Every hour that isn’t accurately recorded by your time tracking software on a construction site affects your bottom line. Yet, many construction finance managers are still playing a guessing game with their most significant expense: labour costs. If you’re relying on paper timesheets or a job costing system that can’t track time against specific projects, you’re flying blind, a risk you can’t afford with today’s tight margins.
The Labour Cost Problem in Construction
Inaccurate or invisible labour tracking is a leading cause of financial loss in the construction industry. Site hours are often logged improperly, and subcontractor hours go unverified. This leads to finance teams piecing together costs with spreadsheets and phone calls at month-end.
The result? Inaccurate valuations, overstated margins, and a profit and loss statement (P&L) that doesn’t reflect the reality on site. According to a recent study by Sage, 48% of construction firms identified poor cash flow and project overruns as a major challenge, with inaccurate labour tracking being a key contributor. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) also highlights that labour shortages make accurate cost tracking even more critical for resource allocation and budgeting.
Why Time Tracking Is Crucial for Accurate Job Costing
Labour is one of the biggest costs on any construction project, often accounting for 40% of a project’s total cost. If your job costing software isn’t capturing who worked where, when, and for how long in real time, your cost reports are just estimates.
LiveCosts changes this. Our time tracking software provides clear visibility of hours worked per job, per team, and per day—all linked directly to your job costing system. It’s simple for your site teams to use and powerful enough for your finance team to trust.
Built for Xero, Built for Construction
LiveCosts doesn’t replace Xero; it enhances it. You get accurate, real-time labour data feeding directly into your cost reports. Job costing remains clean, invoices are matched automatically, and your P&L finally shows the real picture.
Whether you’re managing direct employees or tracking subcontractors, LiveCosts ensures every hour is accounted for. This level of accuracy is critical, as data from the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) shows that manual processes can lead to errors that increase project costs by up to 3%. This aligns with findings from FMI, a leading construction consulting firm, which consistently identifies poor financial controls as a major factor in project underperformance.
Stop the Guesswork. Start Protecting Margins.
Your finance team shouldn’t have to chase site managers for timesheets or spend days cleaning up data. With LiveCosts, labour tracking is an integrated part of your workflow, not a cumbersome add-on.
Track hours by job, live from the site.
Integrate seamlessly with Xero.
Automate job costing from time, purchase orders, and invoices.
See project margins in real time.
Job costing software should simplify your life, not make it harder. LiveCosts provides real-time labour visibility, accurate job costs, and fewer administrative headaches—all without leaving your familiar Xero environment.
Ready to stop guessing labour costs and start protecting your margins? Book a Live Demo
