How to track job costs on excavation jobs without spreadsheets
How excavation contractors track crew hours, machine hours, materials and change orders on each job without a spreadsheet, and what to check in software.
To track job costs on an excavation job without a spreadsheet, record the costs on the job as the work happens: crew hours, machine hours, materials and delivery tickets, and every change order. Then add them up and compare the total to what the job bills, change orders included. Software that captures those entries from the phone at the site makes the margin ready when the job closes, instead of rebuilt from receipts at the end of the month.
What goes into an excavation job cost
The cost of a dig is more than the operator's wage. Count the crew hours on that job at a loaded labor rate, the hours your excavator, skid steer, or dump truck spent on that site, fuel, stone, pipe, fill, haul-off and disposal, and any subcontractor invoices. Leave one of those out and every job looks more profitable than it was.
Crew hours against the job, not the day
A timecard that says eight hours on Thursday cannot tell you which site ate the day. Have each person clock in against the job they are on, and move the clock when they move to the next site. In TrackOver, crew time tracking works this way: the hours from the phone land on the job and flow to payroll from the same entry.
Machine hours and materials
Machines feel free because they are already paid for, but every hour adds wear and moves the next service date closer. Log machine hours per job the same way you log crew hours, so a two-week trench shows its share of the excavator. Capture each delivery ticket the day it lands, with a photo of the ticket, against the job it went to. A ticket left in the truck until Friday usually gets split between jobs by guesswork. Equipment tracking and materials tracking keep the hours, service intervals and deliveries in one place.
Change orders belong in the cost picture
The extra day of rock and the second load of fill cost real labor, machine time and material. They are also money you can bill, if the paperwork exists. Log each change the day it happens, with who approved it and what it cost. Then the job shows whether the change was billed, not just whether the final invoice looks right. Comparing actual cost to the quote while the job is still open lets you raise a change order before the money is gone, through job budget tracking.
Where TrackOver fits
TrackOver keeps crew time, equipment hours, materials and change orders on the job, then feeds them into job costing reports that show which jobs made money. It is built for dirt and excavation crews, so you can see the excavation software page for the details. You can start the 7-day free trial and run one real job through it before you decide.
Common questions
How do I calculate job cost on an excavation job? Add up crew labor on the job at a loaded rate, machine hours at your machine cost per hour, materials and delivered stone or pipe, subcontractor invoices, and disposal. Subtract that total from what the job billed, change orders included, and you have the job's real margin.
Does accounting software already do job costing? Accounting software records what you paid and what you billed. It usually does not know which crew hours and machine hours belonged to which site. Job costing needs the field data as well, which is why it is worth capturing on the job itself.
How often should I check the cost of an open job? Check open jobs every week, and review the full cost when a job closes. A job that is running over in week two can still be fixed with a change order or a schedule change. The same overrun found after the last invoice usually cannot.