Teams that bill by the hour

Every billable hour,tied to a task.

People log time on the card they’re working, so every hour you bill traces to a specific card for a specific client.

A billing lead reviewing logged hours on a tablet and laptop

The situation

Why hours get hard to defend

Priya’s remote agency bills most clients by the hour. Eleven people work their own schedules, and timesheets come in at the end of the week, from memory.

Hours hold up when they’re logged as the work happens, against the task they belong to.

Jordan’s active card · clock runningExample

RunClient delivery · ~2 hrs

Build the Larkin pricing page.

Change order #14, approved Oct 21.

Prepped for you

Client: Larkin & Co. · website project
Estimate: 2 hours, from the change order
Logged: 1:35 so far, clock started by Jordan at 9:10
Next steps: Finish the mobile layout (30 min). Send it for review (1 min).

How it moves

How an hour gets to an invoice

Start the card, start the clockJordan opens the card and starts the clock.
Fix it if you forgetIf Jordan forgets to stop the clock or works offline, they add or correct the time on the card.
See it against the estimateEach card shows logged time next to its estimate.
Bill from the cardsAt month-end, Priya reviews hours by client, project and task in ActionOrder and exports them as a CSV for invoices.

Prep

What every logged hour carries

How prep works

Task

The card the time was logged against, with its prep and history.

Client and project

Where the hour belongs, so invoices and reports sort themselves.

Estimate

The card’s estimate, so you can see logged time against it.

Corrections

Every edit a person made to their own log, so the record stays honest.

Build path

Then fix the source.Re-estimate design tasks from logged time.

Each step is assigned, with the evidence attached. When it’s done, ActionOrder measures what changed.

How the Build path works

BuildOptimize · 3 stepsExample

Re-estimate design tasks from logged time.

Design cards ran 38% over their estimates this quarter, so fixed quotes for design work kept coming in short.

38%average overrun on design cards this quarter

22 hrslogged over estimate on Larkin design work

1Pull logged time for last quarter’s design cards (draft ready)TTaylor~20 min
2Update design estimates in the project templateSSam~30 min
3Approve the new estimates and quote from themPPriya~10 min

What changes

What changes, and how you’d know

What to watch

Time to invoice

Days from month-end to invoices going out, before and after billing from card time.

What to watch

Estimate accuracy

Logged time against estimates, by kind of work, quarter over quarter.

Questions

What managers ask.

Is the clock automatic?

No. People start and stop it on the card they’re working, and can add or correct time themselves.

Can we bill from ActionOrder’s time?

Yes. Review hours by person, client, project or task, and export them as a CSV for invoices and payroll.

See it with your own teamwhen ActionOrder opens.

Join the waitlist and we’ll email you the day it opens.

Join the waitlist Read the playbook

In pre-launch · Free plan planned for up to 3 people · Every integration included