Excavation Contractor Software for Crew and Equipment Hours

On an excavation job the machine usually costs more per hour than the person running it, and both get billed. JobSnap is excavation contractor software that tracks the crew and the iron side by side: who was on site, which excavator was there, how many hours each put on the job, and the trench photos that prove what was in the ground.

How an excavation week actually runs

The crews are small. An operator on each machine, a labourer with the laser or the grade rod, and one or two drivers on the dump trucks. The fleet is a mix of excavators, a mini excavator, a dozer, a loader, a roller and a couple of ten-wheelers, with a float moving machines between sites. The work is basements and footings, septic systems, water and sewer services, drainage, and site prep for a subdivision or a commercial pad.

Some of it is hourly, machine plus operator. Some is a lump sum, with extras for rock, unsuitable soil, water or extra hauling. Spring thaw restrictions on roads in many regions, frost in winter and rain on clay all decide when you can dig and move equipment.

Where the hours and the proof go missing:

• Operator hours and machine hours are not the same. The operator spends the morning on the excavator and the afternoon driving a truck. The paper sheet has one number.
• Machines left behind. A mini excavator stays on a finished site for two weeks because nobody booked the float. If it is rented, you are paying for it.
• Hourly billing disputes. The general contractor says the machine was there six hours, not nine.
• What was in the hole. You hit rock at four feet, or a service sits shallower than the drawings say. Once it is backfilled, only a photo shows it.

How an excavation crew uses JobSnap

• Every machine on the right job. With equipment tracking, assign the excavator, the dozer and the trucks to the job they are on. Their hours go on the daily timesheet next to the operator's, so you see a day's cost in labour and machines together. A machine that logs no hours for two weeks shows up as idle.
• Boundaries for big sites. A residential lot gets a radius. A subdivision or a road job gets a custom geofence that matches its shape, so the crew is clocked in to the right job wherever they park.
• Photos before backfill. Shoot the trench with a tape in the frame, the depth of a service, or the rock you hit, then mark it up with arrows and text. The photos stay on the job with the date and the name of whoever took them.
• A daily report the GC can read. The daily report asks what got done, what caused delays or extra work (rock, water, waiting for the locates) and what is needed tomorrow. It records the weather and pulls labour and equipment hours from the timesheet.
• Estimates priced by the machine hour. Keep your rate for each machine with operator, trucking per load and fill per tonne in the cost library. After the job, compare the estimate with the hours you actually logged, and price the next basement from that.

Excavators often dig the base for paving crews. When one company does both, the machines and people move between the two kinds of jobs in the same app.

What it costs for an excavation contractor

$5 CAD per active employee per month, $20 minimum, every feature included. Four operators, two labourers, two truck drivers and the owner make 9 active employees: $45 a month. You pay for people, not machines, so the seven machines on the timesheet add nothing. If work slows in winter and only three people stay active, you pay the $20 minimum. The 30-day trial is free and needs no credit card.

Questions excavation contractors ask

How are machine hours counted?

Machine time is logged against the job the machine is assigned to, like an employee's, so each job carries its own equipment cost. The hour meter stays your guide for oil changes and service intervals.

Can I back up a time and materials extra?

The timesheet shows who and which machines were on the job and for how long. The photos and daily reports show why. Select the photos and send them with the invoice.

We only have five people. Is a whiteboard enough?

For scheduling, often yes. Where small excavators lose money is machine hours that never make it to the invoice. If you bill hourly, that is where tracking per job earns its price.