Managing a Remote Team
Tips for managing field workers, tracking time, and ensuring quality work across multiple sites.
In this guide
Team roles and permissions
Gaffer has three roles: Admin (full access to everything), Office (manage jobs, quotes, invoices, but no billing or account settings), and Field (mobile app only — see assigned jobs, update statuses, upload photos).
Most trade businesses set up the business owner as Admin, office staff as Office, and van-based workers as Field. You can change roles at any time from Settings → Team.
The mobile app for field workers
Field workers see their daily schedule, job details, customer addresses, and attached documents on the Gaffer mobile app. They can update job statuses, add notes, upload photos, and log time.
The app works offline — if a worker is in a basement with no signal, their updates sync automatically when they're back online.
💡 Tip: Encourage workers to upload before-and-after photos for every job. It protects you from disputes and builds a portfolio you can show prospective customers.
Scheduling and the team calendar
The team calendar shows all scheduled jobs across your entire team. You can filter by worker, view by day/week/month, and drag jobs to reschedule.
When you assign a job to a worker, they get a push notification on their phone. If you reschedule, they get an updated notification.
Time tracking
Workers can clock in and out of jobs from the mobile app. This records actual time spent, which you can use for invoicing (if billing by the hour) or for tracking productivity.
Time entries appear on the job timeline and in Reports → Time. You can see total hours per worker, per job, or per customer.
Vehicle tracking
With the Vehicle Tracker add-on (£12/tracker/month), you can see where your vans are in real time, review route history, and get alerts for speeding, geofence exits, or excessive idling.
This isn't about micromanaging — it's about dispatching the nearest worker to urgent jobs, proving arrival times to customers, and reducing fuel costs by spotting inefficient routes.