaff has 1181 reviews and 4.6/5 stars on Capterra. Their features include:

Hubstaff Review: Easy and Comprehensive

Click here to see all of Hubstaff’s reviews on Capterra. 

Honorable mentions go out to Procore (especially for schedule forecasting) and Jobber if your company focuses on home services.

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