Retainer?
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- krts
Have any of you delt with a retainer offer from a client?
I have a client that I do work for weekly and sometimes daily.
I am sending an invoice every week but they are asking about putting me on retainer.
How does this work for a designer? I started designing their website and now I do their web updates, print work, and presentations and more to come.
Lil' help? Thanks!
- monkeyshine0
retainer is the designer's holy grail.
Just draw up a contract that gives a monthly retainer quote. It sounds like you already have a good sense of what you are doing for the client and how long it takes.
On retainer, there may be some months where you work a little more or less than the actual retainer fee.
If you find you are working alot more or less than the alloted hours, then you go to the client and renegotiate a fee.
- krts0
Thanks!
I think it's just going to be more and more work coming so I just a little worried about going back and asking for more money a few months from now. But they are super cool so I guess it's not a big deal.
What kind of contract would this be? Like a regular work contract modified to a monthly charge? Or would it be simpler to invoice them every month?
Thanks again!
- monkeyshine0
A retainer is great with a client with whom you have an established relationship. If you are doing a considerable amount of work for them, you are guaranteed a monthly check.
I've just modified my standard contract. I'd highly recommend you get the GAG Pricing and Ethical Guidelines book; it has extensive information on retainers.
Make sure you spell out EVERYTHING that you will be doing within the scope of the retainer...otherwise, they might throw a bunch of extra work on you and expect that the retainer will cover it. My contract explicity states what is within the scope of the retainer and the charge for anything outside.
- brundlefly0
monkeyshine is wize beyond his years.....
I call it banking hours, some months a client wants nothing, so they bank say10 hours...
some months a client wants a trade show to be in norway in three days, so you bill as such....
5 banked hours, 10 hours monthly rate, plus 20 hours tradeshow overflow....etc...
pretty easy, good place to be.
we try to set up maintenence contracts with most of our larger clients.
- SLAZ0
just propose an ideal amount of hours monthly at a agreed rate...
if they use more than the hours allocated, have a predetermined rate to bill additionally, if they use less, you get a percentage of that amount..
the retainer is mainly for them to budget money for the design work being done, so in a sense you are doing them a favor, but in reality this is teh best form of income for a freelance designer... nice work!
- krts0
Thanks SO MUCh guys!