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Excavation & site work

The CRM that prices the hole, the hour and the load.

Daybook runs an excavation company end to end: your own list prices the machine by the hour, the hole by the job and the haul-off by the load; a backfill and handover sheet — the as-built, the sign-off — rides on every job type, and the job does not close without it; FLHA forms, clock-in and photos come from the crew’s phones. Then the invoice, with GST/HST by province.

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The job “Kyle Dube — Trenching & utilities” in Daybook, and its brief: “Work starts Monday, October 12”, the access code pinned from the customer’s email, a short summary of where it stands, the key facts, what the customer asked for (each with the message it came from) and suggested next moves.

The rules the trade lives under

Built around the paperwork an excavation contractor already answers to.

  • The backfill and the handover, before the job is done

    A basement or foundation dig, a site prep and grading job, a trench for utilities, a drainage and weeping tile job, a septic bed and tank, a driveway, gravel and hauling job and a demolition and clearing job do not close without what was done, the as-built — the depths, the lengths and where things are — what settlement to expect, the photographs of the finished grade and the client’s sign-off.

  • Locates on the ground, before the bucket moves

    The pre-dig checklist records the locate ticket number and its expiry, what was checked before the bucket moves — the locates requested, the marks on the ground and photographed, the private lines walked with the owner, the ticket still inside its window, the corners staked — the machines and the float, the dig date, the depths and grades confirmed with the client, the ground and what is known to be down there, the photographs of the locate marks and the client’s sign-off on the staking and grades, with a place for notes. Attached to every excavation job type.

  • Ontario’s rules for contracts signed at a client’s home

    A quote signed at an Ontario client’s home shows them their right to cancel for 10 days, and their copy is emailed with the last day to cancel.

  • Provincial OH&S hazard assessments (FLHA)

    FLHA forms in the crew app, on Crew and up: the hazards, the controls, the conditions and the crew on site, filled in on the phone at the start of the day and filed on the job the moment they land.

Daybook names these so you can see where it helps. It is not a compliance product: it does not call in or request a locate, test the soil or pull a permit. The sheets record what was checked, dug and put back, the hazard assessment is yours to fill in, and your province has the last word.

Three things that go wrong

The headaches every excavation company knows.

Pricing a dig from the last quote

Every quote starts as a copy of the one before it: the float forgotten, the haul-off guessed, and the hour spent hand-digging around a marked line never billed.

In Daybook The quote builder prices from your own labelled list — the machine and its operator by the hour, the float in and out, the trench by the foot, gravel by the tonne, haul-off by the load, the basement by the job, and the hours hand-exposing a marked line as an item of their own — with the margin beside the price on every line.

The line nobody marked

The public locates came back clean. Then the bucket finds the propane line to the old garage, or the neighbour’s weeping tile across the corner of the hole.

In Daybook The pre-dig checklist rides on every job: the locate ticket number and its expiry, a tick for the marks on the ground and for the private lines walked with the owner — the well, the septic, the propane, the invisible fence — what is known to be down there, and the photographs of the marks before the bucket moves.

The trench that sank in April

The yard was graded and seeded in the fall. By spring the trench line has dropped, and nobody can say how deep the water line runs or what the client was told to expect.

In Daybook The backfill and handover sheet rides on every job: what was done, the as-built depths and lengths and where things are, what settlement to expect, the photographs of the finished grade and the client’s sign-off, with a place for the deficiency list — and the job is not complete until it is answered. The spring settlement top-up is a line on your price list.

The brief

Everyone talks at once. The job gets one brief.

A job is a week of emails, texts, notes and updates from the crew. Daybook files each one on the job it belongs to and writes the brief: the gate code, the deadline, what the customer asked for, what you owe them and what they owe you — rewritten whenever something new arrives.

The brief and the Assistant

Texting comes with the top plan of every rate card (Company, for a trade), from a verified toll-free number of your own.

A job’s brief in Daybook: the gate code pinned at the top, a one-line summary, a time-sensitive deadline, key facts, what the customer requested, a suggestion, the next step and its date, and what is waiting on the customer.
1The gate code, pinned
2The deadline
3What the customer asked for
4What we owe, and the next step
5What the customer owes

A real capture of a contractor’s job. Daybook wrote every line of this brief from the messages on the job; only the five teal labels are added. A camp gets the same brief on a booking, a property manager on a work order.

The customerThe customer, textingThe officeA crew memberA crew memberA crew member
  • Our furnace keeps shutting offThe customer, by email
  • Side-wall vent. Narrow doorThe crew, from the site
  • Your quote is attachedThe office, by email
  • 3 photosThe crew, from the site
  • Done before the 24th?The customer, by text
  • Gate code 4471. Mind the dogThe office, to the crew
  • Checklist doneThe crew, from the site
  • The brief’s access code on a phone: 4471, with the customer’s own words — “The side gate code is 4471 — please close it behind you, we have a dog.”

    The gate code, pinned. Said once in an email, and now at the top of the job for the crew.

  • The brief’s time-sensitive line on a phone: send the thermostat finishes to Priya so she can sign and pay the deposit, by Tuesday, October 13, with a Text client button.

    The deadline. What is time-sensitive, and by when.

  • What the customer requested, in the brief on a phone: the thermostat finishes, and confirming the old furnace is taken away, each from Priya Raman’s email.

    What the customer asked for. Each request, with the message it came from.

  • The next step, in the brief on a phone: send Priya the thermostat finish options and confirm the old furnace removal, with a Book visit button.

    What we owe, and the next step. One next step, and a button that starts it.

  • Waiting on the customer, in the brief on a phone: pick a thermostat finish, sign the quote and pay the deposit, with the risk under it.

    What the customer owes. So nobody chases the wrong person.

Real captures of a contractor’s job. Daybook wrote every line of this brief from the messages on the job. A camp gets the same brief on a booking, a property manager on a work order.

The excavation toolkit.

On top of everything Daybook does for every one of its 44 trades — the full list is here — excavation gets its own words and tools: the visit before the quote is a site assessment and the address is the dig site; a labelled excavation price list in the quote builder; three operator’s sheets; and drafts, replies and job summaries that say locates and the ticket, hand-expose, strip and spoil, cut and fill, rough and finish grade, subgrade, lifts and compaction, bedding, clear stone, pit run and 3/4 crush, weeping tile, invert and as-built the way an operator does.

The price list

Priced by the hole, the hour and the load.

Daybook gives you a labelled excavation price list to quote from: the excavator, the mini excavator, the skid steer, the backhoe and the dozer by the hour with the operator on the seat, the packer and the rock breaker, a labourer or spotter; the float in and out, a half-day minimum and standby time; a line each for the utility locate request, private locates, hand-exposing a marked line, the dig permit, silt fence and survey and staking; basement and pad excavation by the job, footing trench and backfill in lifts by the foot, stripping and grading by the square foot, ponds and dugouts; trenching by the foot — water, sewer and conduit — sand bedding by the tonne, directional boring and a trench box by the day; weeping tile, French drains, swales and sump lines by the foot, culverts and catch basins; septic tanks set, beds and mounds by the job and septic sand by the tonne; demolition, slab removal, stumps, land clearing by the acre and old pools filled in; pit run, 3/4 crush and clear stone by the tonne, topsoil by the yard, fill by the load and filter cloth; a tandem and driver by the hour, haul-off by the load and tipping fees by the tonne; the driveway put back, seed and straw, and the spring settlement top-up. Your own prices go on it, and every quote and invoice reads from it.

Per hour, per load the machine by the hour, material and spoil by the tonne or the load, a hole by the job — each a labelled line, priced from your own list
Quoting

The price list

Priced by the hole, the hour and the load.

Daybook gives you a labelled excavation price list to quote from: the excavator, the mini excavator, the skid steer, the backhoe and the dozer by the hour with the operator on the seat, the packer and the rock breaker, a labourer or spotter; the float in and out, a half-day minimum and standby time; a line each for the utility locate request, private locates, hand-exposing a marked line, the dig permit, silt fence and survey and staking; basement and pad excavation by the job, footing trench and backfill in lifts by the foot, stripping and grading by the square foot, ponds and dugouts; trenching by the foot — water, sewer and conduit — sand bedding by the tonne, directional boring and a trench box by the day; weeping tile, French drains, swales and sump lines by the foot, culverts and catch basins; septic tanks set, beds and mounds by the job and septic sand by the tonne; demolition, slab removal, stumps, land clearing by the acre and old pools filled in; pit run, 3/4 crush and clear stone by the tonne, topsoil by the yard, fill by the load and filter cloth; a tandem and driver by the hour, haul-off by the load and tipping fees by the tonne; the driveway put back, seed and straw, and the spring settlement top-up. Your own prices go on it, and every quote and invoice reads from it.

  • A labelled starter price list on day one, with your own prices on it
  • Machine time, mobilization, locates and protection, earthwork, trenching, drainage, septic earthwork, demolition and clearing, aggregate, hauling and disposal, and restoration
  • The margin beside the price on every line, and the estimated cost for your eyes only — never on the PDF
  • Quotes and invoices in an operator’s words — approved, or sent back for a revision, in the client’s portal
  • Your own machine rates, pit prices and float charges beside the starter list — Crew and up
  • A price book that updates when you scan a supplier invoice — Crew and up
Quoting

The request

A request becomes a site assessment. Then a quote.

Every request from a builder, a developer or a homeowner lands on one board with its job type — a basement, a service trench, weeping tile, a septic bed, a driveway — and one button: Schedule a site assessment. Walk the lot, check the access and the depths, and build the quote on the job; when the customer approves it in their portal, the job is won and ready to schedule.

Scheduling
The requests board in Daybook: “Tom Achebe — Trenching & utilities” and “Luis Whitehorse — Drainage & weeping tile”.

The request

A request becomes a site assessment. Then a quote.

Every request from a builder, a developer or a homeowner lands on one board with its job type — a basement, a service trench, weeping tile, a septic bed, a driveway — and one button: Schedule a site assessment. Walk the lot, check the access and the depths, and build the quote on the job; when the customer approves it in their portal, the job is won and ready to schedule.

  • The requests board in Daybook: “Tom Achebe — Trenching & utilities” and “Luis Whitehorse — Drainage & weeping tile”.

    Every request, on your phone. Call the client or email them from the card, and book them in with the button under it.

  • The job on its page in Daybook, its steps across the top: Schedule, Start, Finish, Invoice and Get paid.

    The job’s own page. Its steps across the top, the client a call or a text away, and its photos, notes and messages a swipe apart.

  • A finished job in Daybook: Job finished, Generate warranty and Closeout.

    Finished. Every step ticked, and one tap starts the warranty from the job and its quote — nothing reaches the client until you send it.

  • Seven job types: basement and foundation, site prep and grading, trenching and utilities, drainage and weeping tile, septic bed and tank, driveway, gravel and hauling, demolition and clearing
  • A septic bed is filed as septic even when it mentions a trench, weeping tile as drainage rather than foundation, and a trench for drainage pipe as drainage, not utilities — sorted for you
  • Schedule the site assessment from the request — and plan the day’s route from the same board
  • Not viewed, assessed, quoted and lost: where every request stands, at a glance
  • Requests from your website’s quote form land here as real requests, with the job address on them
Scheduling

The paperwork

Three sheets, written for operators.

A pre-dig checklist for everything that has to be true before the bucket goes in the ground. A machine day log for every working day. A backfill and handover sheet for the walk after the hole is closed. All three attach themselves to every excavation job type, and the handover will not let one close unfinished.

The crew app
The checklists in Daybook: “Pre-dig checklist” and “Machine day log”.

The paperwork

Three sheets, written for operators.

A pre-dig checklist for everything that has to be true before the bucket goes in the ground. A machine day log for every working day. A backfill and handover sheet for the walk after the hole is closed. All three attach themselves to every excavation job type, and the handover will not let one close unfinished.

  • Pre-dig checklist: what was checked before the bucket moves, the locate ticket number and its expiry, the machines and the float, the dig date, the depths and grades confirmed with the client, the ground and what is known to be down there, photos of the locate marks and the site before, the client’s sign-off on the staking and grades
  • Machine day log: the date, the ground and the weather, the machines and the hours on each, the operator and crew on site, the work done, with places for the loads in and out, what the day brought — a line exposed by hand, water in the hole, rock or hardpan, a down day — the issues and the photos
  • Backfill & handover: what was done, the as-built depths and lengths and where things are, what settlement to expect, the deficiency list, photos of the finished grade, the client’s sign-off
  • Attached to the right job types automatically — Crew and up
  • Yours to edit, and you can add your own
The crew app

Safety on site

The FLHA, filled in on the phone. Filed before the bucket moves.

Pick the job and the address and the crew come with it; the day’s conditions, each task with its hazard and its control — submitted from the phone at the start of the day and on the job’s record the moment it lands. Then clock-in, checklists and photos, with no signal if it comes to that.

The crew app
An FLHA in the crew app, “Dig a 4-ft trench for the water line and bed it”: the task with its hazard and its control, and the crew on site under it.

Safety on site

The FLHA, filled in on the phone. Filed before the bucket moves.

Pick the job and the address and the crew come with it; the day’s conditions, each task with its hazard and its control — submitted from the phone at the start of the day and on the job’s record the moment it lands. Then clock-in, checklists and photos, with no signal if it comes to that.

  • The crew app’s home: a greeting by name, then Submit hours, FLHA, My jobs and More, and the jobs on the go below them, each with Add update.

    Their day. Hours, the FLHA and their jobs a tap away — and an update from a job on the go goes straight to the office.

  • A crew member’s list in the crew app, 11 active: “Neil Park — Drainage & weeping tile” and “Leah Whitfield — Demolition & clearing” among them, each with its address and its time.

    Their jobs. Every job they’re on, with its address, its booked day and a chat with the office.

  • An FLHA in the crew app, “Dig a 4-ft trench for the water line and bed it”: the task with its hazard and its control, and the crew on site under it.

    Before the work starts. Pick the job and the site, its contact and the crew fill in; they add each task with its hazard and its control, and submit it from the phone.

  • FLHA forms on Crew and up: job, site, conditions, tasks with hazard and control, the crew on site
  • Clock-in and timesheets from the phone in their pocket
  • Checklists filled in on the dig site — with a signature if you want one
  • Photos taken where there is no signal, filed when it returns
The crew app

Getting paid

Invoiced off the quote. Closed out with a review request.

The invoice is raised off the quote the customer approved — all of it, the part that is finished, or the extra work approved on top. A reminder you set once does the following-up, with a Pay Now link; e-transfers are matched to their invoices for you to confirm. And when the job is finished, its page offers the warranty and closeout package and a review request.

Invoicing & payments
A finished job in Daybook: Job finished, Generate warranty and Closeout.

Getting paid

Invoiced off the quote. Closed out with a review request.

The invoice is raised off the quote the customer approved — all of it, the part that is finished, or the extra work approved on top. A reminder you set once does the following-up, with a Pay Now link; e-transfers are matched to their invoices for you to confirm. And when the job is finished, its page offers the warranty and closeout package and a review request.

  • An invoice off the approved quote — all of it, the finished part, or the extra work approved on top
  • Change orders for the work the customer adds after the quote
  • An overdue invoice chases itself, with a Pay Now link
  • E-transfer matched for you to confirm; cards online; EFT
  • A finished job offers the warranty and closeout package, and a review request
  • GST/HST by province, and the Sales Tax report ready for filing
Invoicing & payments

The crew

The phone already in their pocket.

Field seats are free and unlimited on Crew and Company, so every operator and labourer has the app: the day’s jobs, clock-in, the FLHA, the checklists, the photos — and the office sees it the moment it lands.

  • A crew member’s list in the crew app, 11 active: “Neil Park — Drainage & weeping tile” and “Leah Whitfield — Demolition & clearing” among them, each with its address and its time.
  • The crew app’s home: a greeting by name, then Submit hours, FLHA, My jobs and More, and the jobs on the go below them, each with Add update.
  • The job on its page in Daybook, its steps across the top: Schedule, Start, Finish, Invoice and Get paid.
  • The checklists in Daybook: “Pre-dig checklist” and “Machine day log”.

The economics

Priced on the office. Free for the crew.

Most field-service software charges by the head, in another currency. Daybook charges the office seats, in Canadian dollars, and leaves the people on the machines and in the trench alone.

Workflow Field-service platforms priced per user Daybook
Currency Often billed in US dollars — the exchange rate and your card’s foreign fee ride along. Canadian dollars. Every plan, every add-on, printed on the pricing page.
The crew Typically an extra monthly fee for every field user past the plan’s cap. Field seats free and unlimited on Crew and Company — every operator and labourer gets the app.
Excavation tools A generic quote form; the price list lives in a spreadsheet. A labelled excavation price list in the quote builder, three operator’s sheets, and drafts and replies in an operator’s words.
Canadian tax and mileage Usually an accounting add-on, or by hand. GST/HST by province on every invoice, the Sales Tax report, a mileage log at your own rate, receipts read for you.
Your website Usually a separate builder, or a designer. An excavation site template on every plan, with a site-preparation page and a quote-request form that mints a real lead.

Nothing here is a discount, and there is no setup fee.

Three plans, priced in CAD.

Excavation runs on the trades rate card — every plan the same app, the office seats counted and the crew free from Crew up. Solo $99 / Crew $249 / Company $449 a month CAD. Office seats included on every plan. Field seats are free and unlimited on Crew and Company. Crew and Company include selling online, and Company also includes your own domain and texting — a plan without them can add them.

  • Solo — $99/mo CAD · 1 seat · no additions · Start on Solo
  • Crew — $249/mo CAD · 3 office seats · +$39/mo each after · Start on Crew
  • Company — $449/mo CAD · 10 office seats · +$39/mo each after · Start on Company

Start the free trial on CrewSee the plans

Switching

Moving from a spreadsheet, or from another platform.

There is no importer for another product’s export, and the page does not pretend there is. What there is gets an excavation company running in an afternoon.

Bring your client list

Upload a CSV or paste it in — names, phones, emails, addresses — and the clients are there. A QuickBooks client list imports straight across.

Put your prices on the list

The excavation price list is already labelled, from an hour of the excavator and its operator to a tonne of clear stone and a load of haul-off. Type your own prices in — or, on Crew and up, scan a supplier invoice and the price book fills with your real costs.

Your website, live day one

The excavation template is already written for the work, with a site-preparation page — your photographs and your words go in, and the quote-request form drops leads straight into Daybook.

Questions excavation companies ask.

Is there an excavation estimator?

No — the builder prices from your own labelled list, and there is no takeoff that works out the quantities. You work out the hours on the machine, the feet of trench and the loads; the list carries the machines by the hour, the float, the earthwork, trenching, drainage and septic earthwork, demolition and clearing, gravel by the tonne and haul-off by the load, with your own prices on it.

Which jobs will it not let me close?

Every excavation job type — basement and foundation, site prep and grading, trenching and utilities, drainage and weeping tile, septic bed and tank, driveway, gravel and hauling, demolition and clearing — carries the backfill and handover sheet: what was done, the as-built depths and lengths and where things are, what settlement to expect, the photographs of the finished grade and the client’s sign-off. It is yours to edit.

Does it call in the locates?

No. Daybook does not call in or request a locate. It keeps the record: the pre-dig checklist asks for the locate ticket number and its expiry and the photographs of the marks, with ticks for the locates requested, the marks on the ground and the ticket still inside its window; the machine day log has a place to note the marks re-checked or a line exposed by hand.

Can I bring my own prices?

Yes. Scan a supplier invoice and the price book updates; put your own machine rates, pit prices and float charges alongside the starter list; set your own labour rates and markups. The quote builder prices from your numbers, not ours.

What does an operator cost?

Nothing on Crew and Company — field seats are free and unlimited. The office seats are what is counted, and the pricing page prints exactly how many each plan includes.

Does it work on a rural lot with no signal?

Clock-in, checklists and photos work with no signal and file themselves when the signal returns. The office sees them the moment they land.

Bring a real dig. Watch it priced.

Your own numbers beat any feature list — start the trial, walk one site and price the hours, the loads and the float from your own list.

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