Time tracking and billing for creative agencies
Creative work is usually sold as a fixed fee, and then the client asks for one more round. Sumhour splits the fee into a deposit and milestones, counts hours against each phase, and prices the extra round as a change order the client approves.
Every feature in every plan. 30 days free, no card.
A $24,000 rebrand that grew by $3,200
Linden & Co bought a brand site at a fixed fee, paid in three parts. Halfway through they asked for a blog section. It went out as change order CO-0002, they accepted it online, and it joined the launch payment.
229:00 logged so far cost 16,630.00 in people’s time. That is a 39 percent margin on the fee today, with 131:00 of the budget still open.
| Deposit30%, paid 6 Oct on INV-1040 | 7,200.00 |
|---|---|
| Design sign-off40%, due now | 9,600.00 |
| Launch30%, when marked done | 7,200.00 |
| Blog sectionCO-0002, accepted 3 Nov | 3,200.00 |
| Fee with the change order | 27,200.00 |
Demo workspace: Birch & Row Studio, USD
What you will use most
All of it is in every plan
- Fixed fee projectsA payment schedule, change orders and the margin on the fee, updated as people log time.
- BudgetsStages such as Design and Build get their own hours budget and warn at 80 percent.
- ExpensesStock photos and print proofs keep their receipt and go on the client’s invoice as their own lines.
- Browser extensionA Track button inside Figma, Canva and Asana, from the Chrome extension.
Where Sumhour stops
- Sumhour has no proofing or file review. Feedback rounds stay in the tools you use now.
- Tasks are kinds of work, such as Design. There are no to-do boards or briefs.
Creative agencies: common questions
How do I track time against a fixed fee?
Create a fixed fee project with the fee and an hours budget. People log time as usual; the hours are not billed, but they show the cost so far, the margin on the fee and how far the work is from the budget.
Projects in the guideHow do I charge for extra revisions?
Write a change order. It prices the extra work like an estimate and goes to the client, who approves it online. The fee and budget then rise once, and you bill it now, with the next milestone or by the hour.
Change orders in the guideCan client calls be billed on top of a fixed fee?
Yes. Mark a task such as Client calls as hourly on a fixed fee project. Its time is billed at its rate on top of the fee, and the rest of the project stays fixed.
