About
What this is, and one disclosure
An editorial site for people who sell their time — with no connection to whatever previously occupied this domain name.
Time and Materials publishes guides on the commercial mechanics of client work: estimating from evidence rather than optimism, writing a scope that survives the project, recording time so the numbers mean something, invoicing in a way that gets paid, and working out which clients are actually profitable.
Who it is written for
Agencies of three people. Studios of twelve. Freelancers who have got good at the work and are still working out the business around it. Anyone who has delivered a project profitably on paper and cannot explain where the margin went.
Most writing about running a services business assumes a finance function and an operations manager. These guides assume the person doing the estimating is also doing the work, the invoicing and the chasing.
Why time recording runs through everything
Estimating, pricing, client profitability and invoice defence all depend on the same thing: an honest record of what previous work actually took. A studio without one is guessing at its own rates and cannot tell which of its clients are worth keeping.
The guides take a consistent position on this. The mechanism matters far less than the timing — anything recorded during the work beats anything reconstructed on Friday — and time data should be used for estimating, pricing and invoicing rather than for assessing individuals, because the moment it is used for the latter it stops being accurate.
What the site covers
- Estimating and pricing client projects.
- Scope, change control and approvals.
- Time recording, utilisation and estimate-versus-actual review.
- Invoices, payment timing and client profitability.
- Client communication and engagement management.
On the advice given here
These guides describe common commercial practice and are written in general terms. Contract law, intellectual property defaults, late payment entitlements, worker classification tests and tax obligations differ substantially between jurisdictions and change over time. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice; anything with a material commitment attached warrants qualified advice on your own situation.
How the guides are put together
Each guide deals with one problem and tries to answer it at a level someone could act on: what to decide, what to write down, what to measure and what it costs. Where a recommendation has a cost — and most do — the cost is stated rather than omitted.
The full list is in the index.