Sheet metal contractor time tracking
Sheet metal contractor time tracking: the shop hours and the install hours, on one job.
Sheet metal contractor time tracking has to carry one job through two very different places: the fabrication shop, where duct is cut, formed and flanged, and the building, where it is hung floor by floor. ZeroBadge records both from a company-managed badge. The shop is a location you draw, each building is a location you draw, and every shift splits into shop hours, field hours and the drives between, which the office can then set against the estimate.
- Shop and field hours kept apart
- No phones on a scissor lift
- One month or more of battery life*
*Under qualifying operating conditions. Battery life varies with reporting frequency, signal conditions, usage, and configuration.
Field & shop
Jobsites
1,004.6 h
Shop
15.3 h
Supplier
6.2 h
Transit
19.0 h
Recorded off the jobsite
Lena O.
Foreman
7h 49m
Marcus T.
Foreman
6h 45m
Diego A.
Foreman
6h 45m
Hannah P.
Apprentice
5h 51m
Lucia Z.
Apprentice
5h 48m
Kenji H.
Apprentice
3h 48m
Nia F.
Apprentice
3h 48m
The other 17 of 24 workers recorded jobsite time only this week.
What ZeroBadge does for you
How ZeroBadge helps sheet metal 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 in a lift basket above a ceiling can press the alert button, and the office sees whether it came from the shop or from a building.
Learn more02
Workforce management
See who is on the shop floor and who is installing in each building, and spot a late start before a delivery or hoist is held up.
Learn more03
Automated timekeeping
Shop hours and field hours are recorded separately on one shift, so a fabricator who moves to the install mid-week keeps one timesheet with both.
Learn more04
Workforce productivity
Compare shop hours and install hours against the estimate for each job, including shop time after install began, before the job closes.
Learn more05
Location analytics
Wi-Fi positioning indoors and GPS at the dock separate the shop from the building, answering which building the work was in, not which floor.
Learn more06
Field logistics
Balance fabricators and installers between the shop and active buildings by seeing how shop hours lined up with each job's install schedule.
Learn more07
AI advisory and analytics
Ask how many shop hours a job used compared with its install hours and get an answer from badge records, with every figure linked to its source.
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 sheet metal hours hide
A duct job is built twice: once at the shop, once in the ceiling.
The estimate for a sheet metal job is usually a pile of pounds or linear feet of duct with a shop number and a field number on it. The timecards rarely come back in that shape.
The shop week that lands on the install
A crew builds the fourth-floor mains in the shop on Monday and Tuesday, then installs them Thursday. If all of it is written on the Thursday crew sheet as field time, the install looks slow and the shop looks like it had a light week.
Shop hours for a job nobody has named yet
Coil is cut for three jobs on one line in one morning. The people on the machine know which ticket they worked. The timecard says eight hours at the shop.
Floors that run in sequence, not in parallel
Duct goes in floor by floor behind the framers and ahead of the ceiling grid. A crew that spends three days on the sixth floor and two on the fifth has produced two different unit costs, and a week total hides both.
Deliveries, hoisting and the dock
Duct arrives by truck, waits on a loading dock for the hoist or the freight elevator, and is carried up in pieces. That is paid labor between the truck and the hanger, and it goes on whatever job is nearest.
Rework that travels back to the shop
A section that didn't fit above a beam goes back for a transition. The shop hours to remake it belong to the job and to a problem the PM would like to count, and they usually vanish into general shop time.
One week, one job, two places
The shop stays the shop. The building stays the building.
Draw the fabrication shop as an office-type location and draw each building as a jobsite. A fabricator's shift is then shop hours. A field installer's shift is a drive, building hours, maybe a stop at the dock supplier, and the drive back. A person who does both in one week carries both on one timesheet, with the line for each already separated.
What the badge records is where a person was and for how long. It does not know which job's duct was on the machine. Close that gap with the shop's own paperwork: fabrication tickets or travelers already name the job, and the badge supplies the shop total they should add up to.
Tue Oct 6
- 6:30 AMShop & OfficeClocked in at the shop, loaded fittingsOn site · 25m
- 6:55 AMTransit to RiversideDrive to Riverside Medical PavilionTransit · 40m
- 7:35 AMRiverside Medical PavilionCrew hand-over with Marcus T.On site · 45m
- 8:20 AMTransit to Cascade SupplyDrive to Cascade Supply Co.Transit · 25m
- 8:45 AMCascade Supply Co.Vendor stop: valve pickupVendor · 25m
- 9:10 AMTransit to Harbor YardDrive to Harbor YardTransit · 30m
- 9:40 AMHarbor Yard Distribution CenterOn site with the Harbor Yard crewOn site · 6h 10m
Floors and duct runs
How far the record goes, and where the foreman's notes take over.
ZeroBadge places a person at a building, not on a floor and not at a duct run. For floor-level costing there are two honest options, and most contractors use both.
Floors by date
Crews usually work one floor at a time. Note in your own system which floor a crew started on which day, and pull the job's recorded hours for those dates. The record supplies the hours; the schedule supplies the floor.
Hours per pound or per foot
Divide recorded field hours for a stretch of dates by the pounds or linear feet your foreman reports installed in that stretch. That gives a unit rate you can compare to the one in your estimate.
Separate buildings
On a campus or a multi-building job, draw each building separately. Hours then split by building without any extra step.
Kitchen exhaust and welded work
A small crew on a few days of stainless exhaust is a job like any other. It shows up as its own stretch of hours at that building, which is how you check its price against the real labor.
Payroll wrinkles
Shop rates, field rates and the week that changes places.
Different pay for shop and field
Some agreements and some contractors pay one rate in the shop and another in the field. Because every hour carries its location, shop hours and field hours reach payroll separated, and your payroll provider applies the rates. Confirm the rules for your agreement.
Public and private jobs in one week
Hours are by building, so a school and an office tower don't share a line. Certified payroll forms stay in your payroll process; see payroll integration for how approved hours move.
Overtime on a pour-back or a shutdown
A hot weekend to catch a ceiling close-in shows on the days it happened, by building, so the overtime goes against that job.
Apprentices moving between shop and field
A first-year apprentice who spends two days in the shop and three on site needs no special entry. The week splits on its own.
Why phones don't work on duct
Sharp edges, cut gloves and a lift basket.
Cut-resistant gloves all day
Handling sheet metal means gloves on for most of the shift. A touchscreen punch is a chore people skip, and the foreman ends up punching for a crew.
A noisy shop floor
A plasma table, a spiral machine and a brake press make a poor place to open an app. The badge is switched on at the start and left alone.
Above a ceiling, in a basket
Hanging trapeze and duct from a scissor lift puts both hands on the work. A phone in the pocket is one more thing to drop from a basket.
A different page for the rest of the mechanical side
Rooftop units, piping, crane days and start-up weeks are covered on mechanical contractors.
Many sheet metal contractors run beside a mechanical contractor or inside one. The badge and the weekly timesheet are the same for both.
Rolling it out
Start with the shop and one active building.
- 01
Draw the shop and the buildings
Type the shop address and each active building. Adjust the geofences. Add the dock supplier or coil vendor if crews stop there regularly.Office · first day
- 02
Badge the shop and one install crew
Putting both on badges in the same week shows the shop-versus-field split on a real job right away.Office · first week
- 03
Compare to the estimate and the shop tickets
Set recorded shop hours beside your fabrication tickets for the same dates. If they disagree, the gap is the first thing to look at.PM · week two
- 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 sheet metal contractors usually look next.
- Industry guideSpecialty contractorsSmall crews on many small jobs, with shop time and drives separated, and a page for each specialty.
- Industry guideMechanical contractorsField, fab shop and supplier time for HVAC, piping and sheet metal crews.
- Industry guideHVAC contractorsCommercial service techs, start-ups and maintenance agreements, with every visit placed by building.
- Industry guideConstructionGeneral and specialty contractors with crews across several jobsites, the shop and the supply house.
- SolutionLabor cost trackingLoaded rates, job budgets and forecasts from badge-recorded hours.
- SolutionMulti-jobsite time trackingSite transfers, transit and supply runs inside one shift record.
- SolutionTime tracking without phonesA company-managed badge instead of an app on a worker's personal phone.
- SolutionPayroll integrationApproved hours sent to your payroll provider automatically. Nobody re-keys a timecard.
ZeroBadge AI
Ask ZeroBadge AI about your shop and field crews
Questions go in as plain English, answers come from your own records, and every figure opens the records behind it.
You ask
How many shop hours did the Westgate job use compared with install hours?
Westgate used 212 shop hours and 328 install hours, so 39% of its labor was in the shop. Shop time sits on its own line against the job.
You ask
Which jobs had shop hours after install began?
Two: Westgate with 18 shop hours after the first install day, and Lakeview with 11. The dates show when the work moved back to the shop.
You ask
Which fabricators spent time at an install site this week?
Three shop staff logged 54 hours at Westgate, with their shop hours kept on separate lines. Each worker's week stays on one timesheet.
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 worksQuestions
Questions sheet metal contractors ask.
How do you separate shop fabrication hours from field install hours?
Can it tell which job a fabricator was working on?
Does it track hours by floor?
How do I compare installed hours to my estimate in pounds or feet?
What about welded kitchen exhaust or other small specialty jobs?
Last updated
Get started
See your shop hours and your install hours against one job's estimate.
We'll walk through ZeroBadge with your fabrication shop, your active buildings and the way your estimate is built.
What we will walk through
- 01How a shop day and a field day appear on one timesheet
- 02Shop hours beside your fabrication tickets
- 03Weekly timesheets, review and the payroll integration