Billable hours

Time spent on client work that can be invoiced, as distinct from internal, administrative, or unbilled time.

Example

A designer logs 40 hours in a week: 32 hours on client projects (billable) and 8 hours on internal team meetings and business development (non-billable).

Why it matters for agencies

The ratio of billable to total hours directly determines an agency's realization rate and profitability. Scope creep quietly erodes this ratio, because work delivered outside the contract still consumes real hours but often doesn't get logged or billed the same way contracted work does.