Applying Pay Rate Changes to Existing Time Slips

If an employee's pay rate changes but time slips were already recorded before the update was entered into BaseBuilders, this article walks through how to correct those existing time slips so job costing reflects the right rate.

Step 1: Update the User's Pay Rate

Go to Settings, find the user, and update their pay rate to the new value. Once saved, this new rate will be stamped onto any new time slips going forward.

Updating a user's pay rate does not affect any existing time slips — new and existing time slips are handled independently, since retroactively changing historical labor cost isn't something that should happen automatically.

Step 2: Query for the Affected Time Slips

To find the time slips that need updating:

1. Run a new query on Time Slips.
2. Filter by the staff member.
3. Add a start date matching when the pay rate change took effect (for example, if the raise was effective June 1st, filter for time slips from June 1st forward).
4. Apply the query to bring back the matching time slips.

Double-check the date range in your results to confirm you're only capturing time slips from the correct effective date forward.

Step 3: Select and Update

Select all of the returned time slips — or select them individually if you only want to update some — then choose Update Pay Rates (also referred to as Refresh Pay Rates) from the batch actions. This updates the pay rate on each selected time slip to match the user's current pay rate.

Once applied, every selected time slip reflects the new rate, which flows through to the Direct Labor cost applied to the associated phases and projects.

Why This Matters

BaseBuilders doesn't run your payroll, but it does drive your job costing — and pay rate accuracy on time slips is the foundation of that. Keeping pay rates current, and correcting any time slips recorded before a rate change was entered, ensures your labor costs, overhead, and profitability figures reflect what staff are actually being paid.

Best Practice

Update a user's pay rate in Settings as soon as a raise takes effect — ideally before any new time slips are recorded at the old rate — to avoid needing this correction process at all. When a correction is needed, use a precise date-bounded query to make sure you're only updating time slips from the actual effective date forward, not earlier work that was correctly recorded at the old rate.

Summary

To correct time slips recorded before a pay rate change: update the user's pay rate in Settings (this only affects new time slips), then query for the affected time slips using the staff member and an effective start date, select the results, and apply the Update Pay Rates batch action. This updates Direct Labor on those time slips to reflect the new rate, keeping job costing accurate.