At Float, you can set up two types of rates: cost rates and bill rates. While both are optional, together they move you beyond scheduling and into real financial visibility—giving you a complete picture of how profitable your work actually is.
Cost rates
Cost rates reflect the real expense your business incurs to employ people, including salaries and overhead. They're internal-facing, often contain sensitive salary information, and are used to calculate the true cost of delivering projects.
Why cost rates matter
Every employee has a cost—whether their time is billed or not. Even if a team member is not assigned to project work, is working on an internal or non-billable project, or their work is not invoiced to a client, there is still a real cost to your organization.
To operate profitably, your revenue must exceed the combined cost of employee time, overhead, and operational expenses.
Setting up cost rates allows you to:
Calculate project delivery costs
Track profit margins
Maintain historical accuracy when rates change
Plan for promotions or future rate adjustments
Cost rates access and visibility
Access to cost rates depends on user permissions:
Account Owner and Admins can view and manage all cost rates.
Managers can be granted permission to:
View cost rates
View project profitability
Members cannot see rates.
You can review exactly who has access to cost rates in Team settings > Roles & rates > Who can see rates.
💡 Here's a tip: Grant access to cost rates carefully. These figures often reflect individual salaries and should only be visible to people who need them to manage budgets or report on profitability.
Cost rates are directly visible in:
In Team settings > Roles & rates (role cost rates),
In the Info tab of each person's profile (personal cost rates),
On the Project view (personal cost rates) - can be hidden using the data visibility menu.
On the reports, cost rates can be calculated based on the scheduled time and scheduled costs.
Setting up cost rates
At Float, cost rates apply to a role or to a person. They cannot be customized per project or per project phase.
Cost rates on the role level can be set up by the Account Owner and Admins in Team settings > Roles & rates.
Cost rates on the personal level can be set up by the Account Owner, Admins, and Managers with permission to edit people, in the Info tab of each person's profile.
Cost rates hierarchy
Cost rates follow a simple hierarchy: Role cost rate → Person cost rate.
Role cost rate is the default rate assigned to a role.
Person cost rate overrides the role cost rate.
Cost rates at the role level
Account Owners and Admins can set and manage role cost rates in Team settings > Roles & rates.
When role cost rates are set, any new person assigned to that role automatically inherits the role’s cost rate.
Add a new role with a cost rate
Go to Team settings > Roles & rates
Click Add to create a new role
Enter the hourly cost rate in the Cost rate field
Click Save
Set a cost rate for an existing role
Go to Team settings > Roles & rates
Select an existing role
Enter the hourly cost rate in the Cost rate field
Click Save
Update the cost rate for an existing role
Go to Team settings > Roles & rates
Select an existing role
Enter the new hourly cost rate in the Cost rate field
Choose the effective date:
All past and future days, or
Apply from a specific date onward
Click Update rates
Cost rate effective dates
Cost rates, both at the role and personal levels, support point-in-time effective dates. This ensures accurate historical reporting and allows you to schedule future changes. When updating a cost rate, you can apply the rate to All past and future days, or to A specific date onward. This allows you to:
Apply a rate in the past (for historical reporting)
Apply it today
Schedule a rate change in the future (for example, for promotions)
Example:
$70/hr effective April 1
$50/hr effective June 1
Float applies:
$70 from April 1–May 31
$50 from June 1 onward
The displayed cost rate always reflects the rate that applies today. Use View changes to review or delete historical entries.
📝Note: If you add a past rate but already have a future rate saved, the future rate will still take effect when its date arrives.
Cost rates at the person level
Anyone with permission to edit people can set and manage personal cost rates in the Info tab of each person’s profile. If a role is assigned and has a cost rate, the person inherits that rate by default unless a custom rate is applied.
Add a personal cost rate (no role assigned)
Open the person’s profile
Enter the hourly cost rate
Click Save
Update a personal cost rate (no role assigned)
Open the person’s profile
Enter the new hourly cost rate
Choose the effective date:
All past and future days, or
Apply from a specific date onward
Click Update person
If the effective date overlaps existing allocations, historical project cost calculations will update accordingly.
Assign a role and inherit the role cost rate
If cost rates are set at the role level, a person automatically inherits the role’s cost rate when a role is assigned.
To assign a role:
Open the person’s profile
Select the role
Confirm the inherited cost rate
Click Update person (or Add person if new)
You can keep the inherited role rate or set a custom personal cost rate.
Override an inherited role rate
To override the inherited role rate:
Open the person’s profile
Enter the new hourly cost rate
Choose the effective date:
All past and future days, or
Apply from a specific date onward
Click Update person
The inherited role rate appears with a strikethrough once overridden. If the effective date overlaps existing allocations, historical project cost calculations will update accordingly. Use View changes to review or delete historical entries.
Role changes impact on cost rates
When changing a person’s role, you must choose an effective date:
Apply from a specific date onward
Apply to all past and future days
If the person has a custom personal cost rate set, you can choose to:
Keep the existing personal rates
Apply the new role’s default rates
All changes are tracked under View changes. Deleted entries revert to the last known rate unless explicitly removed. Changes are not saved until you click Update person.
Bulk editing cost rates
Bulk edit role cost rates
Go to Team settings > Roles & rates
Select one or more roles
Click Edit
Choose Cost rate
Enter the new rate and select the effective date
Click Save
Bulk edit personal cost rates
Go to the People page
Select one or more people
Click Edit
Choose Cost rate
Select one of the following:
Set custom rate and enter the rate + effective date
Inherit role rate and select the effective date
Click Update
Cost reports
Understanding your team’s cost is essential for managing profitability. Once cost rates are set for each team member, you can use the Report page to analyze the true cost of your team’s time.
You can review costs in the following reports: People Report, Projects Report, and the Single Project Report.
Data visibility based on your Float plan
The type of cost data available depends on your plan:
Starter plan: Scheduled costs only
Pro and Enterprise plans: Scheduled costs, Logged costs, Projected costs, and Expense costs.
Cost types explained
Scheduled costs are calculated using scheduled hours (both billable and non-billable) multiplied by each team member’s cost rate. Non-billable time is included because it still represents a real cost to your organization.
Scheduled costs = Scheduled hours (billable + non-billable) × cost rates
Logged costs are calculated by multiplying actual logged hours by cost rates. These reflect actual tracked time rather than planned time.
Logged costs = Logged hours (billable + non-billable) × cost rates
Projected costs combine past logged hours (actuals) and future scheduled hours (forecast). This provides a forward-looking view of total costs.
Projected costs = passed logged hours (billable + non-billable) × cost rates + future scheduled hours (billable + non-billable) × cost rates
Expenses costs - non-labor project costs like travel, equipment rentals, software licenses, or materials that you track directly within projects. Expenses always increase the total project cost, whether they're billable or non-billable.
People Report
In Report > People, you can analyze scheduled costs across different dimensions to understand how team time translates into financial impact.
Cost per person
In the People tab of the People Report, you can review the scheduled costs for each team member. You can use the drop-down arrow next to the person's name to view the scheduled costs for each project they are assigned to.
Scheduled cost is calculated based on:
The total scheduled hours (both billable and non-billable), and
The individual cost rate set for each person.
For example, if my cost rate is $95 per hour and I’m scheduled for:
1 hour on a billable project, and
1 hour on a non-billable internal project,
My total scheduled cost for that day would be: 2 hours × $95 = $190
Non-billable hours are included because—even though they are not invoiced—they still represent a real cost to your organization.
Cost per role
In the Roles tab of the People Report, you can review scheduled costs grouped by role. This includes:
Roles assigned to specific people
Roles that are not yet assigned
Scheduled cost is calculated based on:
The individual’s cost rate (for assigned roles), or
The default role cost rate (for unassigned roles)
Multiplied by scheduled hours.
For example:
2 Junior Designers with a cost rate of $50/hour
1 unassigned Designer role with a cost rate of $45/hour
Each scheduled for 1 hour
Calculation:
2 × $50 = $100
1 × $45 = $45
Total scheduled cost for the Designer role: $145
Cost per department
In the Department tab of the People Report, you can review scheduled costs grouped by department.
This is calculated based on:
Individual cost rates of department members
Total scheduled hours
Cost per project
In the Projects tab of the People Report, you can review the scheduled cost for each project.
The calculation is based on:
Individual cost rates of team members assigned to the project
Their total scheduled hours for that project within the selected time frame
Cost per task
In the Task tab of the People Report, you can review the scheduled cost for each task.
The calculation is based on:
Individual cost rates of team members allocated to the task
Their total scheduled hours for that task within the selected time frame
Projects Report
In Report > Projects, you can review the scheduled cost of each project across your workspace. If a project has phases, you can use the drop-down next to the project name to display the phase details.
The calculation is based on:
Individual cost rates of team members working on the project
Their total scheduled hours within the selected time frame
Billable expenses (if applicable)
Costs = (team's scheduled hours × cost rates) + billable expenses
This report helps you compare project-level cost performance at a glance.
Single Project Report
The Single Project Report allows you to analyze the actual costs of a specific project.
The project total cost includes scheduled team costs and recorded expenses.
Costs = (team's scheduled hours × cost rates) + expense costs
Margin calculations
Project costs are included in margin calculations for the Time & Materials and Fixed Fee projects.
If the project budget is Time & materials:
Margin = ((billable hours x bill rates) - all costs / (billable hours x bill rates) * 100If the project budget is a Fixed fee:
Margin can be based on the total budget
Margin = (project fees - all costs) / project fees * 100Margin can be based on the total billable
Margin = ((billable hours x bill rates) - all costs / (billable hours x bill rates) * 100