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has anyone ever billed a client on a retainer basis?
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| .... as opposed to project-by-project? if so, how did it work? how did you
decide on the amount? did you add up the cost of all the work likely to be
performed during that period and spread it out over a few months? if so, that's
not really a retainer... it's more like paying in installments. did you just
come up with a number where ? at that price ? you were ok being their b*tch
every month and anything you did for them was covered under that price?
interested in hearing any and all experiences and opinions... thanks.
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| For $/Month reservers X hours of work, charging $Y (usually discounted)
hourly for past the X hours.
Just to put some numbers to it:
For $500/month reserves 5 hours of work. Then after the 5 hours charge
$95/hour
"joeq" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:du2eos$nhg$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> ... as opposed to project-by-project? if so, how did it work? how did you
> decide on the amount? did you add up the cost of all the work likely to be
> performed during that period and spread it out over a few months? if so,
> that's
> not really a retainer... it's more like paying in installments. did you
> just
> come up with a number where ? at that price ? you were ok being their
> b*tch
> every month and anything you did for them was covered under that price?
>
> interested in hearing any and all experiences and opinions... thanks.
>
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| darrel 2006-02-28, 6:22 pm |
| > ... as opposed to project-by-project? if so, how did it work? how did you
> decide on the amount?
The last large firm I worked at did this in cases. Typically, if the client
was a regular, they'd try to work it into a retainer model. The easiest way
to figure it out is to just look at the past year or two of billable work
that you did for them, average it out, then commit to something similiar for
the next few years.
> at that price ? you were ok being their b*tch
> every month and anything you did for them was covered under that price?
My understanding is that you'd promise X no. hours of dedicated time per
month for $X (at a discounted rate) from the client. Anything under that is
either just not used and anything over that is open to additional costs.
The idea is that it guarantees the firm an income projection and guarantees
the client that you can dedicate a chunk of time each month to them plus
they get a discounted rate.
But there are other types of retainers, I think....such as pay $X up front
into a 'pool' and over the course of the year, any work done for the client
is just subracted from the pool at that discounted rate.
-Darrel
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| so how is that different than simply billing them at the end of the month for the work done? i thought the whole idea was that it wasn't so specifically related to time.
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| It give the client a fixed amount to pay, and a guarantee that you'll devote
so many hours to them each month.
If that wasn't set up, you might not get to their work until you cleared up
your calendar.
If you didn't designate a set amount of hours, then what's to prevent to
client from demanding 40 hours of your time for "only" $200 (or some other
figure)?
"joeq" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:du2fkv$olp$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> so how is that different than simply billing them at the end of the month
> for the work done? i thought the whole idea was that it wasn't so
> specifically related to time.
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| Mad Dog 2006-02-28, 6:22 pm |
| I've done this with several clients. Basically, they paid $X a month which
gave them a priority on my time up to a certain number of hours. If they
needed me less, I made off like a bandit. If they needed me more, I billed
them at my usual rate for the overage. Incidentally, in my cases they didn't
get a discount. Basically they were "gambling" that they'd need me that much
each month but if not, they were paying to receive a priority on my
attention. Personally, I loved it since more often than not they went under
in usage.
MD
joeq wrote:
> ... as opposed to project-by-project? if so, how did it work? how did
> you decide on the amount? did you add up the cost of all the work
> likely to be performed during that period and spread it out over a
> few months? if so, that's not really a retainer... it's more like
> paying in installments. did you just come up with a number where ? at
> that price ? you were ok being their b*tch every month and anything
> you did for them was covered under that price?
>
> interested in hearing any and all experiences and opinions... thanks.
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| Donna Casey 2006-02-28, 10:15 pm |
| joeq wrote:
> so how is that different than simply billing them at the end of the month for the work done? i thought the whole idea was that it wasn't so specifically related to time.
if you retain a lawyer, you pay a retainer fee to guarantee (s)he's
there for you... then you pay (hourly rate*hrs)-retainer fee) + costs.
The retainer simply guarantees that you'll find time for them if needed.
Retainer is probably the wrong word in the case of maintainence monthly
fees... but used for that, most web developers will tell a client that
the retainer (maintainence) fee covers x amount of hours per month at
less than the normal hourly billing rate. Anything over and beyond that
is at regular rates.
:D
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| Bonnie 2006-02-28, 10:15 pm |
| Donna Casey wrote:
> if you retain a lawyer, you pay a retainer fee to guarantee (s)he's
> there for you... then you pay (hourly rate*hrs)-retainer fee) + costs.
>
> The retainer simply guarantees that you'll find time for them if needed.
>
> Retainer is probably the wrong word in the case of maintainence monthly
> fees... but used for that, most web developers will tell a client that
> the retainer (maintainence) fee covers x amount of hours per month at
> less than the normal hourly billing rate. Anything over and beyond that
> is at regular rates.
>
> :D
Donna, yes, that word gets misused all the time in the legal context, as
well. Most of the time what we call a retainer is really a
deposit--some up-front money to ensure the client won't run out of money
before you get to the first hearing, particularly at the beginning,
very work-intensive part of the case. A true retainer would be kind of
unusual for all but the prima donna attorneys, I'm thinking. ;-)
--
Bonnie in California
kroko at
sbcglobal dot net
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/...ts/CTDSites.woa
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