Harvest
Time Tracking
Sign up free

Track Billable Hours

Professionals lose 10-20% of billable hours due to inaccurate tracking. Harvest ensures precise time logging with real-time tracking and flexible billing rates.

Try Harvest Free

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 the Importance of Tracking Billable Hours

Accurate tracking of billable hours is essential for professionals who bill clients based on time spent on projects. Billable hours refer to time spent on tasks directly related to client work that can be invoiced and charged. However, many professionals experience a revenue loss of 10-20% due to inaccurate time tracking, often caused by manual entry or end-of-day recall. For instance, lawyers who delay recording their time until the end of the day lose 10-15% of billable hours, escalating to 25% if postponed until week's end.

Adopting real-time tracking methods can significantly mitigate these losses. Consultants using real-time tracking capture 95-98% of their billable hours, compared to only 70% with manual methods. By leveraging tools like Harvest, which offers one-click start/stop timers and manual time entry, professionals can ensure accuracy and prevent revenue leakage. The ability to track both billable and non-billable hours further enhances billing precision, making Harvest an ideal choice for time-conscious professionals.

Establishing a Billable Hours Framework

Creating a robust framework for tracking billable hours is crucial to maximize revenue and client satisfaction. A clear distinction between billable and non-billable activities is the foundation of any effective tracking system. Billable tasks are those directly chargeable to clients, while non-billable tasks include internal meetings and administrative duties.

Defining a transparent billing policy is essential for setting client expectations and streamlining internal processes. This includes establishing minimum billing increments, such as six-minute increments for law firms or 15-minute increments for consultancies, which can boost revenue by 15-20% compared to quarter-hour increments. Tools like Harvest facilitate this by allowing users to set different billing rates and increments per project, ensuring flexibility and accuracy in billing.

Best Practices for Accurate Time Tracking

Implementing best practices in time tracking is vital for capturing every billable moment. Real-time tracking is a cornerstone of accuracy, reducing the guesswork associated with manual entry. Encouraging team members to log time as tasks begin can help avoid the common pitfall of under-billing.

Using a time tracking tool like Harvest, which integrates seamlessly with project management software such as Asana and Jira, ensures that time logged is both precise and aligned with project goals. Detailed task descriptions and categorization by client, project, and task are critical for effective invoicing and profitability analysis. Regular reviews and audits of time entries can further enhance accuracy, allowing for prompt corrections and optimizations.

Integrating Time Tracking with Project Management Tools

Integrating time tracking with project management tools can streamline workflows and enhance productivity. For teams using systems like Asana or Jira, a tool like Harvest offers seamless integration, enabling real-time tracking of billable hours directly within the project management environment.

This integration not only facilitates accurate billing but also provides insights into project profitability. By analyzing tracked hours and expenses through Harvest’s detailed reporting features, teams can make informed decisions about resource allocation and project management. This holistic approach ensures that every hour worked is accounted for and aligned with business goals, ultimately driving profitability and client satisfaction.

Track Billable Hours with Harvest

Harvest provides real-time tracking and integration for accurate billing. See detailed reports and manage hours effectively.

Screenshot of Harvest tracking billable hours

Track Billable Hours FAQs

  • To track billable hours effectively, use a time tracking tool like Harvest, which offers one-click timers and manual entries. Real-time tracking is key, as it captures 95-98% of billable hours compared to manual methods. Regular audits of time entries can further improve accuracy.

  • Billable hours are those directly attributable to client work that can be invoiced, such as project development. Non-billable hours include internal tasks like meetings or administrative duties. Clearly defining these categories is essential for accurate tracking and billing.

  • Regular reviews are crucial and should be conducted weekly or daily. This helps catch and correct any errors early, ensuring accurate invoicing and optimal profitability. Tools like Harvest provide detailed reports to facilitate this process.

  • Yes, tracking billable hours for flat-rate projects helps measure profitability and resource use. Tools like Harvest allow you to log hours spent on each task, offering insights into the true cost of projects.

  • Harvest integrates with popular project management tools such as Asana and Jira, enabling seamless time tracking within these platforms. This integration helps streamline workflows and ensures accurate logging of billable hours.

  • Look for features like real-time tracking, flexible billing rates, detailed reporting, and integration capabilities with project management tools. Harvest offers these features, ensuring precise tracking and streamlined workflows.

  • To avoid losing billable revenue, adopt real-time tracking methods and use detailed task descriptions. Tools like Harvest provide one-click timers and comprehensive reporting, helping capture every billable moment and reducing revenue loss.