Construction Timesheet and Labour Productivity Template (Free Excel)
A ready to use Excel timesheet that goes beyond hours worked: log the quantity installed against each trade and the sheet calculates the productivity rate and the variance against your target, automatically. Built by quantity surveyors.
Will Doyle
Founder and CEO, Gather · Chartered QS · Last reviewed 23 July 2026
A labour productivity tracker is a timesheet that records not just hours worked but the quantity of work produced against those hours, so it can calculate an actual productivity rate (units per hour) and compare it against a target rate. A plain timesheet only tells you how many hours were spent. This tells you whether they were spent well.
Productivity variance (actual rate against target rate) is the earliest signal that a gang, trade or activity is running slower than priced, well before the monthly cost report shows the same thing as an overrun.
What a good productivity tracker covers
Most site timesheets stop at hours and trade. That is enough to run payroll but not enough to manage a gang. The moment you add what was actually produced against those hours, the sheet turns into an early warning system for productivity problems, the kind of thing a QS usually only spots once the cost report is already three weeks out of date.
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Trade, gang and date | Ties every entry to a specific crew, not a project wide average |
| Hours worked | The input side of the productivity calculation |
| Quantity installed | The output side; entered against a defined unit (m², m, no.) |
| Productivity rate (calculated) | Quantity divided by hours, worked out by the sheet automatically |
| Target rate | Your tendered or planned rate for that activity, set once per activity |
| Variance vs target (calculated) | Flags gangs running slower than priced before it shows up in the cost report |
How to complete the tracker
Five steps per period. The first two are the ones that get skipped, and they are the two the whole calculation depends on.
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Log hours by gang and trade
Record hours worked for each gang and trade for the period.
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Record quantity installed
Enter the quantity of work produced against a defined unit for that gang and period.
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Set the target rate
Enter the tendered or planned productivity rate for the activity.
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Review the calculated rate and variance
The sheet calculates the actual productivity rate and its variance against target automatically.
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Track the trend on the Dashboard
Use the Dashboard tab to see productivity trends by gang and trade over time.
The template, field by field
| Date / gang | Trade | Hours | Qty installed | Rate vs target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Jul, Gang A | Bricklaying | 40 | 32m² | 0.80/hr vs 1.10 target |
| 14 Jul, Gang B | Steel fixing | 32 | 2.1t | 0.066t/hr vs 0.06 target |
| 15 Jul, Gang A | Bricklaying | 40 | 29m² | 0.73/hr vs 1.10 target |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
The Timesheet tab is where hours and quantities are logged daily; the Dashboard tab rolls that up into a productivity trend by gang and trade so a slipping crew shows up in a chart, not buried in a row. The How to use tab explains every column with a worked example.
Download the free template
The Excel file with the built in productivity calculator (quantity, rate and variance against target), by trade and gang.
Download the template (.xlsx) Free download. No email needed. Yours to use and share with your team.Worked example: a bricklaying gang falling behind rate
Gang A is tendered at 1.10m² per hour for blockwork. On 14 July they log 40 hours against 32m², a rate of 0.80. The sheet flags it against the 1.10 target straight away. On 15 July the rate drops again to 0.73. Two days is not proof of a problem on its own, but it is enough to have the conversation with the site manager on day two instead of finding out at the end of the month that the whole blockwork package is running 30% behind rate, with three more weeks of it still to price into the cost to complete.
Compare that with Gang B, steel fixing at 0.066 tonnes per hour against a 0.06 target: comfortably ahead, and worth knowing that too, because it means the target rate for the next similar activity can be set with more confidence.
How Gather automates this
A productivity tracker only works if the hours and quantities behind it are recorded accurately and often enough to spot a trend before it becomes a problem. Most sites manage the hours column reliably and the quantity column far less so, because measuring what was actually installed takes more effort than logging who turned up.
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.Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a timesheet and a labour productivity tracker?
A timesheet records hours worked by trade or gang. A labour productivity tracker adds the quantity of work actually produced against those hours, so it can calculate a productivity rate and a variance against a target rate, not just a total number of hours.
How is labour productivity rate calculated?
Quantity installed divided by hours worked, for a given trade or gang over a given period. This template calculates it automatically once hours and quantity are entered, and compares it against a target rate you set per activity.
What target rate should I use?
Your tendered or planned productivity rate for that activity, usually the same figure your estimator priced the work at. Setting it once per activity lets every gang working on that activity be measured against the same benchmark.
Can this replace payroll timesheets?
It can capture the same hours data payroll needs, but it is built for commercial and productivity tracking rather than payroll processing. Most contractors run it alongside their payroll system rather than instead of it.
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