Pulling Out Hours When Sum Exceeds 24 Hrs

There is probably a simple solution to my problem that I am just not seeing because I cannot believe I'm the only one trying to pull out the number of hours after summing a column of times when the total exceeds 24 hrs. I have attached a sample spreadsheet which has columns for start time, end time and time used (ie end - start time) Originally when I totalled the column of time used, I got 20:27 hrs instead of the correct 44:27 hrs. After doing some research I found out that I had to create a custom format of [h]:mm to get it show beyond 24 hrs. However, now that I can see the 44 hrs and 27 min as 44:27, I cannot seem to pull out the 44 hrs to use it in a calculation of multiplying total time against a charging rate ($/hr) to get a total cost in $. The sum using [h]:mm is in cell F68 and I was hoping to convert this [h]:mm into a number of hrs as a decimal (ie 44:27 to 44.45 hr) by =((HOUR(F68)+MINUTE(F68)/60)) but I get back to the 20 hrs of a h:mm format.

I was originally surprised that I couldn't sum a column of times and get the total time without creating a special format. But I am really surprised that it isn't intuitive to pull out the correct number of hours when it exceeds 24 hrs. I am sure that it's simple because it seems something that a lot of people would have going on in accounting type of spreadsheets. I am going to be doing a lot of summing times coming up and would appreciate suggestions. This forum helped me once before and I hope for the same results!