Retainer billing with included hours and overages in view

Choose a flat fee or an included-hours allowance

A flat-fee retainer has a base fee with no hour cap or calculated overage. A capped-hours retainer has an included-hours allowance and an overage rate you set. Choose the setup that reflects your client agreement. ABH's calculations do not decide whether additional work is authorized under that agreement. Read about choosing flat-fee or capped-hours terms.

Understand which hours count

Period usage comes from approved time entries on projects belonging to the retainer's client, within the period dates. It can include work across that client's projects. Unapproved entries do not count toward this calculation. Review approvals and dates before treating the period total as ready to invoice.

Monthly and quarterly periods follow calendar boundaries. Do not assume a monthly period starts on the anniversary of the client agreement. Check the configured period before reviewing usage or creating an invoice.

Example: 23 approved hours against a 20-hour allowance

Illustrative example, not customer data: a monthly retainer has a $2,000 base fee, 20 included hours and a $110 overage rate. The agency has approved 23 hours for that client's projects in the period. The overage is 3 hours, worth $330. The billing total before any applicable tax or adjustment is $2,330.

With a flat-fee setup, hours may still help you review the work, but ABH does not calculate an hour-based overage. Agree any change in scope or fee with the client separately.

Review the period, then create its invoice

The Owner creates a draft invoice for the current retainer period. Review the base fee, dates, approved usage and overage before sharing it. ABH prevents another invoice from being generated for a period that already has one. Resolve already-invoiced time before billing the same work again. Use the retainer invoice checklist and example before sharing.

Invoice creation is separate from collection. Your client pays you directly outside ABH. After receiving money, an Owner can record it as a manual bookkeeping entry on the invoice.

Plan and workflow limits

Retainer management is included in Pro at $19.99 per workspace per month under the current plan defaults. Free and Starter support ordinary tracked-time invoicing within their plan limits, but do not include retainer periods and overage calculation. Retainer administration is Owner-only. See current plan details and ordinary time invoicing.

ABH does not promise automatic client charging, automated hour rollover, forecast consumption or automatic contract-term enforcement. This page describes period tracking and Owner-created invoices, not an accounting or payment processing service.