Decide what the retainer reserves
- Name the service outcome and the work that counts as included delivery.
- Define response cadence, review windows and any genuinely reserved availability.
- Separate delivery time from coordination, reporting and account-management time.
- List exclusions, customer dependencies and work that needs a separate quote.
- Choose the monthly measurement period and one currency and tax basis.
Reconcile monthly capacity
Capacity prerequisites
- Total team capacity for the same month is recorded. (not complete)
- The productive share excludes leave, internal work and other unavailable time. (not complete)
- Existing customer and project commitments use the same capacity basis. (not complete)
- Included delivery, coordination and expected overage are not double-counted. (not complete)
- A response exists if total commitments exceed productive capacity. (not complete)
| Capacity step | Hours per month | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Total monthly capacity | 80 | User-entered team time basis |
| Productive capacity at 80% | 64 | Capacity available for delivery |
| Included retainer work | 20 | Defined monthly service promise |
| Expected overage | 4 | Scenario assumption, not guaranteed demand |
| Remaining productive capacity | 40 | Available for other commitments or variation |
Separate expected support usage from reserved availability
Expected support work consumes delivery capacity when it occurs; genuinely reserved availability can displace other work even when it is unused. Record both, plus coordination and service-level operating cost, without counting the same hour or cost twice.
| Record | Required basis | Boundary check |
|---|---|---|
| Expected delivery or support work | Stated record or user scenario for one month | Do not present usage as guaranteed demand |
| Coordination, reporting and account management | Hours and loaded cost on the same monthly basis | Keep separate from direct delivery |
| Genuinely reserved availability | Capacity that cannot be sold elsewhere | Do not also count it as delivered work |
| Service-level operating cost | Named cost separate from delivered hours | No response-time norm is supplied |
| Overage and review trigger | Documented usage rule and evidence checkpoint | No universal rollover or expiry rule |
Test usage and reserved-capacity scenarios
- Recurring Support Plan Pricing Planner
Price recurring customer support
- Agency Retainer Margin Planner
Set an agency retainer from included capacity, delivery cost, overage and target margin
Define included work, overage and unused-capacity treatment
Write the operating policy before quoting
- What activity counts against included capacity and at what recording unit. (not complete)
- Who may request work and how priorities are agreed. (not complete)
- What happens when the included amount is likely to be exceeded. (not complete)
- Whether unused capacity expires, carries forward or remains reserved, and under what limits. (not complete)
- How out-of-scope work and urgent work are handled. (not complete)
- Which usage, cost and service evidence is reviewed before renewal. (not complete)
Run the fee scenario in the planner
Worked scenario: prepare the capacity hand-off
The scenario is complete for the article decision: 20 included hours plus four expected overage hours fit within 64 productive hours, leaving 40. The fee decision remains tool-owned.
- Confirm that 20 included hours and four expected overage hours use the same monthly basis.
- Check 24 committed scenario hours against 64 productive hours.
- Record the 40 remaining productive hours and the commitments that may use them.
- Enter loaded cost, assigned overhead, explicit scope buffer and target margins in the planner from business records and decisions.
- Review the planner fee and overage outputs beside the capacity promise rather than reading either number alone.
Calculate the rate, fee and capacity boundary
- Retainer Pricing Planner
Set a sustainable monthly retainer
- Service Rate & Quote Planner
Set a viable rate and project quote
- Billable Utilisation Planner
Turn available time into realistic billable capacity
Compare service tiers on symmetric units
| Criterion | Focused tier | Standard tier | Reserved-capacity tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Included service | Defined narrow service | Defined broader service | Defined service plus explicit reservation |
| Included hours/month | User input | User input | User input |
| Response cadence | Stated basis | Stated basis | Stated basis |
| Expected overage hours/month | User scenario | User scenario | User scenario |
| Unused-capacity treatment | Stated policy | Stated policy | Stated policy |
| Productive capacity consumed | Planner output | Planner output | Planner output |
| Review trigger | Usage or scope change | Usage or scope change | Usage, scope or displaced-capacity change |
Track usage, cost and displaced capacity before renewal
- Reconcile included, overage and out-of-scope work to approved records.
- Compare actual delivery and coordination cost with the same cost boundary used in pricing.
- Record response performance without promising an unsupported service outcome.
- Identify work that was delayed or declined because capacity was reserved.
- Choose whether to retain, narrow, expand, re-price or end the arrangement.
Use job costing to reconcile delivery evidence, and revisit billable utilisation when the reserved promise changes the wider capacity plan.
Avoid the common mistakes and keep the boundary clear
- Do not treat a retainer as an automatic discount.
- Do not assume unused capacity is costless when it was genuinely reserved.
- Do not promise unlimited work or availability that cannot be reconciled to capacity.
- Do not copy a market rate, rollover policy or expiry rule from another provider.
- Do not count included work, coordination or overage twice.
Capacity-based retainer questions
- Should a retainer always be discounted?
- No. A retainer can reserve capacity, change demand risk and add a service commitment. Test its cost and capacity boundary rather than assuming recurring billing justifies a universal discount.
- Should unused hours always roll over?
- There is no universal rule. Decide and document the treatment that fits the defined service and capacity promise, then check the relevant agreement and requirements.
- Is reserved availability the same as delivered hours?
- Not necessarily. If availability is part of the service promise, identify it separately so delivered work and genuinely reserved capacity are not confused or double-counted.
- When should the retainer change?
- Review it when actual usage, delivery cost, scope, response commitment or displaced capacity differs materially from the accepted planning basis. Use evidence from a consistent review period.
Approved calculation and comparison sources
- Retainer Pricing methodology — Margin101: Included-capacity, productive-capacity, overage, cost, margin and remaining-capacity boundaries.
- Service Rate & Quote methodology — Margin101: Underlying recovery-rate and billable-capacity definitions.
- Hourly, project or retainer pricing comparison — Margin101: Symmetric commercial-model comparison with no universal winner.