---
title: "Can I Track Subcontractor Hours in Houzz Pro?"
url: "https://pro.houzz.com/pro-help/r/track-subcontractor-hours-in-houzz-pro"
datePublished: "2026-08-03T17:55:47+0000"
---

Houzz Pro Help Center > Project Management

# 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](https://pro.houzz.com/pro-help/r/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](https://pro.houzz.com/pro-help/r/how-to-log-and-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.