Consultants · problem and fix
Consultant working more than contract hours: how to log them accurately on Mac in 2026
If you are a consultant working more than contract hours, log each extra hour on the day you work it. Put it in one of three buckets: billable in scope, billable out of scope, or goodwill. The record protects your fee, gives you a basis for a change request, and shows where the contract is too thin.
The short answer
- Log extra hours the same day, not at the end of the week.
- Sort each hour into billable in scope, billable out of scope, or goodwill.
- Write descriptions a client could read without a follow-up question.
- Send a short change note before out-of-scope work, or the same day if you cannot.
- Log fixed-price and goodwill hours too, so the choice stays visible.
What logging hours beyond contract accurately costs you
Money you already earned
The 2016 study puts unbilled chargeable work at about 15%. At the study's average rate, the gap comes to roughly EUR 44,000 a year per consultant. That figure is a model, not your bank statement. Still, it shows how many hours can disappear when extra work never reaches a timesheet.
Your effective rate drops
Your effective rate is what you bill divided by the hours you actually worked. If you work hours the timesheet never shows, the real rate is lower than the rate in your contract. Nobody sees that gap unless the log is complete.
Scope creep becomes the norm
Every unlogged favour teaches the client that the work is free. The next request arrives with the same expectation. A log with a clear out-of-scope bucket gives you a basis for a conversation about the next change.
Weak evidence when hours are questioned
If a client or a manager asks why a project ran over, memory is a poor answer. Dated entries with clear descriptions answer the question faster. Without them, you argue from feeling, and the other side usually has the better record.
A week that feels longer than it reads
Hours that go unlogged also disappear from your sense of the week. Fridays feel long, and the reason is unclear. A simple log shows the pattern, even if it does not fix the workload by itself.
Why it happens
Small requests arrive as favours
Clients rarely send a big new scope on day one. They ask for one more slide, one more check, one quick call. Each request looks too small to bother with. Added together, they become the real project. If you only log the big items, the small ones vanish from the record.
Timesheets only have project codes
A timesheet that lists only client projects forces every hour into one billable box. Out-of-scope work then looks like normal delivery. Nobody can tell which hours came from a change, which came from a fixed fee, and which came from a favour. A bucket column or a note field makes the difference visible.
The contract has no change process
Many contracts describe the deliverables but not how new work gets approved. Without a change request step, extra work starts as a conversation. The conversation ends with a yes, and nobody records the cost. A short written change note turns that yes into a record.
Logging happens at the end of the week
End-of-week logging depends on memory. Memory rounds, shortens and forgets. A busy call on Thursday can disappear entirely by Friday afternoon. The fix is not a better memory. It is logging the same day, even when the entry is short.
Calls run past their scheduled end
Client calls often run past the scheduled slot. The last few minutes turn into a discussion of next steps, and the follow-up email takes longer than planned. Calendar blocks end on time, so the overrun never shows up. Compare your calendar with your log when a week feels longer than the log shows.
Some gaps are chosen, then forgotten
Fixed-price deals and goodwill favours are real choices. The problem is that a choice nobody records looks like an accident. Months later, nobody remembers which hours were a decision. Logging the choice keeps it honest, so you can judge the next deal with real numbers.
How to fix it
These work with or without any app.
Log the same day, in three buckets
Open your log at the end of each working day. Enter each extra hour in one bucket: billable in scope, billable out of scope, or goodwill. Same-day entries are short and accurate. Five minutes spent logging each evening beats an hour of guessing on Friday.
Write descriptions a client can read
Name the deliverable and the request in each description. Write 'Revised market slide, second version, per Tuesday email' instead of 'project work'. Keep it plain. If a client asked for the work, say so. If you chose to do it, say that too.
Send a change note before the work
Before you start out-of-scope work, send two or three lines. Say what was asked, what it changes and roughly what it will take. Ask for a yes before you go ahead. If the work has already started, send the note the same day. A dated note is the strongest proof you have.
Keep an Excel log you can filter
Use one row per entry, with columns for date, client, bucket, hours and description. Select the header row and choose Data > Filter. Filter the bucket column to out-of-scope rows, then read the total. This routine needs only Excel and a few minutes each day.
Set a daily reminder to log
Put a reminder at the end of your working day. Apple Reminders works for this, and Lazur can add a reminder by voice when you hold ⌥ ⌘ and ask. If alerts do not appear, check System Settings > Notifications and confirm Reminders is allowed to send them.
Use a timer prompt if you want one
A timer app can prompt you when you step away from the keyboard. Toggl Track's Mac app has idle prompts with four choices. This fix may cost money, so skip it if you want a free routine. A paper notebook or a single Excel sheet is enough to start.
Working past your contract is common, and those hours are easy to lose. A contract sets a scope and a fee. It rarely sets a clear line for the extra favour, the follow-up call or the revised deck. When those hours never reach your timesheet, nobody can bill them, review them or change the scope next time. This page shows how to log them accurately, what the gap costs you, and how to handle the fixed-price and goodwill cases that make it messy.
What hours beyond contract cost you
The clearest figure comes from a 2016 study by TIQ and London Business School. It reports that about 15% of chargeable consulting work is not billed to clients. For a management consultant on a 40-hour week, that averages about 4.3 hours of unbilled time per week. The study covers management consultants, accountants and lawyers, and it does not state its sample size. No newer survey aimed only at consultants turned up. Treat these numbers as a signal, not a count for your practice.
15%
of chargeable consulting work is not billed to clients, per a 2016 study
15% of chargeable consulting work is not billed to clients4.3 hours
unbilled per week for a management consultant on a 40-hour week, on average
15% of chargeable consulting work is not billed to clientsEUR 44,000
a year per consultant at EUR 212 per hour over 48 working weeks
15% of chargeable consulting work is not billed to clientsPut those figures into money. At an average billable rate of EUR 212 per hour, the study's hours work out to about EUR 915 per consultant each week. Across 48 working weeks, that is about EUR 44,000 a year. Some of that gap is deliberate, under fixed-price agreements, so it is not all tracking error. The table shows the arithmetic, so you can rerun it with your own rate and your own weekly hours.
| Line | Figure from the study | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Unbilled time per 40-hour week | About 4.3 hours | Hours your timesheet never shows |
| Average billable rate | EUR 212 per hour | The price of each unlogged hour |
| Lost per week | About EUR 915 | Rate multiplied by unbilled hours |
| Lost per year over 48 weeks | About EUR 44,000 | Roughly what the weekly gap adds up to |
Rerun the sum with your own numbers. Take your billable rate, estimate the unlogged hours in a typical week, and multiply by the weeks you bill. Even a small weekly gap adds up across a year. If the answer surprises you, that is the reason to keep a log. If it does not, the log still protects you when a dispute starts.
Why extra hours slip off the timesheet
Most unlogged hours do not come from dishonesty. They come from habit. A client asks a quick question on a call. You answer it, then open the deck to check one number. A few minutes turns into an hour, and nothing in your day marks the point where the contract stopped. By the time you think about the timesheet, the moment has passed.
Timing is the second cause. Hours logged on Friday from memory get rounded, shortened or dropped. Monday's meeting blurs into Tuesday's notes. The third cause is the timesheet itself. If it only has project codes, extra work has nowhere to go. People log it under the nearest code and move on, and the out-of-scope part disappears.
Some gaps are a choice. Fixed-price work often absorbs extra effort on purpose, to protect a relationship. That can be the right call. It only helps you if you can see it. Log the choice under its own label instead of dropping the hours, and the decision becomes visible the next time you write a proposal.
Sort each hour into one of three buckets
Before you log anything, decide what kind of hour it is. Use three buckets. Billable in scope covers work the contract already pays for. Billable out of scope covers work the client asked for that the contract does not cover. Goodwill covers work you chose to do for free, such as an unplanned check-in or a favour. Every entry goes in exactly one bucket.
| Bucket | Typical example | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Billable, in scope | Drafting the agreed workshop deck | Log it and bill it under the contract |
| Billable, out of scope | A new analysis the client asked for by email | Log it, then send a change note before you bill |
| Goodwill, non-billable | A call you took as a favour to keep a relationship | Log it under its own label so the cost is visible |
Here is a made-up example. A consultant on a retainer gets a Tuesday email asking for a second version of a market slide. The work takes two hours. The contract covers one revision, so the second version is out of scope. It goes in the billable out-of-scope bucket, with a description that names the slide and the request. The consultant sends a change note the same day and waits for approval before billing it.
Write descriptions a client can read
A description is evidence. 'Project work' tells nobody anything. 'Revised market slide, second version, per the Tuesday email' tells a client exactly what happened and why. Write each entry so the client could read it without a follow-up question. Name the deliverable, the request and the date the request arrived.
Leave out internal complaints and any detail that reveals confidential information about the client. A short, plain line beats a long note you would not want shared. If you chose to do the work for free, say that in the description too. Your future self will need to know which hours were a decision.
How to log hours beyond contract in Excel
Many consultants keep a simple time log in Excel. Use one row per entry. Columns for date, client, bucket, hours and description cover most needs. Keep the bucket in its own column so you can filter it later. For more Excel steps, see Excel for consultants on Mac.
Select the header row, then choose Data > Filter from the menu bar. Set the bucket column to show only out-of-scope rows. If the status bar shows a sum for the hours column, read it there. That number is the one to take to your project lead. It is more useful than a feeling that you worked a lot.
Where Lazur fits in this routine
Lazur is a voice assistant for the Mac. It lives in the notch. Hold fn to dictate clean text at the cursor in any app. That helps when you want an entry down before you forget it. Hold ⌥ ⌘ to ask about anything on screen, and Lazur answers out loud.
Lazur does not log your time for you. It does not click buttons or edit your sheet. Ask where a control is, and Lazur draws a circle and a label around it. Ask how to do something, and it guides you one click at a time, waiting for each click. You still choose the bucket, the hours and what gets sent.
Handle extra hours with the client
Logged hours only help if someone sees them. Send a short change note before you do out-of-scope work when you can. If the work has already happened, send the note the same day. A clear note does most of the job. It should cover four things.
- What was asked, and when it arrived.
- What changes in the deliverable, in one sentence.
- Hours already spent, taken from your log.
- What you need from the client: approval, or a smaller scope.
Ask Lazur to draft the note in Outlook, then read it yourself before you send it. Keep the tone plain. Describe the work, not how tired you are. Clients respond better to a clear request than to a complaint about hours. For mail set-up, see Outlook for consultants on Mac.
Fixed-price and goodwill hours
Fixed-price work makes the hours question harder. When the fee is fixed, extra hours are your cost, not a bill. Log them anyway. You need the record to judge whether the next similar job is worth the fixed fee. A log also shows where estimates were too low, which helps the next proposal.
Goodwill is different. Some favours are worth doing, and nobody needs an invoice for them. Log them under goodwill so the total stays visible. Goodwill hours that nobody sees are a cost with no decision attached to them. Once the total is visible, you can decide how much goodwill a client should get.
Mistakes people make with extra hours
- Logging the whole week on Friday from memory, then rounding every entry.
- Using one code for everything, so out-of-scope work looks like normal delivery.
- Writing project work as the description, which tells the client nothing.
- Skipping short calls because they feel too small to count.
- Keeping the log but never sending the change note, so the hours prove nothing about the request.
Idle prompts and timers, if you want one
A timer app can catch time you forget to log. Toggl Track's Mac app shows an idle prompt when you step away. The prompt offers four choices: Discard idle time, Discard idle and continue, Add idle time as new time entry, and Keep idle time. Pick the option that matches the bucket you need. A prompt jogs your memory, but it cannot tell whether the work was in scope.
Toggl's Mac page says the app needs macOS 11 or later. Its idle settings let you choose what happens on sleep and on inactivity. The support article does not state a default inactivity timeout, so check the setting on your own Mac. Check Toggl's pricing page for what each plan includes before you rely on it.
Privacy when you talk about client work
Lazur listens and looks at the screen only while you hold the shortcut. Audio and the screenshot go to AI providers to answer you, and they are not stored. Content is never used to train AI models. That still does not decide what you may write about a client. Your employer's rules come first, every time.
Start with the next extra request
Start small. Take the next extra request you get, put the hours in the right bucket, and send the note the same day. On Friday, filter the log and read the out-of-scope total. The second week is easier, because the routine is already there. For the full setup, see Lazur pricing if you want to try it, or download Lazur for the Mac.
Faster with Lazur
Where Lazur helps with logging hours beyond contract accurately
Hold ⌥ ⌘ and say what you want. Lazur sees your Excel window. Hold fn and talk. Clean, formatted text appears at your cursor.
- 1
Hold ⌥⌘ and talk
- 2
Hold fn and talk. Clean, formatted text appears at your cursor.
- 3
You stay in Excel. Nothing to copy into a chat window.
More things to say in Excel
- “Lazur, where is the bucket column in this sheet?”
- “Lazur, walk me through filtering this log by bucket.”
- “Hold fn and dictate a time entry in your own words.”
- “Lazur, draft a change note about the revised slide.”
- “Hold ⌥ ⌘ and ask what this formula is doing.”
Free for 3 days, then $18/month. Download for Mac
You say“Hold fn and say: two hours on the revised slide, out of scope, Tuesday.”
Lazur · types what you sayThe text lands at the cursor. You check the hours and the bucket before you save the row.
Typed at your cursor
Two hours on the revised market slide, second version, out of scope, requested Tuesday by email.
What consultants say to Lazur for this
Each one is a single hold of ⌥ ⌘.
“Lazur, where is the bucket column in this sheet?”
Lazur draws a circle and a label around the column, so you find it at once.
Points at it
“Lazur, walk me through filtering this log by bucket.”
Lazur guides you one click at a time and waits for each click before the next step.
Walks you through it
“Hold fn and dictate a time entry in your own words.”
Clean text lands at the cursor in any app, so the entry goes in before you forget it.
Types what you say
“Lazur, draft a change note about the revised slide.”
You get a draft to edit. You read it and send it yourself.
Drafts it
“Hold ⌥ ⌘ and ask what this formula is doing.”
Lazur answers out loud about what is on screen, so you can check your sheet logic.
Explains what's on screen
A plan you can start this week
- Day 1
Pull the contract and list the in-scope deliverables
Open the contract, scope or statement of work. List each deliverable in one line. Those lines are your in-scope baseline. Anything outside them is a candidate for the out-of-scope bucket.
- Day 2
Build a log with three buckets
Create one Excel sheet with columns for date, client, bucket, hours and description. Add a short list of bucket values to the bucket column. Keep the sheet in the same place every day, so you never hunt for it.
- Day 3
Log every extra hour the same day
At the end of each day, enter any hours beyond the contract. Use the right bucket and a description a client could read. Set a reminder for the same time each day, so the habit has a trigger.
- Day 4
Send a change note for each out-of-scope request
For each out-of-scope request, send a short note with what was asked, what it changes and the hours so far. Ask for approval before you do more. Keep copies in the same folder as the log.
- Day 5
Filter, total and decide what to flag
Filter the bucket column to out-of-scope and goodwill rows. Read the totals. Decide what to raise with your lead this week, and what to change in the next proposal or scope.
Questions people ask
How much consulting work goes unbilled?
A 2016 study by TIQ and London Business School found about 15% of chargeable consulting work is not billed to clients. It is the best figure we found, but it is not recent and it covers mixed professions. Check your own log to see your own number.
Is all unbilled time a tracking problem?
No. Fixed-price agreements can make some unbilled work a deliberate choice. The real problem is hours nobody decided on. Log the deliberate ones under their own bucket, so the choice shows up in your totals.
What if my timesheet only has client project codes?
Keep your own Excel log alongside it. Ask your manager whether a non-billable or out-of-scope code exists. Follow your firm's time policy first. A private log still helps you spot the pattern when the official system cannot show it.
What do I do with hours I already forgot to log?
Rebuild them from your calendar, sent emails and file dates. Log them as estimates and say so in the description. An honest estimate today is better than a perfect record that never gets made.
Should I log goodwill hours if nobody bills them?
Yes. Log them under goodwill so the total stays visible. Hidden goodwill hides the real cost of a client relationship, and your next estimate will come out too low.
Can Lazur log my hours for me?
No. Lazur can dictate text at your cursor, guide you through steps and draft a note. It does not click buttons or edit your timesheet. You enter the hours and choose the bucket.
Does a timer app fix this on its own?
Not on its own. An idle prompt helps you remember time you stepped away from. It cannot tell whether the work was in scope, so you still need the bucket and a clear description.
Sources
- 15% of chargeable consulting work is not billed to clients · Consultancy.uk · checked 2026-11-09
- Toggl Track Desktop App for macOS · Toggl Support · checked 2026-11-09
- Free Mac Time Tracker · Toggl · checked 2026-11-09
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