What Is the Best Piece Rate Tracking Software for Contractors?
The best piece rate tracking software for contractors in 2026 is Piece Work Pro — because it is the only platform built from the ground up for piece rate pay. Most construction software tracks hours, not pieces. If you pay crews by the square, by the unit, or by the task, you need a tool designed for that workflow. Below, I break down seven options so you can decide what fits your operation.
I spent years on roofs before I built Piece Work Pro. I know what it is like to sit in the truck on Friday night with a calculator, a stack of tally sheets, and a headache. That experience is baked into every recommendation here. I will be honest about what each tool does well and where it falls short.
Quick Comparison Table
| Software | Piece Rate Native | Starting Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piece Work Pro | Yes | Free (Solo) / $8/user/mo | Piece rate contractors of any size |
| ClockShark | No | $20/mo + $8/user | Small field crews needing GPS time tracking |
| busybusy | No | Custom pricing | Mid-size contractors wanting labor analytics |
| Jobber | No | $39/mo | Home service businesses (HVAC, plumbing, electrical) |
| Buildertrend | No | $199/mo | Residential builders and remodelers |
| Procore | No | Custom pricing | Large commercial GCs |
| QuickBooks Time | No | $20/mo + $10/user | QuickBooks users who need basic time tracking |
Notice the pattern? Only one tool on this list was built for piece rate pay. The rest bolt it onto an hourly system — or do not support it at all.
1. Piece Work Pro — Built for Piece Rate Pay
Best for: Any contractor who pays by the piece, unit, or task.
I built Piece Work Pro because nothing else existed for the way I actually paid my crews. Every feature starts with the question: how many pieces did this person complete on this job today?
What it does well:
- Native piece rate tracking — log units completed per worker, per job, per day
- Automatic pay calculation from custom piece rates you set for each task
- Job costing that shows real labor cost per unit, not just hours burned
- Crew management with individual performance tracking
- Payroll reports ready for export
- Mobile app for field entry — your crew logs their own counts
Pricing:
- Solo (1 user): Free forever. No credit card.
- Team: $10/user/month (monthly) or $8/user/month (yearly)
A 10-person crew runs you $80 to $100 a month. That is less than one bad payroll mistake costs you.
Where it falls short: Piece Work Pro does not try to be a full project management suite. It does not do scheduling, client proposals, or invoicing. It does one thing — piece rate tracking and payroll — and it does it better than anything else on the market.
Who should use it: Roofing crews, framing crews, drywall crews, fencing installers, flooring installers, agricultural operations — anyone who pays by output rather than by the clock. If you are not sure whether piece rate pay makes sense for your business, read our guide on how to calculate piece rate pay with examples.
2. ClockShark — GPS Time Tracking for Small Crews
Best for: Small field crews (under 20 people) that pay hourly and need GPS clock-in.
ClockShark is a solid time tracking tool. The GPS punch feature is genuinely useful — you can see exactly where and when your workers clocked in. The interface is clean and the mobile app works well in the field.
What it does well:
- GPS-verified time tracking
- Geofencing around job sites
- Scheduling and shift management
- QuickBooks and ADP integrations
Pricing: $20/month base + $8/user/month.
Where it falls short for piece rate: ClockShark tracks hours, not pieces. There is no native way to say "John installed 14 squares of shingles today at $65 per square." You can use custom fields as a workaround, but the payroll calculation still runs on hours. You would end up doing the piece rate math yourself — which defeats the purpose.
Who should use it: Hourly crews that need attendance verification. If you pay by the hour and your biggest problem is buddy punching, ClockShark solves that.
3. busybusy — Labor Analytics for Mid-Size Contractors
Best for: Mid-size contractors (20-100+ employees) that want deep labor cost data.
busybusy leans into labor analytics. It tracks time, ties it to cost codes, and generates reports that show where your labor dollars are going. The dashboard gives you a real-time view of labor spend across projects.
What it does well:
- Detailed labor cost reporting by cost code
- Real-time project labor dashboards
- Photo documentation and daily logs
- Integrates with most major accounting platforms
Pricing: Custom pricing — you have to request a quote. Expect to pay more than the simpler tools on this list.
Where it falls short for piece rate: busybusy is built around time and cost codes, not unit counts. You can track hours against specific tasks, but you cannot natively say "pay this worker $3.50 per unit for 200 units completed." The analytics are impressive, but they answer the question "how many hours did we spend?" not "how many pieces did we produce?"
Who should use it: Larger hourly operations that want to understand labor efficiency by project and cost code. If you have a full-time project manager who loves dashboards, busybusy gives them plenty to work with.
4. Jobber — All-in-One for Home Services
Best for: Home service businesses (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, lawn care) that need CRM, quoting, and scheduling in one tool.
Jobber is a popular platform in the home services space. It handles the full client lifecycle — from the first quote to the final invoice. The scheduling and dispatching features are solid, and the client portal is polished.
What it does well:
- Client quoting and invoicing
- Online booking and client communication
- Scheduling and route optimization
- Payment processing
Pricing: Starts at $39/month (Core plan). Scales up to $249/month for larger teams.
Where it falls short for piece rate: Jobber is a client management tool, not a payroll tool. It does not track piece counts or calculate piece rate pay. There is a basic time tracking feature, but it is designed for billing clients by the hour, not for paying crews by the unit. If you run a roofing company paying crews per square, Jobber cannot handle that payroll workflow.
Who should use it: Service businesses that bill clients by the job or by the hour. If your main challenge is managing customer relationships and scheduling — not calculating piece rate payroll — Jobber is a strong choice.
5. Buildertrend — Project Management for Residential Builders
Best for: Residential builders and remodelers managing complex projects with many subs.
Buildertrend is a full construction project management platform. It covers pre-sale (proposals, estimates), project management (scheduling, change orders, selections), and financial tools (budgeting, invoicing). It is built for the residential construction workflow.
What it does well:
- End-to-end project management for residential builds
- Client selection boards and change order management
- Scheduling with sub-contractor coordination
- Financial tracking and budget-to-actual reporting
Pricing: Starts at $199/month. Higher tiers run $499 to $799/month.
Where it falls short for piece rate: Buildertrend is a project management tool, not a piece rate tool. You can budget labor costs per task, but there is no feature for tracking how many units each crew member completed and calculating their pay from that count. The time tracking feature logs hours, not pieces. At $199/month minimum, you are also paying for a lot of features you may not need if your primary goal is piece rate tracking.
Who should use it: Custom home builders and remodelers who need to manage the entire project lifecycle, from proposal to warranty. If you are running a $500K+ residential build with selections, change orders, and multiple subs, Buildertrend earns its price.
6. Procore — Enterprise Construction Management
Best for: Large commercial general contractors managing multi-million-dollar projects.
Procore is the 800-pound gorilla in construction software. It is a full project management platform used on large commercial jobs — hospitals, schools, office buildings. It covers project management, quality and safety, financials, and workforce management.
What it does well:
- Enterprise-scale project management
- Document management (drawings, RFIs, submittals)
- Quality and safety tracking
- Workforce planning across large portfolios
Pricing: Custom pricing based on annual construction volume. Expect five figures per year minimum.
Where it falls short for piece rate: Procore is built for GCs managing subcontractors, not for subs managing piece rate crews. It tracks project-level labor costs, not individual piece counts. There is no "John installed 14 squares today" workflow. It is also massive overkill — and massively overpriced — if your core need is tracking what your crew produced and calculating their pay.
Who should use it: Large commercial GCs with a dedicated operations team. If you are running $10M+ in annual volume and need to manage documents, RFIs, and submittals across dozens of projects, Procore makes sense. If you are a sub running a 10-person crew, look elsewhere.
7. QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) — Basic Time Tracking for QuickBooks Users
Best for: Businesses already using QuickBooks that need a straightforward time tracking add-on.
QuickBooks Time is the simplest option on this list. It tracks when employees clock in and out, syncs that data to QuickBooks for payroll, and that is about it. The integration with QuickBooks is seamless, which is its biggest selling point.
What it does well:
- Tight QuickBooks integration
- Simple, intuitive time tracking
- GPS tracking on mobile
- Scheduling features
Pricing: $20/month base + $10/user/month.
Where it falls short for piece rate: QuickBooks Time is purely an hours tracker. It does not track units, pieces, or output of any kind. There is no way to set a piece rate per task or calculate pay based on units completed. If you pay by the piece, you would need to manually calculate earnings outside the app and enter them into QuickBooks yourself. That is exactly the kind of manual work you are trying to eliminate.
Who should use it: Small hourly businesses that live in QuickBooks and want time tracking to flow directly into payroll. If you pay everyone by the hour and QuickBooks handles your books, this is the path of least resistance.
How to Choose the Right Software
Picking the right tool comes down to three questions:
1. How do you pay your crews?
This is the question that matters most. If you pay by the hour, most tools on this list will work. If you pay by the piece, by the unit, or by the task, your options narrow fast. Most construction software assumes hourly pay. Piece rate is an afterthought — or not supported at all.
2. What is your team size?
Solo operators and small crews (under 10 people) do not need enterprise software. A free or low-cost tool that nails the basics will outperform a bloated platform you only use 10% of. Larger operations may need more robust reporting and integrations.
3. What problem are you actually solving?
Be honest with yourself. If your problem is "I spend hours every week calculating piece rate payroll on paper," you need a piece rate tool — not a project management suite. If your problem is "I cannot keep track of RFIs and submittals on a $5M commercial job," you need Procore or Buildertrend.
Do not pay for features you will not use. And do not force a tool designed for hourly tracking to handle piece rate workflows. It will cost you more time than it saves.
For a deeper look at what drives software costs in this space, check out our breakdown of piece work tracking software pricing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use hourly time tracking software for piece rate pay?
Technically, yes — but you will be doing extra work. Hourly tools track when people clock in and out. They do not track how many units someone completed or calculate pay from a per-piece rate. You would need to track units separately (on paper or in a spreadsheet), do the math yourself, and then enter the totals manually. That is the exact workflow piece rate software eliminates.
What features should piece rate tracking software have?
At minimum, you need: unit/piece count entry per worker per job, custom piece rate settings per task type, automatic pay calculation from counts and rates, and payroll-ready reports. Bonus features include mobile field entry (so crews log their own counts), job costing by unit, and crew performance tracking.
Is Piece Work Pro only for roofing contractors?
No. Piece Work Pro works for any trade or industry that pays by the piece, unit, or task. Roofing crews, framing crews, drywall installers, fencing contractors, flooring installers, agricultural operations, and manufacturing teams all use it. If you pay based on output rather than hours, the tool fits.
How much does piece rate software cost compared to hourly tracking software?
Pricing is comparable. Most tools in both categories charge $8 to $15 per user per month. The difference is not price — it is whether the tool actually supports piece rate workflows. Paying $10/user/month for software that handles piece rate natively saves you more than paying $8/user/month for an hourly tool plus hours of manual calculation every pay period.
Can I try piece rate tracking software before committing?
Yes. Piece Work Pro offers a free Solo plan with no time limit and no credit card required. You can track your own piece work, run reports, and see if the workflow fits before adding your crew to a paid plan.
The Bottom Line
Most construction software was built for hourly workers. That is fine if you pay by the hour. But if you pay by the piece — per square, per unit, per task — you need a tool that speaks your language.
I built Piece Work Pro because I lived the problem. I spent years tracking piece counts on paper, calculating pay in spreadsheets, and fixing mistakes that cost me money and trust with my crew. None of the tools on the market handled the way I actually ran payroll.
If you are not ready to commit to software yet, start here: Try our free Piece Rate Calculator — no signup required. Plug in your rates and your crew's output and see exactly what piece rate pay looks like for your operation.