A No-Nonsense Review of Homebase

Thinking of trying Homebase to manage your employees and simplify your business processes?

In this no-nonsense review, we’ll examine Homebase’s key offerings and features. We’ll walk you through the sign-up and onboarding experience, examine Homebase’s pricing, and we’ll show the pros and cons of using Homebase to help you decide whether it’s the right solution for your construction business’ needs. 

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What Is Homebase?

Homebase is a general HR and employee management app offering employee scheduling, time-tracking, and task management tools. 

The app serves retail, education, medical, hospitality, food and beverage, veterinary, service industries, home and repair, caregiving, and beauty and wellness industries. 

Homebase positions itself as a business management platform for small businesses. However, its broad approach to managing business needs across industries may mean a lack of customized solutions built around the specific needs of individual industries, such as construction

Homebase Overview

Homebase’s all-in-one approach to managing business needs is evidenced by its general features:

• Scheduling
• Time-tracking
• Payroll
• Team communication
• HR workforce management

Sign-Up and Onboarding

Let’s walk through the onboarding process.

Signing up with Homebase is pretty straightforward. Business owners are asked to set up a new account, while employees are generally invited to join their existing team account (usually by invitation from the team administrator).

We’ll focus on the owner and manager side of things in this review.

Homebase’s signup and onboarding process.

You’ll be asked for your basic personal information, business details (legal name, size, zip code), and how you heard about Homebase. You’ll also be asked to cite your motivation for signing up — are you looking for a scheduling, time-tracking, or payroll solution?

Homebase will also ask how long your business has been running, and about your payroll setup. 

Lastly, you’ll be asked to choose whether to set up or ‘just explore’.

After signup, you will be welcomed with a Quick Start Guide listing four sets of tasks.

These Quick Start tasks are accompanied by screenshots and short animations intended to walk first-time users through basic functions in the platform, such as scheduling, tracking hours, paying employees, and onboarding team members.

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The Web App Experience

After finishing the Quick Start Guide, the next item on the left menu is the Dashboard. Homebase offers a Company View, Manager View, and My Week view of the web dashboard.

For team administrators, the Company View is the most useful of the three as it organizes company data by location. 

Homebase’s web app.

The Manager View is geared toward employee payroll and agendas, while the My Week view mainly consists of employee schedules and wage calculations.

The Mobile Experience

Homebase’s mobile app offers a downsized version of its web platform features. It is mainly designed as a mobile time clock for employees.   

Homebase’s mobile app features the following functions:

• Schedule calendar with day and week view
• Team members’ timesheets summary 
• Messages with separate channels for individual/team messages and announcements 
• Team roster for all locations

Homebase’s mobile app.

Aside from clock-in and clock-out, Homebase’s mobile app includes a ‘Shout-out’ feature.

Team members can send two kinds of shout-outs: “Above and Beyond” and “Great Attitude.” Shout-outs can be shared to the whole team as a sort of public affirmation for good teamwork. This function is part of Homebase’s Employee Happiness initiative, which we’ll discuss in more detail later. 

One thing we found is that the free trial did not show employees’ vehicle trips or mileage during work hours in the mobile app. The platform only showed employee location at clock-in and clock-out

If you’re looking to track employees’ vehicle journeys from one worksite to another, Homebase’s offering might disappoint you. 

Homebase’s mobile GPS time clock page was empty at the time of our research and did not offer information about its capabilities (or anything else). 

In a related blog post, Homebase fails to mention this capability in its list of GPS time-tracking features. What it offers is clock-in and clock-out records based on GPS snapshots. “GPS snapshots record your employees’ teams location at clock in so there are no questions when it’s time to run payroll.”

Homebase Key Features

Now let’s take a look at Homebase’s other key features.

How Scheduling Works in Homebase 

The Scheduling calendar presents an overview of events, open shifts, and team members. You can use the following filters and tools to customize scheduling views:

Filters:

• Events 
• Scheduled team members 
• Hours forecast 
• Wage forecast 
• People forecast

Tools:

• Copy weekly schedule for publishing
• Manage schedule templates
• Print schedules 
• View published schedule history
• Add/delete events, time off, or team member
• Publish schedule

Homebase’s scheduling.

While the desktop schedule boasts many functionalities, the mobile app version is restricted to a day/week view. Managers can assign team members by start time and role.

How to Use Homebase’s Time Clock

You and your team members can clock in and clock out using Homebase’s mobile time clock. Managers can set clock-in and clock-out by location. Team admins can also set geofences within 150 feet, one block, or five blocks of business addresses. 

Employees can take paid or unpaid breaks during work hours using the mobile app. They can also receive notifications of schedule changes, communicate with team members, and view their time cards. 

Homebase’s time clock.

Homebase also offers team admins the option to set clock-in and clock-out using a shared device in a location. This is in keeping with Homebase’s pricing scheme of billing users by location.

While this option applies to institutional businesses like hospitals and schools, it’s unclear how it provides companies with multiple work sites (such as construction companies) an advantage.

How to Use Timesheets in Homebase

This feature shows timesheets by member, role, wage rate, time card, and issues, among other things. It highlights timesheets with issues, a functionality duplicated by the mobile app. 

 In the example below, an employee with a missing time clock is flagged for attention. 

Homebase’s timesheets.

Homebase lets you set pay schedules, add and edit timecards, and download timesheets from the web platform. 

How Team Communication Works in Homebase

Team communication and messaging are mainly handled through the Homebase mobile app. Homebase’s web dashboard seems to lack a messaging platform (at least in the free trial).

Homebase’s team communication.

You can choose to message the entire team or management only. Homebase’s messaging feature allows you to reach people scheduled for the day or the day after.

While Homebase’s messaging features are unique, it remains to be seen if there are plenty of new or other features in the paid tiers. The team communication features in Homebase’s Basic plan hint at the locked features in the higher tiers, listed in the pricing page as:

• Ability to share upcoming events and create personalized notes for team members on shift
• Custom messenger channels
• Confirmation when employees receive messages and view schedules

How Homebase Handles HR and Compliance 

Homebase’s HR section is labeled ‘Team’ in the left menu. Under this, you can view the team roster with their employee details, including terminated team members.

This section also allows you to view time off records and company policies on vacation and unpaid/paid time off.

Homebase’s HR and compliance.

Team admins can only add details to unpopulated fields in the dashboard. To edit entries, click on individual team members and select relevant job details. 

You can also set up employee documents and onboard new hires using the Team section. However, this is as far as you can go on the free trial, or in the paid Essentials and Plus tiers.

Homebase requires users to upgrade to All-in-one to access HR Pro, a resource base to help company owners with their HR concerns. 

Other features in the platform that combine managerial and HR functions include manager log (performance and cost tracking), reports (employee hours, sales summary, etc.), and safety (employee screening policies for COVID-19). 

How Payroll Works in Homebase

When you click Homebase’s payroll for the first time, it asks if you have an existing payroll system or are setting up a new business.

Homebase’s payroll.

If you are setting up for the first time, it asks for your company details, like your Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), average payroll run amount, DBA/trade name, and other related information.

If you have an existing system, it asks for your payroll method/system and then brings you to the payroll setup page.  

The page again offers the payroll add-on and mentions the pricing along with a list of benefits. You can book a demo to see if the payroll add-on suits your business needs. 

Lastly, a short guide showing how to set up payroll with Homebase appears at the bottom of the page. 

How Hiring and Onboarding Work in Homebase

Homebase allows you to post jobs on popular job boards directly from its web and mobile platforms.

The platform integrates with Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and Google Jobs to reach applicants. While Homebase mentions that 50,000 users have used this feature, it is silent as to how many people were actually hired through this initiative.

You can also onboard new team members via the mobile app by adding their details, including salary. Team admins can invite new members to join the platform by sending a mobile invitation link from the app.

How Homebase’s “Employee Happiness” Initiative Works

Homebase’s tools for ‘Employee Happiness’ mainly consist of employee affirmation and feedback collection.

The rest are tools already included with other features, which Homebase repackages as ‘Employee Happiness.’ These include team communication, payroll (early wage access), and scheduling (employees’ preferred schedule, time-off request tracking, etc.). 

The major Employee Happiness tool that stands out is the ‘shout-out’ feature we mentioned earlier, which gives managers and employees the opportunity to affirm teammates publicly.

However, the ‘Share with team’ and ‘Track who’s read your message’ functions make this feature a little superficial. It takes away the focus from the individual being affirmed and redirects it towards boosting team morale with a push of a button. 

Homebase’s Employee Happiness tools also include employee feedback collection and reporting.

What Integrations are Available in Homebase?

Homebase offers integration with point of sale (POS) systems, payroll, business tools, and job boards.

Homebase’s integrations.

You’ll notice that apart from payroll, most of Homebase’s integrations are targeted toward service and retail industries. These include point-of-sale systems and tipping software like Tiphaus. 

So if you’re looking for an extensive list of native integrations with construction systems, Homebase’s offerings might disappoint you.

Homebase Might be a Good Fit for You If…

…you’re not looking for industry-specific solutions.

Homebase sells itself as an “everything app for hourly teams,” which means it offers a suite of tools for scheduling, tracking teams’ hours and attendance, and streamlining payroll (for an additional $39 a month, plus $6 / employee per month).

All in all, Homebase might be a good fit for you if you’re looking for a business management tool for small businesses in general.What we mean is that Homebase addresses the core functions of running a small business — scheduling, time clock, and payroll — in a general way, not specific to any industry.

If you’re looking for nothing more than that, Homebase might work for you. If you’re looking for something more…

You Might Not Want to Use Homebase If…

…you’re looking to address unique pain points in your business.

With its broad client base, Homebase tries to cover as much of the field as possible, which inevitably leaves gaps in its all-in-one solution. 

One thing that stands out is the lack of sophisticated time-tracking solutions for industries like construction, which often need to accurately track job progress and employee activity across multiple locations.

All Homebase offers is the ability to clock-in and clock-out at certain locations. 

Homebase promises to “Keep time theft to a minimum with geofencing perimeters, individual PINs, and GPS screenshots when a team member signs in.” However, this solution is designed to work for any small business using digital clock-in and clock-out for their employees. 

Homebase Cost/Pricing

Homebase offers a free, no-strings-attached “All-in-one” trial for 14 days. No credit card is required. Customers can change their plans or cancel anytime. 

Homebase also offers a basic plan and three tiers for paying customers.

	Essentials	All-in-One
Base Cost	$24.95 / mo. (per location)	$99.95 / mo. (per location)
User Cost	N/A	N/A
Offers?	Available for $1 for the first 2 months	Available for $1 for the first 2 months
Free Trial?	Basic tier	Basic tier

Homebase offers a fully integrated payroll for all plans at a $39 base fee per month, on top of a $6 fee per employee per month.

Homebase’s restriction of its advertised pricing scheme to one location can be problematic for companies with multiple work sites. 

Homebase defines ‘location’ as “a physical address that is your place of business. It is where you carry out your business operations… Multiple locations within the same city are still considered as multiple locations as long as they have separate physical addresses.”

If you’re a construction company with offices across cities or states, or if your team works out of multiple locations, you have to pay the base fee for each of those locations in order to manage employees from Homebase’s platform. 

One positive note about the Homebase pricing system: once users subscribe to a paid plan (regardless of tier), they can add unlimited employees to the system. 

Basic – Up to 20 employees

Essentials – Unlimited employees

Plus – Unlimited employees

All-in-one – Unlimited employees

If you want to know more about the Homebase pricing scheme, check out our dedicated pricing article:

Homebase Pricing: Tiers, Features, and More

Homebase Reviews

Homebase users are enthusiastic about the apps’ communication tools and mobile functionalities, such as clock-in and clock-out.

However, a recurring issue about faulty notifications, as well as friction points with payroll and scheduling features, have raised user concerns.

Apple user ‘reviews are dumb’ likes the mobile clock-in and clock-out function but highlights an issue with the payroll cashout feature:

iOS user ‘reviews are dumb’ says:

It’s ok when it works ⭐⭐

Homebase has good features like reminders to your shift and being able to clock in and out from your phone. But some things just don’t work properly. I have zero messages waiting for me, but it says I have 9 unread ones. On top of that, the message notifications I do get are stuffed behind other useless notifications from the app. …I really don’t understand how this app can be so glitchy and laggy when it’s used by many businesses.

Last thing: if the cash out feature is for people who need money right away, why would you put restrictions on who could use it? It really blows my mind that you have a system in place to help, but you won’t help because of “low income deposits”

It’s my money, it’s insulting that the app thinks I can’t handle it or that I don’t deserve it.

Android reviewer K R cited issues with the scheduling function:

Android user K R says:

⭐⭐⭐

Glitches, show the incorrect time for shifts if screen is not refreshed first. Also the sync feature for the calendar does not work consistently regardless of android device or calendar used. It does this on All of my androids. I shouldn’t have to reinstall the already up-to-date app every time I publish a schedule And it still won’t sync with the calendar. I have to click on the date, then refresh the screen before I can trust that the time it shows me is for the correct date. Very frustrating

Capterra reviewer Anna W. praised Homebase’s team communication tools, but cited the in-app notifications as an issue:

Capterra reviewer Anna W.:

Has its faults but overall a good app ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Pros: The app is a great source of communication for all team members. It is a great way to see what your pay will look like.Cons: The in app notifications do not always work.

Our Score (and Why We Chose It)

Based on our signup and onboarding experience with the free trial, here’s how we scored Homebase:

While Homebase presents a fairly useful on-the-go solution for small business needs, it puts certain core features behind a paywall. Clients must upgrade to higher-tier plans in order to access live customer support, fully integrated payroll features, team communication tools, and others.

Top Alternatives to Homebase

Though Homebase positions itself as an ‘everything app’ for small businesses and hourly teams, plenty of competitors offer the same core features for business and employee management.

Want to know more about why we chose these apps as the top Homebase alternatives? Check out our detailed article on Homebase’s alternatives:

Top Homebase Alternatives: Other Apps to Consider

The Bottom Line

Homebase might work for any business, but it’s certainly not the best tool for every business. By using a blanket approach to deliver digital solutions to a wide range of industries, it falls short at customization and fails to address unique pain points. 

Whether it’s reliable real-time notifications or accurate time-tracking for multi-site employees, Homebase leaves much to be desired in its all-in-one solution.

If you’re looking for a time-tracking app built expressly for construction businesses like yours, take a look at Workyard and its custom solutions.

Workyard is designed and built by construction professionals who know the ins-and-outs of the industry as well as its challenges for both managers and employees.

See why construction companies choose Workyard for GPS time tracking and construction cost tracking (among other beneficial features), or sign up for a 14-day free trial now to see how it works for yourself!