Free Construction Timesheet Template

A construction timesheet does more than a generic one: it ties every hour to a job and a cost code, so the same sheet that runs payroll also tells you which jobs made money and which ones you underbid. For a small contractor without a payroll department, that connection between labor hours and job costing is often the difference between bidding the next job well and guessing. These templates are built around what construction actually needs, cost codes, per-week overtime, and, when a federal job appears, certified payroll.

There are six here, with the weekly sheet first because most construction runs on a weekly cycle: weekly, weekly with overtime and double time, daily field reporting, a crew sheet, a subcontractor version, and a certified payroll worksheet. Each downloads as an Excel file, free and without an email, with cost codes and per-week overtime formulas built in. For hiring the crew that fills these in, see the guide on how to hire construction workers, and for the general weekly format, the weekly timesheet templates.

What a Construction Timesheet Is

A construction timesheet is a record of the hours a worker or crew put in on construction jobs during a pay period, built to capture what construction payroll and job costing need. Beyond time in, time out, and break, it records the job or project, a cost code for the type of work, and the trade, and it keeps regular hours separate from overtime.

It is an employer-side record, filled in by the worker or a foreman and approved before payroll runs. What sets it apart from a generic timesheet is the connection to jobs and cost codes, which turns the payroll document into a job-costing tool, and, on prevailing-wage work, into the basis for the certified payroll you must submit. The Department of Labor construction guidance treats these hours as wage records you are required to keep.

Cost Codes and Job Costing

The single feature that makes a construction timesheet different from a generic one is the cost code. A cost code is a short number that classifies the type of work an hour went to, concrete, framing, electrical, so you can track labor cost by category, not just by job. It is the backbone of job costing.

Ties between labor and cost codes are what let you bill clients accurately, compare estimated to actual on a job, and bid the next one from real numbers instead of a guess. That is why the cost-code column sits right next to the hours on every template.

Which Template Should You Use?

Match the template to how you pay and how you report. Weekly is the industry default; add overtime and double-time columns if your crews run long; daily for field reporting; crew for a whole team on one sheet; subcontractor for sub billing; and certified payroll for federal jobs.

6 Free Construction Timesheet Templates

Download all six as a single Excel set or grab individual templates. Each downloads as an Excel file with cost-code and job columns, per-week overtime, totals, and a setup tab already built, free and with no signup. Every template also opens cleanly in Google Sheets, so you can share a live copy with a foreman in the field.

Template 1: Weekly Construction Timesheet

A seven-day sheet with job, cost code, time in and out, break, and separate regular and overtime columns that total automatically. The industry-default starting point.

Template 2: Weekly + Overtime / Double Time

Separate regular, overtime at 1.5x, and double-time at 2x columns, figured per workweek. For crews with regular overtime and states or contracts that require double time.

Template 3: Daily Construction Timesheet

A single-day sheet listing each worker, trade, cost code, and task, with a daily total. For foremen capturing hours on site each day.

Template 4: Crew (Multiple Workers)

One row per worker across the week, with regular, overtime, rate, and total pay per person and a crew total. For a foreman tracking a full crew at once.

Template 5: Subcontractor Timesheet

Date, project, scope, cost code, hours, rate, and an auto-calculated amount, so the sheet doubles as an hours record and an invoice basis for a subcontractor.

Template 6: Certified Payroll Worksheet

A worksheet to prepare weekly certified payroll for federal Davis-Bacon projects, with classification, straight and overtime hours, rate, and fringe. Prepares the data for Form WH-347.

What to Include

A complete construction timesheet covers four groups: worker and job, hours data, pay basis, and an approval trail. The construction difference is in the first two, the job and cost code, and the trade or classification.

The elements a generic timesheet skips, and construction needs, are the cost code, the trade or classification, and, on prevailing-wage work, the fringe. The templates build all of these in.

Overtime in Construction

Overtime is where construction payroll most often goes wrong, and the rule is not intuitive if you pay every two weeks. The Department of Labor calls out the construction industry specifically on this point.

So a worker who logs 48 hours one week and 32 the next is owed 8 hours of overtime for the first week, not zero on an 80-hour average. Averaging weeks to avoid overtime, along with failing to pay for shop-to-site travel and docking hours for rain delay, are among the most common construction violations the DOL cites. The templates total each workweek separately and keep overtime in its own column for this reason. For which workers are owed overtime at all, the exempt vs. non-exempt guide covers the classification rules.

Certified Payroll and Prevailing Wage

The moment a federal or federally funded job enters your pipeline, a whole compliance layer comes with it. Certified payroll is the weekly report that proves you paid the required prevailing wage, and it is not optional on covered work.

Willful falsification of certified payroll can carry civil or criminal penalties and debarment from future federal work, so accuracy matters. The certified payroll worksheet here prepares the weekly data, worker classification, straight and overtime hours, rate, and fringe, so you have what you need to complete the official filing. It is a preparation tool, not a substitute for the WH-347 submission. If you only do private work, certified payroll usually will not apply, but it is worth knowing the threshold before you bid a public job.

Timesheets by Trade

The same timesheet structure works across trades, with the classification and cost code changing to fit the work. A few notes by trade, since classification often drives both the rate and, on prevailing-wage jobs, the wage determination.

Whatever the trade, the timesheet fields stay the same: job, cost code, hours split into regular and overtime, and a sign-off. Set your classification list and cost codes to match how you bid, and the same template serves a carpenter, an electrician, or a full mixed crew.

Timesheets for Small Contractors

A large contractor runs time tracking through field software and a payroll department that knows the rules. A small builder has an owner or a foreman collecting sheets from the truck, which is where the honest mistakes happen: overtime averaged across two weeks, a federal job whose certified payroll obligation got missed, or job costing reconstructed from memory. The templates are built to prevent exactly these.

The single most valuable habit is capturing the cost code and the correct per-week hours on an approved sheet, every week, and keeping it. A signed, cost-coded record is what makes payroll accurate, job costing real, and an audit a lookup instead of a scramble.

From Spreadsheet to HR Software

A spreadsheet is the right tool for a small contractor, and these templates work on their own. The strain shows up when sheets come in from three job sites in three formats, when approvals live in text messages, and when a certified payroll deadline or a lost record becomes a real problem.

When that point arrives, FirstHR centralizes what the spreadsheets were doing separately: employee profiles hold the crew, their trades, and rates, a self-service portal lets workers submit and foremen approve, e-signature captures the sign-off, and document storage keeps timesheets and certified payroll in one retrievable place, alongside the employee handbook and time-off policy. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll processor or certified-payroll filer: it does not run payroll, calculate prevailing wage, or submit WH-347, so pair it with your payroll provider and, for prevailing-wage work, a qualified compliance resource. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.

Frequently Asked Questions