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PF808
Level 2

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Aloha,

 

This is my business Setup: I own a landscape maintenance business in Honolulu with two employees and approximately 20 consistent clients (accounts) that I bill every month at a flat fee to take care of their landscape maintenance.

 

I have Quickbooks Desktop PRO 2018 with Quickbooks payroll andcharge my accounts a monthly rate flat fee (no billable time). This information is very important because I do not check the box "Billable" when filling out the weekly time sheet, so the wages are not connected to each client.  I currently enter the time of each employee for each day as a non-billable item in a single row and run the payroll service every other week, write the checks, and pay the taxes and deposits as needed. That's all I do in regards to payroll. No class, etc.

 

My goal is to be able to generate a report for each client with the labor cost listed as an expense. I want to know what is the profit (or loss) from each account including the labor cost spent on them to determine which ones are the most profitable and efficient.

 

We do keep track of the time spent on each property. My employees fill out a form with the time spent in each client. But as I mentioned before, I have not categorized this in Quickbooks yet. I just input the hours per day (usually 8) in TimeSheet on a single line, and run the payroll.

 

Could someone please help me to get this setup in the most stream lined way as possible?

 

Thank you!

-Alberto

Solved
Best answer November 13, 2019

Best Answers
Ryan_M
Moderator

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Hi @PF808,

 

We can create jobs for your clients. This way we can enter your employee's time and link it to a specific client job.

 

Follow these steps in creating a customer job:

  1. From the Customers menu, select Customer Center.
  2. Use the search box to look for the specific customer, then highlight it.
  3. Click the New Customer & Job menu, then tap Add Job.
  4. Fill up the form, then hit OK when done.

Repeat the same steps provided above to all other clients that you charge monthly.

 

You're already familiar with the next steps, which is to create a weekly timesheet. We just need to tweak it a bit. Here's how:

 

  1. From the Employees menu, highlight Enter Time, then select Use Weekly Timesheet.
  2. The first column is Customer:Job which we'll utilize by entering the specific job for the client in question.
  3. Ensure that you enter the correct time spent by the employee for each client.
  4. Hit Save & Close when done.

You can then proceed with creating paychecks for your employees at this point.

 

As for the report, I recommend running the Billed/Unbilled Hours by Person and Job.

 

Learn how to make changes to your reports so it will suit your needs by viewing this article: Customize customer, job, and sales reports.

 

Let me know if you have other questions by dropping a comment below, and I'll get back to you.

View solution in original post

22 Comments 22
Ryan_M
Moderator

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Hi @PF808,

 

We can create jobs for your clients. This way we can enter your employee's time and link it to a specific client job.

 

Follow these steps in creating a customer job:

  1. From the Customers menu, select Customer Center.
  2. Use the search box to look for the specific customer, then highlight it.
  3. Click the New Customer & Job menu, then tap Add Job.
  4. Fill up the form, then hit OK when done.

Repeat the same steps provided above to all other clients that you charge monthly.

 

You're already familiar with the next steps, which is to create a weekly timesheet. We just need to tweak it a bit. Here's how:

 

  1. From the Employees menu, highlight Enter Time, then select Use Weekly Timesheet.
  2. The first column is Customer:Job which we'll utilize by entering the specific job for the client in question.
  3. Ensure that you enter the correct time spent by the employee for each client.
  4. Hit Save & Close when done.

You can then proceed with creating paychecks for your employees at this point.

 

As for the report, I recommend running the Billed/Unbilled Hours by Person and Job.

 

Learn how to make changes to your reports so it will suit your needs by viewing this article: Customize customer, job, and sales reports.

 

Let me know if you have other questions by dropping a comment below, and I'll get back to you.

PF808
Level 2

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Hi Ryan,

Thank you for your help.

It worked for the new timesheet, which is great!

It did not work for previous timesheets that I already ran payroll.

For example, I processed the paychecks for the first two weeks of November without adding any "Job" data to it. Just straight 8 hours per day into a single line "General". Now, went back and added the actual times for each job, and saved the time sheet. The time sheet shows the hours for each job, but the report still runs as if I had entered only General for those two weeks. I would like to edit the previous timesheets that were approved and paid.

I understand that I should have entered the actual times, and that's what I am doing now, but that's not what I did and I would like to edit previous timesheets and be able to see the data in the report. 

Is it possible?

 Thank you!

Mark_R
QuickBooks Team

Job report with non-billable labor cost

I appreciate you getting back to us, @PF808.

 

Adding Job to previous timesheets to an already processed payroll won't change the data on any Job profitability report. You'll have to edit the payroll data to show it on the report. And I'd like to redirect you to our support to help you process a payroll correction.

 

Since you're trying to add Job data to the previous timesheets, I suggest contacting our Payroll Support Team. This way, they can help you process a payroll correction. They can also help you show the hours for each job on the report.

 

To reach them:    

 

  1. Go to the Help menu.
  2. Select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
  3. In the Have a Question window, click Contact us at the bottom portion of the screen.
  4. Click Search for something else.
  5. Type in a keyword about your concern.
  6. Hit Search.
  7. Click on Start a Message.

Feel free to read this article for your reference: Contact the QuickBooks Desktop Customer Support Team

 

You might also want to check out these articles to learn how to manage your timesheet:

 

Please know that you can get back to this post if you have any other questions. We're always here to help.

PF808
Level 2

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Thank you Mark. I will contact support. Just wondering why I cannot add Job to previous timesheets to an already processed payroll. It really limits the use of timesheets. Sometimes we just want to process the payroll and add the detailed data later, because we don't have the time to insert all the job data by the time we need to run payroll. I am also surprised that we cannot copy info form one timesheet to another or see two weeks on the same window, since our pay schedule is every other week. It is very tedious and time consuming to re-enter all fields every other week. The "copy last timesheet" doesn't really help because our schedule is alternated (every other week).

Just wanted to get it out there, hopefully it gets improved.

Thanks,

Alberto

AlexV
QuickBooks Team

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Thanks for getting back, Alberto.

 

I know you'd like to add a Job to the previous timesheets that were already processed. Yes, you can save the changes. However, it won't reflect on the payroll transactions and reports.

 

Additionally, the Copy Last Sheet button allows you to copy the data only from the recent timesheet. The best option for now is to manually enter or edit the details when you create a new one.

 

Intuit is always open for feedback. I can send a request to our developers, so they can consider adding more features to the timesheet. It will help them to make QuickBooks fit to every business needs.

 

Keep your posts coming if you need more assistance. I'd be glad to help you.

KL34
Level 1

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Ryan_M,

I am having the same problem with QBO Online Plus. We have projects setup and have started flowing expenses through the different projects. Our independent contractors have been paid via a lump sum but I want to go back and allocate the hours spent on each project (so I can track profit/loss). The hours are not billable to the customer. Unlike @PF808 I don't see a customer center and am wondering if it's different for online plus.

Thanks,

KL32

MirriamM
Moderator

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Welcome to the thread, KL34.

 

The steps provided by my colleagues above are for QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), which is a different product with QuickBooks Online (QBO). 

 

The Project feature in QBO works like Job in QBDT. You can track time for the hours spent on a project. Just go to the Time column to enter the information.

 

Let me show you how:

  1. In the left menu, click the Projects.
  2. Choose the customer's name.
  3. Go to the Time Activity tab to choose the Track time button.
  4. On the Time Activity page, fill in the field boxes to efficiently track the project.
  5. Hit the Save button.

To learn more about Projects, see below articles:

If you have further questions, let me know. I’m here to help and make sure you’re taken care of. Take care.

KL34
Level 1

Job report with non-billable labor cost

How do I associate the amount I pay the independent contractors with their time? I want to know how much it costs to run a project, and I have multiple people (at different wages) working on each project. 

Candice C
QuickBooks Team

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Hey, @KL34

 

Thanks for reaching back out to the Community. The correct way to do this is by clicking the Track Time button that my colleague mentioned in the steps above. You learn how to turn on and set up time tracking through this link provided. 

 

If you run into any trouble along the way, just let me know. I want to make sure all of your concerns are addressed. Have a good day! 

bs84
Level 1

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Not an expert at all-just my personal experience: Instead of entering time for the weeks chronologically, go to the second week of the pay period and "Copy Last Time Sheet". It will copy the last completed time sheet, NOT the time sheet for the previous week. You'll still have to enter time for the middle week, but hopefully this will save you a little bit of time.

CherylL
Level 1

Job report with non-billable labor cost

We currently bill our employees time to a particular job unless it's PTO.  The employee previous to me created a "job/customer" for overhead and sick.  She created a bunch of "jobs" that weren't jobs and it's just throwing off my income statement.  I made all of the non-jobs inactive but the payroll person isn't sure how to enter the person's time when it's not going to a job.  Do we just leave that customer box blank?  Where would quickbooks charge it to?

ZackE
Moderator

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Welcome to the Community, CherylL.

 

If you're integrated with a QuickBooks Time account, you can enter employee time inside of QuickBooks Time.

 

Here's how:

  1. In your top menu bar, go to Employees, Enter Time, then Use QuickBooks Time.
  2. From the left navigation bar, choose Time Entries.
  3. Click Timesheets.
  4. Hit Add Time.
  5. Enter your team member's name.
  6. In the event they're still working, tick your Currently working checkbox.
  7. Enter their times and dates.
  8. Select Save.

 

If you aren't using QuickBooks Time, you can set up custom rates/prices for employees.

 

Please feel welcome to send a reply if there's any additional questions. Have a great day!

JTekHTE
Level 1

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Thanks for the detailed help! I think I'm getting to the problem we're having. Likewise, we are a service based company with hundreds of projects active at any one time. (I just started with this company.) The owner would like to see a profitability by project report. When I pull up the report, there are no costs associated - only hours. We need labor COST. 

 

As well, I enter the time by job after payroll is already run, due to the volume of jobs. Is that the reason I am not able to get a job profitability report?

 

If not, what do I need to do in order to get a built up cost (labor per hour + OH avg cost per hour) to reflect on my job profitability reporting?

 

FYI - and, how can i do all this retroactively?

 

Thank you so much!

JonpriL
Moderator

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Joining the thread to offer help, @JTekHTE. I wanted to ensure you're able to pull up your job profitability report.

 

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can customize a report showing the profitability of your job. But it's recommended to enter time before payroll when you started reporting for job profitability. This way, the profitability of your job can be determined by how you enter income or expenses with time and payroll.

 

Therefore, I'm adding this link with the response of my colleague discussing how job costing works:

 

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/reports-and-accounting/job-costing-actual-labor-vs...

 

You may also read this reference to understand more about this feature: QuickBooks Desktop's Job Costing Tools.

 

If there's anything else that I can help you with, please let me know in the comment below. I'll surely be here ready to assist you. Take care and stay safe!

swEpic
Level 1

Job report with non-billable labor cost

I am able to run a report that includes the payroll costs, but in the billing status column it states "Not billable".  It is marked as billable on the time sheet and it is correctly recorded on the paycheck.  This is very frustrating as I can't print a report of Unbilled costs, I have to go back and manually see what date the last payroll was that was billed.  

When I create invoices, it creates a line item for every single day of labor that is being billed.  If I delete this, does that create the issue?  Because I don't want every single day on the invoice, and we bill a lump sum for each item which includes other costs besides payroll.  Any suggestions?

jenop2
QuickBooks Team

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Hi there, swEpic.

 

Can you share more details or screenshots about this? I'd also like to ask the name of the report that you're running. We're asking these questions to make sure that we're giving you the right steps and information to sort this out.

 

Please reply back to us to share more details. We look forward to it. 
 

swEpic
Level 1

Job report with non-billable labor cost

I can't seem to copy and paste a screen shot.  But part of the issue is that when I print "Unbilled Costs by Job" none of my payroll shows up.  I use the weekly timecards and check the billable box and then that flows through to the paychecks.  If I try to print all of the costs for the job, then it will show payroll but the billing status is not billable regardless of the billable box.

swEpic
Level 1

Job report with non-billable labor cost

I can't seem to copy and paste a screen shot. 

 

But part of the issue is that when I print "Unbilled Costs by Job" none of my payroll shows up.  I use the weekly timecards and check the billable box and then that flows through to the paychecks.  If I try to print all of the costs for the job, then it will show payroll but the billing status is not billable regardless of the billable box.

ReymondO
QuickBooks Team

Job report with non-billable labor cost

Thanks for getting back to the thread and adding clarifications. Let me join in this conversation and share additional insights about the report. 

 

The option to show unbilled weekly timesheets on the Unbilled Costs by Job report is unavailable in QuickBooks Desktop. Although, you can run the Time by Job Detail report to show your actual billing status. 

Here's how:

 

  1. Go to Reports and select Jobs, Time & Mileage.
  2. Click the Unbilled Costs by Job report.
  3. Filter the dates.

 

You might also want to check out these articles to learn how to manage your timesheet:

 

Please know that you can get back to this post if you have any other questions. We're always here to help.

swEpic
Level 1

Job report with non-billable labor cost

That still does not explain why it says "Not Billable" for payroll items when I pull up all of the costs for the job.

QueenC
Moderator

Job report with non-billable labor cost

I apologize for the inconvenience you're experiencing with QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), @swEpic.

 

First off, I'd like to include that timesheets are a non-posting entry. You must import time to a bill or invoice to include it in the Job Profitability or Company Financial Reports.

 

Additionally, I want to ensure that you've checked the filters and settings applied to the report. Make sure that it is set to include the appropriate date range and that the filters are correctly configured to display the desired information.

 

If you have verified these settings and the issue persists, it's possible that there may be a software glitch or a configuration issue within your QuickBooks Desktop. In such cases, we can perform some troubleshooting steps which I will be guiding you through the process.

 

We can run the Verify and Rebuild utility as this tool scans data issues within the company file and self-resolves them.

 

Beforehand, make sure your QuickBooks Desktop is up-to-date. This way, you always have its latest features and fixes. Follow the steps below on how to verify data:

 

  1. On the top menu, click File.
  2. Choose Utilities.
  3. Select Verify Data.
  4. Click OK when QuickBooks doesn't detect any problem with your data.
  5. If Verify finds an issue with your data, you'll be prompted to Rebuild Now or View Errors.
  6. Click Close or View Errors and take note of the specific error message.

Next, here's how to rebuild data:
 

  1. On the top menu, click File.
  2. Choose Utilities.
  3. Select Rebuild Data.
  4. Click OK if you receive a prompt to back up your company file.
  5. Click OK when the rebuild has been completed.
  6. Run Rebuild Data again to make sure there's no error.

 

Additionally, I've added an article that'll help you make sure your QuickBooks accounts match your real-life bank and credit card statements: Reconcile Workflow.

 

Please let us know if you have additional questions or concerns about tracking costs for job in QuickBooks Desktop. We're determined to help you find the data you need and complete your tasks. Keep safe.

swEpic
Level 1

Job report with non-billable labor cost

I add the time/costs to the invoice for each job.  And I've already done all of that.  I've been using Quickbooks for 20+ years and was a ProAdviser several times.  But I will check out the article.  It would be nice if someone could figure out what the setting is that is causing this instead of me having to keep trying different scenarios.

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