How I Run Payroll in <10 Minutes (Step‑By‑Step)

If you’ve ever dreaded payroll day or worried about screwing up a paycheck, read this.

Missing a paycheck even once is how you lose trust with your good guys fast

So we built a simple system we run every second Monday that:

Takes 10 minutes or less
Never misses a paycheck
Keeps your job-costing tight so you actually know what your labor is costing you

Here’s the exact play we run at Bear Claw.

1. Timesheets: Make The Crew Own Their Hours

Goal: Capture daily hours from the field so payroll day is just “approve & send.”

Tool: Jobber mobile app (Field Service app)

How it works in our shop:

Every crew member has Jobber on their phone
When they show up: they clock in to the specific job, not just “general time”
Our expectation: roughly 10‑hour workdays (some a little over/under is fine)
One guy lives an hour away → we pay him an extra hour of drive time every day (that’s what it took to get him on the team)

Why Jobber:

Easy for field guys to use (big green “Clock In” button)
When they clock into a job, Jobber tracks labor hours per job, so your numbers and job-costing get sharper over time
On payroll day you have all hours in one place ready to approve

Owner rule:

You write the paycheck.They are 100% responsible for logging their own hours.

Set that expectation on day one.

2. Payroll System: Money Monday With Gusto

Goal: Never miss a paycheck and see labor spikes before they bite you.

Tool: Gusto (payroll software) integrated with Jobber

What this looks like:

Every second Monday = Money Monday
I log into Jobber, go to Timesheets → Approve timesheets
I scan for outliers (someone suddenly at 3 hours or 18 hours when everyone else is ~10–11)
Once approved, hours sync straight into Gusto

Then in Gusto: