Step-by-step guide
HOW TO USE
CLOCKCOST
Short videos of every part of ClockCost, in the order you'll meet them. Each one is recorded on the real app with a made-up company, and the captions are on the picture, so they work with the sound off.
Stuck on something? Email karl@southrent.com and a human who has used the app on a job site answers. Include your company name and, if it's about a specific punch, the date and property. Most replies land the same business day.
Start hereSigning up, setting up the company, and who else can sign in.3 videos
Sign up · 1:55
Your details at clockcost.com/start, the emailed code, your office password, two-step sign-in and your backup codes.
Guided setup · 2:54
Company profile, hours and rates, your crew and properties from a pasted list, getting the crew on the app, and where everything lives afterward.
Office users and your accountant · 1:42
For the owner: giving an office user full access or your accountant a view-only sign-in, the invite link you send them, what each person's row shows, and taking access away.
The crew appClocking in on site, photos, notes and receipts.2 videos
The crew app · 1:59
For your crew: the company code and PIN, the location notice, picking the job site, clocking in and out, Drive and Shop, and signing off on their hours in My Pay.
Receipts · 1:07
For your crew: snap a receipt, check what ClockCost read, mark a return, pick the card and the property, and fix or delete it before the office books it.
Running the workEstimates, work orders, approving hours, and invoicing the job.4 videos
Estimates · 3:25
For the office: pricing a job from your cost book, custom lines, your labor rate and markups, sending it for approval, the customer approving it on their phone, and turning it into an invoice.
Work orders · 2:51
For the office and the crew: creating and assigning a work order, the crew linking their time, starting, noting and finishing it on the phone, and what the job cost.
Approving hours · 0:57
For the office: Weekly Hours, Payroll and who has signed off, hours by property, approving, and paying by check.
Invoicing · 1:45
For the office: Job Costs, building an invoice from a job's hours and receipts, sending it from the Send window, recording a payment with an emailed receipt, and the invoice list.
MoneyBank and card lines, bills, checks, paying vendors and reports.3 videos
Bank transactions · 2:22
For the office: matching deposits, checks and receipts, transfers between your accounts, categorizing and adding, rules for repeat vendors, and receipts that match on their own.
Paying vendors · 1:46
For the office: what you owe and how late, entering a bill, paying it by check, the print queue, recording a card or bank payment, and the check register.
Reports · 2:29
For the office: picking a report and dates, profit and loss and what's behind a line, cash or hours-worked basis, profit by property, job costs, who owes you, labor, the Schedule C summary, printing, exporting, and the year-end package for your accountant.
QuestionsSigning in, clocking in, receipts, pay and your data.15 answers
Signing in
I don't see my name on the login screen.
Your company adds you. Ask whoever runs the admin dashboard to add you as a contractor; you'll appear on the next refresh.
I forgot my PIN.
Your admin can reset it from the dashboard in a few seconds. We can't reset PINs from support; the company owns them.
It says I'm locked out.
Five wrong PINs in a row locks that name for 15 minutes. Twenty wrong in a row locks it until your office unlocks it. Either way, your office can tap Unlock beside your name and you can sign in again right away.
Can anyone download the app and use it?
Anyone can install it, but there's nothing to do without a company. It's a workplace tool: your company creates your profile and gives you a PIN.
Clocking in
Why does it want my location?
Each clock-in and clock-out is stamped with your position so your company can verify the punch happened at the job site, and so the app can remind you to clock out if you leave the site. Location is read at the punch; about once a minute while you're clocked in at a job site with the app open; and about every 30 seconds on a Drive so the app can offer to switch you to Job Site when you arrive. Off the clock, or with the app in the background, it isn't read, unless you turn on clock-in reminders: then your phone notices when you arrive at or leave one of your company's job sites during work hours, and sends only which site and whether you arrived or left, never your route. You can turn reminders off in the app's settings.
I'm at the property but it says I'm somewhere else.
Phones sometimes take a minute to get a good fix, especially indoors. Step outside, wait a few seconds, and try again. If a property is consistently wrong, its saved coordinates may be off; tell your admin, who can re-pin it.
I forgot to clock out.
Clock out now, then tell your admin the real time. They can correct it from the dashboard, and the correction is logged so nobody has to argue about it later.
No signal on site.
Punch anyway. It's saved on the phone and syncs the next time you have a connection. You'll see it appear in Today's Sessions once it's through.
What's the difference between Job Site, Drive, and Shop?
Job Site is billable time at a property. Drive is travel between sites, tracked for mileage. Shop is time at the warehouse or yard that shouldn't be charged to any one property.
Materials and receipts
The receipt scan read the wrong amount.
Tap the amount and fix it before saving. The photo stays attached, so the paper trail is still there.
A material is missing from the list.
Tap Add Material Cost and enter it. Your admin can add it to the warehouse catalog so it's there next time.
Pay
My Pay looks wrong.
My Pay is an estimate from your logged hours and the rate your company set. Pick the exact pay period with the date range, then compare against Today's Sessions. If a session is missing or wrong, your admin can fix it.
Does ClockCost pay me?
No. It records hours; your company pays you. Questions about a paycheck go to them.
Your data
Who can see my location and hours?
Your company's admin, and the crew sees shared notes and work orders. Nobody else. Details in the privacy policy.
I want my data deleted.
Email karl@southrent.com from the address on file, or ask your admin. Profile and personal data go within 30 days; payroll records your company is legally required to keep stay for the statutory period.