Billable Hours Calculator

Estimate annual, monthly, and weekly billable hours after time off and non-billable work.

How is billable hours calculator worked out?

Billable hours are the hours a client pays for. Starting from the hours you work, you subtract time off, then subtract the share of the remaining time spent on admin, sales and other non-billable work.

Billable Hours Calculator

Billable hours per year

1,180.40

Billable hours per month
98.37
Billable hours per working week
26.00
Show the working
Working weeks after time off45.40
Hours worked per year1,816
Non-billable time at 35%-635.60
Billable hours per year1,180.40
Utilisation against a full 52-week year56.75%

Capacity is the constraint that decides what you can earn, and almost everyone overestimates it. The hours you are at your desk are not the hours you can invoice, and the gap between them is where underpricing and overcommitment both begin.

The formula

Working weeks = 52 − holiday weeks − (sick and public holiday days ÷ days per week)
Worked hours = working weeks × hours per week
Billable hours = worked hours × (1 − non-billable %)

Non-billable time covers everything a client will not pay for: finding work, quoting, invoicing, chasing payment, bookkeeping, learning, and unpaid revisions. If you have never tracked it, assume it is a larger share than it feels — 30 to 40% is common for solo practitioners.

What counts as non-billable

Everything that keeps the business running but that no client has agreed to pay for: prospecting and pitching, writing quotes that do not convert, invoicing and chasing late payment, bookkeeping, software administration, professional development, and the revisions that fall outside an agreed scope. For most solo practitioners this lands somewhere between a third and a half of the working week. The number is worth measuring rather than guessing, because it directly sets the rate you need.

Using capacity to decide what to take on

Once you know your billable hours per month, you can test a prospective engagement against it rather than against optimism. A retainer promising twenty hours a month against a capacity of seventy is not a quarter of your business — it is a quarter of your capacity, permanently committed, and it needs to be priced knowing that it displaces other work. Capacity is also what makes raising rates concrete: if you are consistently at capacity, price is the only remaining lever.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate billable hours?

Start with the hours you work each week, multiply by the weeks you actually work after holidays, public holidays and sick days, then reduce the result by the share of your time spent on non-billable work such as admin, sales and invoicing.

What is a good utilisation rate?

For solo freelancers and consultants, billing 60 to 70% of working time is a realistic target and sustained rates much above that tend to mean business development is being neglected. Agencies often plan lower for senior staff, whose time is partly spent winning and overseeing work.

Should I bill for admin time?

Generally not directly — clients resist paying for your invoicing and bookkeeping. Instead, cover it in your rate: that is precisely what the non-billable percentage in this calculator is for. The exception is admin performed specifically for a client, such as their reporting or their project management, which is billable work and should be scoped and charged as such.

Put the number on an invoice

The free invoice generator builds the document around your figures — line items, tax, payment terms — and downloads a print-ready PDF. No signup required.

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