How Should I Pay My Team for Travel Time?

Russell Cole
Oct 18
3 min read

A Fair, Simple Approach for Electrical Business Owners

Running an electrical business comes with a lot of moving parts — tools, vans, jobs, and, of course, people. One of the trickiest areas to manage is travel time: who gets paid, how much, and how do you keep it fair without overcomplicating payroll?

Get it wrong, and you risk annoyed staff, messy admin, or compliance headaches. Get it right, and your electricians feel respected, morale stays high, and the business runs smoother.

At Cole Power / Smart Certs, we’ve developed a system that balances fairness for your team with simplicity for payroll. We call it the Workshop Rule.

The Workshop Rule: Simple, Fair, Transparent

Here’s how it works in practice:

Commute is on them – The normal drive from home to the workshop is personal time and isn’t paid.
Extra distance is on you – If a job site is further than the workshop, you pay the difference in travel time.
Closer sites = win for your guys – If a site is closer to home than the workshop, your team starts later but still clocks in as if they went to the workshop.

Example:

Normal commute: 30 minutes to the workshop.
Job site: 45 minutes from home.
Result: You pay the extra 15 minutes.

This system is easy to administer, predictable for payroll, and ensures your team is never out of pocket for work you schedule.

End of Day Travel: The Reverse Rule

The same principle applies at the end of the day:

Normal trip home = unpaid – If the site is the same distance or less than their usual commute to the workshop, it’s considered personal time.
Further than the workshop = paid difference – Cover the extra travel time if the site is further away than the workshop.
Workshop drop-offs = fully paid – Any return to base for tools, vans, or materials is counted as paid travel. The clock is stopped when the employee departs for home.

The day starts and ends with one simple rule, which keeps both staff and payroll happy.

On-Site Paperwork: Paid, Billable, Done Right

Paperwork can be a hidden cost if it’s not handled correctly. Filling out COCs, ESCs, and job sheets takes time — and if your team does it off the clock, that’s unpaid work for them and lost revenue for the business. At the same time, sloppy or delayed documentation can hurt compliance and client trust.

The solution is simple: all paperwork is completed on-site as part of the job, during paid company time. That way:

Your electricians get paid for the work they do.
The customer is charged appropriately for the service.
No one ends up doing admin on their own time.

Smart Certs makes this effortless. Using tablets or phones, your team completes all documentation digitally while still on site:

No double handling – certs are instantly sent to the customer, the relevant board, and your office.
Error reduction – guided workflow prevents missed fields.
Instant submission – documentation is done and delivered before the team leaves.

By making paperwork part of company time, you keep jobs properly billed, staff compensated fairly, and compliance airtight — all without slowing down your workflow.

Why This Matters for Business Owners

A clear travel pay system like the Workshop Rule keeps payroll simple and fair.
End-of-day travel mirrors the start-of-day logic, so staff understand exactly what counts as paid time.
On-site paperwork ensures your team is productive, paid for every minute, and all work is billable.
Digital tools like Smart Certs reduce admin headaches, errors, and delays — freeing your team to focus on delivering quality electrical work.

When your systems respect both your team and your operational needs, your business runs smoother, staff stay happy, and compliance is never compromised.

Final Word

If you run a crew of electricians, implement one consistent, fair travel pay rule like the Workshop Rule, paired with on-site paperwork as paid, billable company time. Then layer in digital tools like Smart Certs to simplify compliance and workflow.

Your team will be treated fairly, your customers will get timely, accurate documentation, and your business will run more efficiently — a win-win all around.

Try Smart Certs Free Today