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Short, step-by-step guides for the crew on their phones and the office at a desk. Search, or pick a topic below.
Try “overtime”, “holiday” or “password” — or read the questions & answers.
Most read
Where most people start
Signing in for the first time
How to get into Costworks on your phone the first time: the invitation email, a one-time password, keeping yourself signed in, and adding the app to your home screen.
For the crew · 4 minRecording a day’s hours
Put a day's hours into Costworks from your phone: pick the job, the type of work, start and finish, the break, and save. Plus sick days, training and EN1090 records.
For the crew · 2 minSending your week to the office
Send your week to the office from My week, what each status means, and what to do if you spot a mistake after it's gone.
For the office · 5 minApproving the week on Timesheets
Use the Timesheets board to approve weeks, send one back with a reason, reopen an approved week, check EN1090 records and download the week's job reports.
For the office · 5 minSetting your pay rules
How Costworks decides what counts as overtime, Saturday, Sunday and bank holiday time, how to change a rule safely, and the stay-away amount.
For the office · 4 minThe monthly hours and pay report
Run the monthly hours and gross pay report, understand the payroll month, and export the CSV for your payroll bureau or software.
For the crew
On your phone
Everything you need on site: getting in, putting a day in, and sending the week to the office.
Signing in for the first time
How to get into Costworks on your phone the first time: the invitation email, a one-time password, keeping yourself signed in, and adding the app to your home screen.
Read the guideRecording a day’s hours
Put a day's hours into Costworks from your phone: pick the job, the type of work, start and finish, the break, and save. Plus sick days, training and EN1090 records.
Read the guideRepeat yesterday and copy last week
Two shortcuts that do most of the typing: Repeat yesterday fills in a day from the day before, and Copy last week brings a whole week forward.
Read the guideTwo jobs in a day, night shifts, and changing a shift
How to put two jobs on one day, record a shift that finishes after midnight, and change or remove a shift you've already saved.
Read the guideRecording materials
Record the steel, plate, rods and other materials you used against a job from your phone, and take one off if you put it in twice.
Read the guideStay-away nights
Tick Stayed away overnight on the day sheet when a job keeps you away from home, and the office pays a set amount for the night.
Read the guideSending your week to the office
Send your week to the office from My week, what each status means, and what to do if you spot a mistake after it's gone.
Read the guideAsking for holiday
Request holiday from the Holiday tab in whole or half days, see who else is off, and withdraw or cancel a request.
Read the guideForgotten your password
Reset your Costworks password yourself from the sign-in screen, and what to do if the email doesn't arrive.
Read the guideFor the office
Running the week
Approving hours, keeping jobs and people straight, and getting the numbers out for pay.
Approving the week on Timesheets
Use the Timesheets board to approve weeks, send one back with a reason, reopen an approved week, check EN1090 records and download the week's job reports.
Read the guideSetting your pay rules
How Costworks decides what counts as overtime, Saturday, Sunday and bank holiday time, how to change a rule safely, and the stay-away amount.
Read the guidePay rates and pay rises
Add an employee's hourly rate, put a pay rise in ahead of time, and understand how Costworks prices each day at the rate in force on that day.
Read the guideThe monthly hours and pay report
Run the monthly hours and gross pay report, understand the payroll month, and export the CSV for your payroll bureau or software.
Read the guideJobs and job numbers
Raise a job, keep the numbers from your paper job sheets, use word jobs for admin and yard hours, and set a job's status.
Read the guideThe job audit report and EN1090 records
Download a PDF of everything recorded against a job for an auditor: who worked on it, EN1090 weld records and who checked them, materials and record history.
Read the guideSubcontractor hours
Enter a subcontractor's days off their invoice so the hours count on the job and its audit report, and never on the payroll.
Read the guideHoliday requests, approvers and the holiday report
Choose who can approve holiday, approve or decline requests, set holiday entitlement, and download the holiday report as a PDF or CSV.
Read the guideInviting the crew and resetting passwords
Give somebody a Costworks sign-in by email invitation or one-time password, choose what they can do, reset a password, and suspend a leaver.
Read the guideChanging the day your week starts
Set which day your working week starts on, what it affects, and how Costworks moves hours already recorded into their new weeks.
Read the guideThe materials catalogue
Keep the list of materials the crew pick from, fix each material's unit, see what went on a job, remove a duplicate and add a material for somebody.
Read the guideMore help
Other ways to find an answer
Questions & answers
Straight answers to what people ask before and after they start.
Read the answersBlog & what’s new
New features as they arrive, and how the trickier parts work.
See what’s newGetting started
From the first call to your crew’s first week in the app.
How it worksContact us
A real person who knows the system, usually the same day.
Send a message
Still stuck?
On the crew? Ring your office first — there’s nothing in the app they can’t put right. Running the office? Tell us what you’re trying to do and we’ll walk you through it.