The verdict in three sentences
For a 60-technician services company, the real cost of paper timesheets is not the 4 to 6 hours a week of re-keying, it is the forgotten billable hours and the payroll errors on overtime and allowances. A mobile field timesheet app, with sign-off by the team lead and a direct export to payroll and invoicing, is delivered in 6 weeks. Against a SaaS at 6 to 15 EUR per user per month, custom pays off as soon as your rules (sites, on-call, travel, agreements) step outside the standard.
What re-keying really costs
In a Dublin or Rennes building maintenance, electrical or industrial cleaning firm, the paper timesheet passes through three hands: the technician who fills it in from memory on Friday, the team lead who signs it, and the assistant who re-keys it into payroll and invoicing. Each step adds errors. Here is the 2026 ballpark for 60 technicians:
| Cost item | Assumption | Estimated annual cost |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly re-keying | 5 h a week, 47 weeks, 32 EUR loaded | 7,520 EUR |
| Chasing and corrections | 2 h a week for missing sheets | 3,010 EUR |
| Unreported billable hours | 1% of 90,000 h at 52 EUR | 46,800 EUR |
| Payroll errors to correct | 3 to 5 payslips a month | 1,800 EUR |
| Invoicing delay | 6 days of cash on 400,000 EUR a month | financing cost 2,000 to 3,000 EUR |
| Total | about 61,000 to 62,000 EUR |
The line that matters is the forgotten hours. A technician who logs time on site, with a geolocated arrival time and the linked job sheet, forgets far fewer hours than one filling in a sheet on Friday evening.
SaaS, custom or Kolonell grid
The app does few things, but it must do them perfectly: logging hours per site or client from the phone, offline mode for basements and rural sites, meal and travel allowances calculated under the applicable agreement (the Construction Sectoral Employment Order in Ireland, the collective agreement in France), weekly sign-off by the team lead, export of payroll variables to BrightPay, Thesaurus or Silae and of billable hours to the ERP or invoicing tool.
| Option | Build (EUR excl. VAT) | Recurring | 3-year total, 60 users | Fit with in-house rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry-level timesheet SaaS | 0 to 1,500 setup | 6 EUR per user per month | 13,000 to 14,500 | limited |
| Full field service SaaS | 2,000 to 5,000 | 15 EUR per user per month | 34,400 to 37,400 | medium |
| Custom, Rennes agency | 6,000 to 14,000 | 15 to 20% of build per year | 8,700 to 22,400 | full |
| Custom, Dublin agency | 8,000 to 18,000 | 15 to 20% of build per year | 11,600 to 28,800 | full |
| Kolonell grid, simple application | 3,810 to 6,100 | maintenance at 50 EUR a month | 5,610 to 7,900 | full |
SaaS and agency rows are 2026 market estimates. The Kolonell row reflects its 11/10/2026 grid for a simple application (2,500,000 to 4,000,000 FCFA, i.e. 3,810 to 6,100 EUR) and its Basic maintenance plan at 35,000 FCFA (50 EUR) a month.
SaaS remains the right choice if your rules are standard and you accept its payroll export as is. As soon as you need on-call shifts, night premiums specific to your company agreement or multi-site allocation by the half hour, spreadsheet workarounds come back and cancel the gain.
6-week plan
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| Week | Deliverable |
|---|---|
| 1 | workshops with payroll and two team leads, calculation rules |
| 2 | mobile mock-ups validated in the field |
| 3 and 4 | offline mobile app and sign-off back office |
| 5 | payroll and invoicing export, tests on a full month of real data |
| 6 | pilot with a 10-technician team, then rollout |
Mini case study
Illustrative example: Gavin, managing director of a building maintenance SME in Dublin, employs 60 technicians who bill about 90,000 hours a year at 52 EUR. His assistant spends 5 hours a week re-keying.
He picks a custom app at 5,500 EUR and maintenance at 600 EUR a year, 7,300 EUR over 3 years. If the app recovers only half of the forgotten hours, 450 hours a year, it brings in 23,400 EUR of extra billing every year, plus 6,000 EUR of freed admin time. The project pays back in under 3 months.
FAQ
Is the payroll export reliable? Yes, BrightPay, Thesaurus and Silae all accept payroll variables by structured file: normal hours, overtime, allowances. The format is tested on a full month of data before go-live.
Can technicians without a work smartphone use it? Yes, the web app opens on any recent phone. Budget 5 to 10 EUR a month for a mobile plan if you equip technicians, and a shared tablet at the depot for others.
Is geolocation GDPR compliant? Yes if it is limited to clock-in and clock-out, with prior notice to employees. Continuous tracking during the day should be avoided, as the Irish Data Protection Commission and the French CNIL both regard it as disproportionate.
Can we add expense claims later? Yes, it is the most common next step, with receipt photos and accounting export. Expect 1,500 to 3,000 EUR depending on reimbursement rules.
What if a technician forgets to log time? An automatic reminder goes out on Thursday, then the team lead sees missing sheets on the sign-off screen. In practice, the share of complete sheets exceeds 95% after a month.
Let's scope your project. Send us your technician headcount, payroll rules and invoicing tool: we price the app on our 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 FCFA grid (3,810 to 6,100 EUR) with a 6-week plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
