Billable Hours Utilisation Rate
Track what percentage of your working hours are billed to clients, monitor non-billable time, and compare against your target utilisation rate.
Results
What is it?
Billable utilisation rate is the percentage of working hours that are directly billed to clients. It is a core KPI for consulting firms, law firms, agencies, and freelancers. A rate of 80% means 80% of hours are generating revenue; the remaining 20% are spent on business development, admin, training, and internal work. Most professional services firms target 70-85% — higher is not always better, as zero non-billable time means no investment in growth or skills.
How to use
Enter your billable hours and total hours worked for any period (daily, weekly, monthly). Set your personal or firm utilisation target. The calculator shows your actual rate, how many hours are non-billable, and whether you are above or below target. A positive vs. Target value is favourable.
Example scenario
A consultant worked 40 hours this week and billed 32 to clients. Utilisation = 80% — exactly at target. The 8 non-billable hours were split between a proposal, team meetings, and training. If the firm blended rate is $100/hour, those 8 hours represent $800 of non-revenue time that week.
Pro tip
Track utilisation monthly, not just weekly, to smooth out project lull weeks. If you consistently fall below your target, audit non-billable time: admin tasks may be automatable, and internal meetings may be reduceable. If you consistently exceed 90%, you risk burnout and should explore raising rates or adding capacity.