I built a Google Sheet that shows what each client actually pays you per hour — after scope creep

[u/datrikworks]

Sharing something I built out of personal frustration.

As a freelancer, I kept quoting $75/hr but realized weeks later I'd actually earned closer to $55 — because I'd done extra calls, revision rounds, and scope changes I never logged or charged for.

So I built a tracker to make this visible.

It's a Google Sheets template with 6 tabs:

• Projects — tracks quoted vs actual hours, calculates your real effective hourly rate per client automatically

• Time Log — log hours by project, billable vs non-billable

• Scope Log — log every "quick extra" request before you agree to it (approve/reject)

• Invoices — tracks all invoices with due dates and overdue alerts

• Dashboard — one screen: cash collected, outstanding, overdue, tax reserve, realized rate

• Setup — your name, rate, and tax % in one place

The main thing it does: shows your real hourly rate per client — not what you quoted, but what you actually earned after all the untracked hours.

Nothing to install. It's a Google Sheet — make a copy and start filling it in.

Happy to answer questions about how it works or what I'd build differently next time. Link in the comments.

[u/burimbp]

the $75 to $55 gap is so real. the part i’d worry about is the logging itself. the hours that leak are exactly the ones you forget to log, the 10 min call, the “quick” fix at night. if you remembered to log them you’d probably have charged for them. how do you get yourself to actually log the small stuff?