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A project timesheet answers three practical questions: who worked, which project or task received the time, and how many payable or billable hours belong in the period. The template should separate date, person, project, task, start time, end time, unpaid break, total hours, billable status, rate, and approver notes. That structure lets you total project work without mixing client time, internal admin time, and paid time not worked.
The same sheet can support payroll review only if it preserves the difference between project hours and hours worked. Covered, nonexempt employees in the United States must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a fixed workweek, not averaged across multiple workweeks. Project totals help with billing and profitability, while weekly hours worked decide whether federal overtime arithmetic needs review.
A useful project timesheet template forces a decision on each time entry. The entry is billable or nonbillable. The break is paid or unpaid. The time belongs to a client project, an internal project, or general work. These distinctions prevent the common mistake of turning every hour on a project sheet into an invoice line or every invoice line into payroll hours.
Break handling needs a separate column because federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks for adult employees, while state law or employer policy can add requirements. Short breaks provided by an employer, usually about 5 to 20 minutes, are compensable hours worked under federal law. A bona fide meal period is generally unpaid only when the employee is completely relieved from duty.
Start with the gross work span, subtract unpaid meal periods, then assign the remaining paid time to projects and billable status. For project billing, multiply billable project hours by the billing rate. For payroll review, keep a separate weekly total of hours worked so covered nonexempt employee overtime can be checked after 40 hours in the fixed workweek.
Example: a consultant logs 14 hours on discovery, 21 hours on implementation, and 7 hours on QA for one project week. Total project time is 42 hours. The manager marks 4 hours as nonbillable internal rework, leaving 38 billable hours. At $85.00 per hour, the invoice-ready project amount is $3,230.00 before taxes, discounts, expenses, retainers, or contract-specific billing rules.
A template is enough for a one-time project cleanup, a small client estimate, or a short engagement with a single reviewer. It works best when the user entering time, the manager approving time, and the person preparing the invoice all agree on the same columns before the work starts. The template fails when corrections arrive after billing or payroll has already moved forward.
A managed workflow becomes necessary when teams need approvals, locked periods, billing handoff, payroll handoff, or recurring reports by project, person, and client. Everhour Reporting can group logged time, filter project metadata, add 45+ columns, export CSV, Excel/XLSX, or PDF files, and schedule recurring email reports, so project timesheets become reviewable records instead of disconnected spreadsheets.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
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A project timesheet template should include date, employee or contractor name, project, task, start time, end time, unpaid break, total hours, billable status, rate, notes, and approval status. Add client, cost code, or invoice number when the sheet feeds billing. Keep payroll hours and billable hours separate because the same worked hour can have different payroll and invoice treatment.
Calculate each row by subtracting start time from end time, then subtract unpaid meal periods that meet the applicable unpaid-break rule. Add the resulting paid project hours across the period. For billing, multiply billable hours by the billing rate. For payroll review, total all hours worked in the fixed workweek before checking overtime for covered nonexempt employees.
One template can cover several projects if every row has a required project field and the totals roll up by project. This layout works for agencies, consultants, and internal teams that split one person's week across multiple jobs. Add a subtotal section by project so billing review does not require manual filtering across the whole sheet.
Billable and nonbillable time should appear on the same template when both affect project profitability or manager review. Use a clear billable status column instead of hiding nonbillable entries. That approach shows total effort, protects the invoice from overbilling, and helps managers see whether internal meetings, rework, or admin time changed the project margin.
A project timesheet template supports wage review, but it does not decide compliance by itself. U.S. federal arithmetic uses the FLSA workweek, a fixed 168-hour period, and covered nonexempt employees receive at least 1.5 times the regular rate for hours worked over 40. State law, worker classification, policy, and contract terms can add stricter rules.
Everhour Reporting lets managers build project time reports with 45+ columns, grouping, metadata filters, date ranges, and conditional formatting. Teams can export reports as CSV, Excel/XLSX, or PDF, or schedule recurring email delivery so project hours reach billing or payroll reviewers without rebuilding the same spreadsheet every period.
Replace recurring template cleanup with project reports grouped by client, task, person, and billable status. Everhour Reporting keeps approved time organized for billing review and cleaner handoff.
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