Construction crew employee app: job sites, shifts, and chat in one place
James Dean
Construction crew employee app: job sites, shifts, and chat in one place
Construction weeks do not fail because nobody owns a schedule PDF. They fail because the roster lives in one tool, the punch lives in another, the safety form is a paper clipboard, and the real conversation is still WhatsApp. The superintendent texts the lead. The lead texts the temp. The closer never saw the Saturday swap.
Pebb is an all-in-one employee app built for that mess. You pay per person, not per job site and not per hub. Basic is $2.50 per user per month for team chat, shift scheduling, GPS clock-in, timesheets, and a directory. Premium is $4 and adds voice and video calls, a news feed, Time Off, tasks, digital forms, a wiki, analytics, and SSO. Unlimited Spaces on both plans — one Space per site, one Managers Space for the people who should see everything. Chat is org-wide. There is no free plan. Trial is the full product, no credit card.
This page is for 11–80 person general contractors, specialty trades, and multi-site field crews that outgrew a group chat and a spreadsheet. If you need live GPS breadcrumbs, a full LMS, hiring ATS, or payroll processing, say that up front — Pebb does not sell those. Keep the specialist tools for that desk. Use Pebb for the daily work: who’s on, clock in, tell the crew.
Start full trial — no card · Pebb pricing
What construction crews actually need on Monday
A construction employee app is not a second intranet for the office. It is the phone surface the crew already lives on.
Who’s on this site this week — published shifts and open shifts people can pick up without a text chain.
Clock-in at the place — a GPS stamp on the punch, with optional near-branch validation so a punch from two towns over does not slide through.
Talk without leaving the app — org-wide chat on Basic, calls on Premium, so WhatsApp is not the real OS.
A room per job site — Spaces for Site A, Site B, and Managers. Turn on shifts, clock-in, forms, and files where that crew needs them. Spaces are unlimited. They are not billed hubs. More on that model: What are Pebb Spaces?.
Forms that leave the clipboard — incident checks, toolbox-talk acknowledgements, photo attach, submit. Premium.
Leave that the scheduler can see — Time Off org-wide on Premium, against the roster, not trapped in a separate HR product.
That is the job. Fancy training libraries and applicant tracking are different jobs. Pebb does not pretend otherwise.
Why hub-priced and per-site tools frustrate field teams
Many crews arrive at this page with a Connecteam quote, a Homebase quote, or a WhatsApp-plus-scheduler stack.
Connecteam sells Operations, Communications, and HR & Skills as hubs. Chat can sit in one hub. The time clock in another. PTO in a third. Past free for 10 people, Advanced is about $49 for the first 30 users per hub on annual billing — and extra users meter per hub. If you need the daily app, you are often pricing three hubs, not one. See Pebb vs Connecteam and Connecteam pricing and hubs.
Homebase prices paid plans per location. A second job site can mean a second invoice. Fine for one shop. Wrong meter for three active sites and a small office. See the Homebase alternative.
Deputy is a strong compliance scheduler. Auto-scheduling and labor-rule depth are real. Richer chat is often Messaging+ or a higher tier. If Fair Workweek automation is why you bought it, keep it. If you bought it as “the employee app” and still run WhatsApp, read the Deputy alternative.
Pebb’s bet for construction: one seat count, unlimited Spaces, chat on Basic, ops next to chat. Site two is a Space, not a new SKU.
Spaces mapped to real job sites
Think in rooms, not products.
Site A / Downtown reno — shifts, clock-in, forms, files for that crew only.
Site B / Warehouse build — same tools, different member list. The Downtown closer does not drown in Site B posts.
Managers — feed, private files, planning posts. Superintendents and PMs without the whole trades group in the thread.
Everyone (optional) — company policies, safety handbook wiki links, events.
People only see Spaces they belong to. Chat stays org-wide outside Spaces, so a lead can still DM the office without unlocking a Communications hub. Time Off stays org-wide on Premium, so leave does not get stuck inside Site A’s room.
Turn tools on per Space. A night concrete pour does not need the same surface as a Managers planning room. Quiet rooms get opened. Noisy rooms get muted forever.
A week on a construction crew in Pebb
Monday the superintendent publishes next week’s roster into two site Spaces; open shifts sit there for pickup. Tuesday the lead clocks in at Site A with a GPS stamp and near-branch validation. Wednesday a Premium incident form goes out in Site B — photos, submit, no clipboard. Thursday Time Off on Premium shows against both site rosters. Friday timesheets close toward payroll; a Premium supervisor can call from the thread when a delivery is late, and WhatsApp stays closed if the GM holds the line.
Pricing for an 11–80 person construction company
USD. No free plan. Full trial, no card.
10 people: Basic $25/mo. Premium $40/mo.
25 people: Basic $62.50/mo. Premium $100/mo.
40 people: Basic $100/mo. Premium $160/mo.
Spaces do not change those numbers. Five active sites or one — same seat count. Compare that to stacking Connecteam hubs or multiplying Homebase locations. Details on Pebb pricing.
Basic is enough if you need chat, shifts, clock-in, timesheets, and a directory. Premium if you need calls, news feed, PTO, tasks, forms, wiki, analytics, and SSO. Do not buy Premium for a slogan. Buy it for the checklist and the leave desk.
Honest limits (read these before you switch)
Pebb will not replace every tool on a construction desk.
No payroll. Timesheets leave the building. Your payroll system still runs payroll.
No LMS and no hiring ATS. If courses, quizzes, and recruiting pipelines are load-bearing, keep Connecteam HR & Skills or your current training stack. See the Connecteam alternative for when to stay.
GPS is a stamp, not a map of the afternoon. Clock-in can GPS-stamp and optionally require near a branch. That is not live breadcrumbs or telematics. If you need the map, stay on a field-tracking specialist.
Offline does not fully work. The mobile app needs a connection. Basements and rural sites with no signal are a real reason to keep a tool that caches a full shift.
No fake “10k crews” or star ratings on this page. Judge the trial on your sites.
Those concessions are intentional. Construction buyers smell overclaim faster than any other vertical.
Setup without a six-week IT project
Create a workspace. Invite with a link — phones first, not email-first onboarding theater. Make a Space per active job site. Put shifts and clock-in on the floor Spaces. Make a Managers Space for people who should see everything. Chat is already org-wide.
Run one week in parallel with WhatsApp muted for that crew only if the superintendent agrees. Leave historical timesheets where they are. Expand Space by Space when Site A works — do not rip three tools mid-pour.
Trial is the full product. No credit card. Start on one site. Prove the closer saw the swap. Then open Site B.
Who should not use Pebb for construction
Stay put if you are still under 10 people on a genuinely free all-hubs plan and that covers you.
Stay if live GPS breadcrumbs, a large geofence library, or full offline clock-in are non-negotiable.
Stay if LMS courses and hiring pipelines are why you opened the current app — and you are not willing to keep a separate training desk.
Stay if you only need a compliance scheduler and already solved chat. Pebb’s pitch is one app. If chat is already solved and the roster desk is specialist-deep, you may not need us.
Everyone else running WhatsApp as the real job-site office — with a schedule tool publishing PDFs into the void — should price Basic or Premium for the same headcount before the next renewal.
FAQ
Is Pebb a construction-only app?
No. Construction is a primary beachhead — crews, multi-site field work, phones-first teams — alongside warehouse, security, hospitality, and multi-location ops. The product is the same employee app.
Do we pay per job site?
No. You pay per user. Job sites are Spaces. Spaces are unlimited on Basic and Premium.
Can temps and subs use it?
Invite with a link. Put them in the site Space that needs them. Remove access when the job ends. You still pay for active users on the plan.
Does GPS mean we track people all day?
No. Punch can carry a GPS stamp and optional near-branch check. Not live tracking.
Will it work in a basement with no signal?
Not fully. Mobile needs a connection. If that is a deal-breaker for your sites, stay on a product with full offline shift cache.
Does Pebb replace our payroll?
No. Export timesheets. Payroll stays payroll.
Basic or Premium for a GC with two active sites?
If you only need chat, shifts, clock-in, and timesheets, Basic. If you need forms, PTO, calls, wiki, and tasks, Premium. Two sites do not change the meter — they are two Spaces.
How do we compare to Connecteam for construction?
Price the hubs you actually need against Pebb’s seat count. Start with Pebb vs Connecteam and Connecteam pricing and hubs.
One app for the site — not a chat, a clock, and a clipboard
Twenty-five people. Two job sites. One price. Chat that isn’t a hub.
