Charging by the hour (hourly rate quotes and jobs)
Set your hourly charge-out rate in Settings, Jobs tab. On a quote or job choose Hourly rate beside Price, add estimated hours if you like, and bill the hours worked when the job is done.
Contents
Choose Hourly rate above Price on a quote or job, and bill the hours worked when the job is done.
Where: Settings → Jobs for your rate, then any quote or job's price
- In Settings > Jobs tab > Rates and markup, enter your Hourly charge-out rate (before GST). It is separate from the labour cost rate used for job costing.
- On a new quote or job, or in a quote's or job's Price editor, choose Hourly rate above Price. Rate per hour fills in with your rate; change it for this job if you need to.
- Enter Estimated hours, or leave them blank when you can't say yet. Save.
- When the work is done, bill the hours worked: press Bill on the job's Visit time card, or press Complete and answer Bill the hours on this job?.
Watch out: the hours on the bill are what the invoice charges. Completing a job asks about them whenever they are not the hours worked, so check the number before you press Bill & Complete.
What the client sees
The quote, its email, PDF and client page state the terms instead of a total:
| You entered | The client reads |
|---|---|
| Rate, no hours | Price: Hourly rate $137.50/h incl. GST, charged on actual hours |
| Rate and 8 estimated hours | Estimated total $1,100.00, then Hourly rate $137.50/h incl. GST, est. 8 h, charged on actual hours |
The line itself shows the rate and "on actual hours" in place of an amount. On a quote whose prices exclude GST the rate reads "excl. GST". The client accepts an hourly quote like any other, and it counts as priced, so you can send it straight away.
Billing the hours worked
Hours worked are the closed visit time recorded on the job, or the Labour hours typed in the Job costing card when nobody timed the visits.
- With Timesheets on, the job's Visit time card shows the hours worked against the hours on the bill, for example "12 h typed · 10 h on the bill", and a Bill 12 h button. Pressing it puts those hours on the bill and updates the price.
- When you press Complete, Chippie asks Bill the hours on this job? whenever the bill has no hours, or hours other than were worked. The box is filled with the hours worked. Press Bill & Complete to bill them, or Keep 10 h & Complete to bill what is already there. A job with no hours at all can only be billed or completed with Complete Without Invoice; Chippie never invoices it at nothing.
The invoice copies the hourly line with the hours billed, at the rate agreed on the job.
Limits
- One hourly rate per quote or job. Materials, call-out fees and other work go on as normal line items beside it.
- Hours are billed exactly as entered, to two decimal places.
- Choosing Fixed price again removes the hourly line. A price you typed earlier in the same edit comes back; otherwise enter one.