8 Best Time Card Apps for Construction and Field Crews (2024)

If you manage workers in construction, turning to an employee time clock app can unlock benefits absent from traditional paper timesheets.

The best construction time clock will help:

  • Increase accountability, which is key when your employees work multiple job sites.
  • Keep accurate time records. Accurate time data allows you to easily estimate labor costs for projects.
  • You write schedules, no matter how complex your construction business needs are.
  • Streamline payroll, so you don’t have to waste time and effort at the end of each pay period.

But choosing the construction time clock app that best fits your specific construction business needs can be hard. To help you decide, we’ve compiled a comprehensive post comparing 8 different construction time clock apps’ features and online reviews.

Table of Contents

  1. Buddy Punch
  2. Hubstaff
  3. Homebase
  4. Connecteam
  5. Timely
  6. QuickBooks Time (Formerly TSheets)
  7. Workpuls
  8. ClockShark

Note: Buddy Punch is our own product, which we built after struggling with using a paper punch clock to manage three business locations with over 20 employees. Learn more about how it works here and sign up for a free 14-day trial.

1. Buddy Punch

Buddy Punch is intuitive and easy to use.

Construction businesses struggle with handling dozens of employees working multiple sites, often during the same day — while simultaneously trying to track time accurately, schedule work, and do payroll.

Simple time tracking doesn’t solve these challenges. That’s why, at Buddy Punch, we created a construction time card app with a full range of features, including:

  • Accountability (GPS Tracking, IP Address Locking, Geofencing, and more)
  • Payroll Streamlining (Run your payroll from Buddy Punch, use integrations to other payroll providers, create Payroll Reports on Demand, Time Off Tracking reports in real-time, and more)
  • Scheduling (Drag & Drop, Repeating Schedules, and more)
  • Mobile Time Tracking (Buddy Punch works as an app that you can use on mobile devices like smartphones tablets, as well as computers. This makes it perfect for multiple job sites, as you can have multiple clock-in kiosks, and your team can clock in with their own device.)

We’ll detail each below.

Keep Your Workers Accountable with Buddy Punch

Lack of accountability is one of the biggest frustrations with employee time tracking. A team of construction workers that isn’t accountable invariably leads to lost time and money. We learned this the hard way after trying to manage a 20 person business across three locations before starting Buddy Punch.

This problem is especially pervasive for construction businesses, where crews often switch between multiple job sites on any given day or alternate between differently paid jobs at the same site.

With Buddy Punch, you can say goodbye to those frustrations, thanks to features such as:

Geofencing

Buddy Punch's Geofencing Feature

With Geofencing, you can limit the location your workers can clock in and clock out. All you have to do is decide upon a radius, and punches will be limited to that radius.

You can, of course, create multiple geofences. By assigning job codes to each of your geofences, you can easily keep track of when and which job site your workers are punching in from.

With Buddy Punch, you can easily add new geofencing rules

Buddy Punch’s Geofencing feature also offers auto assignment. When your team members arrive at the job site and clock in, Buddy Punch will automatically tag their punch with the job code assigned to that site.

This means your workers won’t have to worry about selecting the right job tag when switching between two sites on the same day. All they have to do is arrive at the job site, punch in, and Buddy Punch will take care of the rest.

FYI: To learn more about geofencing, check out our post on the best geofencing time tracking apps.

GPS Tracking

Buddy Punch's GPS Tracking

But Geofencing isn’t Buddy Punch’s only GPS-powered functionality. We also offer GPS Tracking so you can automatically record all of your workers’ punch times and locations. This will allow you to easily generate reports and review all your worker’s activity at once.

This feature is especially helpful for construction businesses that can’t predict the different job sites their employees will be working — but still wish to keep them accountable as far as where they were, at what time, and for how long.

Buddy Punch GPS Settings: Choose who they apply to

Both Geofencing and GPS time tracking can be set up on a per-employee basis. You can make them optional for some workers, and turn them off completely for others. This is useful if you’re worried about accountability only with some of your workers, and not all.

Photos on Punch

Buddy Punch Photos on Punch

Buddy Punch offers an optional Webcam Photo feature so you can make it mandatory that your crew takes a photo of themselves at the job site to be able to punch in and out of work. You can view the automatically-generated repository of all photos from Buddy Punch’s easy-to-use dashboard.

Facial Recognition

Buddy Punch Facial Recognition

Buddy Punch’s Facial Recognition feature acts as an optional added layer of security to your workers’ punches.

If you decide to make this feature mandatory to some of your employees, this means they will only be able to punch in for work by having their phones scan their faces and verify it is actually them.

Buddy Punch facial recognition: "Could not idenitfy the face. Couldn't dectect a face in the picture. Please look directly to the camera with a neutral facial expression and your eyes open, and try again."

For construction businesses that prefer their workers not to use phones, the Facial Recognition feature can be set up on a tablet or the foreman’s phone. That way, when workers show up at the job site, all they have to do is line up and have their foreman scan their faces to punch them in and out.

Create Schedules with Just a Few Clicks

Construction businesses’ schedules are notoriously complex. There are tight deadlines and budgets involved, multiple job sites, and different types of employees, ranging from foremen and site managers to specialized workers.

But with Buddy Punch, complexity is out the window. Creating schedules for your workers is a matter of just a few clicks thanks to our drag and drop functionality, which you can see illustrated below:

Buddy Punch's drag and drop functionality in action

And there’s more! Buddy Punch offers a whole array of other features to help with your scheduling needs, which include:

Repeating/Recurring Shifts

Buddy Punch's option for repeating/recurring shifts

With our employee scheduling software, you don’t have to waste time building schedules from the ground up for each week or month. Simply create a schedule that works once, and then copy it across time or use it as a basis for repeating shifts.

Employee Availability

Buddy Punch's employee availability feature

Buddy Punch’s Employee Availability feature allows your employee to choose their preferred time and day of work, subject to your approval. This in turn allows you to save countless hours when creating schedules.

Punch Limiting

Buddy Punchs Punch Limiting option before/after a shift

With this feature, you can limit when your workers are able to punch in and out of work. If they try to punch outside their shift or allotted time frame, Buddy Punch will simply show them an error message.

Notify Employees of Their Schedules

Buddy Punch Scheduling easily informs employees of when they are working

For schedules to work, clear and fast communication is key.

With Buddy Punch, you can share schedules with your team through both email and phone notifications — all from our dashboard.

Additionally, Buddy Punch allows your employees to check their schedules at any time from their mobile app (iPhone/iOS or Android), tablet, or desktop.

Save Time and Effort Every Time You Run Payroll

As a construction business owner, running payroll can be a headache. There are usually multiple job sites involved, with different pay scales assigned to not only each site but each type of employee — which invariably leads to errors or discrepancies that cost you both time and money.

Buddy Punch is a great time card app for construction, and it makes payroll processing easier because you run your payroll directly from your Buddy Punch dashboard. Calculating time worked, billable hours, adding or subtracting time off, and fixing errors or discrepancies is a matter of just a few clicks thanks to features such as:

  • Buddy Punch Payroll
  • Integrations
  • Payroll Reports on Demand
  • Project Tracking
  • Accruals
  • Time Off Tracking

Now, we’ll look at each one by one.

Buddy Punch Payroll

You can run your payroll directly from Buddy Punch. This is perfect because you don’t need to manage two different platforms – one for your construction timesheets and one for processing payroll. You can do it all from the same dashboard, saving you time and money.

Buddy Punch takes care of all local, state, and federal taxes. Your team can get paid via direct deposit or by check. Plus, your construction workers and managers get a self-service portal where they can log in, make deduction changes and view their paystub.

For more information on Buddy Punch Payroll, check out our posts on the best payroll software for small businesses.

But if you already have a payroll processing system you want to keep using, you can easily use your existing process with Buddy Punch. Buddy Punch can either integrate with your payroll provider, or you can create payroll reports that you then export into your payroll processing system or accounting software.

Integrations

Payroll Integrations with Buddy Punch

Buddy Punch integrates with almost all top payroll providers out there, including but not limited to Paychex, QuickBooks, ADP, Gusto, and Workday.

Click here to see the full list of Buddy Punch’s payroll integrations.

And if you lean more on the tech side, and would like to further automate your payroll workflow, we also offer a Zapier integration you can use to connect to thousands of apps!

Payroll Reports on Demand

Buddy Punch offers payroll reports on demand

With Buddy Punch, you don’t have to waste time manually reviewing and double-checking timesheets. Instead, our platform automatically calculates all you need to run payroll, which you can then export in the form of an Excel payroll report.

Additionally, Buddy Punch’s payroll reports can be tailored for a specific job code. If you need to run time for only one job site, or if your job sites vary by pay rate, Buddy Punch automatically processes time for your selected job code and allows you to export this information with just a few clicks.

Project Tracking

Buddy Punch makes project tracking a simple

Set up rates tailored to your different jobs using our Project Tracking feature.

Once you’ve done that, you can use the Buddy Punch dashboard to calculate labor costs and generate project reports. No need to worry about inaccurate or overblown budgets.

Accruals

Time Off Accrual rules can be easily set within Buddy Punch

With Buddy Punch, you can set time off accrual rules, which can be based on the number of hours worked, or a chosen pay period. We also offer the option to create an annual accrual.

Time Off Tracking

Buddy Punch allows you to easily track time off for all employees in one place

Last but not least, you can view your employees’ paid and unpaid time off with just a few clicks. You can do so for all your workers, or break it down on a per-employee basis — and export a detailed report with all this information for you to review.

Additional Features

There are many more Buddy Punch features that help construction businesses track time, create schedules and manage payroll.

To give one example, Buddy Punch offers Group Punch, which gives businesses the option to punch multiple employees in or out simultaneously.

Buddy Punch group punch allows you to easily clock in or clock out all employees at the click of a few buttons

Group Punch can come in handy when you wish your foreman to punch in everyone who’s showed up at the job site at the same time, instead of having each worker punch in one by one from their phones, or stand in line waiting to be clocked in by the foreman.

Other features Buddy Punch offers are:

What Do Users Have to Say About Buddy Punch?

At the time of writing, we’re proud to say Buddy Punch has 780 reviews with an average of 4.8 out of 5 stars on the popular review site Capterra.

And many of those reviews come from construction businesses, that highlight our ease-of-use, flexibility, and customer support:

Buddy Punch review: "Great time keeping option" for Construction

Click here to see full review.
Buddy Punch review: "They thought of everything!" for Construction

Click here to see full review.
Buddy Punch review: "Payday just became that much easier." for Construction

Click here to see full review.

Click here to see all of Buddy Punch’s Capterra reviews.

Interested in Learning More About Buddy Punch?

Watch our demo above, and sign up for a free trial to test it out yourself.

2. Hubstaff

Hubstaff is another great solution for construction companies. They offer a whole range of features, including but not limited to:

Click here to see a full list of HubStaff’s features.

What Do Users Have to Say About Hubstaff?

At the time of writing, Hubstaff has:

Here are two reviews that highlight how Hubstaff helps construction businesses manage their time:

Hubstaff review: "All in one program for time tracking, team & project management."

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

3. Homebase

Homebase is our third pick for construction businesses. Their features include, but are not limited to:

Click here to see a full list of Homebase’s features.

What Do Users Have to Say About Homebase?

At the time of writing, Homebase has:

Here are two reviews that highlight how Homebase helps construction businesses manage their time:

Click here to see all of Homebase’s Capterra reviews.

4. Connecteam

Connecteam is another great solution for construction businesses, with features such as:

Click here to see a full list of Connecteam’s features.

What Do Users Have to Say About Connecteam?

At the time of writing, Connecteam has:

Here are two reviews that highlight how Connecteam helps construction businesses manage their time:

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

5. Timely

Timely is another solid timesheet app for construction businesses. They offer a large array of features, including Automatic Time & Attendance Tracking, Project and Team Planning, and Team Time Management.

What Do Users Have to Say About Timely?

At the time of writing, Timely has:

Here are two reviews that highlight how Timely helps construction businesses manage their time:

Click here to see all of Timely’s Capterra reviews.

6. QuickBooks Time (Formerly TSheets)

QuickBooks Time is a time tracking solution that has features including but not limited to Time Tracking, Staff Scheduling & Messaging, Payroll & Human Resources Integrations and Time Card Reports.

Click here to see a full list of QuickBooks Time’s features.

What Do Users Have to Say About QuickBooks Time?

At the time of writing, QuickBooks Time has:

Here are two reviews that highlight how QuickBooks Time helps construction businesses manage their time:

TSheets review: "Great software for what we need."

TSheets review: "Easy to use"

Click here to see all of QuickBooks Time’s Capterra reviews.

7. Workpuls

Workpuls is another great time tracking software for the construction industry. They offer features such as Employee Monitoring, Time Tracking, Automatic Time Mapping, and Screenshots.

Click here to see a full list of Workpuls’s features.

What Do Users Have to Say About Workpuls?

At the time of writing, Workpuls has:

Here are two reviews that highlight how Workpuls helps construction businesses manage their time:

Click here to see all of Workpuls’s Capterra reviews.

8. ClockShark

Clockshark is construction timesheet software, with plenty of other advanced features, such as:

What Do Users Have to Say About ClockShark?

At the time of writing, ClockShark has:

Here are two reviews about ClockShark from construction businesses:

Click here to see the full review
Click here to see the full review

Click here to see all of ClockShark’s Capterra reviews.

Note: Buddy Punch is our own product, which we built after struggling with using a paper punch clock to manage three business locations with over 20 employees. Learn more about how it works here and sign up for a free trial.

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