Industries
Hours, permits and labor costs for electrical contractors
An electrical job moves through rough-in, inspection and trim-out, and the customer often adds work halfway through. HiVis records each electrician’s hours on the job they worked, keeps the permit and inspection paperwork with the project, and shows labor cost against the budget while the job is still open.
| Change orders with no record of the hours they took | Put the extra work on a project of its own: quote it, and when the customer accepts, convert the quote into a project. Its hours and labor cost then stay apart from the original job. For small additions, a note on each time entry is enough. See quotes. |
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| Permits and inspection reports scattered across inboxes | Upload them to the project’s documents and file each one under a category such as Permit, Design or Photo. A document stays private, or gets a public link you can revoke, for example for the general contractor. |
| Testers and drills that nobody signed out | Assign each tool to the electrician who holds it, and the item shows whose van it’s in. Wire, boxes and breakers issued to a job are recorded as movements, with who made each one and why. See tool and stock tracking. |
| Apprentice and journeyman rates that change mid-job | Each person has an hourly rate with a start date. When an apprentice moves up a pay step, add the new rate from that day: earlier hours keep the old rate, in payroll and in job cost. See timesheet to payroll. |
| Labor overruns found after the job is closed out | A job can have a labor budget. Hours count toward it as soon as they’re entered, and HiVis emails the people who can see labor costs when spend gets close to the budget or goes over. See job costing. |
A typical week in HiVis for an electrical contractor
Monday: set up the job
Create the project with the site address, assign the crew and add a labor budget if you use one. Upload the permit and the drawings to the project’s documents.
Every day: hours by job
The foreman sends the crew’s hours at the end of the day, and the office enters them per person and job. Rough-in, panel work or trim-out goes in the note.
Wednesday: the customer adds work
They want outlets in the garage. Quote the extra work, send the link, and when it’s accepted, convert it into its own project so its hours are counted apart.
Thursday: inspection
Upload the inspection report to the project. If something has to be redone, log the rework hours on the job with a note saying what they were for.
Friday: approve and check
A reviewer approves the week’s hours or sends entries back with a correction note. The project shows labor spent against its budget.
Free tools for electrical crews
Not ready to switch? Start with these, free and without signing up.
- Electrician timesheet: circuit or area and permit number on every row, so hours line up with inspections and change orders.
- Retro pay calculator: what an apprentice is owed when a new pay step was entered late.
What HiVis doesn’t do
- No circuit, permit or change-order fields on time entries: use the note or a separate project.
- Quote approval isn’t an e-signature, so sign change orders separately if your contract requires it.
- No mobile clock-in app, GPS attendance checks or start and finish times. Hours are entered per person, job and day.
- No invoicing or progress billing, and no accounting integration.
Questions and answers
See your crews, hours and costs in one place
Book a 30-minute demo or start a 30-day trial. We set up your workspace and help move your data.