Making Time Log

Who this is for

How long things really take. Log each spell of work by product and stage, and the log works out the minutes per item and what that time is worth at the hourly rate you set for yourself.

Makers who suspect their prices do not cover their time and want real timings, stage by stage, before they cost a product or quote for a batch.

What this helps you track

• Each spell of work with its date, product, stage, start and finish
• Items completed in that spell and the minutes each one took
• The labour cost per item at your own hourly rate
• Total making hours over the period
• A per-product summary of average time and labour cost

How to use it

1. Write your name, the period the log covers and the hourly rate you pay yourself in the header.
2. Each time you sit down to make, note the date, product, stage and the time you start and stop.
3. Write the minutes worked and how many items you finished at that stage in that spell.
4. Minutes per item and labour cost per item fill in by themselves in the browser and the workbook; on paper, divide the minutes by the items.
5. At the end of the period, add up the minutes and items for each product and copy them into the product summary.
6. Use the labour cost per item in your product costing sheet.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

What hourly rate should I use?

Whatever you decide your time is worth, or what you would have to pay someone else to do the work. The log applies the rate you write in and does not suggest one.

Should I time a whole batch or one item?

Time the batch and write how many items it produced. Minutes per item then averages out the set-up and clearing away, which is closer to how you really work.

Why split the work into stages?

It shows which stage eats the time. If finishing takes longer than making, that is where a jig, a better tool or a design change will save the most.

Why do I enter minutes rather than letting it work them out?

Start and finish times are there as a record, but breaks and interruptions mean the gap is not always the time worked. Writing the minutes you actually worked keeps the costing honest.