Labor tracking in Adaptive automatically syncs time activities from QuickBooks Online, calculates labor costs based on employee rates, and enables you to bill clients for labor hours. This guide walks you through setting up and using labor tracking for your projects.
1. Viewing Time Sheets
To access your time activities:
Navigate to the Expenses section
Click on Time Sheets
You'll see all time sheets or time activities pulled in directly from QuickBooks Online
How time activities sync:
QuickBooks Time or Classic QuickBooks Time: Time activities pulled in as soon as they are approved
Direct time activity expenses or third-party tools: Show up in Adaptive as soon as you save them in QuickBooks
Information pulled from QuickBooks:
Employee
Date
Number of hours
Job (if assigned)
Cost code (if assigned)
Description (if assigned)
You can manually add or edit these fields directly in Adaptive.
2. Setting Up Employee Cost Rates
To track the cost impact of labor hours, you need to configure employee cost rates.
Import employees from QuickBooks:
Go to Settings → People
Click Import from QuickBooks
For each employee, uncheck the access boxes if you don't want them to receive Adaptive invitations or notifications
Sync existing employees:
Open the employee's profile in Adaptive
Select their matching QuickBooks employee from the dropdown
Click Save
Set cost rates:
In the employee's profile, enter their cost rate (this should be your employee's fully burdened rate)
Select the start date for this rate:
Use January 1st if you want to track year-over-year changes
Choose an earlier date if you don't need to track year-over-year changes
If you've been uploading time sheets as expenses or bills, select a date after your last upload to avoid double-counting costs
Click Save
Important: Only time activities dated on or after the start date will use the new cost rate. Time activities without a matching cost rate won't populate in your budget.
3. Configuring Billable Rates for Jobs
After setting up cost rates, configure what you'll charge clients for labor on each job.
Set billable rates:
Navigate to your job
Go to the Billable Rate section
Choose your billing structure:
Flat rate: Same rate for all time activities
Different rates by employee: For example, billing less for an apprentice
Different rates by cost code: Varying rates based on the type of work
Enter your rates and save
Copy rates between jobs:
If you use the same rates across multiple jobs, click Copy from another job to save time
Note: If you don't set a billable rate, Adaptive defaults to the employee's cost rate.
4. Adding Labor to Draws
Once your rates are configured, you can bill for labor by including time activities in your draws.
Include time activities in a draw:
Go to the job's Draws tab
Click New Draw
Click Link costs to this draw
Select Time Activities from the available options
Choose which time activities to include
Add them to the draw
The system automatically calculates:
Cost: Hours × Employee cost rate
Price: Hours × Billable rate for this job
Tip: If you forgot to set billable rates, you can configure them directly when adding time activities to your first draw.
5. What Clients See
When you download and share draw exports with clients:
Only the price (billable amount) is visible
Your internal cost rates remain confidential
The transaction backup shows hours worked and prices, but not cost rate details
6. Tracking Labor in Your Budget
Labor tracking automatically updates your job budgets:
Actual Cost to Date: Shows real labor costs based on time activities and cost rates
Drawn to Date: Reflects billed labor that's been included in draws
Click on any amount to see detailed breakdowns of the included time activities.
7. Quick Setup Summary
To start using labor tracking, you only need to:
Set cost rates for your employees in Settings → People
Set billable rates for each job in the job's Billable Rate section
Once configured, your time activities from QuickBooks will automatically calculate costs and enable billing through draws.