Friday afternoon, still chasing timesheets.
Solved Hours arrive from the gate as the week happens. Nothing to chase.
QR code timesheet app
Timesheet software
Timesheet software
with QR clock-in, signal or not.
Unibuild is timesheet software for UK trades and specialist contractors. Your operatives scan a QR poster at the gate in your own app, in about three seconds, with or without signal. The clock-in time cannot be back-dated, and the hours reach the office already costed to the job.
Try it
Three people, three gates,
Three people, three gates,
and not a figure typed.
You are holding A. Fenton’s phone at 12:40, between sites. Clock him in at his afternoon site and his line lands on the office side, counting. Then try to change his 07:42.
A. FentonElectrician
Elmfield
Job 2431 · Gate 1
Clocked in
- Site
- Elmfield, job 2431
- Clock-in time
- 07:42:18
| Operative | Site | Clock in | Clock out | Hours | Pay type | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J. Hadley Labourer |
St Aidan's | 07:31:09 | On site | 5 h 09 m | Normal | £15.50 |
| A. Fenton Electrician |
Elmfield | 07:42:18 | 12:03:51 | 4 h 22 m | Normal | £24.00 |
| T. Ashcroft Plumber |
Northgate | 07:55:40 | On site | 4 h 44 m | Normal | £23.00 |
Scroll the lines sideways to reach the rate
- Elmfield4 h 22 m£104.62
- St Aidan's5 h 09 m£79.79
- Northgate4 h 44 m£108.99
What payroll receives
Who did what, and when
- Clock-in, J. Hadley, St Aidan's
- Clock-in, A. Fenton, Elmfield
- Clock-in, T. Ashcroft, Northgate
- Clock-out, A. Fenton, Elmfield, 4 h 22 m
Scan somebody in, or press a time to try changing it.
3Lines from a scanNothing typed by anybody
0Corrected by the officeFlagged, with the original kept
£293.40Costed to the jobs so farAt each person’s rate for the day
- The time is recorded, not typedTaken the moment the code at the gate is scanned. Nothing on the line to type into.
- Costed as it runsHours at the person’s hourly rate, with your overtime rule applied. Here, time and a half after eight hours.
- Corrections are flaggedThe office can correct a forgotten clock-out. The original stays on the line, with who changed it and when.
Problems we solve
Eleven timesheet problems. All eleven solved.
The ones every firm with people on site knows, from the Friday chase to the agency invoice nobody can check.
Hours written up on Friday from memory.
Solved The clock-in time is recorded at the scan and cannot be back-dated.
No signal on site, so the clock-in fails.
Solved The scan is kept on the phone and synced when signal returns.
Hours on the wrong job. Margin unknown.
Solved Each scan puts the hours on that site’s job, already costed.
Overtime and travel worked out in a spreadsheet.
Solved Normal time, time and a half, double time and travel, split for every day.
Day works queried, and nothing to prove it.
Solved Day works sheets built from the clock-ins, signed by the client on the day.
Agency invoices paid on trust.
Solved Agency and subcontract hours from the same poster, checked against the invoice.
Every hour typed into payroll twice.
Solved Approved hours export straight to your payroll software.
Nobody knows who is on site right now.
Solved A live map of who has clocked in, and on which site.
Twelve-hour days nobody adds up.
Solved Door-to-door hours and rest checked before the next shift.
Operatives will not use another app.
Solved About three seconds at the gate, in your firm’s own app. No tracking.
11/11Solved in one module
Book a demo →
Performance highlights
What changes when timesheets start at the gate.
Drag a dial to rotate it · arrow keys to tilt
-
0%
90% less time chasing timesheets
The time saved on ringing round site managers, reading handwritten sheets, and typing them up before payroll can run.
-
0%
95% faster to prove who was on site
Cut the time it takes to answer a main contractor’s attendance query from a folder and two phone calls down to a search.
-
0%
100% of overtime calculated, not typed
Normal time, time and a half and double time come off the scans at the person’s rate for the day. Nobody types an overtime figure in, so there is nothing to mistype.
-
0%
85% faster from the hour worked to the hour on record
The gap between an hour being worked and it being logged, costed, and ready for payroll falls from end-of-week memory to a three-second scan.
Figures from Unibuild customers’ case studies.
The fix
Capture the hours. Keep the proof.
Unibuild turns site scans into timesheets with attendance evidence and labour costs attached. Your office has a record to approve as the week progresses.
- Hours arrive without the chase
- Operatives scan in and out through your app. Their scans build the timesheet, ready for the site manager to approve without collecting paper sheets.
- Attendance comes with evidence
- Every clock-in sits against the person, the site and the time of the scan. When a client queries a day’s labour, the office checks the record against the job.
- Job costs are calculated for you
- Hours are costed to the job at that person’s rate for the day, with overtime applied and travel kept separate. Timesheets and reports use the same sums.
How it works
One scan, and the
One scan, and the
timesheet builds itself.
The operative scans your QR poster at the gate. From that one movement, Unibuild records attendance, builds the line for the day and prepares the hours for approval and costing.
Poster
One code per gatePrinted in your brandingSite or plot assignedScanned
In your own appAbout three secondsSignal or notVerified
Made at the siteTime recorded at the scanCannot be back-datedOn the job
Person and site attachedTravel kept separateA line for the dayCosted
That day’s rate appliedOvertime includedJob cost updatedApproved
Manager reviews on phoneCorrections stay visiblePayroll export ready
| The record | Paper or spreadsheet | Unibuild |
|---|---|---|
| Arrival time | An estimate, written up later | A measurement: the time recorded at the scan |
| Proof of attendance | A total and a signature | A scan at the gate, with a photograph, against the person and the site |
| Which job | Allocated by hand in the office | Taken from the poster that was scanned |
| No signal | Written up later instead | Kept on the phone and synced when signal returns |
| Overtime and rates | Worked out in a spreadsheet | Worked out at the person’s rate for that day |
| Corrections | Overwritten or re-keyed | Flagged, with the original kept |
| Payroll | Typed up once the sheets are in | Approved week exported in a file payroll can open |
Ready to see it on your sites?
Book a 30-minute demo →
See the complete journey in a live demo.
We will show how a scan becomes an approved, costed timesheet for your sites.
What you get
Hours from the gate, costed before the week is out.
Unibuild captures the hours at the gate and carries them through approval to the job cost, at the right rate for the day. The site team scans; the office approves.
Hours as
they happen
AccurateGet the hours as they happen, from the person doing the work. No end-of-week reconstruction and no guessing what time somebody arrived.
- Clock in and out at the gate
- Clock-in time on every scan
- Hours tied to the right site
- Ready for approval
One deployment5,204 clock-ins
Proof on
every scan
EvidenceEvery clock-in carries a photograph and the time of the scan, against the person and the site. When the hours are queried, you check the record instead of relying on somebody’s memory.
- Photo with the attendance record
- Only works on the site
- The time cannot be back-dated
- Every change on record
Days from a scan4,237
Nothing to
install
SimpleThere is no machine to install and no complicated routine to teach. One poster at the gate and a quick scan in the app is all the site team needs.
- One scan to start
- One re-scan to finish
- Your own branded app
- Works across every site
Per scanabout 3 seconds
Know your
real cost
ControlApproved hours go straight to the job cost at the correct rate. Overtime and travel stay visible, so you know what the work is costing before the month closes.
- Cost by person and project
- Overtime applied automatically
- Travel shown separately
- Labour cost as it stands
Labour costper job, live
More inside
What else the timesheet module does
The controls that keep every hour ready for approval and payroll.
Works with
no signal
OfflineClock-ins work online and offline. On a site with no signal, the scan is stored on the phone and synced with the office the moment the phone is back in signal.
- Basements, plant rooms and rural sites
- Stored on the phone, then synced
- Nothing to re-enter
- On the timesheet like any other day
Inside · Offline
Travel
time
VansTravel is tracked separately and paid at the rate your firm sets, up to a maximum your admin sets in settings, so it never gets mixed into worked hours or overtime.
- Separate from worked hours
- Paid at the rate your firm sets
- Maximum set in settings
- Visible to the approver
Inside · Travel
WhatsApp
alerts
CommsClock-ins reach managers by WhatsApp, as well as by email and push notification in your own app, so they know even when they are away from the desk.
- WhatsApp messages to your managers
- To the numbers you choose
- Alongside email and push alerts
Inside · Alerts
Approved
on the phone
Sign-offManagers review and approve timesheets on their phone before payroll. A submitted week is locked, and a rejection carries its reason.
- Approve or reject with a reason
- Locked once submitted
- Every change kept
Inside · Approvals
Rates that
hold history
CostingThe rate in force on each working day is saved to that line, so later pay changes never rewrite historic job costs.
- A rate with a start date, per person
- Saved onto each day’s line
- Past job costs never change
Inside · Dated rates
Three sites,
three rows
JobsHours are assigned per site and day, so work across three sites produces three clear, costed rows.
- One line per site per day
- Goes straight to the job cost
- Costed at that day’s rate
- Nothing typed twice
Inside · Timesheet entries
Asked in every demo
What every director asks
What every director asks
in the first ten minutes.
These are the questions we hear first. The rest are on the FAQ page.
Can a clock-in be made away from the site, or for somebody else?
No. A scan only works within 100 metres of the site, or a shorter distance you set for that site, and a scan from further away is refused. Each scan takes a photograph, so there is a face against the record. The code on the poster is not a web address: only your app can read it, and only for a person signed in as themselves. The clock-in time is recorded by Unibuild, not taken from the phone, so it cannot be back-dated by changing a phone clock.
Does QR clock-in work on a site with no signal?
Yes. Clock-ins work online and offline. In a basement, a plant room or a rural compound with no signal, the scan is stored on the phone. It syncs with the office the moment the phone is back in signal. Nobody re-enters anything, and the day lands on the timesheet like any other.
Who approves the hours, and what happens when one needs correcting?
The supervisor approves each person’s week on the phone, against times recorded at the scan, and can reject a line with a reason. Once submitted, the timesheet is locked. If the office corrects a time later, the correction is flagged with who made it, and the original stays alongside it. The approver always sees which hours were scanned and which were entered.
What happens if an operative forgets to clock out?
The office enters the time on their behalf, and the record shows the office did it. Two things keep it rare. A notice stays on the operative’s phone for as long as they are clocked in. The supervisor or the office is alerted when somebody on the labour run has not clocked in, or has not clocked out by close of work. A fair policy for missed clock-outs sets out the evidence to ask for.
Can subcontractor and agency operatives use the same QR code?
Yes. Agency and subcontract operatives scan the same poster as your own people, without needing a staff record. Each person signs in as themselves, and their hours sit under their own firm, so the office can check each invoice against the clock-ins before it is paid.
What if an operative has no smartphone, or the site has no poster yet?
The office can enter hours on the operative’s behalf, marked as entered by the office. Or keep an Android tablet in the site cabin, where each person signs in with their own PIN. A site with no poster yet is covered by a clock-in from the app with a photograph of the site, and the approver sees it was not a scan. Posters print from the platform whenever a site needs one.
Do operatives need to download an app, and will they use it?
Yes, and it is your own app. It is published on the App Store and Google Play under your company’s own name and icon, so your operatives download your app, not ours. How the branded staff app works. After the first sign-in it opens on a four-digit PIN, and clocking in takes about three seconds. Location is checked only at the scan and never tracked between scans.
Can we use one QR code for the whole site, or one for each area?
Either, and the choice decides how precise your job costing is. One code for the whole site is the simplest and puts every hour on the site. One code per plot, floor or sub-site puts the hour on the plot or the floor instead. Housebuilders tend to want that, because it makes the labour cost per plot real rather than apportioned. Posters can be reprinted whenever the site layout changes, and where they go is agreed with you during implementation.
Does it export hours to payroll software such as Sage or BrightPay?
Yes. The approved week exports as a CSV, or as XML or JSON where a package wants them, which covers most payroll packages including Sage and BrightPay. Normal time, time and a half, double time and travel arrive already split, at each person’s rate for the day. A direct link into a named package is built on request. Each person also has a weekly timesheet PDF, and a payslip-style PDF once the week is approved. For the accounts, Unibuild syncs with QuickBooks, Xero and Sage 50.
What is a good timesheet app for site workers in the UK?
Unibuild is a timesheet app built for UK trades and specialist contractors. The operative scans a QR poster at the gate in your firm’s own app, takes a photograph and confirms, in about three seconds, with or without signal. The time is recorded at the scan, and the scan only works within 100 metres of the site. The hour lands on the job at that person’s rate for the day, with overtime and travel kept separate. Managers approve on the phone, and payroll gets a file it can open. Unlimited users, on one flat monthly fee.
Is QR clock-in compliant with UK GDPR, and where is the data held?
A clock-in records who scanned, where and when, with a photograph. That is personal data, so you need a lawful basis for holding it, and your operatives should be told what is kept and why. There is no biometric matching: a person looks at the photograph. The data is held in London, encrypted, and does not leave the UK, and every record is kept for seven years. Unibuild is ICO registered and holds Cyber Essentials Plus, and ISO 27001 certification is in progress.
How long does setup take?
The module itself is quick: add your sites, print the QR code posters, fix them to the site board, and add your people with their rates. Most firms go live in about two weeks, in phases, with the paper route closed on a named date. Your programme is agreed after scoping, and migration from paper, spreadsheets or another timesheet app is included.
How much does timesheet software cost in the UK?
Unibuild is quoted per firm rather than from a price list. It is one flat monthly figure, sized to your firm when it is quoted, and the figure is then fixed for three years. It covers every module, unlimited users, your branded app, configuration, training, data migration and support. There is no setup fee, no per-operative charge and no minimum term. Ask for a quote and the written figure usually follows the same working day. The full model is set out on the pricing page.
Can we try it first, and do we keep our data if we leave?
Yes. The 14-day trial is the full platform, on your own sites with your own people, and no card. After that the agreement is monthly rolling: cancel by email, with no minimum term and no exit fee. You can export everything at any time, and on leaving we hand back a clean dataset within five working days.
Is there a free weekly timesheet template?
Yes. A free weekly timesheet template is on the downloads page as an editable PDF and a Word document, with a gang sheet for a whole crew. In Unibuild the same hours come from the QR clock-in at the gate, so nobody fills in a sheet on Friday from memory.
What it costs
What timesheet software costs in the UK.
Unibuild is quoted per firm, with no price list. This is how the figure is built, and what it covers.
- Never per operative
- One flat monthly figure, sized to your firm when it is quoted rather than to the number of people using it. The site teams, the site managers, the office and the subcontractors on your books all use it on the same fee. There is no reason to ration logins at the gate.
- What the figure covers
- Every module, unlimited users, your branded app, configuration, training, data migration and support. The figure is fixed for three years. A team of 12 for eight weeks, another site or another poster changes nothing on the invoice.
- Built around your firm
- Unibuild is bespoke business software for UK trades and specialist contractors: a platform in daily production since 2016, shaped to the way each firm already works. Changes asked for after go-live are inside the monthly fee, not charged at a day rate.
- How you get a number
- Ask for a quote and the written figure usually follows the same working day. There is no setup fee and no minimum term, and the 14-day trial runs without a card. The model is set out in full on the page covering how the flat monthly fee is sized to your firm.
The site modules
The rest of what happens on site.
Same platform, same login. These are the modules that plan the work, record it, and hold the evidence it was done properly.
Further reading
What a scan proves, how to fix a missed one fairly, and why a rollout stalls in week three.
- QR codes on construction sites, and what a scan is actually worth A QR code at the gate is cheap to print and easy to oversell. What a scan proves, where the posters go, and the four things that decide whether the record survives a dispute.
- Forgot to clock out: fixing missed clock-ins and clock-outs on site A missed clock-out nearly always has an ordinary cause: a call-out, a flat phone, a poster locked in the security cabin. What evidence to ask for, what UK law says about the pay, and how to make it rarer.
- Why field rollouts stall in week three Most site software is not rejected. It is quietly outlived by the paper route nobody switched off. What the firms that got it to stick did differently.
Next step
Print one poster.
Print one poster.
Try it on one gate.
A 30-minute live demo, then a 14-day free trial on your own sites. Start with one poster on one gate.
All elevenSolved
- Timesheets chased every Friday
- Hours written from memory
- Clock-ins lost where there is no signal
- Hours booked to the wrong job
- Overtime and travel worked out by hand
- Day works disputed
- Agency and subcontract hours unchecked
- Hours retyped into payroll
- Who is on site, unknown
- Long hours nobody adds up
- Operatives who will not use an app
Ask for a quote
Tell us a little about the firm.
Tell us a little about the firm.
We do the rest.
Two minutes. A written figure by email, usually the same working day. Unlimited users, and no charge per operative or per clock-in.