A labor tracking system for a small employer is not a time clock and not payroll, though it reads both. The clock says who worked eight hours on Tuesday; payroll says what they were paid; the labor tracking system says those eight hours were on the Henderson job, cost the business the loaded rate rather than the wage, and brought the job's labor to a figure that can be read against the labor price on the bid. Hold a loaded rate per person, record crew hours against a job, read cost against price: that is the whole system, and the construction labor calculator on this site prices the crew's hours free with no account.
A loaded rate per person, dated
The tracking is only as honest as the rate behind it. A labor tracking system keeps a loaded hourly rate for each employee, worked from the wage plus the employer's share of taxes, benefits and insurance per hour worked, and dates it, so hours in one quarter are costed at that quarter's rate. The labor burden calculator on this site works the rate from your own payroll and publishes none.
Crew hours against the job, not against the week
Payroll groups hours by pay period; a labor tracking system groups them by job. Four people, forty hours each, on one job is 160 crew hours against that job's price, whatever the pay period boundaries. On the construction labor calculator's worked example, four people at 40 hours each are 160 crew hours, $5,040 of labor cost at a $31.50 loaded rate, and a $6,048 labor price once the employer's own markup is added.
Cost against price, while the job is still open
The figure the system exists for is the comparison: labor cost to date against the labor price on the bid, read while there is still time to act. A job that is at three quarters of its labor price with half the work done is a conversation this week, not a surprise at invoice.
What it is not
A labor tracking system does not record when people clocked in, build the roster or file payroll; those are separate products and the compare band names them. BurdenRateLedger Pro is $49 per month for the whole crew, with no per-seat and no per-job fee, and every calculator on this site computes free with no account.
Questions people ask about labor tracking system
What does a labor tracking system do that payroll does not?
Payroll costs hours by pay period at the wage; the tracking system costs them by job at the loaded rate and reads the total against the job's labor price.
Do I need a time clock as well?
The system reads hours from wherever you record them. It does not replace the clock; it gives the clock's hours a cost and a job.
Is there a free way to start?
Yes. The construction labor calculator on this site prices a crew's hours at your loaded rate with your markup, free and with no account; Pro keeps the record.