Stop chasing symptoms — address the root cause
Many construction firms operate with outdated, fragmented systems that leave finance teams reactive. By the time labor data makes its way into job cost reports, it might be weeks old — and the opportunity for a project manager to intervene has passed. This disconnect can fuel a slow, systemic margin bleed known as profit fade.
Common signs you're reacting instead of managing:
WIP reports processed on stale or inaccurate data
Timecards entered late or without job- or phase-level coding
Inability to forecast cash flow with confidence due to missing labor insight
Labor as a value driver, not just a cost center
Leading CFOs are reframing labor management — from cost containment to value optimization. Your role isn’t just to report on what’s been spent; it’s to help shape systems that ensure labor spend translates into predictable, profitable outcomes.
Best practices for labor cost control
1. Labor cost accuracy: from post-mortem analysis to real-time performance management
What you can’t control: When field teams submit paper timecards or log hours after the fact.
What you can control: While paper timecards or late hour logging from field teams is still a challenge, there are ways to reduce the financial drag and risk of profit fade. The key is using mobile-first time tracking tools that connect labor hours directly to detailed job cost codes and project phases. This gives real-time visibility into labor productivity and how actuals compare to your estimates. By removing manual entry and outdated estimates, you can spot cost overruns or performance issues early — before they turn into major financial hits or eat away at margins.
2. Payroll compliance: turning a burden into automation
What you can’t control: Complex union regulations, differing taxations across states or intricate fringe benefits.
What you can control: You can’t control the rules around unions, state taxes or fringe benefits — but you can control how your systems handle them. Purpose-built construction payroll tools can automate these complex calculations, cut down on errors and speed up processing. This helps avoid penalties and improves cash flow with accurate payments from day one. Pairing this with integrated HR tools makes onboarding easier and reduces admin work, helping retain a more loyal workforce.
3. Budget deviations: moving from reactive to proactive
What you can’t control: Unforeseen project delays, change orders and dips in field productivity that are inherent risks in construction.
What you can control: You can’t prevent every delay or change, but you can spot problems sooner and respond faster. Real-time job cost tracking, supported by finance and accounting, lets project management teams find issues as they emerge and step in before they eat up job margins. Tying change orders directly into your financial systems helps capture extra contract value and prevents projects from slipping into the red. That kind of visibility means acting in days — not weeks. As one executive put it, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
4. Operational silos: connecting your systems
What you can’t control: The fragmentation resulting from disparate point solutions for estimating, procurement, time tracking and billing is a fundamental root cause of most pain points. These silos lead to redundant data entry, pervasive errors and delayed decision-making, preventing a single source of truth across the organization.
What you can control: A connected ERP system links workflows across the field, fab shop and office, creating one clear view of financials. This doesn’t erase complexity, but it breaks down the data walls that slow decision-making. With connected systems, your teams collaborate faster and make smarter decisions with real-time data.
5. How finance is perceived: from backward-looking auditor to forward-driving strategist
What you can’t control: The conventional perception of finance as a reactive, reporting function, primarily analyzing historical data, is a significant limitation on its strategic influence.
What you can control: By leading with real-time insights and forecasting tools, finance can go from a backward-looking role to a strategic force for good. When finance equips teams with data dashboards and predictive tools, it influences decisions in the moment — optimizing resources, improving outcomes and making finance a driver of value across the business.
The CFO’s opportunity: Systemic visibility drives strategic advantage
Your biggest opportunity isn't in trimming labor rates — it's in eliminating the inefficiencies that distort how labor is planned, used and measured. Labor optimization is no longer a back-office function; it's a strategic lever.
Wages may be your largest expense, but they’re not your biggest threat. The real risk lies in what you can’t see — disconnected systems, delayed data, and decisions made too late.
That’s why CFOs across the industry are turning to Trimble to build the connected systems that power smarter financial management. See how they’re protecting profitability at every stage of the project.
