Can I Track Subcontractor Hours in Houzz Pro?

Houzz Pro isn't designed for tracking a subcontractor's hours directly, and we recommend against using it that way — even informally. Here's why, and what we support instead.

Why We Don't Support This

Subcontractors should track their own hours in their own systems, then invoice you for completed work. When you track a sub's hours inside your own account, it blurs the distinction between an employee and an independent contractor.

This matters because those records can be used as evidence in an audit, a worker's compensation claim, an unemployment claim, or a labor dispute. If a sub is logging hours inside your system the way an employee would, it can suggest that you're managing them like an employee rather than paying them for completed work — which carries real legal and financial risk.

What You Can Do Instead

While you can't log or approve a subcontractor's actual hours worked in Houzz Pro, there are a few ways to manage the financial and planning side of subcontractor work in your account.

Use Purchase Orders to Set Expectations

You can create a purchase order as a work order to tell a subcontractor what work you need done and the hours you anticipate paying for. This documents your side of the agreement upfront.

Note: A subcontractor can't log a "response" to a purchase order that records the hours they actually worked — for example, logging 17 hours against a purchase order that anticipated 15. Purchase orders communicate expectations; they don't capture a sub's self-reported time.

Learn more: How to Create Purchase Orders

Track Subcontractor Invoices as Expenses

When a sub sends you an invoice for their hours worked, you can log it as an expense in Houzz Pro to record that you received and paid it.

Learn more: How to Log & Manage Expenses

The Bottom Line

Leaving time tracking to the subcontractor — and using Houzz Pro to manage invoices and expectations rather than logged time — helps keep a clear, defensible line between your employees and your independent contractors.