Field notes · SignTonight
Why unsigned T&M tickets stall same-day invoicing
If the T&M isn’t signed before the crew leaves, “invoice tonight” usually becomes “maybe next week.”
Offices don’t delay invoices for fun. They delay because the ticket is incomplete as a billing document: hours might be there, materials might be there, but the authorization isn’t. Without a customer or GC signature, billing is choosing between sending an invoice that can be disputed or waiting for someone to chase a signature by email.
What “same-day invoice-ready” actually requires
For most subs, the office needs three things the same evening:
- Scope on the ticket — labor, materials, equipment, and notes for the extra work.
- An authorized signature — the person on site who can approve T&M / extras.
- A record that won’t disappear — not a crumpled triplicate in a truck console.
Miss the signature, and the other two don’t save you. The invoice waits.
Where the day is lost
- Paper stays in the field. The ticket is “done” in the foreman’s mind, but unsigned or unreadable when it hits the office tomorrow.
- Email sign-off starts after demob. The signer has left. Reminders pile up. The ticket ages.
- Verbal approval isn’t billable proof. “They told us to proceed” doesn’t move AR when someone pushes back on extras.
None of that is a rate problem. It’s a field sign-off timing problem.
Fix the timing, not the whole stack
You don’t need a full construction OS to solve this handoff. You need the T&M signed while the authorizing person is still on site, then a clean record for the office the same night.
That’s the SignTonight wedge: sign on a phone or tablet in the field → office sees a signed ticket → billing can prepare the invoice without waiting on tomorrow’s chase.
Electronic signatures on business documents like T&M tickets are generally recognized under the federal ESIGN Act and state UETA laws; your contracts and counsel still govern what you require on a given job. This article isn’t legal advice.
Checklist before the crew leaves
- T&M line items filled (labor, materials, equipment, notes).
- Authorized signee still on site.
- Signature captured on screen.
- Office can open the signed ticket the same evening.