What are billable rates in Harvest?

Billable rates are external rates you charge your client. We use billable rates to calculate your invoice amounts for Time & Materials projects and to determine budget spend for Fixed Fee projects with a fee-based budget. For more information on project types in Harvest see understanding the three project types. 

All people and tasks in Harvest can have default billable rates. You can also set custom billable rates per project.

This article covers setting billable rates for the first time. To learn about editing billable rates see our article on editing billable rates.

If you’re looking for information on cost rates, see setting and editing cost rates. 

Who can view billable rates?

Administrators can view and edit all billable rates in the account. 

Managers can view and edit billable rates for their assigned people and projects they manage with special permission only. For full details about permissions in Harvest see our article on team permissions. 

Setting billable rates 

When you create or edit a project, you'll choose a billable rates option and then enter the rates you want to charge your clients. This tells Harvest what rates to apply to your tracked time. 

There are three types of billable rates you can choose from: project billable rate, person billable rate, and task billable rate. Person billable rates and tasks billable rates can use a default rate or a project-specific custom billable rate.

Setting a project billable rate for a project

The project billable rate setting tracks one rate for the entire project. For example, no matter who works on what, you’ll charge $100/hour.

To set the hourly rate for a project that bills by Project billable rate:

1. Create or edit a project.
2. Choose the Project billable rate setting from the Billable rates dropdown.
   • The project billable rate setting is available for all Time & Materials projects and for Fixed Fee projects that budget in fees.  
3. Set the hourly rate for the project. 
4. Scroll down to Save project or Update project. 

Note that any edits to a project billable rate on the project form will apply to all time tracked to the project, both past and future. For more information about updating billable rates for projects, see our article on editing billable rates.   

Setting task billable rates for a project

The task billable rate setting allows you to enter a different rate for each task. For example, you can have a project that charges $100/hour for the task writing and $150/hour for the task development. 

You can set default billable rates for each task from Manage > Tasks and you can also set custom billable rates for a task at the project level. 

Setting default task rates 

Default task billable rates can be set when creating a task from Manage > Tasks. When a task has a default billable rate set at the time of project creation and a project is set to bill by Task billable rate, Harvest will automatically pull in the set default billable rate for the task. 

Note that edits to a task’s default billable rate from Manage > Tasks will apply only to newly created future projects billing by Task billable rate. For more information about how billable rate edits are applied to projects see our article on editing billable rates. 

Setting a project to bill by task hourly rate

When a new project is set to bill by task hourly rate, Harvest will automatically pull in the default billable rate for the task from Manage > Tasks (if one is set), but you can also assign a task a custom billable rate on a specific project. 

To set the hourly rates for a project that bills by Task hourly rate:

1. Create a project. 
2. Choose the Task billable rate setting from the Billable rates dropdown. 
   • The task billable rate setting is available for all Time & Materials projects and for Fixed Fee projects that budget in fees.   
3. Scroll down to the Tasks section to confirm the default billable task rates or set custom task billable rates for the project. 

Setting custom task billable rates for a project

To set a custom task billable rate for a project that bills by Task billable rate, scroll down to the Tasks section of the project form and edit the rate next to any tasks that should use a custom rate. 

Note that any edits to a task’s rate on the project form will apply to all time tracked to the project, both past and future. For more information about updating billable rates for projects, see our article on editing billable rates.  

Setting person billable rates for a project

The person billable rate setting allows you to enter a different rate for each person. For example, Jane may bill out at $125/hour, and Joe may bill out at $100/hour. 

Projects that bill by Person billable rate can use a person’s default billable rate or a custom, project-specific rate. 

Setting default billable rates for people

A person’s default billable rate is set in their user profile. To set a person’s inital default billable rate:

1. Go to Team.
2. Click the Actions > Edit to the right of the teammate you’d like to update.
   • If you're the only person in your account, you can access your own default billable rate by clicking your name in the top right and choosing My profile
3. Go to their Rates tab (left menu).
4. Click + New billable rate.
5. Enter their billable rate.
6. Click Add rate.

Setting a project to bill by person hourly rates

When a new project is set to bill by person billable rate, Harvest will automatically pull in the default rate for the person that’s been set in their user profile (if one is set), but you can also assign a person a custom rate on a specific project.

To set hourly rates for a project that bills by Person billable rate:

1. Create a project. 
2. Choose the Person billable rate setting from the Billable rates dropdown. 
   • The person billable rate setting is available for all Time & Materials projects and for Fixed Fee projects that budget in fees.  
3. Scroll down to the Team section to confirm the rates your team will be using for the project. You can use their default rate or a custom, project-specific rate. 

Setting a project-specific custom billable rate for people

For projects that bill by Person hourly rate, you can choose whether to use a person’s default rate set in their profile or a custom, project-specific rate. Harvest will use a person’s default billable rate by default. 

To set a custom, project-specific rate for a person on a project that bills by Person hourly rate:

1. When creating or editing the project, scroll down to the Team section of the project form.
2. Click Edit rate in the row for the person you’d like to set a custom rate for. 
3. Select Use custom billable rate of . . .
4. Enter the custom rate.
5. Save billable rate. 

Note that setting or editing a custom, project-specific billable rate for a person will apply to all time entries tracked to the project by that person, both past and future. For information about how rate edits for a project are applied, see our article on editing billable rates.