Harvest
Time Tracking
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Time Tracking App for Engineers

Engineers often lose 15-20% of billable income due to poor time tracking. Harvest provides precise tracking and flexible billing options to optimize project profitability.

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Will this project be profitable?

Estimate your project cost, set the right price, and know exactly how many hours your team can spend before margin disappears.

Total hours across all team members
$
Average rate across all roles on the project
15%
Scope creep is real. Most projects need 10-25% buffer to stay profitable.
Recommended project price $0
Base cost (before buffer) $0
Hours per person per week 0h
Weekly burn rate $0
Max hours before loss 0h

Track project hours with Harvest

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

The Strategic Imperative of Time Tracking for Engineers

Effective time tracking is critical for engineers who must manage complex projects with precision. Poor time tracking can lead to underbilling, which can cause a 15-20% loss in billable income, and inaccurate project estimates, affecting the overall profitability of engineering projects. With the U.S. architecture and engineering occupations expected to create approximately 186,500 openings annually from 2024 to 2034, the demand for precise time management is increasing.

Harvest provides a solution by allowing engineers to track time accurately with one-click start/stop timers and manual entry options. This ensures that every billable hour is captured, reducing the risk of revenue leakage. Leveraging time data, teams can make data-driven decisions, enhancing forecasting, resource allocation, and identifying inefficiencies. By addressing these challenges, Harvest supports engineers in optimizing their workflows and improving project outcomes.

Essential Features of Engineering-Specific Time Tracking Apps

For engineers, time tracking software must cater to the unique demands of their profession. A critical feature is multi-rate billing, as 67% of users find it essential for simplifying invoicing across different roles. Harvest excels in this area by allowing customizable billing rates per project and role, ensuring accurate invoicing and payroll processing.

Moreover, Harvest integrates seamlessly with engineering tools like Jira, GitHub, and QuickBooks, eliminating data silos and double-entry. Real-time visibility into project health is another key benefit, with Harvest providing detailed dashboards that monitor progress, budget burn, and utilization rates. These features, combined with mobile and offline capabilities, make Harvest an ideal choice for engineering teams operating in the field or remotely.

Implementing Time Tracking: Best Practices for Engineering Teams

Successful implementation of time tracking requires clear communication and structured workflows. It's crucial to explain the purpose of time tracking—transparency, improved planning, and fair workloads—rather than micromanagement. Harvest supports this by offering easy-to-use timers and manual entry methods, simplifying the daily tracking process.

Training and guidelines are essential, ensuring that all team members understand how to use the system effectively. Continuous monitoring and refinement are also vital; Harvest allows for regular audits and data reviews to ensure compliance with labor laws and improve accuracy. By leveraging automation, such as Harvest's automatic time capture, teams can protect "deep work" time, minimizing disruptions and maximizing productivity.

Navigating Free vs. Paid Options and Scalability

Choosing between free and paid time tracking solutions depends on a firm's needs and growth plans. Free options may suffice for small teams with basic requirements, but they often lack advanced features crucial for engineering firms. Harvest offers a free 30-day trial, allowing firms to assess its capabilities without commitment.

As needs evolve, scalable solutions like Harvest provide a compelling return on investment. Advanced features, such as compliance management and detailed analytics, support growing teams and complex projects. Transitioning from free to paid plans can be seamless, with Harvest's flexible pricing accommodating increased users and project demands.

Time Tracking App for Engineers with Harvest

Harvest offers engineers precise time tracking and flexible billing, essential for managing project phases and profitability. Try it free for 30 days.

Harvest time tracking app interface for engineers showing project phases and billing features.

Time Tracking App for Engineers FAQs

  • Engineers track time to gain clarity on work, capacity, and trade-offs, which helps protect "deep work" time and improve planning. Accurate tracking can reduce underbilling and enhance project profitability by capturing every billable hour.

  • A time tracking app for engineers should include multi-rate billing, integration with engineering tools, real-time visibility into project health, and mobile capabilities for fieldwork. Harvest provides all these features and more.

  • Harvest supports multi-rate billing by allowing different billing rates for various roles within a project. This simplifies invoicing and payroll by accommodating the diverse billing needs of engineering firms.

  • Yes, engineers can track time offline using Harvest's mobile apps. This is particularly useful for field engineers who need to log time and expenses without an internet connection, with data syncing once connectivity returns.

  • Harvest helps engineering firms maintain audit-ready records, ensuring compliance with labor laws and regulatory requirements. This is crucial for meeting client and regulatory audits, especially in jurisdictions with specific overtime and fatigue management rules.

  • Harvest integrates seamlessly with popular engineering tools like Jira, GitHub, and QuickBooks. This integration prevents data silos and reduces the need for double-entry, streamlining workflows and improving data accuracy.

  • Real-time project visibility in Harvest allows teams to monitor progress, budget burn, and utilization rates. This helps in making informed decisions, improving forecasting, and ensuring projects stay on track financially.