A subcontractor sends you 42 hours for a job, but the work order shows an arrival at 8 a.m., a departure at 3 p.m., and an undocumented break. Knowing how to validate subcontractor hours is not just about checking a total before paying. It is about protecting your margin, avoiding post-facto discussions, and invoicing your client based on the work actually performed.
In a construction, maintenance, or technical services SME, external hours often circulate between texts, paper sheets, emails, and supplier invoices. The office then has to reconstruct the history of the intervention. This way of working costs time and leaves too much room for interpretation. The right method is to link each hour to a specific work document, then create a simple validation circuit for both the field and the administration.
Start by defining what is billable
Before asking for approval, you need to know what you are approving. An hour of presence is not automatically an hour payable to the subcontractor or billable to the client. Depending on your agreement, travel, waiting on site, breaks, equipment mobilization, overtime, and rework may be included, excluded, or priced differently.
This step deserves to be written into your mandate, purchase order, or subcontracting agreement. The goal is not to create a cumbersome procedure. It is to avoid having a manager decide on a case-by-case basis, with incomplete information, whether two hours of waiting time caused by another trade are accepted.
For each type of intervention, specify at a minimum the agreed hourly rate, the number of authorized hours or the planned budget, overtime rules, and expenses that require separate approval. If the subcontractor works on a flat-fee basis, still keep the hours entered. They allow you to compare the estimate to reality, understand the gaps, and better price the next project.
Link hours to a work order
The work order must become your point of reference. It contains the client, the site, the requested task, the date, the people in charge, instructions, and items expected upon closing. When subcontractor hours are entered directly into this file, they no longer float in an isolated spreadsheet.
A simple scenario illustrates the difference well. You send a subcontractor to repair a pump in a commercial building. Upon arrival, they open the work order on their mobile device. They record their start time, add a photo of the equipment, indicate the tasks performed, and enter their end time. If a part is replaced, it also appears in the document. The coordinator sees the information the same day, in the context of the intervention.
This trail is not used to unnecessarily monitor partners. It is used to confirm that the planned work was done, that the client received the service, and that the costs correspond to the mandate. For sensitive work, a client signature or confirmation from the site manager adds a useful level of proof.
Request evidence adapted to the trade
Validation does not require the same level of detail for all mandates. A recurring two-hour maintenance job can be confirmed with the arrival time, departure time, and a few photos. An urgent repair, an excavation project, or an electrical installation may require more context: before-and-after photos, meter readings, an intervention report, equipment numbers, materials used, and the client's signature.
The trap is to demand too much information for every small task. Your subcontractors will bypass the process or enter everything at the end of the week. Conversely, too little evidence leaves you without leverage when a client disputes an invoice. The right level depends on the risk, the value of the mandate, and your client's requirements.
Create a clear status to validate subcontractor hours
An entered hour should not automatically go to accounting. Give it a status understandable by everyone. For example, an entry can be "to be completed" when the subcontractor has not finished their report, "submitted" when it is ready to be reviewed, "approved" when it is accepted, or "to be corrected" when clarification is requested.
This vocabulary seems simple, but it eliminates a frequent source of friction: no one knows if a timesheet has been received, verified, or sent for payment. Field managers see what is blocking. The administration knows which hours can be reconciled with a supplier invoice. The manager can track committed costs before the end of the month.
Then assign a person responsible for each step. The subcontractor enters and submits. The project manager or foreman confirms execution and compliance with the mandate. The person responsible for accounts payable verifies the rate, taxes, fees, and consistency with the invoice. In a small company, the same person may perform two roles, but the validation criteria must remain separate.
Check discrepancies before they become disputes
The most effective time to identify a discrepancy is right after the intervention, not three weeks later when closing the books. Compare the declared hours with the planned schedule, site presence, communications, photos, and the actual progress of the task. A difference does not necessarily indicate an error. An unforeseen breakdown, delayed access, or a client request added on-site may justify overtime.
The difference lies in the documentation. If the subcontractor reported the unforeseen event, obtained authorization, and added the elements to the work order, you can approve with confidence. If there are no notes and the overrun only appears on their invoice, ask for a correction or explanation before payment.
However, avoid turning every validation into a negotiation. Set a submission deadline, for example within 24 or 48 hours following the intervention, as well as an internal review deadline. A quick response is also a sign of respect for your reliable partners. They know what is expected and when they will be paid.
Connect it to your project cost and client invoice
Validating an hour without reconciling it with the project budget leaves part of the work undone. Each approved hour must feed into the actual cost of the mandate. You can then quickly see if a project that seemed profitable is absorbing too much subcontracting, or if a recurring intervention is under-billed.
You must also distinguish between two questions: should you pay this hour to the subcontractor, and can you re-invoice it to the client? In some contracts, the client accepts a maximum number of hours. In others, additional work requires their written approval. An hour can therefore be valid as an internal cost without being automatically recoverable on the client invoice.
When the work document contains the hours, expenses, parts, and validations, the transition to the invoice becomes much more direct. The office does not re-enter information into multiple systems and does not search for photos on a project manager's phone. In Sequentia, this path can follow your own business document: submission, work order, approved hours, then invoice.
Measure recurring problems
After a few weeks, your validations produce useful data. Look at the gaps between estimated and actual hours, subcontractors who submit late, reasons for corrections, and the types of work that generate the most overruns. These indicators are used to improve your submissions, agreements, and planning, not just to control costs.
A partner who often exceeds their budget is not necessarily a bad partner. It may be that your mandates are incomplete, site access is poorly coordinated, or the requested work has changed. Traceability allows for a discussion based on facts rather than everyone's memories.
Start with one type of work order and a simple rule: no external hour goes to payment without being linked to a mandate, proof of execution, and an identified approver. Once this routine is adopted, your teams save time, your subcontractors know what to expect, and every validated hour becomes useful information to better deliver and better invoice.
