Time tracking app aimed at enhancing net earnings for contractors of all walks of life

TimeCamp time tracking app for contractors is your go-to platform for managing all your work hours and clients. Track time, manage tasks, and quickly send invoices. All with just a few clicks. It's never been easier!

What is Time Tracking and Why is it Important for Contractors?

Time tracking is the process of recording and monitoring the amount of time spent on tasks, projects, and activities. Accurate time tracking is crucial for contractors to ensure they are paid correctly, manage labor costs smartly, and optimize project efficiency.

The main challenge for an independent contractor is the fact that they often have to manage all their work-related activities themselves. That comes with many challenges and obstacles.

Time tracking software helps contractors to better manage their business:

1. Professional project management: You can manage multiple projects timelines and deadlines in one place.

2. Work hours tracking: Time tracking apps offer precise time tracking for accurate billing.

3. Personal clock-in/out system: Whether you use the app solo or with a team, the time clock feature lets you precisely record start and end times of your work hours.

4. Create accurate invoices and estimates: This allows you to bill clients accurately. It's also helpful in budget management.

5. Transparency: Clear records of work completed as well as estimates help build trust with clients and stakeholders.

6. Tax and legal compliance: Time tracker, such as TimeCamp, helps to gather all the necessary data for tax season, audits, or legal disputes if they arise.

7. Productivity insights: A time tracker identifies how you spend your time, helping you improve efficiency and focus on high-value tasks.

TimeCamp helps to keep things together by providing a unified platform for managing all you work, projects, clients, and finances. It's more than just a simple time tracking software. It's a powerful all-in-one solution that enhances productivity, streamlines workflows, and provides insightful analytics.

Key Features to Look for in a Time Tracking App

TimeCamp is the best time tracking app, thanks to several essential features. Take a look at the most important time tracking features that you may find helpful in your work as a contractor:

Automatic time tracking

How can automatic time tracking help you?

Automatic time tracking is one of the key features for two reasons: it helps to save time on manually entering data and prevents incorrect data input. It also ensures that all numbers are accurate, so the data you present to your clients is reliable.

If you work with a team, automatic time tracking functions also help you approve timesheets quickly and without mistakes. This makes the entire timesheet approval process much easier and faster.

Tracking billable hours

How can tracking billable hours help you?

Usually, contractors bill by the hour of work. For that reason, it's crucial to keep track of billable time. Hence, a time tracking app helps reduce errors and keep records accurate. Also, tracking billable hours automatically simplifies time tracking.

Tracking billable hours is also essential for determining hourly rates, as these include time spent on work and your experience, resources, and other factors that influence your work.

Additionally, tracking billable hours helps you make accurate estimates to better plan your work and budget.

Customizable features

Why is it important to customize features?

Because as a contractor, you may need to tailor the tool to fit the specific business needs of your niche and industry. Independent contractors very often operate on their own terms and have unique workflows. For this reason, you need a personalized tool to meet your unique time tracking needs.

Also, you can use time-tracking templates to customize your work even more. You can check our free templates library here.

GPS tracking and geofencing

Is GPS tracking necessary in the work of a contractor?

That depends. No, if you work from the office. Yes, if you work on a job site or change locations on a regular basis. In that case, using GPS can streamline your work. It's a helpful feature that helps to quickly capture start/end times of your work hours.

For teams, this kind of automatic time tracking helps to monitor employee locations and ensure accurate time tracking. It also helps to automatically calculate clock in-out times.

Online timesheets and payroll integration

Are online timesheets and payroll integration necessary for contractors?

It depends on your work setup. If you're handling time tracking and payments manually, you might manage without them—but you'll likely spend unnecessary hours on administrative tasks. For contractors juggling multiple projects or teams, online timesheets paired with payroll integration can help in managing employee absences.

This feature simplifies tracking work hours and eliminates the need for manual calculations. When integrated with payroll systems, it automates salary computations. This is particularly beneficial for ensuring timely payments and maintaining smooth operations in a busy contracting environment.

Task management

Why manage tasks in a time tracking app?

Because it allows you to track time to particular projects and tasks easily. If you have all your work structured and planned in your time tracker, it's easier to organize and schedule your work processes.

What's more, task management provides you with a clear overview of tasks and projects so you always know what's due, what to expect, and whether you'll meet the deadline. That helps make better estimates and improves your time management.

Budget management

How can tracking time help in managing the budget?

It's important to manage your finances accurately. That includes: estimating the expected budget, cost allocation, tracking expenses, identifying inefficiencies and things you waste time on, and preventing scope creep. For teams, that will also involve managing labor costs.

The right time tracker, such as TimeCamp, will help you manage all your budget so your tracked time represents the real value, not time wasted on unproductive work. After all, time is money, as it's said.

Mobile app

Why use mobile apps for time tracking for contractors?

If you're an independent contractor, you probably have a lot on your plate. A mobile app gives you quick access to all the data on work and clients whenever you need it. Mobile device availability is a great asset.

What's more, mobile apps can work as a mobile time clock, especially for contractors working on a job site, traveling for business purposes, or visiting clients in various locations.

Integrations

Why are integrations necessary?

Integrations are the crucial element of a good time tracking software. They help to connect all your favorite tools into one, unified platform. They make work easier and quicker. Thanks to integrations, all business processes are smooth.

Another important feature, next to integrations with third party apps is availability for different platforms and devices (web app, mobile apps, browser extensions, desktop app). Such a compatibility enables time tracking on multiple devices.

TimeCamp - The Best Time Tracking App for Contractors

TimeCamp is a robust time tracking app with many helpful features. Here's how TimeCamp works and how it can help in your work of an independent contractor:

1) Sign up and set your account

To start using TimeCamp, you need to sign up and create an account. It's easy and takes just a few minutes. You can register here, for free, no credit card required. All you have to do is provide an email address and set a password.

Once you're logged in, you can personalize your account with the preferred settings. Choose which modules and functionalities you'll need in your work. That will help you fully customize the app.

Also, if you want, you can invite your clients as users with specific user roles (you can determine the level of transparency you want to keep). Or invite your team members to use the app with you for better work results.

2) Track time

Now, you can track time. There are several ways to choose from:

• Online timer available on the web page.

• A desktop app that automatically gathers information about all your computer activities.

• Mobile app is available for all mobile devices and wearables.

• Browser extension.

• GPS tracking with geofencing and location tracking.

• Time clock kiosk that works as a free attendance kiosk tool for teams.

All your tracked time is automatically gathered in online timesheets. You can access it anytime, anywhere. And you don't have to worry about counting all the numbers. TimeCamp's automatic time tracking helps to calculate overtime to avoid payroll errors.

3) Manage projects

TimeCamp lets you easily organize all you work into projects and tasks. These have a hierarchical structure that gives you transparency and allows to neatly organize all projects.

You can create projects, add tasks, subtasks, clients, and tags for more clarity. You can also color-code them to distinguish one from another easily.

4) Generate timesheets

TimeCamp works as a timesheet app that automatically generates timesheets for you and your team. All tracked time is precisely logged into simple and neat timesheets. Timesheets include such data as start and end times of work, project and task, duration of each task, client, tags, and notes.

What's more, you can choose from three different timesheet views: daily view, weekly reports, and weekly calendar view, which provides a graphical overview of the entire week and all tasks.

You can adjust timesheets by adding, removing, or changing time entries. Or move them to a different day and copy time entries from the different day. TimeCamp timesheets give you a lot of flexibility in case you find it necessary to adjust them. You can also share them with clients to let them know about the work progress.

If you work with a team, you can approve timesheets. It'll help you prevent time theft and keep labor data accurate. In TimeCamp, you can choose who gets to approve timesheets.

5) Track expenses

If you need to manage expenses, the expense tracking feature in TimeCamp lets you easily record all your expenditures. The Expenses feature is designed to help you track, categorize, and manage your spending. You can add each expense to an invoice if you decide it's billable.

5) Send invoices

Based on tracked time, TimeCamp allows you to generate professional invoices. You can choose from two options—create an invoice based on project hours, or create your own customizable invoice.

All your issued invoices are available in the "Invoices" section. You can also see their status as a draft, pending, or paid. Also, you can set customizable rates for different tasks (because not every project is equal), and TimeCamp will automatically calculate the precise time for your invoice.

On top of that, you can connect TimeCamp to payroll software, for example, Quickbooks payroll software or Xero to smoothen the invoicing process and get paid faster.

6) Integrate

Integrations can make you a productivity powerhouse. They also help to save a lot of time, money, and effort on administrative and repetitive tasks.

TimeCamp has a repository of integrations. It integrates with multiple project management tools, accounting software, productivity apps, communication apps, and many more other apps. You can connect your favorite tools via Zapier. Or use TimeCamp's API to create your custom integrations and functionalities.

We also offer integration with Google calendar. That way you can track time to all your events, meetings, and tasks with ease.

7) Analyze and improve with detailed reports

With TimeCamp, you get to see where your time really goes. The real-time dashboard with real-time reports shows your current state of work, productivity, and budget. You can also access them via mobile app anytime, anywhere, to stay on top of things. Here are the types of reports you get to see in TimeCamp:

• Location report for when you use the GPS feature.

• Time reports with the most accurate, summarized, and detailed information about time tracked on all your projects.

• Attendance report based on timesheet hours.

• People reports are especially useful if you work in a team.

• Finance reports with billable, non-billable, and invoiced hours, estimates, revenues, costs, and margins.

• Sites and apps—a report for all your activities so you can spot and eliminate distractions

• Custom reports are available when you need to create a personalized report.

Share reports with clients (with a link, export to Google Spreadsheet, or download as an Excel, PDF, or CSV) and stakeholders to inform them about the progress of work and give them insight into your work.

The reports and analytics give you a precise view of the big picture and the general state of your contracting business. They can also help you increase your productivity so you can be more effective and profitable.

How to Track Time Effectively with TimeCamp?

Tracking time with TimeCamp is easy because everything is automatic. However, to make it super effective, there are several helpful things you can do. Here are the best practices for tracking time:

• Use a mobile time tracking app to track time on the go. Especially GPS tracking and geofencing to ensure accurate time tracking if you work with construction companies on-site.

• Set clear goals and objectives for time tracking to know what you want to achieve.

• Establish a routine for tracking time to log time regularly. This will help prevent inaccurate numbers.

• Set reminders and notifications to ensure timely time tracking.

• Review and edit time entries regularly, along with time tracking reports to identify problems and inaccuracies.

However, there are many ways to damage your time tracking and make it a burdensome and counterproductive practice. Take a look at common mistakes to avoid when tracking time:

• Forgetting to track time or logging incorrect hours (that's where TimeCamp's automatic time tracking saves the day).

• Not using a mobile time tracking app.

• Lack of clear goals and objectives for time tracking and not knowing why and how you want to track time.

• Not reviewing data. Tracking time but not analyzing the data wastes effort.

• Ignoring non-billable tasks, like administrative work, gives an incomplete picture of where your time goes. Track all tasks, even if they're not directly tied to client work, to identify time drains.

• Forcing employees or team members to track time only for accountability can create resentment. Present time tracking as a tool for transparency and efficiency rather than surveillance.

Is TimeCamp Really Free?

Yes, TimeCamp is a 100% free time tracking app for contractors! You don't have to pay a penny for using the app. The free version offers unlimited projects and unlimited users, and basic features:

However, if you want access to all the advanced features, you'll need to subscribe to one of the paid plans:

• Starter at $2.99/mo per user (billed annually)

• Premium at $4.99/mo per user (billed annually)

• Ultimate at $7.99/mo per user (billed annually)

• Enterprise at $11.99/mo per user (billed annually)

A free 14-da trial with all the features is available. Try TimeCamp for free - sign up today!

Choosing the Right Time Tracking App for Your Business with TimeCamp

Try TimeCamp, an easy-to-use time tracking software with a user-friendly interface. It's one of the best time tracking apps for contractors with all the features and functionality you need. You can easily integrate it with your existing accounting software and project management tools.

Invest in time tracking today and watch your productivity soar! With precise tracking, you can maximize billable hours, streamline workflows, and ultimately boost your earnings effortlessly.