How to track billable hours and turn them into a fee

What counts as a billable hour?

A billable hour is time you can charge a client for: the work itself, plus anything you agreed to charge for, such as a site visit. Non-billable time is the rest of the work that keeps the business running: quoting, invoicing, buying supplies, answering general questions.

Both are real work. Logging them apart shows how much of your week turns into a fee.

How do I add up hours and minutes?

Add the hours, add the minutes, then turn every 60 minutes into one hour. To get a decimal, divide the minutes by 60, so 90 minutes is 1.5 hours.

Work from minutes when you can. Rounding each entry before you add them can make the total drift.

Worked example: from hours to a fee

Example figures only. Say you charge $100 an hour (a made-up rate).

• Monday, client work: 3 h 30 min, billable
• Monday, quotes and admin: 1 h 15 min, not billable
• Tuesday, client work: 2 h 45 min, billable

Billable time is 3 h 30 min + 2 h 45 min = 6 h 15 min. That is 375 minutes, or 6.25 hours.

Estimated fee = 375 ÷ 60 × $100 = $625. The 1 h 15 min of admin is logged but adds nothing to the fee. Total logged time is 7 h 30 min.

With your own rate, use the same steps: billable minutes ÷ 60 × your hourly rate.

How do I choose an hourly rate?

The timesheet does not set your rate. It uses the rate you type. If you are not sure what to charge, start from the income you want and the hours you can really bill. The hourly rate guide linked below walks through it.

Common mistakes when tracking hours

• Filling in the week from memory. Type each entry the same day.
• Rounding every entry up or down before adding.
• Leaving out admin time, then wondering why the week feels long.
• Reading the result as pay. It is a fee estimate for work you invoice, not payroll.

Try it in the Timesheet

Open the Timesheet, type hours and minutes for each piece of work, mark what is billable, enter your hourly rate and export the list to a spreadsheet file (CSV). It is free to start, there is no timer, you type every figure and nothing is sent.

The result is an estimate. For payroll or employment rules, check with the Canada Revenue Agency, your province or a qualified professional.