Labor cost vs material cost
SiteLedger splits job cost into two buckets: hours from timesheets, and everything on a receipt.
Two buckets, and only two
Every dollar on a job lands in one of two places. Labor comes from timesheets. Materials comes from receipts. There is no third bucket, so a cost that is neither a logged shift nor a captured receipt does not reach the job at all.
- Labor: hours on a timesheet, at the rate on that timesheet
- Materials: the amount on a receipt that has been assigned to the job
How labor cost is worked out
Each timesheet carries hours and an hourly rate. Its cost is the hours multiplied by that rate, and the job labor total is the sum of those entries. Open a job and click the Time tab to see each shift with its own cost beside it.
A timesheet with no hourly rate on it contributes hours but zero dollars. If a job shows plenty of hours and thin labor cost, check that the worker has an hourly rate set under Workers.
How material cost is worked out
Materials is the full amount of every receipt assigned to the job. When you add a receipt you pick a category, and those categories cover more than lumber and hardware.
- Materials, Lumber, Tools, Supplies
- Equipment rental, Permits & fees, Subcontractor
- Fuel, Meals, Other
The category is a label on the receipt, not a second cost bucket. A subcontractor invoice or an equipment rental captured as a receipt still lands in the materials figure, so materials is closer to "everything that was not your own crew’s hours".
Seeing the split
- Click Jobs in the sidebar, then click the job.
- Click the Costs tab.
- Read the two bars: each shows its dollar total and its share of the spend.
The Budget used card on the same job shows the two totals side by side without the bars. Across all your jobs, the profitability table has a Labor column and a Materials column so you can compare the mix job to job.
Costs that landed in the wrong place
The most common problem is a receipt with no job on it. It is not in any job cost, it is not in your materials total, and the only sign is a "Needs a job" pill and a count on your dashboard.
- Click Receipts in the sidebar.
- Click the "Needs job" filter chip.
- Work through what is listed.
The surest fix is to pick the job when the receipt is captured. The Job field is on the add-receipt form, and it is the field worth training your crew on.