Guide
Job sheets and timesheets: what to record
The job sheet is how you get paid for the work, and the timesheet is how your crew get paid for their time. Both are only as good as what goes on them on the day.
Updated · General information, not legal advice. Check your contract, the official source and, if it matters, a lawyer.
What a job sheet is for
A job sheet is the record of one job: who it was for, where, what was done, what was used, how long it took, and the customer agreeing it was done. It does three jobs at once:
- It is what you invoice from. Anything not on it tends not to get charged.
- It is your evidence if the customer later says the work was not done, or not done properly.
- It is the history next time: what is in that switchboard, which filter that unit takes, what was found behind the wall.
What to put on a job sheet
Job sheet checklist
- Customer, site address and the job number or reference
- Date, and who was on the job
- Work done, in plain words a customer understands
- Anything found that needs doing later, and whether it was quoted
- Parts and materials used, with quantities
- Time on site for each person: start, finish and breaks
- Photos: before, during and after, especially anything that will be covered up
- Test results or forms the work needs
- The customer's sign-off, with their name
Write it before you leave the site. A job sheet written on Friday from memory misses the second trip to the wholesaler and the extra half hour.
Common job sheet mistakes
- "Fixed it" as the whole description. Say what was wrong and what you did, so the next person, and the customer, understand it.
- Parts left off because they came from the van stock. They still cost you money; write them down.
- No photos of work that gets covered up: cabling in walls, pipework under slabs, waterproofing before tiling.
- Times rounded to the hour, or a single total for three people. Record each person.
- No sign-off, because the customer was not home. Take a photo of the finished work and note who you spoke to.
Timesheets for employees
If you employ people, you must keep time and wages records. The Fair Work Ombudsman says employee records must be kept for 7 years, must be legible and available to a Fair Work inspector, and must not be false or misleading. If a record has to be corrected, the correction should be noted, with the reason.
Pay slips must be given within one working day of pay day, and for hourly employees they show the rate and the hours worked. That is easiest when the hours were recorded properly in the first place.
Subcontractors are different: they invoice you for their work rather than filling in your timesheet, though you may still want their hours on the job for costing. If you are not sure whether someone is an employee or a contractor, the Fair Work Ombudsman and the ATO both have guidance.
Good timesheet habits
- Record time against the job, so it can be invoiced and so you can see what each job really cost.
- Record it as it happens: clock on at the start, off at the end, and breaks in between.
- Keep typed or corrected time marked as such, so everyone can see what was clocked and what was changed.
- Approve each week before payroll, not after.
- Attach any signed paper timesheet or docket to the entry it belongs to.
Paper, or the phone?
Paper works if it comes back clean, legible and on time. It often does not: the sheet is in the ute, the times are rounded, the parts are "a few fittings". If you stay on paper, our free job sheet template has a space for everything above.
On a phone, the job sheet fills in as the work happens, it cannot be lost in the van, and the office sees it the moment the job is done.
In the app
In Crewzy the job sheet is the job itself. Your crew clock on and off on the job from their phone, even with no signal, and record work done, parts, photos and the customer's signature there. They can speak the job sheet instead of typing it with dirty hands when there is signal. Every clock on and off builds the week's timesheets, with entries the office typed or corrected marked so it is clear they were not clocked, and dockets attached to the entry. The time downloads as a CSV for your bookkeeper or payroll, and the job invoices from the same record.
Sources
Official pages this guide relies on, read on 23 October 2026. Rules change; check them before you rely on anything here.