Time tracking for
professional services firms
Engineering, architecture, legal, and advisory practices need more than a stopwatch. Track fixed-price, retainer, and hourly work with the audit trail clients expect, then push invoices to Xero with the line items already itemised.
All features free for 30 days. No credit card needed.
What pro services firms actually need from time tracking
Most generic time trackers were built for productivity nerds or marketing agencies. Professional services work doesn't fit either mould. Your projects run for months. Multiple disciplines log time against the same job at different rates. Scope changes need clear audit history. Clients will question line items six months after the invoice is sent, and you need to be able to answer them.
- Mixed engagement types in one practice — fixed-price project A, monthly retainer client B, hourly advisory client C, all live at the same time.
- Rate variation by discipline and seniority — a principal and a graduate working on the same project at very different hourly rates.
- Detailed descriptions for the audit trail — you need to know exactly what was done, when, and by whom, in case it comes up.
- Budget visibility before the overrun — fixed-price work without budget alerts is just unprofitable work waiting to be discovered.
- Approvals for junior staff — not for control, but so principals see what's going out under their name.
- Invoicing that respects Xero — finance lives in Xero, so the time tracker should push drafts there rather than competing with it.
All three engagement types in one place
Pro services practices rarely use a single billing model. Hour Cap supports the three modes side by side without forcing every project into the same shape.
Fixed-price projects
Set an hours budget on the project, pick your alert threshold, watch usage in real time. The detail under the budget becomes the audit trail when scope changes need justifying.
Ongoing retainers
Recurring monthly or quarterly retainers with auto-resetting budgets, configurable alert thresholds, and one-click invoicing of the current period.
Hourly engagements
Ad-hoc advisory, variations, expert opinions, second engagements. Tracked time turns into a Xero invoice with detailed line items showing the work done.
Try it on a real project for 30 days
New accounts get a 30-day Business trial with everything unlocked: Xero invoicing, approvals, retainers, activity logging. No credit card to start.
Built for the way pro services firms actually work
The same time-and-billing engine, tuned to the patterns we see in each vertical.
Engineering consultancies
Civil and structural engineers, multi-disciplinary practices, specialist advisors. Track time across disciplines on the same project at different rates. Fixed-price project budgets warn the principal before scope overrun becomes a margin problem. The line-item detail on every invoice doubles as a record of work performed when variations or change orders come up months later.
Architecture practices
Design fees, hourly variations, fee proposals. Track stages and disciplines on the same job, with rate cascades that handle principals, project architects, and graduates without per-line edits. Push monthly progress claims to Xero as drafts with detailed line items showing exactly what was delivered in the period.
Legal practitioners
Sole practitioners and small firms billing hourly with detailed file notes per entry. Rich descriptions are kept verbatim on the invoice, which clients (and any later cost assessor) can match against the matter file. Note: Hour Cap is not a dedicated practice management or trust accounting system; pair it with one if you need a trust ledger.
Advisory and accounting practices
Strategic, tax, transactional, and management advisory work, usually a mix of retainer engagements and one-off projects. Track each client's retainer usage on the dashboard, mark over-cap work for separate billing, and push everything to your practice's Xero with appropriate line item detail.
An honest note on scope
Hour Cap is deliberately narrower than a full practice management system. It does not do detailed quotes and proposals, deep document workflow, opportunity pipelines, or stage-and-milestone billing tied to construction contracts. If those are central to your practice, you will still want a dedicated tool for them.
What Hour Cap does well: capture billable time across the team with the audit trail clients expect, manage retainers and fixed-price project budgets together, and push clean draft invoices to Xero so the accounting layer stays correct without retyping. For smaller pro services firms whose centre of gravity is Xero, that's often the whole tool stack you need.
Common questions
What is the best time tracking software for professional services firms?
Professional services firms need three things: tracking that supports mixed engagement types (fixed-price, retainer, hourly), rate variation across disciplines and seniority, and clean invoicing that doesn't require retyping line items in the accounting system. For firms on Xero, Hour Cap covers those without bolting on a separate practice management suite.
Why do professional services firms need more than a basic timer?
Pro services work tends to be longer-running, multi-disciplinary, and contract-bound, with detailed audit trails expected when scope or pricing comes up later. A basic timer captures the duration; it does not give you the project budgets, descriptions, or audit history that hold up under a client review months later.
Can I track fixed-price project budgets?
Yes. Set an hours budget on the project and Hour Cap shows usage in real time. When you cross your alert threshold (often 80% on fixed-price work), the project owner sees it before the budget is gone. The detailed time descriptions sitting under that budget become the audit record when you need to justify variations or change orders.
How do you handle different rates per discipline or seniority?
Rates cascade in order: project rate first if a client has negotiated one, then member rate (so a principal engineer bills at their rate everywhere), then the organisation default. You configure exceptions, not rules, which keeps the setup manageable as the team grows.
What about approvals before time hits an invoice?
Configure approval requirements per member. Senior staff usually do not need it. Graduates, juniors, and contractors typically do. Their entries enter an unsubmitted state, they submit weekly timesheets to their approver, and only approved entries become invoiceable. Approved entries lock against further edits.
Does Hour Cap replace our practice management system?
Hour Cap is narrower. It focuses on time tracking, project and retainer budgets, approvals, and Xero invoicing. If your practice management needs include detailed quoting, document storage with version control, deep CRM, or production scheduling, you will still need a dedicated PM tool. Many smaller pro services firms find Hour Cap plus Xero is enough without a separate PM suite.
Related reading
Xero time tracking
The full overview of how Hour Cap turns tracked time into Xero invoices.
For agencies
If your team is creative or marketing-focused rather than professional services, the agencies page has the same content scoped to that audience.
For consultants
Solo practitioner version: hourly, retainer, and fixed-price work across multiple clients.
Built for the work your team actually does
Engineering, architecture, legal, or advisory: track time the way your engagements actually run, then bill through Xero. Free trial, no credit card.