Guessing at labor costs or manually tallying paper timesheets at the end of the week leaves money on the table and creates payroll headaches. LawnBook™'s crew time clock lets every crew member clock in and out from their phone with a single tap, while GPS geofencing confirms they're actually on-site before the clock starts.
Clock In & Out
Crew members access the time clock directly from the LawnBook app on their iOS device. The interface is intentionally simple — a large Clock In button on the home screen and a matching Clock Out button when a session is active. No menus to dig through, no screens to navigate.
Once clocked in, the timer runs entirely in the background. Crew members can lock their phone, use other apps, or put the device away. The clock keeps running until they tap Clock Out. If a crew member forgets to clock out at the end of a job, you can manually adjust the end time from the Time Reports screen.
- Single tap to start — Clock In button is always visible on the crew member's home screen
- Background timer — Session continues even when the app is not in the foreground
- Manual corrections — Admin can edit any clock-in or clock-out time after the fact
- Job association — Clock-in sessions can be linked to a specific job on the schedule
- Break tracking — Crew members can pause the clock for breaks and resume when back on-site
Tip: Set up each crew member in the Crew section before enabling the time clock. Every team member needs their own LawnBook crew profile with a linked device before GPS geofencing will work correctly.
GPS Geofencing
GPS geofencing adds a layer of accountability by requiring crew members to be physically present at a job site before a clock-in session counts toward paid hours. You define a radius around each job address, and LawnBook checks the device's location against that boundary at the moment of clock-in.
To configure geofencing, go to Settings > Crew > Time Clock > Geofencing and enable the feature. You can then set a default geofence radius that applies to all jobs, or override it on a per-job basis for properties where precise boundaries matter. Common radius settings:
- 50 meters — Tight radius for residential properties on a standard block
- 100 meters — Good default for most residential lawn care work
- 200 meters — Better for large commercial properties or estate lots
- Custom per job — Override individual jobs with a specific radius from the job detail screen
When a crew member attempts to clock in and their GPS location falls outside the geofence, LawnBook warns them that their location doesn't match the job address. They can proceed anyway — the clock-in is still recorded — but it will be flagged for your review.
Tip: Require crew members to allow LawnBook "Always On" location access in iOS Settings for geofencing to work reliably. "While Using" permission can cause geofence checks to fail if the app is in the background when they clock in.
On-Site Verification
On-site verification is the enforcement layer on top of GPS geofencing. When enabled, it actively checks the crew member's GPS coordinates against the job's service address at clock-in time and logs the result for every session.
Each time entry in Time Reports shows a verification status:
- Verified on-site — GPS coordinates matched the job address within the geofence radius
- Location mismatch — Crew member clocked in from outside the geofence; exact coordinates are logged
- GPS unavailable — Device could not determine location at clock-in time (poor signal or disabled)
- No job linked — Clock-in was not associated with a specific job on the schedule
Flagged entries appear highlighted in Time Reports so you can review and decide whether to approve or adjust them before payroll export. You have full control — a flag doesn't automatically remove hours, it just draws your attention for review.
Time Reports
Time Reports give you a complete view of crew hours across any date range. Navigate to Crew > Time Reports to open the reporting dashboard. The default view shows the current week, but you can filter by day, week, month, or a custom date range.
Reports can be sliced several ways depending on what you need:
- By crew member — See total hours worked per person for the selected period
- By day — View a timeline of all clock-in sessions for a single calendar day
- By week — Standard weekly summary with daily breakdown for each crew member
- By job — See which jobs consumed the most crew hours and compare against your estimates
- By verification status — Filter to show only flagged entries that need review
Each row in the report shows the crew member name, clock-in time, clock-out time, total duration, linked job (if any), and GPS verification status. Tap any row to see the full detail including the map location at clock-in.
Tip: Run the weekly Time Report every Friday before finalizing payroll. Reviewing flagged GPS entries while the week is still fresh makes it easier to remember whether a discrepancy was legitimate (working from a staging area) or needs correction.
PDF Timesheets
Export timesheets as PDF or CSV directly from the Time Reports screen. Tap Export in the top-right corner of any report view and choose your format. Both formats include the same data — crew member name, date, clock-in, clock-out, hours worked, break time, and the linked job name.
PDF timesheets are formatted for printing or sharing as an attachment. They include your business name, the reporting period, and a signature line for crew member approval if you need that for your records. CSV exports are designed for importing directly into payroll software or spreadsheets.
- PDF — Professionally formatted, print-ready, signature line included
- CSV — Spreadsheet-compatible, importable into QuickBooks, Gusto, or ADP
- Email direct — Send the export to yourself or your bookkeeper without leaving the app
- Individual or all crew — Export one person's timesheet or the full crew in a single file
For weekly payroll runs, set a recurring reminder to export timesheets every Friday. The export captures all approved hours for the week, including any manual corrections you've made during review.
Crew Hourly Rates
Assign an hourly rate to each crew member in their profile to let LawnBook automatically calculate labor costs per job. Navigate to Crew > [Member Name] > Edit > Hourly Rate and enter the rate you pay that person per hour.
Once hourly rates are set, every clock-in session linked to a job contributes to that job's labor cost total. You'll see a live labor cost figure on each job detail screen that updates as crew members clock in and out. This makes it easy to see, in real time, whether a job is staying within budget or running over.
- Per-person rates — Set a different rate for each crew member based on their pay level
- Auto-calculated labor — Hours × rate = labor cost, calculated automatically for every job
- Job profitability — Revenue minus supplies minus labor minus overhead gives you true job profit
- Rate history — Previous rates are preserved so historical job costs remain accurate after a raise
- Overtime flags — Sessions that push a crew member over 40 hours in a week are highlighted for review
Combining accurate time tracking with hourly rates gives you the labor cost data needed to price jobs correctly. If a crew member consistently takes longer on a certain property type, that shows up in the per-job labor reports and informs your next estimate for similar jobs.