Track an Owner or Partner's Time

In a small contracting or construction firm, much of the owner's or partner's time may be spent on the actual job in the form of estimating, supervising, and performing project work. However, if the organization is set up as a sole proprietorship or partnership, the owner does not collect wages like other employees, and consequently, no costs get allocated to the job, which significantly understates the job costs.

The owner or partner in your company should keep track of the time they put into each job and enter an employee paycheck to allocate the expense to the appropriate jobs. Because an owner or partner does not actually get a paycheck, you will need to complete the following steps.

To record an owner's or partner's time as a project expense:

  1. Create an employee record with the following adjustments: 
  2. If you use Time Slips: (Premium)
  3. Record the owner's or partner's time as a project expense, as you would for any other employee (allocate hours on a time slip or allocate the expense when issuing a paycheck).
  4. When you are ready to bill a customer for the owner's or partner's time spent on a project, create an invoice and include the number of hours for the billing period (pulled from time slips, if you use them). You can allocate the hours or amount to the project at the same time, if you have not done so already.