Labor Cost is the charge for the technician's time spent performing a job — separate from the cost of parts and materials. How Labor Cost is calculated depends entirely on the Billing Rule configured on the Work Order's Service Type.
Note: Labor Cost is separate from the Parts/Materials covered in the Service Appointments article (Convert to Invoice / Convert to Expense). Labor Cost is calculated at the Work Order level, based on the Billing Rule of the Service Type.
The Billing Rule is set on the Service Type linked to the Work Order. There are three possible rules, each with a different Labor Cost calculation method.
How it works: The Work Order is charged a single flat Labor Cost, regardless of how many hours the technician actually worked.
Labor Cost = Fixed Price value configured on the Service Type
Example: Service Type "Split AC Preventive Maintenance" has Billing Rule = Fixed Price, Fixed Price = $120.00. Regardless of whether the job took 1 hour or 3 hours across all Appointments, the Labor Cost for this Work Order is $120.00.
How it works: Labor Cost is calculated based on the total hours actually logged by technicians across all Appointments belonging to this Work Order, multiplied by the hourly Rate configured on the Service Territory of the Work Order.
Labor Cost = Total Timesheet Hours (all Appointments of the WO) × Service Territory Rate
The system sums all Timesheet durations recorded under every Appointment Detail → Timesheets tab that belongs to this Work Order. If the Work Order has multiple Appointments, and each Appointment has one or more Timesheets (potentially from multiple technicians), all of these durations are added together.
The hourly rate is not set on the Service Type. It comes from the Service Territory linked to the Work Order, specifically the Rate field configured when the Territory was created (Field Service → Settings → Service Territory).
Important: The Service Territory's Rate applies uniformly to all technicians and all Timesheets under this Work Order — it does not vary by individual technician.
How it works: No Labor Cost is charged, regardless of hours worked.
Labor Cost = $0.00
Example: A "Post-Repair Follow-up Visit" Service Type with Billing Rule = Free always generates $0.00 Labor Cost, even if Timesheets show several hours of technician time logged.
Once all work on a Work Order is finished, mark it as Completed to trigger the Labor Cost invoicing/expense option.
Step 1. Open the Work Order Detail page
Step 2. Click the status dropdown → select Mark as Completed
Step 3. Once the status updates to Completed, the Convert Labor Cost to Invoice/expense button appears in the top-right action area
Step 4. Click Convert Labor Cost to Invoice/Expense
Step 5. The system calculates the Labor Cost according to the Billing Rule of the Work Order's Service Type and generates an Invoice/expense
Step 6. The generated Invoice/expense is linked back to the Work Order — visible under the Labor Cost Invoice/Expense field on the Work Order Overview
