Costworks was built alongside a working structural steel fabricator, around the way their week actually runs — the paper sheet, the job register, the Sunday rate and the nights away. This is what that looks like.
Welded steelwork for construction, access steelwork for water and power infrastructure, and one-off architectural metalwork — fabricated in their own workshop and installed on site.
Their week is a fabricator’s week: crews split between the workshop and site, several jobs in a day, nights away on installs, subcontractors who invoice for their time, and weld records that have to stand up to an EN 1090 audit. The accreditations shown on their own site include EN 1090, Achilles, CHAS and UKCA.
EN 1090AchillesCHASUKCA
How they use it
Their week, the way it already ran
Nothing on the shop floor had to change to fit the software. Each of these is something their office asked for, or something their paper system already did that Costworks had to do as well.
Since 28 Sep 2026
Weeks that run Saturday to Friday
Their payroll week starts on a Saturday, so their weeks in Costworks do too. Moving the week start moved every shift already recorded into its new week in one go, so nothing was left belonging to a week nobody could send.
Their register, carried on
Their own job numbers
Their paper job register came across, so the numbers on the job sheets still mean the same jobs. The office types the number off the sheet — 26 275 is read as 2026-0275 — and the next new job carries on from the highest.
Admin and yard
Hours that belong to no job
Time in the office or tidying the yard goes against a word job of its own, like 2026-ADMIN or 2026-YARD, so it is counted without pretending to be a job.
Asked for, and built · 15 Oct 2026
Stay-away nights in gross pay
Installs away from home earn a set amount a night. The crew tick “Stayed away overnight” on the day, the office can tick it for them, and the nights are counted straight into gross pay on the Timesheets board and the monthly report.
Off the invoice
Subcontractors on the job, not the payroll
Subcontractors invoice for their time. The office enters their days from each invoice, against the job, and those hours count on the job and its audit report — and never anywhere near the payroll.
EN 1090
Weld records, signed off in the office
Wire, gas and plant go on the shift as it is recorded. The office marks each record checked, and nobody can sign off their own.
For the job pack
An audit report for every job
Who worked on it and when, the weld records and who checked them, and the materials used — with no pay in it, headed with the company’s own details. A whole week’s reports download as one zip.
Asked for, and built · 8 Oct 2026
Materials the office can correct
The crew record what went on the job from the office’s own catalogue. When a quantity went in twice, the office asked to be able to take it back off — so now it can, with a line in the record saying who did.
Shifts as they really are
Two jobs a day, and nights over midnight
Workshop in the morning and site in the afternoon is two shifts, each against its own job. A shift that finishes after midnight is one shift, and its hours come out right.
Working together
An office that asks, and software that answers
When something on their week does not fit, they say so. The people who built Costworks change it, test it, and put it live — and every other firm gets the same improvement.
Step one
The office asks
A rule, a column, a screen that does not quite fit.
Step two
We work it through
What it means for pay, for the crew and for the records.
Step three
It is tested
Against worked examples, before it goes anywhere near a payroll.
Step four
It goes live
For them, in the app they already use. Nothing to install.
Step five
Everybody has it
Every firm on Costworks gets the same improvement.
Could your firm be next?
Made for firms that pay by the hour, against jobs
If your people work hours against numbered jobs, split between the workshop and site, and your payroll needs those hours banded and priced, Costworks was built for a week like yours.
Structural steel
Frames, mezzanines, stairs and platforms — fabricated in the workshop, installed on site, often far from home.
Fabrication and welding
Jobbing shops where several jobs share a day, and weld records have to follow the work.
Sheet metal
Hours and materials against each order, with the units that the shop already uses.
Architectural metalwork
One-off pieces where knowing the hours a job really took is the difference on the next quote.
M&E and site contractors
Crews on several sites, night work, Sunday rates and bank holidays, all paid by the hour.
Something else?
If your week works differently, that is the interesting part of the conversation. Tell us how it runs.
Tell us how your week works
We will ask what your current sheet looks like and what payroll does with it, and give you a straight answer on whether Costworks fits — including if it does not.
