Any contractor knows that successful project management hinges on labor. That’s not to say that smart material purchases and inventory control don’t also play a role in job profitability. However, unproductive labor will always kill profit, which is why knowing your real-time labor costs can improve your bottom line.

Traditionally, labor costs have been notoriously difficult to track because of the time lapse between what was happening in the field versus what your office records reflected. It wasn’t that long ago when, if a project manager wanted to know the job progress, he had to look at the last payroll processed – which could be a week old or more. While this was good information for the time, it certainly wasn’t accurate.

Thankfully, technology has revolutionized how contractors manage labor – and the overall job. Today, project managers can get real-time labor costs that tie into their construction accounting software, like ComputerEase.

In the construction industry – where customer expectations are high, profit margins are slim and the pace is faster than ever – you need labor costs on a daily basis to make informed decisions. Today, you don’t have to wait until the paperwork is turned in; you have technology to help you.

Timesheets, daily logs, change orders and job costs can all be captured from the field so you know what’s happening at all times. Mobile devices with internet access can transmit data from the field directly to your accounting system in the home office, eliminating the double-entry problem.

When a real-time field-to-office solution is set up, you can manage a job from anywhere. Imagine a workplace where your crew is out in the field during the day, and by night you know who worked on what job, what tasks they performed and even what equipment was used. It really is that simple when you have the right system in place.

Learn more about our real-time solution, FieldEase.