How to Manage Client Projects in FreshBooks

Quick Summary FreshBooks gives service businesses a complete project management layer built directly into their invoicing and accounting workflow. You can create projects, assign team members, set budgets, track time, log expenses, and convert everything into a client invoice with a single click. This guide covers how to set up and run client projects in FreshBooks from start to finish — so every engagement stays on budget, on time, and profitable.

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Why Should Service Businesses Manage Client Projects Directly in FreshBooks?

For service businesses, the gap between doing great work and getting paid for it often comes down to how well they track time, expenses, and scope. Managing projects in a separate tool from your invoicing platform creates friction — hours get lost, expenses go unbilled, and project profitability becomes impossible to measure in real time. FreshBooks eliminates this gap by embedding project management directly into the same platform you use to invoice clients and track finances.

According to a 2023 PMI Pulse of the Profession report, 48% of projects in small service businesses exceed their original budget, largely due to poor time and expense tracking during delivery. FreshBooks directly addresses this by giving project managers a live view of hours logged, costs incurred, and budget consumed — all updated in real time as the team works.

Furthermore, because FreshBooks connects project data directly to invoicing, billable hours and reimbursable expenses flow into client invoices automatically, reducing the risk of missed billing and saving significant administrative time at the end of each project phase. You can compare FreshBooks plans and project management features at this Link to identify the tier that fits your team size and project volume.

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What Project Management Features Does FreshBooks Include?

Which FreshBooks Plans Include Project Management Tools?

FreshBooks includes project management features across all paid plans, though the depth of functionality varies by tier. The core project tools — creating projects, tracking time, logging expenses, and generating project invoices — are available on all plans from Lite upward. Advanced features such as project profitability reporting and team member assignment with role-specific time tracking require Plus or higher.

Feature	Lite	Plus	Premium / Select
Create unlimited projects	Yes	Yes	Yes
Time tracking per project	Yes	Yes	Yes
Expense logging per project	Yes	Yes	Yes
Convert project hours to invoice	Yes	Yes	Yes
Team member assignment	No	Yes	Yes
Project profitability report	No	Yes	Yes
Budget tracking and alerts	No	Yes	Yes
Multiple billing rates per project	No	Yes	Yes

How Does FreshBooks Connect Projects to Invoicing and Reporting?

The defining strength of FreshBooks project management is its native connection to invoicing and financial reporting. Every hour tracked against a project, every expense logged to it, and every budget consumed feeds directly into the project’s financial summary. When it comes time to bill the client, FreshBooks assembles the invoice from this data automatically — no manual line-item entry required.

Additionally, the project profitability report in FreshBooks shows total revenue earned versus total costs incurred for each project, giving business owners a clear picture of which engagements generate healthy margins and which ones erode profitability. According to Gartner research on SME financial visibility, businesses that track project-level profitability increase their gross margins by an average of 12% over two years by redirecting capacity toward higher-value work.

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How Do You Create a New Client Project in FreshBooks?

Where Do You Start When Setting Up a Project in FreshBooks?

To create a project, navigate to Projects in the left-hand navigation panel and click New Project. FreshBooks opens a project setup form where you define the core parameters of the engagement. Start by entering the project name — use a clear, client-recognizable title such as the client name plus the engagement type, for example: Acme Corp — Website Redesign Q3.

Next, select the client this project belongs to from the dropdown. If the client does not yet exist in FreshBooks, you can create a new client profile directly from the project setup screen without navigating away. Linking the project to a client profile is essential, because it connects all project invoices, expenses, and time entries to that client’s billing history automatically.

How Do You Configure the Billing Method and Budget for a New Project?

FreshBooks offers three billing methods for projects, and choosing the right one from the start determines how time and expenses flow into client invoices later.

Billing Method	How It Works	Best For
Hourly — by project	Single hourly rate applies to all hours logged	Simple engagements with uniform billing
Hourly — by team member	Each team member has their own billable rate	Teams with different seniority or specialisms
Flat rate	Fixed project fee regardless of hours spent	Fixed-scope deliverables and retainers

After selecting the billing method, set the project budget if you want FreshBooks to track spending against a limit. Enter the budget as a total hour count or a monetary amount, and FreshBooks displays a real-time budget consumption bar on the project dashboard as hours and expenses accumulate. This live visibility helps you identify scope creep early, before it erodes project margins.

Pro Tip Set your project budget at 80–85% of the actual contract value in FreshBooks. This built-in buffer triggers a budget alert before you reach the true limit, giving you time to discuss a scope adjustment with the client or absorb minor overruns without breaching the contract ceiling.

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How Do You Assign Team Members and Track Time on a FreshBooks Project?

How Do You Add Team Members to a Project in FreshBooks?

On Plus, Premium, and Select plans, you can assign specific team members to each project. To do this, open the project and navigate to the Team tab. Click Add Team Member and select from the staff already connected to your FreshBooks account. Assigned team members can then log time directly against the project from their own FreshBooks dashboard or from the mobile app.

Notably, only team members assigned to a project can log time against it. This access control prevents unauthorized time entries on client projects and keeps your billing records clean. If a team member needs to contribute to a project mid-engagement, simply add them to the project team at any point — their subsequent time entries start appearing in the project log immediately.

How Do Team Members Log Time Against a Project in FreshBooks?

FreshBooks provides three ways to log time against a project, giving team members the flexibility to track hours in whatever way fits their working style:

• Timer — start a live countdown timer directly inside the project and stop it when the task ends; FreshBooks logs the duration automatically
• Manual entry — enter the start time, end time, or total duration for a completed task retroactively
• Mobile app — use the FreshBooks mobile app to start and stop timers from any location, which is especially useful for field-based or client-site work

Each time entry includes a notes field where team members can describe the work completed. These notes carry through to the invoice when you bill the client, giving them a clear breakdown of what each hour represents. According to a HBR study on client billing transparency, invoices that include task-level descriptions reduce payment disputes by up to 24%.

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How Do You Log Expenses Against a Project and Keep Costs Organized?

How Do You Attach an Expense to a Specific Project in FreshBooks?

When logging an expense in FreshBooks, the expense entry form includes a Project field that lets you assign the cost directly to a specific client engagement. Select the relevant project from the dropdown, and FreshBooks links the expense to that project’s financial summary immediately. This connection ensures that every cost associated with a project appears in the project budget tracker and in the profitability report.

Furthermore, you can mark any expense as billable when logging it, which means FreshBooks includes the expense as a line item on the next invoice you generate for that project. This is particularly valuable for pass-through costs — travel, subcontractor fees, software licenses — that you need to recover from the client without adding a markup.

How Do You Use the Project Dashboard to Monitor Budget and Profitability?

The FreshBooks project dashboard gives you a consolidated view of every financial dimension of a project in one place. Open any project and the dashboard displays:

• Total hours logged versus budget hours remaining
• Total expenses incurred versus budget remaining
• Unbilled hours and expenses ready to invoice
• Invoices already sent and their payment status
• Project profitability — total revenue invoiced versus total cost of time and expenses

This real-time visibility means you always know exactly where a project stands financially, without running a separate report or switching to another tool. Moreover, the dashboard updates instantly each time a team member logs time or an expense is recorded, so the numbers you see always reflect the current state of the engagement.

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How Do You Convert Project Hours and Expenses into a Client Invoice in FreshBooks?

How Do You Generate an Invoice Directly from a FreshBooks Project?

When you are ready to bill a client for project work, navigate to the project dashboard and click Create Invoice. FreshBooks automatically populates the invoice with all unbilled time entries and billable expenses logged since the last invoice date. Each line item includes the date, team member name, task description, hours, and rate — giving the client a fully transparent breakdown of the work completed.

You can review and edit the pre-populated invoice before sending it. If you want to combine multiple time entries into a single summary line rather than listing each individually, use the Group By feature to consolidate entries by team member or task type. This option gives you flexibility to match your client’s preferred invoice format.

How Do You Handle Milestone Billing and Deposit Invoices on FreshBooks Projects?

For projects with milestone-based payment structures, FreshBooks lets you create invoices at any point during the project — not just at completion. Send a deposit invoice at project start, a milestone invoice at the midpoint, and a final invoice upon delivery, each drawing from the accumulated time and expenses at that stage.

Additionally, you can create a flat-rate deposit invoice manually at project kick-off by entering a fixed amount rather than pulling from logged hours. FreshBooks tracks this deposit against the project so that the final invoice reflects any amount already paid, preventing accidental double-billing.

Invoice Timing	What to Include	FreshBooks Action
Project kick-off	Deposit (fixed % of total fee)	Create manual flat-rate invoice
Mid-project milestone	Hours and expenses to date	Generate from project dashboard
Project completion	Remaining unbilled hours and expenses	Generate from project dashboard
Ongoing retainer	Fixed monthly fee	Set up recurring invoice template

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What Are the Key Takeaways for Managing Client Projects in FreshBooks?

FreshBooks delivers a project management experience that keeps service businesses connected to the financial reality of every engagement. By creating projects, assigning team members, setting budgets, and logging time and expenses directly in FreshBooks, you build a complete, real-time financial picture of each client relationship — from the first hour worked to the final invoice paid.

The most significant advantage of managing projects in FreshBooks is the seamless connection between delivery and billing. There is no export, no copy-paste, and no manual reconciliation between your project tool and your invoicing platform — because in FreshBooks, they are the same platform. Furthermore, the project profitability dashboard gives you the data you need to make informed decisions about pricing, team allocation, and scope management on every future engagement.

FreshBooks continues to stand out among accounting platforms for service businesses precisely because it treats project delivery and financial management as two sides of the same workflow rather than separate systems. To find the FreshBooks plan that best supports your project volume and team structure, visit FreshBooks and explore all available subscription options in detail.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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