Stop spreadsheet timesheets
Replace manual sheets and inbox chaos with a single flow that goes from the site to the budget to accounting—without duplicate entry.
Xero Timesheets Integration for Construction
Xero handles your accounting. Planyard captures the work: site hours submitted against the right project and cost code, reviewed and approved, then posted to Xero as clean, accountant-ready summaries. That means fewer AP errors and earlier visibility into job margins.
- Hours coded to cost codes at entry
- Approvals before anything hits accounting
- Per-project/worker summaries for Xero payroll/job
Free 14-day full-featured trial. No credit card required.
Trusted by construction companies globally
Why contractors add Planyard to Xero for time tracking
Most teams don’t struggle to "track time"; they struggle to track it to the right job, catch overruns early, and avoid re-typing the same data later. Planyard fixes that by tying timesheets directly to the budget and approvals flow.
Email-based capture
Workers receive reminders and submit hours without extra logins, so adoption actually sticks.
Allocate to cost codes
Hours are entered against the right task/code from day one, not fixed weeks later.
Evidence included
Notes and daily summaries (even photos) ride along for context and audit.
No double handling
The same entry powers job costing, forecasting, and the accounting summary.
Real job-cost visibility, not month-end surprises
Timesheets feed the control budget instantly, so PM/QS see labour burn and variances while there’s still time to act.
Live variance
See planned vs. actual labour the moment hours are submitted.
Forecast finish cost
% complete and productivity history update EAC automatically.
Protect margin daily
Spot over-consumption early and re-plan before costs snowball.
Historical productivity
Reuse real-world data to price future jobs more accurately.
Upload your project budget and follow the financial progress in real-time
No credit card required. No sales or IT support needed.
Give Finance exactly what they need
Accountants get a clean, periodic summary per project/per worker for payroll and reporting in Xero—no chasing, no re-coding.
Clean summaries
Monthly or weekly roll-ups by project, worker, and cost code.
Approval-only
Only reviewed entries make it into the accounting pack.
One source of truth
Budgets and labour are in sync; reports align with the GL.
Less back-and-forth
Finance stops fixing miscoded hours after the fact.
How Planyard + Xero works
A simple chain everyone respects: capture → review → approve → post cleanly to Xero.
01
Capture: Workers get email prompts and log time by task from any device—no separate app accounts to manage.
02
Review: QS/PM can review submissions and apply project-specific thresholds before anything affects costs or accounting.
03
Approve: Approved hours hit the control budget and update committed and forecast costs in real time.
04
Sync: Planyard produces a clean accounting report per project/per worker/per week or month for Xero.
Time tracking & cost control: Xero alone vs Xero Time vs Xero + Planyard
If you only track hours, you’ll still fix coding later and spot variances late; add Planyard to make the data job-ready from the start.
| Capability | Xero (alone) | Xero + Planyard |
|---|---|---|
| Hours tied to cost codes from day one |  Manual coding later |
 Enforced at entry against budget cost codes |
| Approvals matched to each project | Email/manual or external |
Project-configured routes & thresholds |
| Job-cost visibility during the job | After posting/reports |
Live variance & EAC as hours are approved |
| Accounting-ready summaries | Manual prep for payroll/job reports |
Per project/worker/period; approval-only; mapped to COA & Tracking categories |
| Evidence & audit trail | Limited detail |
Notes/photos + full approval log per entry |
| Duplicate handling / re-typing | Common when re-keying |
Single flow: site → budget → Xero (no re-typing) |
| Forecast finish cost (EAC) from labour | Not available |
Hours feed EAC to predict final labour cost |
| Control budget & cost-code integration | Not connected to project budget |
Timesheets drive the live control budget |
| Per-project / per-worker rollups | Manual spreadsheets |
Approval-only rollups aligned to accounting periods |
| Mobile / on-site capture | No coherent mobile flow |
Fast email/web capture; reminders keep entries current |
What Syncs to Xero
Posts: Per-project/worker summaries (weekly/monthly), mapped to COA/tracking category; approved entries only.
Stays: Detailed entries, notes/photos, approval logs, budget & forecasts (in Planyard).
Related solutions
- Xero Job Costing for Construction — Prevent overruns with live variance & 3-way match.
- Xero Integration for Contractors — Capture → match → approve → sync cleanly to Xero.
- Approval Workflows — Route timesheets & invoices by thresholds before accounting.
- Estimating Compatible with Xero — Turn estimates into live budgets in one click.
Read success stories from our customers
See how Planyard helps businesses like yours succeed - read their stories in our blog.
"Planyard's integration with Xero has streamlined our project financials, providing clear insights and saving us valuable time. It's easy to use and keeps all commitments organized for seamless financial tracking."
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"Planyard is basically a live CVR and saves time by making Excel unnecessary. Once a project’s set up, I can rely on Planyard to stay organized without spreadsheets."
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"If there’s some problem with the budget, it just tells you what you need to fix and you’ll be fine. It really just kind of thinks a step ahead for you."
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"Planyard saves us 3-4 days per project by simplifying financial tracking and cutting out double data entry. It’s user-friendly and lets us focus on our main tasks."
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"Planyard is exactly what I’m after as a business owner: a good-value system that keeps everything in one place, saves me money and makes sure I’m not losing any money on projects. As a businessman, that’s a no-brainer."
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"I’m confident that we can manage multiple projects effectively. We’re currently running three fairly large ones, and the system makes it very clear and easy to manage all of them at once."
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"I chose Planyard because it stood out as the most straightforward and intuitive option on the market. I really wanted a tool that would simplify our existing processes and make everything more efficient, rather than switching to a system that was far too complicated for us to use on a daily basis."
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"Planyard has completely replaced my CVR process. Cost Value Reconciliation is essentially about tracking your budget against your actual spend to see exactly what remains, and that functionality is the absolute essence of the central core of Planyard."
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"For me Planyard is essentially the go to software for SMBs. There are other software packages out there that are a large investment upfront with a significant monthly cost. These are all potential solutions once you get to a very large business but they are not a solution for SMBs."
"Timewise, on a single project, I'd probably save 6 to 8 hours—essentially a full day every month. When it comes to processing monthly payments, it saves me a solid day, perhaps even a day and a half, just in sorting through the invoices. Saving a day and a half of my time means the system pays for itself time and time again."
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Frequently asked questions
We've got your questions covered. If you can't find the answer below, then feel free to contact us via the chat.
Planyard enforces cost-code accuracy and multi-step approvals, updates live variance/EAC on the project, and then sends accountant-ready summaries to Xero—so payroll and job costs stay aligned without re-typing.
Planyard doesn’t replace your accounting; Xero remains the system of record. Planyard can replace Xero’s built-in time tracking if you want tighter cost codes, approvals and forecasting; we send approved summaries to Xero for payroll and job reporting.
Workers get email prompts and enter hours against project/cost codes—no extra app accounts to manage—so adoption stays high even with small crews and subcontractors.
Yes. Set project-specific routes with optional value thresholds; only approved entries are included in the summary that’s sent to Xero.
Yes. Approved timesheets update the control budget and estimate-at-completion (EAC) in real time, so you can act before a job overruns.
Yes. Track equipment hours and consolidate rented labour; validate supplier invoices against the hours recorded in Planyard.
A clean summary per project / per worker / per period aligned to your Chart of Accounts and Tracking categories; operational detail and evidence stay in Planyard.
Upload your project budget and follow the financial progress in real-time
No credit card required. No sales or IT support needed.