Contractor Timesheet Template (Free)

A contractor timesheet template is built for a different goal than an employee one: it's less about payroll and more about billing clients accurately and proving the hours you delivered. For an independent contractor or consultant, that sheet is the bridge between the work you did and the invoice you send. This guide covers what to include and how to use it.

What a contractor timesheet includes

• Contractor name and business
• Client or project name
• Date for each entry
• Start and end time, or hours
• Task or description — the line item a client will see
• Billable rate (if it varies by task or client)
• Daily and period totals
• Approval line for the client, if required

The task description matters more here than on an employee sheet — it becomes the invoice detail that justifies the bill.

Example: A consultant's week

• Client A — discovery workshop: 4.0 hrs
• Client A — findings write-up: 3.5 hrs
• Client B — strategy call and notes: 2.0 hrs
• Client B — deliverable draft: 5.0 hrs
• Total: 14.5 hrs across two clients

Split by client, this sheet produces two clean invoices with clear line items.

Why contractors need solid time tracking

• Accurate invoices. Untracked time is unbilled income — the most common way contractors underprice themselves.
• Client trust. A clear, itemized record of hours makes invoices easy to approve and disputes rare.
• Effective rate insight. Tracking all time, billable and not, shows what you actually earn per hour.
• Scope protection. Hours against a fixed fee reveal when a project has crept beyond its budget.

Track as you work

The contractor's classic mistake is reconstructing the week on Friday and undercounting. Log time as you switch tasks so the small billable blocks — the quick call, the fast revision — actually make it onto the invoice.

From timesheet to invoice, automatically

A template works, but tallying hours by client and copying them into invoices is repetitive. Timesheet Maker lets you log time to each client and project from any device, totals billable hours by period, and gives you an itemized summary ready to invoice — plus a clear record if a client ever asks. Your tracked time becomes the bill, with no double entry.

Frequently asked questions

What should a contractor timesheet include? Client and project, date, hours or start/end times, a task description, the billable rate, and totals — plus a client approval line if needed.

How do contractors track billable hours? By logging time to each client and task as they work, then totaling billable hours per client for invoicing. Tracking live beats reconstructing from memory.

Should I track non-billable time as a contractor? Yes. Admin and marketing are real costs; tracking them shows your true effective hourly rate so you can price properly.

How do I turn a timesheet into an invoice? Total the billable hours per client for the period, apply your rate, and list the task descriptions as line items. Software can generate this from your tracked time.

Bill every hour you work

Track by client, describe each task, log time live. To turn tracked time straight into invoices, try Timesheet Maker free.