Your foreman hands in a paper T&M ticket three weeks late. The backup is on someone else’s phone. Your admin is digging through emails trying to figure out what actually happened. Sound familiar? If you're still using paper T&M tickets, you're not alone — and you're not getting paid as fast as you could be.
According to our Specialty Contractor Commercial Insights Survey, nearly 97% of specialty contractors still use paper-based T&M tickets or fillable PDF forms, and rejections due to missing documentation can hit up to 38%. That’s revenue left on the table.
Paper tags get lost. Photos stay stuck on phones. Documentation sits in the foreman’s truck. And weeks later, someone in the office is scrambling to price work that happened a month ago. It's no wonder T&M tickets can take 30 days on average to become a billable COR.
Clearstory’s digital T&M Tags change the game — turning real-time field work into clean, billable CORs in minutes. Here’s five ways we help you get paid faster:
1) Create a T&M Tag from Anywhere, Instantly
Time is money. Especially in the field. With Clearstory, anyone on your crew can create a T&M Tag in seconds — right from their phone. Whether it’s a foreman or a journeyman, the process is simple, straightforward, and streamlined:
- Preloaded picklists and form fields eliminate manual data entry
- Voice to text enabled
- Snap-and-go speed
- Instantly create copies of previous T&M Tags
If your crew can use a smartphone, they can use Clearstory. And because it’s digital, tags get synced back to the office the moment they’re created — no more hunting down tickets back at the trailer.
Bonus: Even the most old-school superintendents are up and running in days. No IT guy needed.
2) Time-Stamped Photos = Zero Disruption
Paper tells one story. Photos tell the real one. Clearstory lets you attach time-stamped photos to every T&M Tag — directly from the jobsite. You’re not just saying the work was done; you’re showing it. Photo-backed Clearstory T&M Tags provide:
- Visual proof of scope, site conditions, and completion
- Instant credibility for every event
- One-click document uploads to keep everything in one place
That visual record eliminates guesswork and reduces disputes — because when everyone sees the same photo, there’s nothing left to argue.
3) Capture Digital Signatures in Seconds
The fastest way to get a tag signed? Get rid of the clipboard and the pens. With Clearstory, once a tag is filled out, you can send it for electronic signature right away — no waiting for handoffs:
- Your GC customer can sign on any device — phone, tablet, desktop
- Customers can also sign remotely via email - just like DocuSign
- Need multiple signatures? No problem
- No log-in required for customers to sign — it works whether they use Clearstory or not
Once a tag is signed, it’s locked, logged, and synced to the office instantly. No more delays. No more duplicates. Just fast, trackable approvals that move work (and billing) forward.
4) Real-Time Visibility for Your Whole Team
Lost tickets = lost money. It’s that simple. Clearstory syncs every T&M Tag to your project’s T&M Log in real-time, so you always know:
- What’s been submitted
- What’s been signed
- What still needs action
Filter by GC, project, or date, and eliminate the guesswork. No more wondering if the tag got signed or if the PM ever saw it. You’ll know the second it happens.
5) 5-Minutes CORs? Yeah, It's That Easy
This is where the real magic happens. Clearstory lets you turn signed T&M Tags into fully-priced CORs with one click. No more digging through stacks of paper or piecing together folders. Choose single or batched T&M Tags and take advantage of:
- Preloaded labor, material, and equipment rates
- Automatic markup calculations
- Instant packaging and PDF creation
Filter the log, grab the right tags, and hit “Create COR.” It’s priced and ready to go — clean, professional, and easy to send.
The Best Part? Your GCs will Love it.
And here’s the kicker — your GC customers will thank you for going digital, too. With Clearstory, they get instant visibility across the job. No more surprise tickets at closeout, no more chasing down handwritten notes or buried emails. Each digital T&M Tag is time-stamped, photo-backed, and trackable in real time — so GCs know what’s happening the moment it happens. That kind of transparency doesn’t just keep things moving—it builds trust.
Plus, the Clearstory T&M Log becomes a single source of truth for all out-of-scope work. GCs can quickly see what’s pending, signed, or converted into a COR, and loop it right into their forecasts. Clean backup, consistent documentation, and faster reviews mean less back-and-forth and smoother billing.
The Payoff: Increase Cash Flow & Protect Revenue
With paper tickets, T&M work can sit idle for weeks or even months, contributing to missed billing cycles, slow closeouts, and the need for painful follow-up. With Clearstory:
- T&M Tags get captured the instant work happens
- Documentation is organized, rock-solid and GC-ready
- Pricing happens in minutes, not weeks
And the best part? Our survey shows over 97% of subs turn a profit on T&M work — so why delay getting that work billed?
Your team is already doing the work. Let Clearstory make sure you get paid for it—fast, clean and dispute-free. Grab a demo and see how much time (and revenue) you're leaving on the table.
