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Freelance work and invoices

Turn a timesheet into an invoice, set a day rate that covers your costs and see how many working days are left before a deadline. Your rate, VAT and hours sit at the top of the note as names, so next month’s invoice is a few edits away.

Hours from a timesheet

Write each day as a start and finish time, take off the breaks and multiply by your hourly rate.

calc
# Timesheet, week 41
mon = 9am to 5:30pm gives 8 hours 30 min
tue = 8:45am to 4:15pm gives 7 hours 30 min
wed = 9:30am to 6pm gives 8 hours 30 min
thu = 9am to 1pm gives 4 hours
lunches = 3 * 30 min
worked = mon + tue + wed + thu - lunches
worked in hours gives 27 hours
rate = £48/hour
worked * rate gives £1,296.00
# Hours still to do on a 37.5-hour contract
37.5 hours - worked gives 10 hours 30 min

to between two clock times gives the time in between, even for a shift that runs past midnight. Multiplying the total by your hourly rate turns it straight into the amount to invoice, and the hours left come out in hours and minutes, ready for Friday. See Durations and hourly rates.

If you keep hours rather than start and finish times, write the day and the hours. The day labels the line, a dash between the two changes nothing, and a day off has nothing to show.

calc
# Rota, week 41
Mon - 7.5h gives 7.5 hours
Tue OFF
Wed - 8h gives 8 hours
Thu - 6h 30m gives 6 hours 30 min
Fri - 7.5h gives 7.5 hours
total gives 29 hours 30 min
total * £13.20/hour gives £389.40

See Rota and log lines.

Setting a day rate

Start from the income you want, add what it costs to run your business, and spread it over the days you can realistically bill.

calc
# What should I charge?
salary = £55,000
overheads = 25% // pension, insurance, software, quiet months
billable days = 220
target = salary + overheads gives £68,750.00
target / billable days gives £312.50
day rate = £450/workday
day rate in £/hour gives £56.25/hour
target / £450 rounded up gives 153

The lowest rate that works is £312.50 a day. At £450 you reach the target in 153 billable days, which leaves room for holidays and slow months. A rate per workday converts to an hourly rate at eight hours a day, and you can change the length of a workday in Settings. See Workdays, hours and weeks.

Invoice totals with VAT

Keep the day rate and VAT as names, list the work, and let the invoice add itself up.

calc
# October invoice
day rate = £450
design = 6 * day rate gives £2,700.00
build = 9 * day rate gives £4,050.00
expenses = £180 // train fares
subtotal = total gives £6,930.00
vat = 20%
vat due = subtotal * vat gives £1,386.00
Total due: subtotal + vat gives £8,316.00
# A quote that already includes VAT
£1,440 without 20% VAT gives £1,200.00

subtotal = total adds the lines above and gives the figure a name, and it counts the day rate once, inside the two lines worked out from it. Multiplying by a named percentage gives the VAT on its own, and without 20% VAT works back from a VAT-inclusive quote to the price before VAT. See Adding up the lines above and Sales tax and tips.

Workdays until a deadline

Plan the dates from a kickoff, then keep a live countdown to the deadline.

calc
# Website project
kickoff = 5 October 2026
kickoff as 'Week' w gives Week 41
handover = kickoff + 25 workdays
handover as EEE d MMM yyyy gives Mon 9 Nov 2026
workdays between kickoff and 18 December 2026 gives 54 workdays
work hours in November 2026 gives 168 hours
calcAnswers depend on today’s date or live data
workdays until 18 December 2026 gives 67 workdays
workdays left in 2026 gives 76 workdays
10 workdays from today gives September 30

+ 25 workdays skips weekends, as EEE d MMM yyyy gives a date ready to paste into an email, and as 'Week' w gives the week number for your timesheet. workdays until, workdays left in and workdays from today count from today, so the answers above are from 16 September 2026. See Workdays and Formatting dates.

Billable days around the bank holidays

A month with a bank holiday in it is a month you can’t bill in full. Count the days off first, then the days you can actually charge for.

calc
day rate = £450/workday
workdays in December 2026 gives 23 workdays
workdays in December 2026 * day rate gives £10,350.00
holidays in December 2026 in the UK gives 2 days
public holidays in the UK in 2027 gives 8 days

Out of the box a workday is any weekday, so the count above treats Christmas Day as billable. Choose England and Wales as your public holiday calendar in Settings › Calculations and the same two lines read 21 workdays and £9,450.00, because Christmas Day and the Monday standing in for Boxing Day stop counting:

workdays in December 2026              21 workdays
workdays in December 2026 * day rate   £9,450.00

That £900 difference is the one worth knowing before you promise a delivery date.

holidays in December 2026 in the UK names a country in the line, so it answers whether or not you’ve chosen a calendar, which is handy when you’re planning work for a client in another country. Ireland has 10 public holidays in 2027, Germany 9 and France 11, so a fixed-price month isn’t worth the same everywhere. See Public holidays.

Estimating a project

Estimate each stage in hours, add some contingency and turn the total into whole days to quote.

calc
# Estimate: shop redesign
discovery = 12 hours
design = 30 hours
build = 60 hours
testing = 18 hours
estimate = discovery + design + build + testing gives 120 hours
padded = estimate + 15% gives 138 hours
quote days = padded in workdays rounded up gives 18 workdays
quote days * £450/workday gives £8,100.00

+ 15% adds contingency in one step. in workdays converts hours at eight to the day, and rounded up gives whole days, because nobody quotes 17.25 days. See Rounding up and down.

Make it your own

  • Bill in quarter hours: worked rounded up to nearest 15 min.
  • Invoice on the last Friday of every month: last friday of the month gives this month’s date, and last day of the month gives the end of the billing period.
  • Book the monthly client catch-up: first monday of next month gives the date.
  • Plan next year’s first quarter: first quarter of 2027 shows the dates it covers, and workdays in first quarter of 2027 gives 64 workdays to schedule.
  • Add a late fee with a function of your own, such as late_fee(amount, days_late) = if days_late > 30 then amount * 2% else £0. See Your own functions.
  • Put your day rate and VAT in the global definitions in Settings, so every note can use them. With VAT = 20% there, £1,200 plus VAT adds it in any note.
  • Check a month on a contract: 4 weeks at 37.5 hours/week gives 150 hours, and 40 hours at 4 hours a week shows a small job spread over 10 weeks.
  • Quote a crew and a shift in one line: 3 men 7 hrs @ £42/hr gives £882.00, and 9am to 5pm at £12/hour prices a day at £96.00.
  • Promise a realistic date: second business day after 3 December 2026 is 7 December, and choosing your holiday calendar in Settings makes it skip bank holidays too.
  • Work from billable hours: with billable hours per week = 28, billable hours per week * 46 weeks gives 1,288 hours, and £65/hour * billable hours per week gives £1,820.00/week.
  • Price a month of contracting: £550/day * 22 workdays gives £12,100.00.
  • Offer a client instalments: £6,930 over 3 months gives £2,310.00/month, and £6,930 in 3 instalments gives £2,310.00.
  • Compare a 0% finance offer with a loan: monthly repayment on £12,000 over 4 years at 0% gives £250.00. See Loans and mortgages.
  • Weigh up a salaried offer: £45k per annum in £/workday gives £172.49/workday, ready to compare with your day rate. See Periods in words.
  • See what that offer leaves you: income after tax on £45,000 in the UK estimates the take-home pay, and marginal rate on £45,000 in the UK shows what the next pound would be taxed at. See Income tax.