If you bill by the hour, your invoice is only as defensible as the record behind it. "32 hours, website updates" invites the question of which updates and when; a timesheet with dates, tasks and descriptions answers it before it's asked. And if you work on fixed fees, a timesheet is how you find out whether the fee was right: the project you thought was profitable may have quietly eaten twice the hours you quoted.
This template is a weekly timesheet with separate columns for billable and non-billable time. It works for hourly freelancers, retainer clients who want proof of hours used, and anyone trying to see where their working week actually goes.
TL;DR
The weekly timesheet template records date, client, project, task, description and hours per entry, split into billable and non-billable columns, with daily and weekly totals, the hourly rate, the billable amount and a client approval block. Fill it in daily, not on Friday from memory. Use 15-minute increments unless your contract says otherwise, and attach the approved sheet to your hourly or retainer invoice.
What's inside
- Header — your details, client, week starting date, and rate.
- Time entries table — date, project, task, description, start and end, hours, with billable and non-billable columns.
- Daily summary — billable and non-billable totals for each day.
- Weekly summary — total hours, billable percentage and billable amount.
- Non-billable categories — admin, sales, learning, internal meetings, rework.
- Approval block — client sign-off before invoicing.
- Notes — anything that needs explaining, such as overtime or out-of-scope work.
When to use it
Use it for any hourly engagement, for retainers where the client buys a block of hours, and for subcontractors you pay by the hour. The approved sheet supports your hourly invoice and the monthly usage report in a retainer agreement.
For fixed-fee projects, you don't need client approval, but tracking time on the same sheet tells you your effective hourly rate at the end. If you'd rather not track hours at all on fixed-fee work, at least track at milestones so you can spot projects that run long.
Billable vs non-billable: what goes where
The split depends on your contract, but a typical freelance pattern looks like this:
Usually billable: work on deliverables, client calls and meetings, research specific to the project, revisions within scope, project management for the client, travel time where the contract allows it.
Usually non-billable: proposals and sales calls, invoicing and bookkeeping, learning new tools, internal admin, portfolio updates, fixing your own errors, and time over a fixed-fee estimate.
Grey areas to decide in the contract: email and chat with the client, short phone calls, waiting time on site, and travel. Pick a rule and state it, so you don't argue about it line by line. The article on billable vs non-billable hours goes through each category in more detail.
Reading your own numbers
At the end of each week, look at the billable percentage. If you work 40 hours and bill 24, your billable ratio is 60%. Many freelancers land somewhere between 50% and 75%. If yours is consistently lower, either your rate is too low for the hours you can sell, or admin and sales are taking more time than they should. Either answer is useful. The freelance pricing guide shows how to set a rate from your real billable hours rather than a 40-hour assumption.
Customize it in your COLO workspace
COLO's time tracking records billable and non-billable time: start and stop a timer or add manual entries against a project task, mark tasks billable or non-billable, and review the results as timesheets. When the week is approved, invoice from tracked time on COLO invoicing, and run a timesheet report with CSV, Excel or PDF export from COLO reports if the client wants a printable copy like this one.
Common mistakes
- Filling it in on Friday. Memory loses 10-20 minutes per task, and those minutes add up to unbilled hours.
- Vague descriptions. "Work on site" doesn't survive a client query; "Built contact form and tested on mobile" does.
- Not tracking non-billable time. You can't fix a ratio you never measure.
- Rounding inconsistently. Pick an increment and stick to it.
FAQ
Q: What should a freelance timesheet include?
Your name, the client, the week, and for each entry the date, project, task, description, start and end time or duration, and whether it's billable. Add daily and weekly totals, the billable rate, and an approval line if the client signs off on hours.
Q: What is the difference between billable and non-billable hours?
Billable hours are time you charge a client for under your agreement, such as design, development or client meetings. Non-billable hours are work you do but don't invoice, such as admin, sales, learning and fixing your own mistakes.
Q: Should I track non-billable time?
Yes. It shows how much of your week actually earns money, and whether your rate covers the hours you can't bill. Many freelancers find that a third or more of their working time is non-billable.
Q: What time increments should I use?
Many freelancers record time in 15-minute or 6-minute increments. Whatever you choose, state it in your contract and use it consistently, so the client knows how partial hours are billed.
Q: Do clients need to approve timesheets?
For hourly and retainer work, client approval of weekly or monthly timesheets before invoicing reduces disputes. For fixed-fee work, timesheets are usually for your own records and profitability tracking.