A Time Tracking App for Framing and Carpentry Crews, Lot by Lot

A framing crew can touch three houses before lunch, and the builder pays by the square foot no matter how long each one took. JobSnap is a framing and carpentry crew time tracking app that puts every hour on the right lot, keeps a photo of every change the builder asked for, and shows the crew where they are going tomorrow.

How a framing day actually runs

Most framing crews are three to six people: a lead hand, two or three framers and an apprentice or labourer. In subdivision work the builder hands you a street. Walls go up on lot 14, trusses land on lot 15, and lot 12 needs backframing before the mechanical inspection. On truss day the crane is booked for eight, and if the delivery is late the crew and the crane both wait.

Weather sets the pace: rain on an open deck, snow to shovel off the subfloor before anyone can snap a line, wind that stops sheathing and truss lifts. Custom homes and renovation carpentry stay longer on one site, with more changes. Many contractors are paid per square foot or per house, then pay their own crew hourly. The money is in knowing how many hours each model really takes.

Where lot hours and builder extras slip away

• Hours per lot. A timesheet that says "Maple Ridge, 9 hours" cannot tell you that lot 14 took twice as long as lot 15.
• Small extras. Blocking for cabinets and grab bars, a wall moved a foot, a beam upsized after the engineer's review, rework after the HVAC sub cut a joist. Each is 30 minutes or two hours, and all are forgotten by invoice time.
• Waiting. A short lumber package, late trusses, a crane on standby. Nobody notes the time, so nobody bills it.
• Inspection deficiencies. The framing inspection and the pre-drywall walk produce a list. The crew comes back, then the builder asks whether each item was done.

How a framing crew uses JobSnap

• A boundary per lot or per phase. Set up each house as its own job with its own geofence, or draw one custom boundary around a whole subdivision phase if you only cost by phase.
• Hours that follow the crew down the street. As the crew moves from lot to lot, the hours are split by job on the timesheet. After a season you can set the hours for each model beside the square-foot price and see which ones pay.
• Photos of every change. The jobsite camera picks the nearest job. Shoot the moved wall, the added blocking or the cut joist, draw an arrow on it, and send it to the site super before the drywall covers it.
• Deficiency lists as checklists. Walk the house after inspection and record a note by voice or write a checklist, linked to the job. Tick items off as they get fixed and share the note with the team.
• A schedule the crew can read. In crew scheduling, one column per crew on the whiteboard, and a job in two blocks: walls and roof first, backframing after the mechanicals. Each worker sees their own row in the planner.
• Equipment on the right lot. The telehandler, the compressors and the generator can log hours against each job, next to labour.

A two-person renovation carpentry outfit may not need any of this. It starts to matter with two crews and a builder who pays per house. The drywall crew comes in after you and has its own page.

What it costs

$5 CAD per active employee per month, $20 minimum, every feature included. Three crews of five, a lead hand, three framers and an apprentice each, make 15 people: $75 a month. A single three-person crew is $15 by headcount, so it pays the $20 minimum. Free 30-day trial, no credit card.

Questions framing contractors ask

The builder pays per square foot. Why track hours at all?

Because your crew is paid by the hour, and the price per square foot is the same for an easy bungalow and a two-storey with a hip roof. Hours per lot show which models make money, so you price the next one from your own numbers.

Can my apprentices see where they are going tomorrow?

Yes. Workers open the planner and see their own row: which job, which days, and whether their time-off requests were approved.

Can I bill the extras from the app?

You can write an estimate for the change on your phone, send the PDF, and turn it into an invoice when it is done. The photos and hours stay on the same job.