Digital agencies mix retainers, fixed-fee work, and hourly billing, and Everhour keeps tracked time tied to budgets.
Enter your time in and out for each day. Overtime and gross pay are calculated automatically.
| Day | Time In | Break Start | Break End | Break | Time Out | Total |
|---|
The calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
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Digital agency timesheets need more than a weekly total. A designer, developer, strategist, or project manager usually works across several clients in the same week, often across retainers, fixed-fee projects, and time-and-materials work. The timesheet should show where the time went, which hours are billable, which hours are internal, and which project or service line used the budget.
Small time errors change client billing and margin. Promethean Research reported that 29% of digital agencies charged $175 to $199 per hour in its latest survey, and digital agencies earned an average net margin of 13% in 2025. At that rate band, a missed 30-minute entry on billable work is a real revenue leak, not clerical noise.
A strong agency timesheet records the person, date, client, project, task or service, time spent, billable status, notes, and billing rate or cost context. For a paid search retainer, one line can read: client campaign optimization, 1.5 hours, billable, strategist, retainer budget. For a fixed-fee website build, the same time record helps compare actual effort against the estimate.
Teams also need separate views for worked time and billable time. Internal creative reviews, proposals, sales calls, and training can be valid work, but they should not inflate client invoices unless the agreement allows billing for that work. Clean categories let agency leads review utilization, project profitability, budget usage, and staffing pressure without rebuilding the week in a spreadsheet.
The common agency mistake is tracking time only when an invoice is due. That creates missing entries, vague descriptions, and budget surprises after the work is already spent. A better workflow captures time daily, then reviews billable status before invoicing. Project managers should look for unassigned client work, entries without notes, non-billable work parked under client projects, and hours that push a retainer past its limit.
U.S. employers also need payroll records that meet wage-and-hour requirements when agency staff are nonexempt. The FLSA requires covered employers to keep accurate records for nonexempt workers, including hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. Unless exempt, covered employees receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a fixed 168-hour workweek at not less than 1.5 times the regular rate.
A simple timesheet works for a one-off cleanup, a freelancer handoff, or a small weekly total that does not feed billing. It is enough when you only need to summarize who worked on which client and whether the hours were billable. It breaks down when the agency needs retainer burn, budget alerts, approvals, recurring reports, or clean handoff to invoicing.
Everhour fits the managed workflow when tracked time needs to stay connected to project budgets. Agencies can use hour-based or money-based budgets, recurring budget periods, threshold email alerts, and budget protection that stops extra logging after a budget is exceeded. That gives account leads a working control system for retainers and fixed-fee projects instead of a late-month reconstruction.
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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Digital agency billing needs client, project, task or service, person, date, time spent, billable status, and a clear note. Rate, budget, and cost fields become important when the same agency uses time-and-materials, fixed-fee, and retainer pricing. The cleanest timesheets separate worked time from billable time so invoices and profitability reports do not rely on guesswork.
Daily tracking gives project managers better budget visibility and reduces vague entries. Weekly reconstruction works poorly for agencies because one person can touch several clients, campaigns, meetings, and internal tasks in a single day. A daily habit also helps catch missing billable work before retainer burn, utilization, and invoice totals drift away from actual delivery.
Retainer work can use the same timesheet structure, but the review goal changes. Hourly work usually flows directly into periodic billing based on time incurred. Retainer work needs budget usage, service mix, and remaining capacity. Track both with the same client and project fields, then classify the billing model so managers read the time correctly.
For client billing, a duration with a clear client, project, and task often gives the agency enough detail. For U.S. wage-and-hour records, covered employers must keep accurate records for nonexempt workers, including hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. State rules, client contracts, and internal payroll policies can require more detailed start and stop records.
The biggest reporting mistake is mixing internal, sales, and client delivery time under the same billable project label. That inflates client effort, hides true utilization, and makes fixed-fee margin look worse than it is. Create separate categories for client delivery, internal work, sales, admin, and non-billable client support before the data reaches budget or invoice review.
Everhour Project Budgeting lets agencies set hour-based or money-based budgets for client work, including recurring budget periods for ongoing retainers. Teams can receive threshold email alerts at 75%, 90%, 100%, or custom levels, and budget protection can stop timers or prevent extra logging after a budget is exceeded.
Everhour Reporting lets agencies build reports with columns for client, project, member, billable time, labor costs, profit, invoice status, and budget metrics. Saved reports can be exported as CSV, Excel/XLSX, or PDF for spreadsheet review, client sharing, or billing archive needs.
Track client time against live project budgets, review budget usage before invoicing, and use Everhour Project Budgeting to protect retainers and fixed-fee margins.
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