SeeGlancePaying subcontractors and measuring real project profit
The first time you hire help, revenue goes up and profit becomes harder to see. Contractor payments, expenses and your own time all need to land on the right project. Here is a simple way to keep the numbers honest.
Why profit gets harder to see when you hire help
Working alone, revenue and profit are close: your income is what clients pay minus a few tools. Once you bring in a designer, developer or editor, a project can bring in $5,000 and still lose money after the contractor’s invoice, tools, and the extra hours you spend managing it.
You need three numbers per project: billed (what you invoiced), collected (what actually arrived), and cost (contractors, expenses and time). The difference between collected and cost is your real margin.
What counts as a project cost
- Contractor payments: agreed amount while the task is open, actual amount once paid.
- Direct expenses: stock assets, plugins, fonts, hosting bought for the job.
- Time: your hours and your team’s hours, valued at an internal cost rate (not what you charge the client).
Leaving time out is the usual mistake. A project can look profitable on paper and still earn you less per hour than a part-time job.
Set up each contractor engagement properly
- One task, one agreed price. A defined deliverable, due date and fee, agreed in writing before they start.
- Clear status. Assigned, delivered, paid or cancelled, so you always know what you still owe.
- Payment details in one place. Their payout method and any notes, not scattered across chats.
- A simple agreement. Scope, rate, deadline, IP assignment, confidentiality and what happens if the client cancels. Employment classification and tax rules differ between countries, so get local advice for recurring work.
Markup: price from the margin you want
Don’t price contractor work as “their cost plus 20%” by reflex. Choose a target margin on the whole project and work backwards:
Example: a $4,000 project with $1,200 of contractor cost and $150 of expenses leaves $2,650. If you spent 30 hours, you earned about $88 per hour. If a $4,000 price needs 50 hours, it’s $53 per hour — price the next one higher or tighten the scope.
Scope changes hit margin hardest. Use a change order before the contractor starts extra work, not after.
The reports worth reading
- By project: which projects made money, which didn’t.
- By client: a client who always asks for revisions costs more than their invoices suggest.
- By team member: hours and value logged versus cost.
- By month: billed versus cost, to see whether margin is moving.
Doing it in SeeGlance
On Pro, add subcontractors with their rate, payout details and skills, then assign them to a project with a task, agreed amount and due date. They can follow their task through a private link without needing an account, and you track whether each job is assigned, delivered, paid or cancelled. Expenses are logged on the project, and the project’s cost panel shows costs, profit and margin.
The Team plan adds a profit report across projects: billed, collected, contractor cost, expenses and time cost, grouped by project, client, team member and month, for the last 30 or 90 days, this year, the last 12 months or all time. Amounts stay in their own currencies instead of being silently converted.
For budgets that warn you before a project runs over, see the guide on project budgets, timesheet lock and workload.
A monthly 15-minute review
- Open the profit report for the last 90 days.
- Sort by margin. Look at the bottom three projects: why were they low?
- Check the unpaid contractor jobs.
- Decide one pricing or scoping change to make before the next quote.
FAQ
How much markup should I add to subcontractor work?
There is no standard number. Work out your target margin first, then price so contractor cost plus your management time still leaves it. Many agencies aim for a clear margin on every project and test it quarterly.
Do I need a contract with each subcontractor?
Yes: scope, rate, deadline, IP assignment and confidentiality at minimum. Laws about classification differ by country, so get local advice.
What counts as project cost?
Contractor payments, software or stock bought for the job, and the value of your own and your team’s time. Leaving time out makes every project look more profitable than it was.
How often should I review margin?
After each project closes, and monthly across projects, to spot the client types that quietly cost you money.
Run this whole workflow in one place?
Add contractors and expenses to a project and see its profit and margin. The Team plan adds the cross-project profit report.
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