Time Tracking
What is this retainer actually paying you?
The timer is just the mechanism. What it buys you is your real effective rate, per client, per engagement, not the headline day rate you sold.
Started at 9:04 AM
- Onboarding flow review 2h 15m
- Auth bugfix 0h 51m
Took a 35m break at 12:10 PM
- Sprint planning 1h 30m
Finished at 5:48 PM
The number the timer is actually for
Your real effective rate
The day rate you sold and the rate you're actually earning drift apart the moment scope creeps. Every hour you track feeds that number, so you know whether a retainer is still worth what you quoted before it's time to renew.
Time flows into invoices
Hours logged against a retainer or a milestone appear on the invoice automatically. There is nothing to reconcile at month end.
One timer, always
Starting a new timer stops the old one, so you can never accidentally bill two clients for the same hour.
Filed as you go
Pick the client and the work when you start, not from memory on Friday afternoon. The record is already where it belongs.
Time tracking questions
I bill flat retainers, not hourly. Why track time at all?
Because the retainer fee is fixed but the hours behind it are not. Tracking time is how you find out if a fixed-fee client is still worth what you're charging, not a step toward billing by the hour.
What if I forget to start the timer?
Add the entry by hand. Quivva asks for a task name and puts it on the same retainer or milestone that a live timer would have.
Do my clients see the raw timesheet?
Only if you want them to. You choose the level an invoice is billed at, so you can send a high-level summary rather than a minute-by-minute log.
Can I run a timer on my phone?
Yes. Quivva works as a mobile web app, and the timer buzzes when it starts and stops so you know it caught the tap.
Try it free, then subscribe.
- 30 days
- Free trial. Full access, no card required.
- $15/mo
- Or $144 a year. Cancel anytime.
- 5 min
- To set up your first retainer.