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Use the Contractor role when someone works for you but is not one of you. It is the narrowest staff role in TimeTracker. A contractor tracks time and works tasks, and that is close to all they do.
The example: Ana Ferreira is a freelance copywriter working two days a week for Northwind Studio. Her billable rate is 80/hour∗∗.ShecostsNorthwind∗∗80/hour**. She costs Northwind **55/hour.

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Contractor or Member?

Both track time. Both submit their own week. The difference is what they can see. Two capabilities separate them: client.view and the report family. A Contractor has neither. → Roles and capabilities · Roles and permissions matrix

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When to use each

  • A freelancer who works on one or two projects
  • Someone at an agency you subcontract to
  • Anyone you do not want browsing your client list
  • Anyone whose engagement has a defined end date
If a contractor genuinely needs one extra permission – say, viewing a report you built – change it on that person rather than promoting them to Member. See Per-person permissions.

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What contractor hours do to your margin

This is the part worth understanding before you hire. Ten hours of Ana’s work bills the client 800∗∗,costsNorthwind∗∗800**, costs Northwind **550, and earns $250. The same ten hours from Sarah would bill 1,000,cost1,000, cost 450, and earn $550 – more than double.
A quote that leans on contractors looks the same on the top line and earns much less. Check the blended margin before you price the job, not after. See Quote to invoice.
→ Cost rates · Profitability and margin

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Set a contractor up

1

Tom invites Ana as a Contractor

Send the invitation with the Contractor role selected.→ Invite a member
A contractor counts as a seat exactly like an employee. On Free, three people means three people whoever they are. See Seats.
2

Maya sets both her rates

For a contractor the cost rate is not an estimate – it is literally their invoice rate. Get it exact and your margin is exact.→ Set a person rate · Billable rates
If Ana charges you a different rate on a different client, set a project member rate on that project. The most specific rate wins. See Project and client rates.
3

Tom assigns her a part-time schedule

Ana works two days a week. Put her on a 16 hour schedule so her expected hours are right and a normal week does not look like a shortfall.→ Create a schedule · Assign a schedule
4

Priya adds her only to the projects she works on

Project membership is how a contractor reaches work. Because Ana cannot see the client list, project membership is effectively her whole view of your business.Add her to Bluebird Coffee – Website Redesign, and nothing else.→ Project members · Project visibility
5

Priya assigns her tasks with estimates

Estimates matter more for a contractor than for staff, because the estimate is what you agreed to pay for.→ Create a task · Task estimates
If the engagement has a hard limit – “no more than 20 hours on this” – put a cap on the task. See Task-level caps.

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Running the engagement

1

Reconcile her invoice against approved hours

Ana sends you an invoice. Check it against her approved time before you pay it.Build a report on time entries, filter to Ana and to the month, and read the total. If she invoices 44 hours and the report says 40, one of you is wrong and it is worth five minutes to find out which.→ Build a report · Report filters
Ana cannot build this report herself. Contractors have no report capability at all – it is one of the two things that make the role narrow.
2

Watch the margin on projects she touches

A project staffed mostly by contractors carries a thinner margin than one staffed by employees, even when the client price is identical.→ Monitor project profitability

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Ending a contractor engagement

Shorter than an employee offboard, but do not skip it.
1

Get every outstanding week submitted and approved

Unapproved time cannot be invoiced to the client, and it also cannot be reconciled against what the contractor billed you.→ Submit a timesheet · Approve a timesheet
2

Reassign their open tasks

→ Assignees · Bulk actions
3

Reconcile the final invoice

Their approved hours against their bill, one last time.
4

Remove them, and free the seat

Removing a member discards any running timer, revokes outstanding invitations to their address, revokes their device tokens and takes them out of every group. Their tracked time stays as a business record.→ Remove a member · Offboard an employee
If you expect them back next quarter, consider deactivating rather than removing. It keeps their setup and stops them being billable. See Remove a member.

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Common questions

No. The Contractor role does not have client.view. They see the projects they are a member of, and nothing about the client behind them beyond what the project itself shows.
No. Seeing cost needs rate.viewCost or time.viewCost, and Contractors have neither. They cannot see their own cost rate or anyone else’s. See Rate permissions.
No. Contractors have no report capabilities. If they need a record of their hours, someone with report.export runs it and sends it to them. See Export hours for payroll.
Yes. Seats count everyone with access, whatever their role – staff, contractors and client portal contacts – plus every outstanding invitation. See Seats.
Yes. For an employee the cost rate is a loaded salary figure. For a contractor it is exactly what you pay them per hour, which makes contractor margin the most accurate number in your workspace.
No. Approving is a manager and finance capability. A Contractor can submit their own week, nothing more. See Approval permissions.
Yes. Contractors can submit their own reimbursable expenses. Approving them stays with Finance or a manager. See Submit an expense.

Onboard a new employee

The employee version of this setup.

Quote to invoice

Pricing a job that uses contractors.

Monitor project profitability

Watching the margin they affect.

Export hours for payroll

Contractors are a separate payables run.

Offboard an employee

The full leaver checklist.