Mechanic time is one of the most critical and least understood parts of the cost picture in heavy civil construction.
Heavy equipment only generates revenue when it’s working - and keeping it working depends on mechanic labor. Without accurate tracking of that labor, most systems fail to show the true costs tied to jobs and machines. Hours get forced into categories that misrepresent the work, or worse, disappear into overhead where they provide no visibility at all.
When mechanic labor isn’t tracked correctly, data goes sideways in different ways. Sometimes equipment looks too expensive because repair costs that should be tied to a project get lumped into the cost of the machine. Other times, jobs look cleaner than they should because those hours never get linked to the project where the work happened. In some cases, both sides are off - jobs look healthier, equipment looks worse, and managers are left trying to piece together reality from incomplete reports.
Where Most Shop Timecard Systems Fall Short
Most mechanic timecards are designed with the assumption that every shop hour must be tied to a machine. That design might make sense on paper, but it doesn’t fit the way real shops operate.
Mechanics spend plenty of time repairing and maintaining equipment, but their work stretches well beyond that. They might spend part of the day welding or fabricating something for a project, moving materials in the yard, fueling machines, or responding to a request that has nothing to do with a specific asset. All of that labor is valuable, and all of it should be captured, but rigid systems leave no place for it.
On the other end of the spectrum are full CMMS programs that bury mechanics in menus and dropdowns. These platforms may be designed for complex equipment fleets, but they’re too cumbersome for fast-paced shop environments where accuracy depends on making time entry quick and painless.
Job & Equipment Costing: The Numbers Behind the Work
Accurate mechanic time plays a central role in both job costing and equipment costing. Without it, the numbers don’t hold up. Clear separation between the two is the only way to see whether labor belongs to the project or the machine - and that distinction is essential for accurate costing.
- Job Costing depends on capturing the labor that truly went into a project. If a mechanic spends time welding on-site, operating equipment, or fabricating something specific to that job, those hours belong on the project. Leaving them out makes the job look cheaper than it really was.
- Equipment Costing is about understanding the labor tied directly to keeping machines running. Every inspection, repair, and rebuild adds to the operating cost of that asset. Those hours shouldn’t be buried in overhead or hidden inside job totals - they need to be tied to the machine.
NOTE: Sometimes mechanics are on a jobsite but working on equipment. For example, if a grader goes down mid-shift and the mechanic spends hours troubleshooting hydraulics in the field, that labor belongs to the equipment, not the job. Even though the work happened on-site, it’s still equipment-related service.
- Project Equipment Costing comes into play when equipment-related costs should follow a project or cost code. For example, if a crew rips the tailgate off a haul truck trying to pull it from the mud, that shouldn’t be buried in shop hours. The cost needs to be tied back to the project/task because the expense was caused by how the equipment was used in the field.
When timecards don’t allow mechanics to separate these scenarios, reports get distorted. Jobs can look more efficient than they were, because mechanic labor never landed there. Equipment can look more expensive than it really is when project hours get coded against it instead of the job. Over time, this inflates equipment costs, hides the true labor burden on projects, and creates reports that don’t match what actually happened on the jobsite.
This kind of bad data has real consequences. A project can look more profitable than it really was, which throws off future bids and estimates. A machine can look like it’s costing too much to run, even though the costs tied to it weren’t actual repair work. Managers end up making decisions on numbers that don’t reflect reality, whether that’s replacing a machine too soon, carrying underpriced work, or misallocating mechanics where they’re needed most.
A system that lets mechanics enter hours where they actually belong - to equipment, to jobs, or to general shop tasks - is the only way to get numbers you can trust.
Benefits of Accurate Mechanic Time Tracking
When mechanic hours are tracked flexibly and accurately, operations immediately gain clarity:
- With accurate mechanic time, labor stops disappearing into overhead and gets coded where it belongs.
- Job cost reports reflect the actual labor tied to projects.
- Equipment cost reports capture the service and repair hours that belong to machines.
- Project equipment costs are captured where they belong, so expenses caused by how machines are used in the field don’t get buried in shop hours.
When mechanic hours aren’t tracked correctly, job costs, equipment costs, and project equipment costs all get thrown off. Timecards built for heavy civil work capture labor the right way - so the numbers can be trusted and the reports hold up.
One System for Shop and Field Timecards
IVO Systems was built to simplify timecards across the board - shop, field, and everywhere in between - so every time entry is tied to the right context without slowing things down:
- Hours can be tied to equipment work orders (MaintainVO+) or field work (TimeVO) with the same simple process.
- Equipment details, meter readings, cost codes, employee information, and more are pre-populated into the timecards to make entering time that much easier.
- Mechanic time entries and field employee time entries live in the same system, allowing you to push all the data where it needs to go for consistent payroll and reporting across the board.
The outcome is straightforward: field employees and mechanics get a system they’ll actually use, and managers get the accurate data they need to manage projects, equipment, and costs with confidence.
IVO Systems is hosting a live event on Wednesday, October 1 at 10 AM CDT to walk through our solution for simple mechanic timecards – see more details and save your spot here.
