How Do I Track Time and Bill Accurately?
Whether you're editing for hours in a dimly lit room or juggling multiple client projects, one thing that often slips through the cracks is time. And if you're not tracking it well, you're probably not billing for it accurately either. That means money left on the table—and burnout around the corner.
Here’s how to stay sharp, fair, and sustainable with your time and billing.
1. Know What You’re Tracking
Start by defining the categories of time that matter in your workflow:
Pre-production (meetings, scripting, shot lists)
Production (setup, filming, teardown)
Post-production (editing, sound, color grading, revisions)
Admin (emails, file transfers, delivery, invoicing)
When you don’t name these buckets, you will forget to track the invisible hours—especially emails and back-and-forth revisions.
2. Use a Time Tracker—Seriously
There are tools designed to help you here. Some of our favorites:
Toggl: Simple, clean, and mobile-friendly
Harvest: Great if you also need to invoice
Clockify: Free and team-friendly
Just hit "start" when you begin editing. It doesn’t need to be perfect—ballpark tracking is still better than guessing.
3. Set Clear Rates Per Service
Hourly rates work well for open-ended or time-heavy tasks like editing. Flat fees make more sense for defined deliverables like a 60-second promo or wedding recap. Consider:
Charging by the hour for projects with uncertain scope.
Charging per project for repeatable packages (e.g., brand videos, interviews).
Bonus tip: When quoting flat fees, base them on your estimated hours plus margin—not just on “what feels fair.”
4. Communicate What’s Included (and What’s Not)
Don’t leave room for awkward conversations later. Spell it out:
X rounds of revisions included
X deliverables in X formats
Any overtime will be billed at [rate]
This protects your boundaries and helps clients respect your process.
5. Log the Non-Billables Too
Even if you’re not charging for every minute, logging time helps you understand your capacity. It’ll show you which kinds of work eat up your time and where you need to build more buffer into your pricing or timeline.
6. Use Your Data to Price Smarter
After a few projects, look back at your time logs. Compare them to what you invoiced. If you’re consistently putting in 20 hours on a project you charged 10 hours for, that’s your sign to raise your rates—or restructure your offering.
You don’t have to become a spreadsheet nerd to do this well. But if you want to be sustainable, time-tracking and billing accuracy aren’t optional—they’re foundational.
And at Fragrant Film, we believe that good stewardship of your time honors both your creativity and your calling.
