The retainer says £100 an hour. Once 62 hours go in instead of 45, it pays £72.58 and nobody ever agreed a discount
Retainer Over-Servicing Calculator
Over-servicing is not a decision, it is seventeen helpful hours a month. Put your retainer fee, scoped hours and hours actually delivered in and see the effective rate, what the extra time gives away over a year, and what the renewal price should be.
Retainer Over-Servicing Calculator
The hours the retainer was scoped for against the hours it eats: the real rate, the cost given away, and the renewal price that fixes it.
The politest leak in the industry
The demo retainer: £4,500 for 45 scoped hours is £100 an hour, until 62 hours actually go in and the effective rate is £72.58. Nobody discounted anything; the team was simply helpful, monthly.
At cost the over-service gives away £11,832 a year on one retainer: seventeen hours a month of loaded team time delivered free. Multiply by a book of retainers and it explains a great deal of tired profitability.
The fixes are boring and effective: track delivered hours monthly, send the hours report with the invoice, and reprice at renewal to the hours really used, £6,200 in the demo, or re-scope back down deliberately.
Take the workbook
The retainer book in Excel: every client, scoped against delivered, with the giveaways totalled.
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We offer fixed monthly packages with no hidden fees. Pricing depends on your business size and the level of support you need — but you’ll always know exactly what you’re paying for.
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