The short version
A good line item says what was done, for which part of the project, and when, in words the client would use. Keep it to one sentence. Name the result, not the activity: “Fixed cart totals when a coupon and free shipping are combined”, not “bug fixes”.
Before and after
The left column is how work gets logged: in a commit, a timer or a notebook. The right column is the same work as a client needs to read it.
| Who | As logged | On the invoice |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | fix: cart total calc w/ coupon | Nov 2: Fixed cart totals when a coupon and free shipping are combined. |
| Designer | Logo v2, v3 | Nov 4: Refined the chosen logo direction and built the color palette. |
| Writer | Edits | Nov 4: Revised the sleep article from your edits and added sources. |
| Consultant | Meetings, 3.75 hrs | Nov 3: Stakeholder interviews, and a write-up of the notes. |
| Assistant | Admin | Nov 2–6: Inbox and calendar management. |
| Marketer | Campaign work | Nov 4: Holiday campaign plan and ad copy. |
Seven rules
- Name the result, not the activity. “Meetings” is an activity. “Kickoff call to agree the scope” is something the client got.
- Use the client’s words. They call it “the checkout page”, not “PaymentElement migration”. Write it their way.
- One piece of work per line. Three timer entries on the same task are one line with the hours added up. Two unrelated tasks are two lines.
- Put a date on it. A date, or a range such as “Nov 2–4”, ties the line to a week the client remembers.
- Keep it to a sentence. The invoice is a summary. The detail lives in your notes, in case anyone asks.
- Say when something is extra. Work beyond the agreed scope, or beyond a retainer, should say so on its line. It explains a higher total before the client asks.
- Leave out your shorthand. Ticket numbers, branch names and abbreviations mean something to you and nothing to the person approving the payment.
How much detail is too much
A line per timer entry is too much. Twenty lines of “0.25 h, email” make the client do the adding up, and invite a line-by-line argument. Group small tasks by kind (“Inbox and calendar management, 6.5 h”) and keep the full log to hand.
One line for the whole period is too little. The test is whether the person approving the invoice, who may not be the person you worked with, could say what each line was for.
Why this pays off
An invoice is often approved by someone who was not in the room when the work was agreed. Lines they can understand get approved. Lines they can’t understand get forwarded to someone else with a question, and the due date passes while the question waits.
Having it done for you
Rewriting a week of notes or commits into lines like these is the job Sandglass was built for. You paste what you logged, enter your hours and rate, and it drafts a dated line for each piece of work, which you can edit before anything is sent. If you would sooner type the lines yourself, the free invoice generator lays them out.