Blog Time Tracking Software for Woodworking

Time Tracking Software for Woodworking

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Why use time tracking software? As custom cabinetmakers and woodworkers, one of our biggest challenges is estimating how much time our jobs will actually take us to complete. And I think most of us tend to be a little optimistic in our time and labor estimates per job. This leads to underestimating and is obviously unhealthy for the profitability of our woodworking business.

Track task times with time tracking software for better business results

The benefits of using time tracking software in your woodworking and cabinet jobs are threefold:

1. You can improve your future estimates by analyzing how long similar tasks took to complete in past jobs.
2. There is a psychological “boost” towards productivity when employees know the time that has been estimated for their assigned tasks. A good employee will take equal pride in making good time and doing a good job.
3. It can open up a whole new way of looking at your business and the flow of your jobs. With a systematic way of tracking times, you’ll be able to objectively “experiment’ with new production methods.

Tracking Time is easy now with today’s technology

Of course, we are biased towards the time tracking ability of our software for woodworkers, Cabinetshop Maestro^®, but there are various time tracking applications available to today’s woodworker. The key is consistency. Track everything, make it a habit. If the saying “time is money” is true indeed, you should make every reasonable effort to see where time is being spent in your business.

Time Tracking and Project Management

Time tracking combined with a project management system is a very powerful tool for the custom cabinetmaking and woodworking shop. With a comprehensive system such as Cabinetshop Maestro^®, you will have the ability to first plan out a job’s workflow, track the individual task times of that job, and then evaluate the job (and your production methods) as a whole. This will improve future estimating accuracy as well as shed light on possible better choices in the way you produce your woodwork.

Continuous Improvement

There is always room for a little improvement in the way we build our cabinets, furniture, or woodwork. What helps is having the system in place to be able to objectively improve upon each and every completed job.