Projects

Create a project to keep a client’s hours, expenses, invoices, and team conversations together. A kitchen remodel, a website build, or a consulting engagement can each have a project with its own billing method and budget.

Owners and admins create and edit projects. Team members can log work on active projects; access to financial amounts depends on their role.

Create a project

Open Projects, then New Project. Give the project a name and choose its client. You can add a short project code, start and end dates, and notes about the scope or details your team needs.

Next, choose the billing method that matches the agreement:

For hourly work, leave Project rate blank to use the rates set for each labor category in Settings, Price Book. Enter a project rate if every hour should use the same rate instead. For fixed-fee work, enter the agreed Fixed fee.

If the project warns that a labor category would bill at $0, check the rate before invoicing. See Labor categories and catalog.

Add a budget and alert

Choose an hours or dollar budget, enter the amount, and set Alert at % used. For example, an hours budget can help you keep track of the effort allowed for a fixed-fee job.

PayPolka updates budget usage as work entries change and emails admins when the project crosses the chosen threshold. Use the alert as a prompt to review the remaining scope with your team.

The Projects list shows a budget bar: green below the alert threshold, orange above it, and red at 100%. The Budget vs actual report gives you a view across projects.

Log time and expenses

Open the project’s Time tab. A form at the top takes the labor category, date, hours, and notes; Log time saves it. The list below shows the project’s entries, newest first, each marked invoiced, uninvoiced, or non-billable, with an Edit link that opens that day in the day view. You can also log the same work from My Time.

Open Expenses to record a cost against the project and attach its receipt. Billable expenses can be included on an invoice later. See Time tracking and Expenses.

If an entry is locked, its submitted or approved week or linked invoice needs attention before it can be changed. The time tracking guide explains how corrections work.

Check the project overview

The overview brings together the latest time, expenses, invoices, and message-board posts. Use it to check work recorded so far and follow links to the complete lists.

Owners, admins, and accountants can see financial figures such as uninvoiced amounts and invoice balances. Members and managers can work with project time without seeing billing rates or invoice amounts.

Create an invoice for the project

On an hourly project, open Invoices and choose Create invoice. The draft has the project selected. Use Unbilled work to choose dates and add the hours and expenses you’re ready to bill.

On a fixed-fee project, use Amount to invoice to enter a dollar amount or percentage of the agreed fee. The page shows how much has already been invoiced. Tracked time helps explain delivery costs; it isn’t charged again as hourly work. Billable expenses can be added separately.

Review and save the draft before sending. See Invoices and Billing an estimate for partial-billing examples.

Keep team discussions with the work

Use the message board for project questions or updates the team needs to see. Add a title and message, then select Post this message. Teammates can add comments. The author, owner, or admin can edit or delete a post; accountants can read but don’t post.

Use My Notes in the bottom bar for your private notes instead.

Share approved work with the client

The project form includes Show approved hours and expenses in the client portal. It’s off by default. Turn it on when you want the client to see work totals through their portal link. See Public pages and client portal.

Archive a finished project

Choose Archive in the project menu when you want to stop new entries. Existing work remains available for reference and reports. Find it with the Archived filter, and use Reactivate if the work resumes.