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Retainer plans define the monthly hours and pricing for your recurring client relationships. This guide explains how plans work, hours tracking, and budget management.

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What are retainer plans?

A retainer plan is a template that defines:
  • Monthly hours - Hours allocated to the client each month
  • Monthly cost - Fixed monthly fee in pounds
  • Day rate - Derived from hours and cost
Plans are reusable templates that can be assigned to multiple clients.

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Plan structure

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Standard plan tiers

Typical retainer plans follow a tiered structure:
Plan NameMonthly HoursMonthly CostDay Rate
Starter20 hours£2,000£750
Growth40 hours£3,500£656
Scale60 hours£5,000£625
Enterprise100 hours£8,000£600
Day rate is calculated as: Monthly Cost ÷ (Monthly Hours ÷ 7.5). For example, £5,000 ÷ (60 ÷ 7.5) = £625/day.

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Custom plans

You can create custom plans for specific client needs:
  • Any combination of hours and cost
  • Named appropriately (e.g., “Custom - 35 hours”)
  • Follows the same structure as standard tiers

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How hours work

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Monthly allocation

When a client has a retainer plan:
  1. Plan defines base monthly hours (e.g., 60 hours)
  2. PM deduction is applied (15% for project management time)
  3. Net allocated hours = 60 hours × 0.85 = 51 hours
The PM deduction accounts for project management overhead. It’s automatically applied to all retainer allocations.

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Hours tracking

Three types of hours are tracked: Allocated hours:
  • From the plan (or override)
  • After PM deduction
  • Your monthly budget
Logged hours:
  • Raw time entries total
  • Includes billable and non-billable time
  • Shows actual effort
Billable hours:
  • After billing formula applied: MIN(max, MAX(average, actual))
  • What gets deducted from the retainer
  • Used for budget calculations
Remaining hours is calculated using billable hours, not logged hours. This means efficiency gains (banking) can extend your budget.

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Hours utilization

Hours usage percentage is calculated as: 
Utilization = Billable Hours ÷ Allocated Hours × 100%
Health indicators:
  • 0-75% (green) - Normal, healthy usage
  • 75-90% (amber) - Approaching limit, monitor closely
  • 90-100% (amber) - Near allocation, plan carefully
  • Over 100% (red) - Over budget, discuss with client

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Custom overrides

Clients can have custom pricing that overrides their plan:

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Monthly hours override

Override the plan’s monthly hours:
  • Set a custom hours allocation
  • PM deduction still applies
  • Useful for negotiated deals

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Monthly cost override

Override the plan’s monthly cost:
  • Set a custom monthly fee
  • Changes the effective day rate
  • Useful for discounts or premiums

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When to use overrides

Negotiated deals

Client negotiated different hours or pricing

Grandfathered rates

Client on old pricing before plan changes

Special arrangements

VIP clients or strategic partnerships

Temporary adjustments

Short-term capacity changes
Custom overrides appear with a “Custom” badge in the UI. Use sparingly - they make financial reporting more complex.

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Banking and efficiency

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Banked time

When you complete work faster than quoted:
  • Banking = Average estimate - Actual time
  • Banked time doesn’t reduce the retainer usage
  • Client is still billed the average estimate
  • Efficiency gain benefits the agency
Example:
  • Quote: 6-8-10 hours (Min-Avg-Max)
  • Actual: 5 hours
  • Billable: 6 hours (MAX of actual and average)
  • Banked: 1 hour (Average 6 - Actual 5)
  • Client charged: 6 hours (the average)

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Overage time

When work takes longer than the maximum estimate:
  • Overage = Actual time - Maximum estimate
  • Overage is non-billable (absorbed by agency)
  • Client is billed only the maximum
  • Inefficiency hurts the agency’s day rate
Example:
  • Quote: 6-8-10 hours
  • Actual: 12 hours
  • Billable: 10 hours (MIN of max and actual)
  • Overage: 2 hours (Actual 12 - Max 10)
  • Client charged: 10 hours (the maximum)
Banking and overage balance out over time. The billing formula incentivizes accurate estimation and efficient delivery.

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Hours rollover

Default policy: No rollover Unused hours do not carry forward to the next month:
  • Each billing period starts fresh with full allocation
  • Unused hours expire at month-end
  • This encourages consistent utilization
Hours rollover is not currently automated. If you have special rollover arrangements with clients, these must be tracked manually.

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Managing plans

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Viewing plans

Managers can access plan management:
  1. Navigate to Admin → Plans
  2. View all retainer plans
  3. See how many clients use each plan
  4. Search and filter plans

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Creating plans

To create a new plan template:
  1. Navigate to Admin → Plans
  2. Click New Plan
  3. Enter plan details:
    • Name (e.g., “Growth”)
    • Monthly hours (e.g., 40)
    • Monthly cost in pounds (e.g., 3500 for £3,500)
  4. Click Create Plan
The plan is now available when creating or editing clients.

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Editing plans

To update an existing plan:
  1. Find the plan in the Plans list
  2. Click Edit
  3. Modify hours or cost
  4. Click Save
Changing a plan affects all clients using that plan (unless they have custom overrides). Communicate plan changes to clients in advance.

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Deleting plans

To remove a plan:
  1. Navigate to Admin → Plans
  2. Click Delete on the plan
  3. If clients use the plan:
    • Select a replacement plan
    • All clients will be migrated to the new plan
  4. Confirm deletion
When deleting a plan with active clients, you must choose a replacement plan to reassign them to.

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Viewing client hours

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From the client profile

The hours summary in the client sidebar shows:
  1. Month picker - Select any billing period
  2. Allocated - Plan hours with PM deduction
  3. Logged - Raw time entries
  4. Remaining - Budget left (allocated - billable)
  5. Progress bar - Visual budget usage

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From time entries

Click View Time Entries in the sidebar to see:
  • All time entries for the client
  • Filtered to the selected month
  • Breakdown by activity type
  • Billable vs non-billable split

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From the hours table

Navigate to the client detail page to see:
  • Hours by month in a table view
  • Historical trends
  • Utilization patterns

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Budget warnings

CharleOS alerts you when clients approach their limits:

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Approaching limit (75-90%)

Indicators:
  • Amber progress bar
  • Hours summary shows percentage
  • Schedule health may flag as “approaching”
Actions:
  • Review remaining work
  • Prioritize critical tasks
  • Consider deferring lower-priority items

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Near allocation (90-100%)

Indicators:
  • Red progress bar
  • Clear visibility in hours summary
  • Schedule health may flag as “critical”
Actions:
  • Discuss with CSM or client
  • Defer non-urgent work to next month
  • Consider upsell or overage discussion

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Over budget (more than 100%)

Indicators:
  • Negative remaining hours (red text)
  • Over-scheduled in schedule health
  • RAG status may be red
Actions:
  • Immediate discussion with client
  • Options:
    • Upsell to higher plan
    • Defer work to next month
    • Agree to overage billing
    • Some work absorbed as overage (non-billable)
Monitor client hours weekly using the Client Scheduling Table on your dashboard. It shows a 3-month view of schedule health for all clients.

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Plan vs client pricing

Understanding the hierarchy:
  1. Plan default - Monthly hours and cost from plan template
  2. Client override - Custom values set specifically for this client
  3. Effective pricing - What’s actually used for billing
Example: 
Plan: Scale (60 hours, £5,000)
Client: Fargro
  - Monthly hours override: 70 hours
  - Monthly cost override: £5,500

Effective pricing for Fargro:
  - 70 hours, £5,500/month
  - Day rate: £589/day
  - Shows "Custom" badge

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Best practices

Monitor weekly

Check client hours usage weekly to spot budget issues early

Plan capacity

Use the 3-month schedule health view to plan capacity proactively

Limit overrides

Avoid custom overrides unless necessary - they complicate reporting

Update RAG regularly

Keep RAG status current to track client health accurately

Communicate limits

Warn clients when approaching 75% budget usage

Plan next month

Review current month usage to inform next month’s scheduling

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Next steps

Client Schedule

Learn how to schedule work for clients

Quotes

Create quotes that convert to tasks

Tasks

Understand task management and delivery

Day Rates

Learn how day rates are calculated from plans