Project Timesheet Template (Free) & Examples

A project timesheet template tracks hours by project and task instead of just by day — the difference between knowing someone worked eight hours and knowing which projects those hours served. That detail is what lets you budget accurately, bill clients correctly, and spot which work is quietly eating your team's week. This guide covers what to include and how to use it.

What a project timesheet includes

Beyond the usual time columns, a project sheet adds structure:

• Employee name
• Date
• Project or client for each block of time
• Task or activity within the project
• Start and end time (or hours)
• Billable vs. non-billable flag
• Daily and project totals

The project and billable columns are what turn raw hours into budgeting and invoicing data.

Example: A week by project

A team member's week might break down as:

• Project Alpha — design: 12.5 hrs (billable)
• Project Beta — revisions: 8.0 hrs (billable)
• Internal — team meetings: 4.0 hrs (non-billable)
• Admin — email and planning: 3.5 hrs (non-billable)
• Total: 28.0 hrs, 20.5 billable

Now you can see not just that they worked 28 hours, but exactly where those hours went — and how much is billable.

Why track time by project

• Accurate budgets. Compare estimated vs. actual hours to price the next project better.
• Correct client bills. Billable hours per client become an invoice with no guesswork.
• Profitability insight. See which projects and clients deliver a good effective rate and which drain time.
• Better estimates. Real historical data beats gut feel when you quote the next job.

How to keep it accurate

Track as you switch tasks, not at week's end. The moment you reconstruct a week from memory, the small blocks — the quick call, the fast fix — vanish, and those are often billable. Tagging time live is the difference between a useful project record and a rough guess.

From spreadsheet to real project data

A template works, but tagging every block by hand and totaling by project gets tedious fast. Timesheet Maker lets your team log time to a project and task in a couple of taps, splits billable from non-billable automatically, and gives you per-project and per-client totals ready for budgeting and invoicing — the project insight without the spreadsheet upkeep.

Frequently asked questions

What is a project timesheet? A timesheet that records hours by project and task, not just by day, so you can budget, bill, and analyze where time goes.

How do I track billable hours by project? Tag each block of time to a project and mark it billable or non-billable, then total the billable hours per client for invoicing.

Why track time by project instead of just by day? Project-level data lets you compare estimates to actuals, bill clients accurately, and see which work is profitable — none of which a daily total shows.

Can one timesheet handle both payroll and project billing? Yes. Capture clock-in/clock-out for payroll and tag each block to a project, and the same record serves both.

See where the time really goes

Track by project and task, tag billable time live, and total per client. To get project insight without the manual tagging, try Timesheet Maker free.