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Fire sprinkler contractor time tracking

Fire sprinkler contractor time tracking, from the install crew to the inspection route.

Fire sprinkler contractor time tracking has to cover two kinds of day on one payroll: an install crew running mains and branch lines in a building under construction, and an inspection technician visiting five or six buildings on a schedule. ZeroBadge records both from a company-managed badge. Each building is a location you draw, every visit and every install stretch is placed at it, drives are measured separately, and the week builds itself by building.

Get startedSee an inspection route
  • Every visit placed at its building
  • Install and inspection on one record
  • One month or more of battery life*

*Under qualifying operating conditions. Battery life varies with reporting frequency, signal conditions, usage, and configuration.

Tue Oct 6

6:30 AM3:50 PM
SODOEast WaterwaySR 991st Ave S4th Ave SI-5S Lander St1 · SHOP & OFFICE6:30 AM · 25M2 · RIVERSIDE7:35 AM · 45M3 · CASCADE SUPPLY8:45 AM · 25M4 · HARBOR YARD9:40 AM · 6H 10MLena
Lena · route
© OpenStreetMap contributors
  1. 6:30 AMShop & OfficeClocked in at the shop, loaded fittingsOn site · 25m
  2. 6:55 AMTransit to RiversideDrive to Riverside Medical PavilionTransit · 40m
  3. 7:35 AMRiverside Medical PavilionCrew hand-over with Marcus T.On site · 45m
  4. 8:20 AMTransit to Cascade SupplyDrive to Cascade Supply Co.Transit · 25m
  5. 8:45 AMCascade Supply Co.Vendor stop: valve pickupVendor · 25m
  6. 9:10 AMTransit to Harbor YardDrive to Harbor YardTransit · 30m
  7. 9:40 AMHarbor Yard Distribution CenterOn site with the Harbor Yard crewOn site · 6h 10m
One shift from 6:30 AM to 3:50 PM.

What ZeroBadge does for you

How ZeroBadge helps fire protection contractors

One company badge per worker covers safety alerts, timekeeping, labor analytics and ZeroBadge AI. Here is what each part does in your line of work.

  • 01

    Worker safety

    An installer on a ladder in a ceiling or a technician alone in a riser room can press the alert button, and the office sees the building.

    Learn more

  • 02

    Workforce management

    See which install crews and inspection technicians are at which building today, and catch a late start on a scheduled visit.

    Learn more

  • 03

    Automated timekeeping

    Badge on starts the shift and each building is a stop, so new installs and inspection routes sit on one timesheet.

    Learn more

  • 04

    Workforce productivity

    Compare recorded hours per building with what each install was bid and what each recurring inspection visit was priced.

    Learn more

  • 05

    Location analytics

    Each building is a location drawn from its address, so visit by visit the record shows arrival, departure and time waiting on the inspector.

    Learn more

  • 06

    Field logistics

    Balance install crews and inspection routes using recorded hours per building, so recurring visits get covered while installs hold their schedule.

    Learn more

  • 07

    AI advisory and analytics

    Ask ZeroBadge AI how long inspection visits at each building run compared with the time you price, from the badge records.

    Learn more

Safety alerts support your safety program. They do not replace supervision or training, ZeroBadge does not monitor alerts or contact 911, and in an emergency workers should call 911.

Where fire protection hours hide

Fire protection runs a construction company and a service company side by side.

The install side is billed by the job against an estimate. The inspection side is billed by the visit, on a schedule, for hundreds of buildings. The same technician may do both in one week.

  • A route priced per building

    Inspection customers are quoted a fixed visit fee for a building. If the main drain test and the alarm check at one hospital wing take twice what the fee assumed, the loss is invisible on a card that says nine hours for the day.

  • Many small installs

    A tenant improvement needs thirty heads moved above a new ceiling. That is two people for three days, then back for trim. A year has hundreds of those, and each one gets a line on a Friday crew sheet.

  • Waiting on the inspector

    A rough inspection or a final test often needs the fire marshal or a third-party inspector on a window the crew doesn't set. The crew is on site and on the clock, and the delay belongs to the job.

  • Hydro tests and flow tests that run long

    A new system gets filled and pressure tested, and someone watches the gauge. A flow test at a fire pump needs a second person and a clear stretch of yard. Those hours are real and they land on a specific job.

  • Prefab in the shop

    Pipe is cut, grooved and built into spools before it goes out. Shop hours belong to the job the spools are for, and they show up as general shop time unless somebody splits them.

An inspection route

One technician, a Wednesday, six buildings.

Illustrative route for a sprinkler inspection technician.

Route sheet and a day total

  1. 7:00Truck loaded at the shop with gauges, test equipment and tags. Load-out time is nobody's line.
  2. MiddayArrival and departure are filled in at the end of the route, rounded to the quarter hour.
  3. AfternoonA school wing took an extra hour because of a locked riser room. The time is lost in the day total.
  4. FridayThe office compares the route's hours to the visit fees by hand, and only for the buildings someone remembers to check.

Badge record

  1. 7:00Badge on at the shop. Load-out is shop time.
  2. All dayEach building is a location you've drawn. Arrival, time on site and departure are recorded for every visit, with the drive between as transit.
  3. AfternoonThe school stretch shows its real length, including the wait at the riser room.
  4. FridayHours by building for every route stop. Compare to the visit fee on the buildings that ran long.

Install, inspection and what the badge can say

The record covers where and how long. Your service software covers what.

The badge doesn't know what was inspected, whether a system passed or what a deficiency tag said. Keep that in your inspection reports and service system.

  • Hours per building

    Each customer building is a location. Total hours there by month sits next to the number of visits and the fee, which is the comparison above.

  • Tickets against the record

    A technician's report says he was on site for 90 minutes. The badge says 3 hours. That is the first record to open, not a conclusion.

  • New installs by job

    A job is a location and a run of dates. Pull recorded hours for the dates the rough-in ran, then for trim and the final test, and compare each stretch to the estimate.

  • Large campuses

    A hospital or a school district is many buildings. Draw each building you invoice separately. A badge places a person at a building, not in a wing or on a floor.

Payroll wrinkles

After-hours work, mixed jobs and public buildings.

  • Work in occupied buildings after hours

    Hospitals, schools and offices often schedule impairments for nights or summers. Hours are recorded by building and day, so the night shift is visible as its own stretch. How premium time is paid is applied by your payroll provider under your policy and your state's rules.

  • Public and private in the same week

    A school install and a warehouse tenant improvement can both appear on one technician's week. Each hour carries its building, so the two reach payroll separated. Certified payroll forms stay in your payroll process.

  • Standby for after-hours calls

    Hours with the badge on are recorded, including the drive out. Time with the badge off is not. How standby is paid follows your policy and your state's rules.

  • Install and service in one week

    A technician who spends Monday on a rough-in and Tuesday on a route needs no special entry. The week splits by building on its own.

Why phones don't fit a sprinkler crew

Risers, lifts and test gauges.

  • Riser rooms and pump rooms

    Inspection work happens in mechanical rooms, stairwell risers and fire pump rooms where there is often no cell signal, and where a worker is watching a gauge rather than a screen. The badge stores its reports and uploads them when signal returns.

  • Pipe in both hands

    Overhead threading, grooving and hanging take both hands. A phone punch is the thing that gets missed until the end of the shift.

  • A different building every hour

    A route technician would need to open an app six times a day and trust it to know each address. The badge is switched on once.

Rolling it out

Badge the route first, then the install crews.

  1. 01

    Draw every building you invoice

    Type the address of each inspection customer and each active install. Adjust the geofences. Add the shop and the supply house.

    Office · first day

  2. 02

    Start with the inspection technicians

    They carry the most stops a day, so the benefit is clearest. Add install crews in the second week.

    Office · first week

  3. 03

    Check one route against visit fees

    Lay hours by building beside the fee for the same month. The buildings that ran long are the ones to review.

    Service manager · week two

  4. 04

    Approve and send

    Timesheets run Saturday to Friday. Clear the exceptions, approve, and approved hours are sent to your payroll provider.

    Payroll · weekly

Go deeper

Where fire protection contractors usually look next.

ZeroBadge AI

Ask about installs and inspection routes

ZeroBadge AI answers from your own recorded visits in plain English, read-only, and every number links to the records it used.

  • You ask

    Which buildings take longer on inspection than we priced?

    Summit Medical Center averaged 3.4 hours against 2.5 priced, and Lincoln Elementary 2.1 against 2.0. Each average links to its visits.

  • You ask

    How many hours did the Foster Street install use last week?

    Foster Street recorded 156 crew hours across 6 days, with a peak of 9 workers on Wednesday. The daily records are linked.

  • You ask

    How long did the crew wait at Summit Medical Center on the 12th?

    The crew was recorded at Summit Medical Center from 7:55 AM to 1:10 PM, 5 hours 15 minutes. The visit links to its location readings.

Answers come only from your company's own records. Every number links to the records behind it. Read-only; admins control access.

How ZeroBadge AI works

Questions

Questions fire protection contractors ask.

How do fire sprinkler contractors track hours across inspection visits?
Draw each customer building as a location and give each technician a badge. Every report is placed at a building, so a route becomes a list of visits with arrival, time on site and departure, plus the drives between. Compare those hours to the visit fee building by building.
Does ZeroBadge record inspection results or deficiencies?
No. The badge records where a technician was and for how long. Inspection reports, test results and deficiency tags belong in your inspection or service software.
How are install hours separated from service hours?
By where the hours were spent. Installs are jobsites you draw, inspection customers are buildings you draw, and the shop is its own location. Reports and payroll use that split, so no one codes a timecard by hand.
Does it work in riser rooms and pump rooms with no signal?
The badge uses GPS outdoors and the Wi-Fi networks it can see indoors. Where it can't reach cellular, it stores reports and uploads them with their original timestamps when signal returns. Very shielded rooms can leave gaps, which show as time to review.
Can it show the time a crew waited for an inspector?
It shows the time the crew was on site, which includes the wait. The cause of the wait comes from your job notes. Seeing the stretch as one block at that building is what makes it countable.

Last updated

Get started

See an inspection route and an install crew in one week's record.

We'll walk through ZeroBadge with your route, your active installs and how your hours reach payroll today.

Get startedSee the platform

What we will walk through

  • 01How a six-building inspection day is recorded without a phone
  • 02Hours by building beside your visit fees
  • 03Weekly timesheets, review and the payroll integration