Timesheet or time card? They are not the same thing
Both record time, but they answer different questions and feed different systems.
| Time card | Timesheet |
|---|
| Records | Clock in and clock out | Hours per project or task |
| Answers | How long was I here? | Where did the time go? |
| Feeds | Payroll | Client invoicing and project margin |
| Typical user | Hourly employee | Freelancer, agency, consultant |
| Overtime | Central — measured weekly | Rarely relevant |
If you are paid by the hour and want a weekly gross pay figure, use the time card calculator. If you invoice clients for your time, stay here.
The rules behind the numbers
Decimal hours
Every line is charged in decimal hours, so six minutes is 0.10 and half an hour is 0.50. An hour and a half is 1.5, not 1.30. The mistake is common enough to have a name — decimal-hour confusion — and it costs roughly 13% of every affected line, always in the client's favour.
Billable against non-billable
Billable hours are the ones a client has agreed to pay for. Everything else — proposals, invoicing, bookkeeping, learning a new tool, chasing payment — is non-billable, and it is still real work. A solo consultant typically bills between 60% and 75% of the hours they actually work. A 40-hour week with a 65% billable ratio is 26 chargeable hours.
Tracking the split is the only way to know your true capacity. If you quote a project assuming 40 chargeable hours a week when the reality is 26, the schedule slips by more than a third.
Blended rate
The blended rate is total billable revenue divided by total billable hours. It is the number that tells you whether a mixed project was worth running.
| Work | Hours | Rate | Amount |
|---|
| Strategy | 20 | $120 | $2,400 |
| Production | 10 | $80 | $800 |
| Total | 30 | — | $3,200 |
$3,200 ÷ 30 hours gives a blended rate of $106.67 an hour. Quoting a follow-on project at the $120 headline rate when most of the work lands at $80 is how margin quietly disappears.
Rounding
Professional services firms usually round to six-minute increments, because a tenth of an hour is exactly six minutes. That rule is defensible as long as it is applied consistently and disclosed. Rounding every entry up, every time, is not — and clients notice. Decide the policy once, put it in the engagement letter, and never apply it differently to two clients for the same kind of work.
Retainers
A retainer is a prepayment against hours, not a fee for availability in most agreements. Log the hours normally, then show the retainer as a credit below the subtotal, or invoice only the hours beyond the retained amount. State whether unused hours roll forward, and for how long. The disputes this prevents are worth more than the hours at stake.
Three worked examples
1. A freelancer splitting a week between two clients
Client A takes Monday to Wednesday at 7.5, 8 and 6 hours. Client B takes Thursday and Friday at 8 and 5 hours, plus 2 hours on Saturday. Rate is $95 for both. Billable hours come to 36.5 and the amount due is $3,467.50.
Now add the reality: 3 hours of admin, 2 hours on a proposal and 1 hour on invoicing, all unticked. Total hours worked reaches 42.5, so the billable ratio is 86% — an unusually good week. Most freelancers see 65%.
2. An agency logging a fixed-fee project
A $12,000 website build is quoted at what the team believes is 80 hours. The timesheet across four weeks shows 34, 26, 18 and 12 hours — 90 hours in total. The effective rate is $12,000 ÷ 90 = $133.33, not the $150 implied in the quote.
Those 10 extra hours are the whole lesson. Without the timesheet the team would repeat the estimate next time and lose another 10 hours on the next build.
3. A consultant with a retainer and an hourly overflow
A client retains 20 hours a month at $140. This month the work runs to 26 hours plus 4 hours of non-billable onboarding. Billable hours are 26. The first 20 are covered by the retainer of $2,800; the remaining 6 bill at $140, which is $840 extra. Total invoiced for the month is $3,640, and the blended rate across all billable hours is still $140.
Had the onboarding been ticked as billable, the invoice would have been $4,200 and likely disputed. That is exactly what the billable flag is for.
Sources and standards
How we verify this calculator
Record-keeping expectations follow the Fair Labor Standards Act and IRS guidance for businesses. The arithmetic is plain decimal multiplication with no rounding applied.
Retention periods and rounding conventions last reviewed: 19 September 2026.
This tool provides calculations, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Retention requirements vary by jurisdiction and by the nature of the record.
FAQ
What is the difference between a timesheet and a time card?
A time card records when someone started and stopped work, so it measures attendance. A timesheet records how many hours went to each project, client or task, so it measures where the time went. Employers use time cards for payroll; freelancers and agencies use timesheets for billing.
How do I calculate billable hours?
Add the hours worked on client work across the period and exclude internal, administrative and business development time. If you bill more than one client, keep rows separate — the calculator subtotals each project and only adds billable rows to the amount due.
Should I round billable hours?
Most professional services firms round to six-minute increments, because a tenth of an hour is six minutes. Decide the rule once, state it in your engagement letter, and apply it identically to every client.
What is a blended rate?
Total billable revenue divided by total billable hours. Billing 20 hours at $120 and 10 at $80 gives $3,200 over 30 hours, a blended rate of $106.67. It is the most useful single number for judging whether a project was worth taking.
How do I handle non-billable time?
Record it, then untick the billable box. Non-billable time is the measure of your overhead — it tells you what proportion of the week actually earns. For a solo consultant that is usually 60% to 75%.
How long should I keep timesheets?
Under the FLSA, employers must keep payroll records including hours worked for at least three years and supporting records such as time cards for two years. For tax purposes the IRS generally recommends keeping records supporting a return for three years from the filing date.
Can I export the timesheet to Excel?
Yes. The export button downloads a CSV with one row per project, the seven daily columns, the row total in decimal hours, the billable flag, the rate and the amount, followed by the weekly totals. CSV opens directly in Excel, Google Sheets and most invoicing tools.
Why is decimal hours better than hours and minutes?
Because rates are charged per decimal hour. At $100 an hour, 1 hour 30 minutes is $150, which is 1.5 × $100. Entering 1.30 and multiplying gives $130 — a 13% undercharge on that line.
How do I bill a retainer?
Treat it as a prepayment against hours. Log hours normally, then show the retainer credit below the subtotal or invoice only the hours beyond the retained amount. State whether unused hours roll forward.
Do I need a timesheet if I charge a flat fee?
It is still worth keeping. On a fixed-fee project the timesheet is how you discover your real effective rate afterwards. A $5,000 fee that takes 68 hours is a $73.53 rate, not the $150 you quoted — and that gap is what you need before quoting the next one.