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Labour and Plant Allocation Tracker Template: Free Excel Download

A ready to use Excel tracker for recording where every gang and plant item worked each day, so you can see exactly where cost went instead of reconstructing it at valuation time. Built by quantity surveyors.

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Will DoyleFounder and CEO, Gather · Chartered QS · Last reviewed 22 July 2026

A labour and plant allocation tracker is the daily record of which gang and which plant item worked on which activity, and for how long, including any idle or standing time. It exists so cost can be traced to an activity on the day it was incurred, not reconstructed weeks later from memory.

Standing time and disruption to labour or plant are common grounds for a compensation event under NEC4 clause 60, but only if the time and cause were recorded on the day.

What a good allocation tracker covers

Most allocation records fail because they get filled in at the end of the week from whatever the supervisor remembers, or because idle time gets folded silently into an activity code instead of flagged as disruption. Either way, by the time the QS needs to explain a cost overrun, the trail has gone cold.

FieldWhy it matters
Gang or plant reference and activity codeTies every hour worked to a specific programme activity, not a general shift
Hours worked vs hours idle or standingSeparates productive time from disruption, which is the difference between a cost and a claim
Cause of idle timeGives the reason (weather, access, instruction) needed to substantiate a compensation event
Cost rate and daily costRolls hours into an actual daily cost per activity, feeding CVR
Evidence referencePoints at the diary entry or timesheet that backs the entry up

The template, field by field

RefGang / plantActivityHoursIdle
G-04Groundworks gang, 6 no.2.14 Substructure8.00.0
P-1125t excavator2.19 M&E first fix3.54.5
G-07Cladding gang, 4 no.2.21 East elevation6.02.0

The idle column carries a dropdown cause list and links to a companion notes field, so a standing time entry is never just a number with no explanation.

Download the free template

The Excel file with daily gang and plant allocation, an idle/standing time flag with cause dropdown, and an automatic daily cost roll up.

Free download. No email needed. Yours to use and share with your team.

How Gather automates this

An allocation tracker is only as good as the daily entry behind it. If idle time gets absorbed quietly into a productive activity code because nobody wanted to write down the real reason, the tracker will show a clean week that never happened, and the entitlement behind it disappears with it.

If your site diaries would not stand up when a claim lands, that is a problem you can fix now.

Gather's AI QS reads every daily record as it comes in and flags the events, delays and instructions that turn into money later, so the entitlement is captured while the evidence is still fresh.

See how the AI QS reads your site diaries A 30 minute call. No commitment. See if it fits how your team already works.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What should a labour and plant allocation tracker include?

At minimum: gang or plant reference, the activity code worked, hours worked versus hours idle or standing, the cause of any idle time, the cost rate and daily cost, and a pointer to the diary entry or timesheet that evidences it.

How is this different from the allocation sheet template?

The allocation sheet template records daily site activity at a summary level. This tracker goes one level deeper on cost, splitting productive hours from idle or standing time by cause, which is the detail a disallowed cost or compensation event argument needs.

Why does idle time matter so much?

Standing time caused by weather, access restrictions or a late instruction can be a compensation event under NEC4 clause 60, but only if it was recorded with a cause on the day. Folded silently into an activity code, it becomes an unexplained cost overrun instead of a claim.

Can this feed a CVR?

Yes. The daily cost roll up per activity is the input a cost value reconciliation needs; it is not a full CVR model on its own.

Stop losing track of where cost actually went

Gather reads your site diaries as they come in and keeps the labour, plant and idle time trail intact from day one.

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