Time clocks record how long each technician actually spends on each job, so you can set it against what the job was quoted at. Everyone in the shop can clock on, mechanics included. Time Clocks in the main menu is where you do it.
Clock time is for your own records. It never changes what the customer pays: an invoice bills the labor hours on its lines, however long the work took.
Clocking on and off
Your own clock is the card at the top of Time Clocks.
- Pick what you're working on from Select an activity. Jobs show as the order number and the labor line, for example #1042 / Front brake pads. Jobs you're assigned to come first.
- Press Start. The timer runs until you stop it.
- Press Clock Out when you're done.
General is for paid time that isn't on a job: cleaning the bay, a parts run, a training session. It counts toward your hours but not toward any order.
You can only have one timer running. To move to another job, pick it from the same list while the clock runs: the first entry stops and the new one starts in the same moment, so there is no gap between them. Several technicians can be on the same labor line at once.
Starting a timer on an Approved order moves it to In progress, so the board shows work has begun without anyone changing the status.
The timer follows you
While a timer runs, a green pill in the header shows what you're on and for how long, on every page. Click it to go to Time Clocks, or press its square button to clock out from wherever you are.
Times come from GarageFlow, not from your phone or computer, so a device with the wrong clock can't add or lose time.
Your totals
The card shows your hours for Today, This Week and This Month, counted in your shop's time zone, with the week starting on Monday. They count finished entries only: the timer running now joins them when you clock out.
What you can clock onto
The list offers labor lines that aren't marked complete, on orders that are Approved or In progress. That leaves out:
- Estimates nobody has authorized yet. Authorize the work first.
- Completed and invoiced orders. Get missed time onto a job before you mark it completed.
- Parts. Only labor lines can be timed.
- Lines marked complete. Once a line is done it drops off the list.
- Jobs you aren't on, unless your role can see every order. You're on a job when you're assigned to it or one of its lines, its appointment, or you're its service writer.
The same list is used when a manager adds time by hand, so these rules apply there too.
The Time Clocks tab on an order
Every order has a Time Clocks tab with the same parts, scoped to that one job.
- Timers shows a card for each technician on the job: anyone assigned to it, anyone who has already logged time on it, and you. The activity list offers only this order's labor lines, and General isn't on it. Managers can pull in someone else with Add Tech.
- Reports shows Hours Tracked next to Quoted Hours, the labor hours on every service the customer didn't decline. People who see everyone's hours also get a line saying how much of the quote has been used, which turns amber once the job runs over. It only appears while no filter is set, because one technician's hours, or one week's, can't be compared with the whole quote.
- Time Log lists every entry booked against this order.
Running the floor
People who see everyone's hours get the rest of the shop under Team, next to their own card. Whoever is on the clock comes first, with what they're on, how long they've been at it and today's total. People who can correct time entries can start a timer for someone from the same row, or clock them out, which helps when a technician forgot.
Correcting time
People who can correct time entries have two more tools.
Add Time Manually logs time someone worked but didn't clock in for. Choose the technician, the activity, Time In and Time Out, and add a note if it helps. It's on the Time Clocks page and on the order's tab.
- Time can't be logged in the future.
- It can't overlap time already logged for that technician. Two people can work the same hour; one person can't be in two places.
The ⋯ menu on a row in the Time Log has Edit and Delete.
- Edit changes the start time, the end time and the note. To move an entry to another job or another person, delete it and add it again.
- A running timer has to be stopped before its times can be edited.
- Delete asks first, and can't be undone.
The Method column says whether an entry came from the Timer or was added Manually.
Forgotten clock-outs
A timer left running overnight would turn into a 16-hour entry. To stop that, every timer is clocked out automatically once it has run for longer than your shop's limit. The limit is 12 hours unless you change it.
The entry ends exactly at the limit, not whenever the check happened to run, and the log marks it with a ⚠ warning sign asking you to review it. The time still counts, because the work most likely happened; check the entry and fix its end time if it ran long.
To change the limit, press the gear button (Clock settings) in the Time Clocks header and set Auto clock-out after anywhere from 1 to 24 hours. It can't be switched off.
Who sees what
| Mechanic | Manager | Owner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clock themselves on and off | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| See everyone's hours | Own only | Yes | Yes |
| Clock others on and off, add, edit and delete time | No | Yes | Yes |
| See labor cost and hourly rates | No | No | Yes |
These follow three permissions: See everyone's hours, Correct time entries and Manage users and roles, the last of which is what reveals hourly cost. A custom role can mix them differently; see team and roles.
A mechanic's Time Clocks page is their own card and their own entries. Ask them for the log and they get their own rows, not an error.
Labor cost
Labor cost comes from each person's Hourly cost, set by opening them under Settings → Users & Roles.
- The rate is copied onto each entry when it stops. A raise later on never changes what last month's work cost.
- Editing an entry's times works its cost out again at the rate it was stopped with, not today's.
- Time logged while someone had no hourly cost set has no cost, and setting a rate later doesn't fill it in. It's left out of Labor Cost.
The Labor Cost tile and the Hourly Rate and Cost columns only appear for people who can manage users.
Once the order is invoiced
Invoicing an order locks every time entry on it: the log shows a padlock, and Edit and Delete are greyed out. A timer still running on the job can always be stopped, so nobody is stranded on the clock. Reopening the invoice unlocks them so the time can be corrected, and invoicing again locks them again.
Exporting and reports
Export CSV in the log toolbar downloads exactly what the log is showing, with your filters applied. On the Time Clocks page the log opens on the current month; change the dates or clear them to export more. On an order's tab it covers the whole job. Times are in your shop's time zone. Each row names the technician, order, activity, customer and vehicle, the start and end, the duration in hours, whether it was a timer or a manual entry, whether it was stopped automatically, and the note. Owners also get the hourly rate and cost. A mechanic's export is their own entries.
Two reports under Reports build on clock time, on the Growth plan and above:
- Technician Hours: each person's clocked hours, labor against General, with labor cost.
- Technician Efficiency: billed labor hours against hours worked on the clock. A technician credited with 8 billed hours who clocked 6 runs at 133%. General time isn't counted as worked.
See reports and exports.
Troubleshooting
"The job I want isn't in the list." It isn't Approved or In progress yet, the line is marked complete, it's a part rather than labor, or you aren't on that job. Ask a manager to assign you to the service or line.
"You already have a timer running." Clock out first, or pick the new job from the list while the clock runs to switch.
"This overlaps time already logged for this technician." The manual entry or edit collides with time that person already has. Check their log for that day.
"I can't edit an entry." The order has been invoiced (look for the padlock), the timer is still running, or your role doesn't have Correct time entries.
"My totals don't include what I'm doing now." Totals count finished time. The running timer joins them when you clock out.
"An entry says it was stopped automatically." The timer ran past your shop's auto clock-out limit. Fix its end time from Edit.
"I can't see Labor Cost." It's only shown to people who can manage users.