Billable expenses
Add expenses to an engagement, mark them up, and choose whether they bill on top or draw from the budget.
Beyond time, an engagement can carry expenses — travel, software, subcontractor costs — and turn them into billable line items.
Expenses appear only when Bill expenses to this engagement is ticked on the engagement's Budget step (with an optional default markup %). Once it's on, an Expenses button shows on the engagement's detail page.
Add an expense
Open the engagement, click Expenses, and add a line with a date, description, optional category, and amount (your cost). Two switches decide how it's treated:
On by default. A billable expense bills the client at cost × (1 + markup) — the markup is your margin. A non-billable expense bills nothing but still counts as cost (so it lowers profit).
Bill on top (default) adds a separate invoice line on top of the budget. Draw from budget consumes the engagement's budget instead — no extra invoice line, and it counts toward how fast you're pacing through the budget.
Each expense can override the engagement's default markup %.
How expenses affect the numbers
| Revenue | Cost | Budget / pace | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billable, bill on top | + cost × (1+markup) | + cost | no effect |
| Billable, draw from budget | already in the fee | + cost | consumes budget |
| Non-billable | none | + cost | no effect |
Only billable, bill-on-top expenses become invoice lines. Drawn and non-billable expenses are already covered (or not billed), so they don't add lines — but they still shape your profit and margin.
Generate an invoice that pulls time, fees, and expense lines together.