How many billable hours are normal for a week?

Asked by: Antone Von  |  Last update: September 21, 2023
Score: 4.7/5 (24 votes)

Employer Expectations
But the reality is you're probably not billing a full 8 hours per day. We surveyed 100 companies and found that most service-based companies that bill hourly require employees to bill at least 31 hours per week. 52 weeks x 31 hours = 1612 required billable hours by most companies in one year.

How many hours a week is 2000 billable hours?

For example, if you want to reach a goal of 2,000 hours annually, you would need to bill for roughly 40 hours each week, or eight billable hours a day.

What is the industry standard for billable hours?

Time is money—especially when it comes to how many billable hours in a year an attorney can accumulate. Thankfully, using a billable hours chart can help. Lawyers work hard, and they work a lot. Many firms expect attorneys to reach minimum billable hour requirements ranging between 1,700 and 2,300 hours per year.

How much of your time should be billable?

The commonly-held estimate of billable time lies somewhere between 60-80 percent, which is known as the utilization rate. While that range may seem large (it is) and anything under 80 percent may sound low (it does), non-billables vary by industry, and many tasks deemed non-billables actually help companies grow.

What is the average billable hours for consultants?

Most consultancies will expect you to bill 70-95% of your 40 hours per week, depending upon the industry and your level of seniority. You should probably know what this goal is so that you can balance out non-billable tasks you still need to accomplish.

Living On $172K A Year In NYC | Millennial Money

18 related questions found

What is the average weekly hours in consulting?

On average, a standard number of hours a consultant can expect to work in a week is between 70 and 75, including lunch and travel time. Weekends aren't included in a consultant's working week.

How many hours per week do consultants work?

How many hours do consultants work? While this varies by firms and nature of clientele, you'll be working at least 40 hours a week. Big 4 firms (Deloitte, KPMG, EY and PwC) average 40-50 hours per week, whereas MBB firms average closer to 60 hours per week.

Do meetings count as billable hours?

When working for a client, any tasks you complete on their behalf count toward your billable hours. These tasks will vary by industry or profession but may include: Attending project-related meetings. Completing and reviewing work for the client.

What is a good billable utilization?

Many organizations aim for utilization rates around 80% and will measure billable utilization against a 2,000 hour per year target when benchmarking themselves against the market.

What are the cons of billable hours?

One downside to billing clients hourly is that some professionals may feel pressure to work more hours than they can work to get the desired amount paid. This can lead to fatigue and other health problems, as professionals work long hours without breaks.

How can I improve my billable hours?

How to increase billable hours – billable hours best practices
  1. Bunch queries together. ...
  2. Remove distractions and tackle procrastination. ...
  3. Track billable hours in real-time. ...
  4. Delegate non-billable tasks. ...
  5. Track non-billable hours. ...
  6. Track all the billable hours. ...
  7. Completing billing descriptions.

Why are billable hours bad?

It forces us to make too many time- value judgments that too often are based purely on whether an activity is billable. It forces people away from real life and into a world where everything is billable (important), or not (not important). If it's not billable, it better be very important.

What are small business billable hours?

Billable hours are the amount of time spent working on business projects that can be charged to a client according to an agreed upon billing rate. Businesses, agencies, entrepreneurs and freelancers all frequently use billable hours to charge clients for the services they provide.

How many billable hours is 1800?

If the goal is to work 1800 billable hours each year, that translates into 2420 total working hours, without taking any sick or personal days or accounting for the commute, with a 10 hours workday.

Do associates get paid for billable hours?

Lawyers aren't directly paid according to their billable hours. However, the success of a law firm is directly related to billable hours. To ensure profitability, many law firms require associates to meet a minimum target number of billable hours for the year, and bonuses are often awarded based on billable hours.

How many billable work hours in a year?

260 days x 8 hours = 2080 billable hours in a year. However, bear in mind that the value may vary depending on the local public holidays and working days for your company. If your business operates on the weekends and holidays too, you may add some working days to the equation.

What is the optimal billing rate?

The optimal billing rate is the hourly rate that an enterprise needs to charge to turn a profit based on the average employee utilization. Suppose a company's total labor costs are $100,000, there are $20,000 in overhead costs per employee, and the target profit margin is 20%.

What is typical employee utilization?

What is the Average Employee Utilization Rate? Benchmarks place successful employee utilization rates between 85 and 90%. However, this number will vary from agency to agency. In order to truly understand your agency's optimal utilization rate, you will need to dig a little further.

What is industry standard billable utilization?

The ideal utilization rate varies, but most aim for 75%. Utilization rates are essential to your business' bottom line. Calculating average and optimal utilization rates can influence the billing rates required to meet profit margin goals. It is best to calculate the utilization rate using accurate data.

Do I still get paid for non-billable hours?

Instead of thinking of non-billable hours as time you can't get paid for, you should think of it as an investment in your organization's future. You won't get paid directly for it, but the non-billable effort you put in now will help you increase profits and grow your business over time.

Is lunch billable time?

Non-billable hours also include activities that employees do for their own benefit, for example, taking a 5-minute break to freshen up, or eating. These activities are not directly related to work tasks but contribute to the employee's total hours.

What are some non-billable tasks?

Non-billable hours are the work hours you spend which are not going to be directly charged to the client. Some examples of non-billable work hours are things such as team meetings, staff development/training, or networking and attending conferences.

Can consultants make 7 figures?

It all comes down to strategy. The fastest path to creating a 7-figure coaching and consulting business is to position yourself to sell ultra-high end services.

How long do most people stay in consulting?

The typical length of time for consultants to stay at top firms like McKinsey, BCG or Bain is two to four years.

Do consultants get work-life balance?

One of the common problems in management consulting is getting the right work-life balance. Most consultants have to work 60-80 hours every week because of the nature of the job.