✔  Available on Free Forever, Starter, Deliver, Grow, and Scale subscriptions 1

What
Create time and materials budgets based on hours or a set fee amount to track project budget as work progresses.
Why
  • Know how much time should be spent on a project — kick off the project with a budget, and stick to it!
  • Monitor resources as the project progresses.
  • Take action when it looks like the project could go over budget.
Who
  • Site admins (in the owner company) can view, create, and manage budgets on all projects.
  • Site admins (in external companies/clients) can view, create, and manage budgets on projects they're a member of.
  • Project admins can view, create, and manage budgets on projects they're an admin on.
  • Standard users and client users with the project permission:
    • View project budget (grants users view-only access to the project's Finance > Budgets section).
    • Manage project budget (allows users to create and manage time & materials budgets).
When
If you're working on a one-off project with a specifically defined outcome (i.e. providing a finished piece of work or specific deliverable) where you need to track budget. Or when you need to budget more granularly for subsets of work using task list budgets.
What
Create time and materials budgets based on hours or a set fee amount to track project budget as work progresses.
Why
  • Know how much time should be spent on a project — kick off the project with a budget, and stick to it!
  • Monitor resources as the project progresses.
  • Take action when it looks like the project could go over budget.
Who
  • Site admins (in the owner company) can view, create, and manage budgets on all projects.
  • Site admins (in external companies/clients) can view, create, and manage budgets on projects they're a member of.
  • Project admins can view, create, and manage budgets on projects they're an admin on.
  • Standard users and client users with the project permission:
    • View project budget (grants users view-only access to the project's Finance > Budgets section).
    • Manage project budget (allows users to create and manage time & materials budgets).
When
If you're working on a one-off project with a specifically defined outcome (i.e. providing a finished piece of work or specific deliverable) where you need to track budget. Or when you need to budget more granularly for subsets of work using task list budgets.

Before you start

  • Budgets require a project's Time and Finance features be turned on.
  • Each project can have one active budget at a time. The active budget is the one encompassing today’s date.
  • Time and materials budgets can be based on total hours or total fee.
💡 For projects that involve ongoing work with a set budget renewing on a predefined cadence (like monthly or quarterly), check out retainer budgets. 

Feature limits

Teamwork.com plan
Total number of budgets
Time & materials (total hours) budgets
 Time & materials (total fee) budgets
Free Forever
2
1 active
1 active
Starter
3
2 active
1 active
Deliver (& Pro)
8
5 active
3 active
Grow (& Premium)
Unlimited
Unlimited
30 active
Scale (& Enterprise)
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Teamwork.com plan
Total number of budgets
Time & materials (total hours) budgets
 Time & materials (total fee) budgets
Free Forever
2
1 active
1 active
Starter
3
2 active
1 active
Deliver (& Pro)
8
5 active
3 active
Grow (& Premium)
Unlimited
Unlimited
30 active
Scale (& Enterprise)
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited

Create a time & materials budget


  1. Click Jump to in Teamwork.com's main navigation menu.
  2. Search for and select a project.
  3. Switch to the Finance section from the project's navigation bar. The Finance tab might be hidden under the More... option.
  4. Select the Budgets tab.
  5. Click Add project budget in the Budget overview panel.
    1. If an existing budget is set, click the ellipsis (...)  at the top of the panel, then click Add New Budget.  
  6. Select Time & materials as the budget type.

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  7. Set the budget amount.
    1. Click the dropdown and choose Time or Financial.
    2. Enter the total budget value.The fields change (either time or currency based) depending on your chosen budget type — set an amount of hours and minutes or a monetary amount. 
       
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  8. Click the first date field to select a start date.

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  9. Set an end date. This is optional but recommended so the budget isn't left open-ended. Prefer to manage resources week to week (or other increments)? Think of this as a way to run mini budgets throughout the project.
    ⚠️ Budgets in the same project cannot be active on overlapping dates. Therefore, one budget's start and end dates cannot coincide with an existing (current or upcoming) budget's dates.
  10. Click the Budget based on field to choose which time logs (billable, non-billable, or all time) count towards the budget's usage.
  11. Click Create budget. You've covered the basics of a time and materials project budget. Check out "Level up" below for more advanced options you can set before finishing creating your budget.

    💡 Level up

    Set additional advanced budget options before clicking Create budget:
    • Repeat: Choose a repeat frequency (every X days, weeks, or months).
      • Use repeats in conjunction with start and end dates to auto-create new budgets at regular intervals as your project progresses.
    • Default billable rate: Check the Set default billable rate box (under "Advanced options") and enter a monetary value. This is the default rate applied to users when calculating their billable time.
    • Notifications: Check the Notify box (under "Advanced options") to set up notifications to go out when a specified amount of the budget has been used. For each notification, you can set:
      • Recipient(s) 
      • Notification type (email or mobile push)
      • Budget usage % (when reached or exceeded, prompt notification)

The budget is created and is displayed in the Budget overview panel in the project's Finance > Budgets section.


View the current project budget

Budgets can be viewed from a project's Finance > Budgets section.

  1. Click Jump to in Teamwork.com's main navigation menu.
  2. Search for and select a project.
  3. Switch to the Finance section from the project's navigation bar. The Finance tab might be hidden under the More... option.
  4. Select the Budgets tab.
  5. Scroll to the Budget overview panel.

The panel displays the project's current budget, if one exists — this is an active budget with dates spanning the current date. Upcoming budgets (with start dates in the future) are not displayed until their start date arrives.
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The current budget's properties are also displayed in the panel.

Property
Purpose
Budget details
The budget's dates, type, basis (billable/non-billable/all time), and repeat settings are displayed at the top.
Graph
A graph shows the budget's usage. Hover over points in the graph to see usage at a specific point.
Usage bar
Displays a progress bar visualization showing the budget's current usage. You'll also see figures for:
  • Current period total (hours or monetary value) and corresponding %
  • Remainder left and corresponding %
Historical & upcoming budgets
View historical and upcoming budgets from the bottom of the budget panel.
Notifications
Existing notifications set up for the budget are located in the Notifications tab below the budget panel.
Property
Purpose
Budget total & type
The budget's dates, type, basis (billable/non-billable/all time), and repeat settings are displayed at the top.
Graph
A graph shows the budget's usage. Hover over points in the graph to see usage at a specific point.
Usage bar
Displays a progress bar visualization showing the budget's current usage. You'll also see figures for:
  • Current period total (hours or monetary value) and corresponding %
  • Remainder left and corresponding %
Historical & upcoming budgets
View historical and upcoming budgets from the bottom of the budget panel.
Notifications
Existing notifications set up for the budget are located in the Notifications tab below the budget panel.


Edit the current budget

Update the current budget's details such as total budget and dates.

⚠️ Once created, you cannot convert an open-ended time & materials into a repeating budget.
⚠️ A repeating budget's start date cannot be edited. You'll need to delete the budget and create a new repeating budget with your new date and repeat frequency requirements.

  1. Click Jump to in Teamwork.com's main navigation menu.
  2. Search for and select a project.
  3. Switch to the Finance section from the project's navigation bar. The Finance tab might be hidden under the More... option.
  4. Select the Budgets tab.

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  5. Click the three dots (vertical ellipsis) in the view's top right.
  6. Select Edit budget.

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  7. Update the relevant budget details.
  8. Click Advanced options to review and update budget notifications.
  9. Click Update to save your changes.

End the current budget

No longer need the current budget? You can end the current budget to archive it.

  1. Click Jump to in Teamwork.com's main navigation menu.
  2. Search for and select a project.
  3. Switch to the Finance section from the project's navigation bar. The Finance tab might be hidden under the More... option.
  4. Select the Budgets tab.
  5. Click the three dots (vertical ellipsis) in the view's top right.
  6. Select End current budget.

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The budget ends and is archived. It is listed in the project's budget history.
 

Delete the current budget

Ending (archiving) the budget not permanent enough? Delete the current budget to remove it completely.

  1. Click Jump to in Teamwork.com's main navigation menu.
  2. Search for and select a project.
  3. Switch to the Finance section from the project's navigation bar. The Finance tab might be hidden under the More... option.
  4. Select the Budgets tab.
  5. Click the three dots (vertical ellipsis) in the view's top right.
  6. Select Delete budget.

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  7. Click OK in the confirmation window.


View upcoming project budgets

View budgets that have start dates in the future.

  1. Click Jump to in Teamwork.com's main navigation menu.
  2. Search for and select a project.
  3. Switch to the Finance section from the project's navigation bar. The Finance tab might be hidden under the More... option.
  4. Select the Budgets tab.
  5. Click the three dots (vertical ellipsis) in the view's top right.
  6. Select View upcoming budgets.
     
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    📝 The Upcoming budgets window lists the project's upcoming budgets, their value, dates, and whether they repeat.
  7. Next:
    1. Stop there: Click Close.
    2. Keep going: Manage existing budgets (options listed below), then click Close.
      1. Edit - click the pencil icon.
      2. Delete - click the trash can.

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View historical project budgets

When a budget is ended manually or its associated dates have passed, it is moved to the budget history.

  1. Click Jump to in Teamwork.com's main navigation menu.
  2. Search for and select a project.
  3. Switch to the Finance section from the project's navigation bar. The Finance tab might be hidden under the More... option.
  4. Select the Budgets tab. 
  5. Scroll to the bottom of the Budget overview panel.
  6. Click View historical budgets.


     
  7. Select a historical budget from the list on the left to view its details and usage graph.



  8. Next:
    1. Stop there: Click Close to return to the Budgets view.
    2. Keep going: Click the trash can in the top right to delete the historical budget, before clicking Close.

Best practices

  • Stay informed: Review project budget during weekly meetings to ensure that 1) you're on budget and 2) data is being appropriately tracked (i.e. time is being logged). 
  • Create budgets at the start: Add a budget as part of the process of kicking off a project or task list — even better, add budgets to project templates if you can.

Elevate

  • Granular financial visibility: Drill down into your project budget by creating budgets for each task list.
  • Expense tracking: Account for one-off costs associated with a project by creating budget expenses in conjunction with a financial (fee-based) project budget.
  • Smart budgeting: Use retainer budgets for ongoing client work, rolling leftover budget from one period to the next, or fixed fee budgets for client work with a pre-agreed total client cost.
1. Also available on legacy subscriptions: Pro, Premium, Enterprise.