Last updated: 2026-06-08
Quick Answer
To track hours: Paid Hours = (Clock Out - Clock In) - Unpaid Break, converted to decimal hours and added up across the week. Anything over 40 hours in the workweek is overtime at 1.5x. This calculator takes clock-in, clock-out, and break for each day, then returns total hours, regular vs overtime hours, and gross pay. Built for contractors and crew leads tracking field hours, not just office payroll.
Inputs you'll need
- Clock-in time for each day worked
- Clock-out time for each day worked
- Unpaid break minutes per day (a 30-minute lunch, for example)
- Hourly rate (optional, to get gross pay)
- Overtime threshold and multiplier (defaults to 40 hours at 1.5x)
Related tools: Overtime Calculator, Man-Hours Calculator, and Labor Cost Calculator.
How to use this time tracking calculator
- Enter clock-in and clock-out times for each day worked.
- Add unpaid break minutes (lunch) so paid hours come out right.
- Keep the threshold at 40 hours for federal overtime, or change it for stricter state/union rules.
- Add an hourly rate to turn the hours into regular pay, overtime pay, and gross pay.
Want the true cost of each hour, not just the gross pay? Add payroll taxes and benefits with our Burdened Labor Rate Calculator.
Break is unpaid minutes. Leave a day blank if no hours were worked. Overnight shifts (out earlier than in) roll past midnight.
Add a rate to get gross pay for the week
Federal overtime kicks in past 40 hours per week
1.5 = time-and-a-half (federal standard)
Weekly Time Card
Time Tracking Guide for Contractors
How to calculate hours from a time card, why sloppy tracking leaks money, and the overtime and break rules to know.
How to Calculate Hours From a Time Card
To get paid hours for a day, subtract clock-in from clock-out, then take off the unpaid break. Convert the result to decimal hours so payroll math is clean. A worker on the clock from 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM with a 30-minute lunch logged 8 hours, not 8.5.
The steps for each day:
- Clock out minus clock in gives the gross span on the clock.
- Subtract unpaid breaks (lunch, long breaks). Short paid breaks stay in.
- Convert minutes to decimal: 15 min = 0.25, 30 min = 0.5, 45 min = 0.75.
Add up all seven days for the weekly total. Anything past 40 in the week is overtime under federal rules. I keep a running time card on every crew because guessing at hours at the end of the week is how payroll gets wrong and how a worker ends up shorted.
Key Takeaways
- Daily paid hours = clock out - clock in - unpaid break time
- Convert minutes to decimal: 15 min = 0.25 hr, 30 min = 0.5 hr, 45 min = 0.75 hr
- Hours over 40 in a single workweek are overtime under the federal FLSA
Why Sloppy Time Tracking Costs Contractors Money
Untracked field hours are one of the quietest leaks in a contracting business. When hours get rounded up from memory on Friday afternoon, you overpay. When they get rounded down, you risk a wage claim. Neither one is free.
Say a five-man crew each pads 20 minutes a day that nobody actually worked. At a $28 hourly rate, that is 5 workers x 0.33 hr x 5 days x $28 = about $231 a week, or roughly $12,000 a year walking out the door. I have seen it add up exactly like that.
The other half of the problem is job costing. If you do not know real hours per job, you cannot tell which jobs made money and which ones quietly lost it. Clean time tracking feeds two things at once:
- Accurate payroll so you pay what was actually worked, no more and no less.
- Real job costs so your next bid is based on what the work actually took.
Measure twice, cut once. The same rule applies to hours as it does to lumber.
Key Takeaways
- Even 20 padded minutes per worker per day can cost a small crew thousands a year
- Tracked hours feed both correct payroll and accurate job costing
- Knowing real hours per job makes your next estimate sharper
Overtime, Breaks, and Rounding Rules to Know
Federal law sets overtime at 1.5x for hours over 40 in a workweek, but break and rounding rules trip people up. Get these wrong and a simple time card turns into a back-pay problem.
- Overtime is weekly, not daily, under federal rules. Some states (California, Alaska, Nevada) add daily overtime past 8 hours, so check your state.
- Meal breaks of 30+ minutes are unpaid when the worker is fully relieved of duty. Short rest breaks (5 to 20 minutes) are paid and stay on the clock.
- Rounding is allowed but must be neutral. The common practice is rounding to the nearest quarter-hour (the 7-minute rule). It cannot consistently favor the employer.
When in doubt, pay the hours. A wage dispute over a few minutes costs far more in time and trust than just paying it straight. This calculator keeps clock-in, clock-out, and break separate so the math stays honest on both sides.
Key Takeaways
- Federal overtime is weekly (over 40 hours); some states add daily overtime past 8 hours
- Meal breaks of 30+ minutes are unpaid; short rest breaks stay paid
- Time rounding must be neutral and cannot consistently favor the employer
Minutes to decimal hours reference
Payroll runs on decimal hours. Here is the quick conversion for common minute marks.
| Minutes | Decimal hour | Minutes | Decimal hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 min | 0.08 | 35 min | 0.58 |
| 10 min | 0.17 | 40 min | 0.67 |
| 15 min | 0.25 | 45 min | 0.75 |
| 20 min | 0.33 | 50 min | 0.83 |
| 30 min | 0.50 | 60 min | 1.00 |
Worked time card scenarios
Common weekly examples so you can sanity-check the math. All use a 40-hour overtime threshold at 1.5x.
| Scenario | Hours / rate | Gross pay |
|---|---|---|
| Part week, no OT | 32 hrs @ $30/hr | $960.00 (0 OT hours) |
| Standard 40-hour week | 40 hrs @ $28/hr | $1,120.00 (0 OT hours) |
| Typical OT week | 45 hrs @ $25/hr | $1,187.50 (5 OT hours) |
| Heavy OT week | 60 hrs @ $40/hr | $2,800.00 (20 OT hours) |
How to Use This Calculator
Enter Clock-In and Clock-Out for Each Day
Fill in the time the worker started and ended for every day worked. Leave a day blank if no hours were logged. The calculator handles a full Monday-to-Sunday workweek.
Subtract Unpaid Breaks
Add unpaid break time in minutes for each day (a 30-minute lunch, for example). Short paid rest breaks should stay on the clock, so leave those out.
Set Your Overtime Rule
The default flips hours over 40 per week to overtime, the federal standard. Change the threshold or multiplier if your state or union contract is stricter.
Read Total Hours and Gross Pay
The calculator shows daily hours, weekly total, regular vs overtime hours, and (if you add an hourly rate) regular pay, overtime pay, and gross pay for the week.
Time Tracking Formulas
Daily Hours = (Clock Out - Clock In) - Unpaid Break
Total Hours = Sum of all daily hours
Regular Hours = min(Total Hours, 40)
Overtime Hours = max(0, Total Hours - 40)
Regular Pay = Regular Hours x Hourly Rate
Overtime Pay = Overtime Hours x Hourly Rate x 1.5
Gross Pay = Regular Pay + Overtime PayWhere:
- Clock In / Clock Out
- = Start and end time on the clock for the day
- Unpaid Break
- = Lunch or other unpaid break minutes, subtracted from the day
- Regular Hours
- = Straight-time hours, up to the weekly overtime threshold (40 by default)
- Overtime Hours
- = Hours past the weekly threshold, paid at the overtime multiplier
- Gross Pay
- = Regular pay plus overtime pay for the full week
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate hours worked from clock-in and clock-out?
Subtract the clock-in time from the clock-out time, then subtract any unpaid break. Convert the result to decimal hours for payroll.
Example: on the clock from 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM with a 30-minute lunch is 8.5 hours gross minus 0.5 hours break = 8.0 paid hours. Add up each day for the weekly total.
How do I convert minutes to decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by 60. The common ones are 15 min = 0.25, 30 min = 0.5, and 45 min = 0.75. So 8 hours and 15 minutes is 8.25 decimal hours. Payroll runs on decimal hours, not hours-and-minutes, which is why this calculator converts automatically.
When do hours become overtime?
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, any hours over 40 in a single workweek are overtime, paid at 1.5x the regular rate. Overtime is figured weekly, not daily. Some states (California, Alaska, Nevada) add daily overtime past 8 hours in a day, so check your state rule and adjust the threshold if needed.
Are lunch breaks paid or unpaid?
A genuine meal break of 30 minutes or more, where the worker is fully relieved of duty, is normally unpaid. Short rest breaks of 5 to 20 minutes are paid and stay on the clock. Enter only the unpaid break minutes in this calculator so the paid hours come out right.
How do contractors use time tracking to price jobs?
Tracked hours are the feedback loop for your estimates. When you know a bathroom remodel actually took 92 crew hours instead of the 80 you bid, your next bid gets sharper. Pull real hours per job, then run them through our labor cost calculator to roll labor into a full estimate, and the man-hours calculator to plan crew size and schedule on the next one.
How can a contractor avoid overpaying on payroll?
Track real clock-in and clock-out times instead of estimating hours from memory on Friday. Even 20 padded minutes per worker per day adds up to thousands a year on a small crew. Use the blended overtime cost when job costing, and price overtime into the bid when the schedule is tight. Our overtime calculator and burdened labor rate calculator show the true cost of an hour once taxes and the overtime premium are added.
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