Engineering cost stays hidden when rates sit outside issue work. Everhour connects time tracked on Linear issues to person-level cost visibility.
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Use this page when you need to apply hourly cost rates to work organized in Linear. The practical outcome is a cost view for engineering work, with each person's tracked time priced by the correct internal rate. That lets you review project spend, cycle cost, and issue-level investment without treating estimate points as dollars.
A useful setup starts with the work structure already visible to the team: issues, projects, cycles, assignees, statuses, labels, and estimates on Linear issues. The rate belongs to the person doing the work, while the time entry belongs to the issue or project. Cost reporting works when those two records stay connected.
A cost rate represents internal employee or contractor expense. A billable rate represents what a client is charged. For engineering cost visibility, the cost rate is the main input because it converts tracked hours into labor cost. Keep billable status as a work classification when needed, such as client work versus internal roadmap work, without letting it replace internal cost tracking.
Person-level rates create cleaner reports than a single blended rate when seniority, contractor cost, or regional compensation differs across the team. Project overrides matter when the same person carries a different cost basis on a specific engagement. Dated rate changes protect older reports, so a rate update does not rewrite last quarter's engineering cost.
Estimates on Linear issues are effort or size values, not clock time. Linear supports Exponential, Fibonacci, Linear, and T-Shirt estimate scales, and the estimate value drives effort statistics. A point total can help compare scope, but it does not create a defensible labor cost unless the team also tracks actual hours and applies hourly rates.
The common mistake is treating estimate points as a hidden hourly system. A five-point issue assigned to one engineer and a five-point issue assigned to another can carry different labor cost after actual time and person rates enter the report. Use estimate-vs-actual cost to improve planning, not to replace tracked time.
A one-off rate sheet works for a quick cost check: list people, hourly cost rates, tracked hours, and the project or cycle being reviewed. That is enough for a small retrospective or a single cost report when the data set is short and no one needs approval history, lock rules, or recurring review.
A managed workflow fits teams that review engineering spend every cycle. Everhour can keep Linear issue time connected to rates, approvals, roles, project assignments, and team policy defaults, then turn invisible engineering effort into per-project cost that managers can review with the same issue context the team uses.
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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Assign the rate to the person, then connect tracked time to the Linear issue or project. That structure lets the report calculate cost from actual hours and the correct person rate. Use project-specific rate overrides when one person needs a different cost basis for a particular project.
Estimate points should not be treated as hours or money. Linear estimates are effort or size values, and the docs do not define a native conversion from points to hours or cost. Use tracked hours plus cost rates for labor cost, then compare estimate-vs-actual cost after the work is done.
Use dated rate history for salary changes, contractor rate changes, role changes, and project-specific rate changes that start on a clear date. The date matters because older project and cycle reports should keep the rate that applied when the work happened.
Billable status should classify the work, not define the internal cost. Client work, support work, roadmap work, and internal maintenance can all carry labor cost. Marking time as non-billable keeps it out of client-facing totals, but the tracked hours still matter for engineering cost review.
A single average rate can hide real cost differences across engineers, contractors, and project assignments. The report looks simple, but issue and cycle costs become less useful for planning. Person-level cost rates produce a clearer view when the team's hourly cost varies materially.
Everhour Team Management supports roles, project assignments, approval workflow, lock rules, admin time correction, personal tracking limits, and weekly capacity. Managers can keep rate-based cost reporting tied to controlled time records before reports use the hours.
Everhour Reporting can use tracked time, cost, project, task, member, billable time, non-billable time, and other columns in configurable reports. Teams can group cost by project, issue, person, or date range, then export reports as CSV, Excel/XLSX, or PDF.
Track approved Linear hours with team rules, rate controls, and cost reporting in Everhour, so each cycle review shows where engineering spend actually went.
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