Unbilled work

Time or deliverables an agency has produced for a client but has not invoiced for — including both intentionally absorbed costs (write-offs) and out-of-scope work that was never flagged or change-ordered.

Example

A quarter-end review finds 34 hours across five clients that were logged as time spent but never appeared on any invoice — a mix of small write-offs and, on closer look, several unflagged out-of-scope requests.

Why it matters for agencies

Unbilled work is the direct, measurable cost of scope creep once it's actually been quantified — the number most agency owners are surprised by the first time they run this report, because day-to-day it's invisible, hour by hour, until it's added up.