Harvest
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Quick Billable Hours Calculator

Harvest simplifies the process of calculating billable hours with its intuitive one-click timers and detailed reporting tools, ensuring maximum revenue capture.

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What should you charge per hour?

Most freelancers and consultants dramatically undercharge. This calculator accounts for what most people miss: non-billable time, taxes, and overhead.

$
Accounting for vacation, holidays, sick days
60%
Most freelancers can bill 50-70% of their time. The rest goes to admin, marketing, proposals, and learning.
$
Software, insurance, equipment, accounting, taxes beyond income tax, etc.
Your break-even rate $0
Recommended rate (+20% buffer) $0
Billable hours per week 0h
Equivalent daily rate $0

Start tracking your billable hours

Walk through the entire flow below. Start a timer, check your reports, and create a real invoice — all in three clicks.

Go ahead — start tracking!

One click and you're timing. Try it right here: start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Harvest.

  • One-click timer from browser, desktop & mobile
  • Works inside Jira, Asana, Trello, GitHub & 50+ tools
  • Duration or start/end — your call
  • Day, week & calendar views to stay on top of it all
  • Friendly reminders so no hour gets left behind
Acme Corp
Website Redesign
Homepage layout revisions
1:24:09
Content Strategy
Blog calendar planning
1:30:00
SEO Audit
Technical audit report
0:45:00
Brand Guidelines
Color system documentation
2:15:00
Logo Concepts
Initial sketches round 1
1:00:00
Today's total 6:54:09

Understanding Billable Hours Calculation

Calculating billable hours is crucial for professionals who need to ensure accurate invoicing and revenue capture. Billable hours refer to the time spent on tasks that directly contribute to client projects and can be charged for. Conversely, non-billable hours, such as internal meetings and administrative tasks, are essential for business operations but cannot be billed to clients. To maintain profitability, it's vital to accurately track and differentiate these hours.

One effective method is to track time in six-minute increments, equating to 0.1 hours, which is a standard practice in the legal industry. This approach balances client fairness with capturing revenue effectively, as billing in larger increments, like 15 minutes, can lead to overcharging. Moreover, delayed time entry can result in significant revenue loss; waiting until the end of the day can lose 10% of potential billable hours, and waiting a week might result in losing up to 50%.

Maximizing Efficiency with Timely Logging

To optimize billable hours, real-time tracking is essential. Studies show that professionals who log time immediately preserve 100% of their billable hours, while delaying can lead to substantial losses. For instance, an attorney charging $350 per hour might lose $50,000-$75,000 annually due to delayed time entries. This highlights the importance of using reliable time tracking methods to ensure precision and prevent revenue leakage.

Harvest provides a solution with its intuitive one-click timers and manual time entry options. These features enable professionals to log their time accurately as tasks are completed, minimizing the risk of forgotten hours and maximizing revenue. Additionally, Harvest's detailed reporting tools allow users to analyze productivity and efficiency, thereby helping service-based professionals optimize their workflows effectively.

Setting and Achieving Billable Hour Targets

Establishing clear billable hour targets is key to maintaining profitability and ensuring successful project completion. Law firms, for example, often set mandatory annual billable hour targets ranging from 1,800 to 2,200 hours. Achieving these targets requires strategic planning and efficient time management. For attorneys aiming for 1,900 billable hours with a 37% utilization rate, this means working approximately 5,135 hours annually.

Harvest aids in achieving these goals by offering utilization rate calculations, which help in optimizing team performance and identifying inefficiencies. By regularly reviewing time entries and tracking both billable and non-billable hours, professionals can identify areas for improvement and streamline their operations. Harvest's integration with tools like Asana and Slack further enhances workflow management, ensuring that targets are met without compromising on quality or efficiency.

Calculate Billable Hours with Harvest

This preview shows how Harvest's tools help you calculate billable hours accurately, optimizing invoicing and revenue.

Screenshot of Harvest's billable hours calculator tool in action.

Quick Billable Hours Calculator FAQs

  • Calculating billable hours involves multiplying the time spent on client work by the agreed hourly rate. It’s crucial to differentiate between billable and non-billable tasks and track time accurately, often in six-minute increments.

  • Delayed time entry can significantly impact revenue. Logging time at the end of the day can result in a 10% loss of billable hours, and by the end of the week, up to 50% can be lost. This can translate to substantial financial losses, especially for high hourly rates.

  • Real-time tracking ensures that 100% of billable hours are captured, preventing revenue loss from forgotten hours. It helps maintain accuracy and transparency, which is vital for client trust and profitability.

  • Harvest offers one-click timers and manual time entry options, making it easy to log hours accurately. Its detailed reporting tools further assist in analyzing productivity and managing billable hours efficiently.

  • Common billing increments include six-minute increments (0.1 hours), which are standard in the legal industry. This practice balances fairness to clients with effective revenue capture for professionals.

  • Yes, Harvest integrates with various tools such as Asana, Slack, and more, allowing seamless workflow management and enhancing efficiency in tracking billable hours.

  • Improving billable hours involves real-time tracking, delegating non-billable tasks, and regularly reviewing time data. Using software like Harvest can streamline this process and ensure accurate billing.