Setting Hourly Rates for Team Members
Buildern separates internal labor costs from billable rates to help you manage budgets and invoicing more effectively.
Hourly Cost
Hourly Cost represents the internal labor cost of an employee.This rate is used to calculate the actual labor cost in your project budget.
When a timesheet is approved, Buildern automatically applies the hourly cost to the Actual column in the budget.
You can also track unapproved labor costs by enabling the Pending Timesheets column in the budget view.
Typical use cases include:
Tracking actual labor expenses
Monitoring project profitability
Comparing planned vs actual labor costs
Hourly Price
Hourly Price represents the billable labor rate for a team member.This value is primarily used in cost-plus projects, where labor costs are billed to the client based on hourly work.
When a timesheet is added to an invoice, Buildern uses the Hourly Price to determine the charge applied to the client.
Typical use cases include:
Cost-plus project billing
Client invoicing based on labor hours
Marking up labor costs for profitability
Setting Hourly Rates for Team Members
To define hourly rates for a specific employee:
Go to Contacts.
Open the Users tab.
Select the employee you want to configure > Click Edit from 3-dot icon
4. Locate the fields Hourly Cost and Hourly Price.
5. Enter the appropriate values and save your changes.
These rates will then be applied automatically when the user submits timesheets.
By defining both values per user, Buildern allows companies to clearly separate internal labor costs from client billing rates, helping maintain accurate budgets while ensuring correct invoicing for work performed.
💡 Tip: Set individual hourly rates for each team member whenever possible. This ensures that labor costs in your budget and invoices accurately reflect the actual cost of work
.
Using Hourly Rates in Timesheets
Once hourly rates are configured, Buildern automatically applies them when workers log time.
When a team member:
clocks in through the Buildern mobile app, or
submits a manual timesheet entry
the timesheet will automatically include the Hourly Cost associated with that user.
This allows Buildern to immediately reflect labor expenses in your project budget once the timesheet is approved.
Meanwhile, the Hourly Price is applied when client invoices are generated from approved timesheets.
Company Default Hourly Price
If individual hourly Price are not defined for a user, Buildern will use the company default rates.
To configure the company-wide hourly rates:
Go to Settings.
Navigate to Finance.
Open General Settings.
Update the Default Hourly Price field.
These default values will be applied to timesheets when no individual rate is set.
ℹ️ Note: Field workers cannot view hourly cost or price rates, ensuring sensitive financial information remains private.
Next, we’ll expand on this topic and introduce more practical tools to support your daily operations.
Happy Building!