Job costing built from the hours your team tracks
What this feature does
Job costing is the practice of adding up what one job actually cost you, then comparing it to what you charged. TimeTracker does it from the hours your team already tracks. Each person has a cost rate and a billing rate, both effective-dated, and every time entry stores the rates that applied the day it was logged. Costs roll up per task and per project alongside budget and margin, so you can.
Every time entry stores the cost rate that applied on the day it was logged, so a rate change next quarter cannot rewrite what last quarter's job cost.
How job costing works in TimeTracker
Give each person a cost rate
A cost rate is what someone costs you per hour, not what you charge for them. It carries a start date, so a raise applies from the day it happens.
Set the budget for the job
A fixed fee is a one time amount. A retainer is the same budget set to repeat monthly. Zero is refused, because a budget of nothing means nothing.
Set a margin floor
The floor is the margin you are not willing to drop below on this job. Cross it and the job shows as at risk.
Let the hours price the job
Every entry is costed at the rates that applied the day it was logged, then rolled up per task and per project.
What admins and owners see
See what the job cost, not just what it billed
Labor cost, billable value, and margin sit next to the budget on one panel, so you can see how much of the fee the work has eaten and how much of the work is actually finished.
Drill into the task that ate the budget
Estimate, tracked hours, billable value, cost, and margin all roll up per task. Knowing a job lost money is useful. Knowing the revisions phase took 60% of the hours is what stops it happening again.
Read the forecast, not just today
A forecast margin and a forecast at completion say where the job lands if nothing changes, and a budget alert fires when usage passes your threshold.
What your team sees day to day
Your hours price the job
Every approved hour lands in the job total at your cost rate, which is why a timesheet filed a week late blurs the picture for whoever is watching the margin.
You do not see the cost side
Cost and margin are stripped out of the data for anyone without cost access, so a contractor can log hours without seeing what colleagues cost the business.
Popular features
Employee time tracking your team will actually use
One click starts a timer, or people type hours in by hand. Every entry ties to a client, project, and task, so the record stays clean.
Explore Time Tracking→Bill for every hour you earn
Mark each entry billable or non-billable while you work. Approved hours roll straight into reports you can bill from.
Explore Billing→See where the time really goes
Break hours down by client, project, and team member. Find the work that pays off and the projects that run over.
Explore Reports & Dashboards→Expense management software built for client work
Log a cost against the project it belongs to, attach the receipt, and send it for approval. Approved expenses go on the client invoice.
Explore Expenses→Invoicing software that bills from tracked hours
Approved time turns into itemised invoice lines with tax and multiple currencies handled for you. Check it over, then send it.
Explore Invoicing→
Keep projects on track and in budget
Define project phases, set budget caps, and track work progress in real-time. See margins and utilization without building reports manually.
Explore Project Management→Configure custom rates for every agreement
Manage complex billing agreements with ease. Set client rates, assign member role pricing, and handle multi-currency projects with zero confusion.
Explore Rates→Timesheets your team submits on time
Hours build into a timecard as people work. Send the week for approval, lock it once it is signed off, and bill from a number that cannot quietly change.
Explore Timesheets→A worked example
Two jobs at 65% done, one losing money
Both jobs are 65% complete. The healthy one has spent 60% of its budget, forecasts a 28% margin and $6,320 gross profit against $45,000 at completion. The other has spent 78% for a 22% margin and $52,400 forecast, which is why it reads as at risk.
Limits and edge cases
- There is no materials costing, no purchase orders, and no subcontractor billing. Construction work needs a different package.
- Job cost is built from tracked hours, so hours logged to the wrong job produce a confident wrong number.
- A budget of zero is refused, and so is a negative amount.
- A budget holds one currency. Time in another currency cannot be added to that total.
- A retainer resets on its monthly period, so unused hours do not roll forward on their own.
- Overhead is not spread for you. The cost rate you enter is the one used.
- Margin and cost are visible to owners and admins only.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the 7 steps in job costing?
- Pick the job, work out its direct labor, add direct materials, add any other direct costs, apply overhead, total it up, then compare that total to what you charged. TimeTracker runs the labor and overhead steps from tracked hours. For the full walkthrough see what job costing is and how it works.
- What software can be used for job order costing?
- Accounting tools like QuickBooks handle job order costing for businesses that buy a lot of materials. TimeTracker suits service work, where labor is most of the cost, because it prices each job from the hours your team actually tracked.
- Is this job costing software for construction?
- No. There is no materials costing, no purchase orders, and no subcontractor billing, so a builder pricing a fit-out needs a construction package instead. This is built for teams whose main cost is people's time, like agencies, studios, and consultancies.
- How do you work out the labor cost of a job?
- Each person gets a cost rate, and every entry they log is priced at the rate that applied that day. You can check the maths yourself with the labor cost calculator.
- Can I see job costs at the task level?
- Yes. Estimate, tracked hours, billable value, cost, and margin all roll up per task as well as per project, so you can see which phase of a job ate the budget.
- Does a rate change break my old job costs?
- No. Rates are effective-dated and each time entry stores the rates that applied when it was logged. Giving someone a raise in April does not quietly rewrite what January's jobs cost.
- Does this work for fixed-fee projects?
- Yes. Set a fixed budget for the job and we track actual cost against it, so you see the real margin rather than the one you hoped for when you quoted.
- Who can see job cost and margin figures?
- Only people you give cost access to. Cost and margin fields are stripped out of the data for everyone else, so a contractor can log hours without seeing what colleagues cost.
- Are expenses factored into the margin?
- Yes, all approved project expenses are automatically deducted from the project's profit margin.
- What happens if a project goes over budget?
- You can set up automated alerts to notify you when a project hits a certain percentage of its budget or when the margin drops below a threshold.
Start tracking time today
Set up TimeTracker in minutes and put job costing to work. Track hours by client, project, and task, and bill for every hour your team works.
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