Published October 15, 2026 · By the Sheaf team

How to invoice clients for hourly work

Hourly billing is simple until the invoice goes out and the client asks what they’re paying for. This guide covers the whole loop, from agreeing the rate to getting paid, so your invoices are easy to approve.

Short answer: Agree the rate, rounding and payment terms before you start. Track time as you work with notes the client can read. At the end of each billing period, build the invoice from the time you haven’t billed yet, group it so it’s easy to scan, add expenses, send it with a clear due date, and mark that time as invoiced so it can’t be billed twice.

1. Agree the terms before the work starts

Most invoice disputes are really disagreements about terms that were never written down. Put these in your proposal or contract:

The rate. One rate for everything, or different rates for different work (strategy vs production) or different people.
What counts as billable. Meetings, email, travel, revisions, project management. If you bill for it, say so.
Rounding. Whether you round time, and to what (see below).
The billing cycle. Weekly, every two weeks, monthly, or at milestones. Monthly is the most common for ongoing work.
Payment terms. When payment is due, usually “net 15” or “net 30” (15 or 30 days after the invoice date), and how they can pay.
A cap or estimate, if the client needs one. “Up to 40 hours without checking with you first” saves a hard conversation later.

2. Track time as you work, not from memory

Time reconstructed on Friday afternoon is almost always short. People forget the small things: the 15-minute call, the quick fix, the email thread. Those add up to hours a month.

Use a timer for focused work and a weekly timesheet to fill in the gaps.
Write notes for the client, not for yourself. “Homepage hero: 3 layout options, revised after feedback” is easy to approve. “Design stuff” invites questions.
Track non-billable time too, marked as non-billable. You won’t invoice it, but it tells you what a client really costs you.

3. Decide how you round

Rounding keeps invoices readable. The usual increments:

Increment	Typical use	Example: 47 minutes
6 minutes (0.1 h)	Law firms and anyone billing in tenths of an hour	0.8 h
15 minutes	Agencies, consultants, most freelancers	1.0 h (rounded up)
30 or 60 minutes	Short calls with a minimum charge, on-site work	1.0 h

Two things matter more than which increment you pick: tell the client in your terms, and round each entry or the total, not both. Rounding every 5-minute entry up to 15 minutes can turn a light day into a heavy one, and clients notice.

4. Build the invoice from tracked time

An invoice is a formal document, and in many countries a legal one. It should have:

Your business name, address and any tax number you’re required to show
The client’s name and billing address
A unique invoice number, in sequence (1001, 1002, 1003…)
The issue date and the due date
Line items: a description, hours, rate and amount for each
Subtotal, any discount, tax, and the total due
How to pay: bank details, a payment link, or both

Tax rules differ by country and state, so check what applies to you (or ask an accountant once). It’s much easier to set up correctly at the start than to fix a year of invoices.

Grouping line items

You can list every time entry, or summarize. There’s no single right answer:

One line per project or task (“Website redesign, design: 22.5 h”) is easiest to read. Attach or link the detailed time report for clients who want it.
One line per entry is the most transparent and suits clients who audit every hour, but a month of work becomes a long document.
One line per person suits agencies where rates differ by seniority.

5. Add expenses

If you pay for things on the client’s behalf (stock photos, fonts, travel, mileage), add them as separate lines. Say in your terms whether you bill at cost or with a handling markup, and keep the receipts. Expenses go on the invoice for the period you paid them, not when you happen to remember.

6. Send it, then follow up

Send invoices on a predictable day, like the first working day of the month. A short, friendly note with the total, the due date and how to pay gets paid faster than a bare attachment.

If it goes unpaid, a simple schedule keeps it from becoming awkward:

On the due date: a polite reminder with the invoice attached again.
7 days late: a second reminder, asking if anything is holding it up.
14 to 30 days late: a phone call or a message to whoever approved the work. Pause new work if your terms allow it.

When a client pays part of an invoice, record the partial payment so the remaining balance stays visible. It’s easy to lose track of a $400 shortfall across a dozen invoices.

7. Never bill the same hour twice, or miss one

The quiet way to lose money with hourly billing is time that never makes it onto an invoice. The embarrassing way is billing it twice. Both come from the same problem: not knowing which time has been invoiced.

Mark time as invoiced when you build an invoice, so it can’t be picked up again.
Once a month, look at the uninvoiced billable time across all clients. Anything older than your billing cycle is either forgotten or waiting on a decision.
Lock past weeks once they’re billed, so nobody edits time that’s already on an invoice.

A checklist for every invoice

All time for the period is tracked, with readable notes
Non-billable time is marked, not deleted
Rounding matches what the client agreed to
Expenses for the period are added, with receipts kept
The invoice number follows the last one
Tax lines are right for this client
The due date and payment details are on it
The invoiced time is marked as billed

How Sheaf handles this

Sheaf is built around this loop. You track time with a timer or weekly timesheet, and a new invoice starts from all uninvoiced time and expenses for a client, grouped how you choose. It supports rounding (6, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes), a discount, two tax rates, partial payments, a link the client can open, and print to PDF. Invoiced time is linked to its invoice so it can’t be billed twice. Sheaf doesn’t take card payments on invoices yet, so you add your own payment details. It’s free during beta.

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Questions

Should I round time up or to the nearest increment?

Either is common. Rounding to the nearest increment is the easiest to defend. Rounding every entry up is common with a minimum charge, but say so in your terms, because it adds up across many short entries.

Should I list every time entry on the invoice?

Only if the client wants that level of detail. Most clients prefer one line per project or task, with a detailed time report attached or linked.

How often should I invoice?

Monthly is the most common for ongoing work. Weekly or every two weeks keeps cash flowing on large projects. Milestone invoices suit fixed-fee work.

What payment terms should I use?

Net 15 or net 30 are standard. Shorter terms get paid faster, but larger clients often have fixed payment runs and will pay on their own schedule anyway.