what does a retainer cost?
it depends on the hours and the response time you need. we quote it after one call, and it's a flat monthly number with no per-ticket charges. if you use less than you booked, the balance rolls over one month.
there isn't a price list, because the two things that drive the number vary a lot between clients: how many hours you want each month, and how fast you need us to pick up when something breaks. a company that wants a few hours of changes a month is a different arrangement from one that wants someone on call for its infrastructure. so we ask about both on a call and quote a single monthly figure after it. the call and the quote are free.
what the number covers
- an agreed block of hours each month, which you point at whatever is technical: a copy tweak, a broken form, a new internal tool
- a shared channel with the people doing the work, instead of a ticket portal
- priorities you set and re-cut whenever you want
- no per-ticket charges and no hourly billing on top
if you use fewer hours than you booked, the balance rolls over one month. it's an agreed capacity rather than unlimited work for a flat fee. anyone offering unlimited is capping it somewhere you can't see.
what it doesn't include
a project with its own scope is quoted the way every project is: one fixed number, in writing, before anyone starts. on the growth side, media spend goes straight to google and meta from your own card. our fee is the flat monthly number and never a percentage of what you spend.
leaving
month to month, cancelled with 30 days' notice. you own the code, the accounts and the domains throughout, so stopping the retainer costs you nothing you built. more on that under what happens if we want to leave?
if you want the reasoning behind the model, what a technical partner does walks through it.