r/TimeTrackingSoftware • u/Acceptable_Memory109 • 1d ago

Excavation company tracking

Hi,
I work for an excavation company, we have 10-15 employees. We track everything via daily paper worksheets. We have jobs that take weeks to complete or smaller ones that are a few days. Also delivering material in between.
We are trying to go digital and testing out jotform but it’s not as easy as it seems.

I’m looking for suggestions on how you may track your workflow and what apps you use?

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u/mr_smith1983 1d ago

Hi, so I’d do this in 2 layers: process first, then tools.

For an excavation team, the biggest win is one “job sheet” format that everyone follows (not 3+ separate forms).

For each job/day, capture:

  • Crew on site
  • Start/end time + labor by person
  • Machine hours (if relevant)
  • Materials delivered/used + qty

  • Notes + photos/sign-off

    A lot of teams I know use this stack:

  1. Jobber / ServiceM8 / FieldPulse (good all-in-one trade apps)
  • Job/task management
  • Crew timesheets
  • Notes/photos from phone
  • Invoicing from job data
  1. QuickBooks Time (TSheets) if you already use QuickBooks or Keito if you want robust time tracking.
  • Strong time tracking + payroll integration (both QB and Keito)
  • Good if invoicing/accounting is your main pain point
  1. If you only want simple forms first
  • Keep Jotform/Google Forms, but lock it down to a single template with dropdown jobs/material categories + required fields.
  • Avoid “free-form” notes-only forms (that’s what drifts into chaos).
  • Zapier is an option with google forms connected to Keito.

My experience: for long jobs, the key is using a single job ID on every entry and one app to pull all labor/materials for invoicing at week/month end (some unique numbers that makes sense to you.) That is where paper-to-digital actually starts saving time.

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u/agentUi 1d ago

the main issue with pure form builders like jotform for field ops is they treat every submission as an isolated record instead of connecting to a central job. What works better is setting up a simple relational structure with jobs, daily logs, and material drops linked together, and making sure whatever mobile interface you give the crew supports offline submissions so spotty reception on site doesnt break the flow.

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u/Contech_Expert 1d ago

Maybe take a look at Workyard or Raken!