A Retainer Agreement secures an ongoing professional relationship with your clients. This template defines monthly scope, fees, and expectations for consistent, predictable revenue and availability.
What Is a Retainer Agreement?
A retainer agreement is a recurring contract where a client pays a set fee to reserve ongoing access to professional services. Common in marketing, legal, IT support, consulting, and creative services, retainers provide predictable revenue for the provider and guaranteed availability for the client.
Key Clauses to Include
- Scope — Define included services and explicitly list what’s out of scope.
- Monthly Hours — Set a clear hour allocation per month.
- Fee and Payment — Monthly retainer amount, due date, and payment method.
- Rollover — Whether unused hours roll forward and any caps.
- Overage Rates — Hourly rate for work beyond the allocated hours.
- Reporting — Monthly activity reports showing hours used and work completed.
- Term — Initial commitment period and auto-renewal terms.
- Termination — Notice period (typically 30 days) for cancellation.
How to Customize This Template
- Set a minimum commitment — 3-6 months is standard to justify onboarding investment.
- Define response times — Retainer clients often expect faster response than project clients.
- Include a rate review clause — Allow annual rate adjustments tied to scope changes or inflation.
- Add project priority terms — Retainer clients often get priority scheduling over one-off projects.
How to Send for E-Signature with WPsigner
- Upload — Drop this retainer agreement into WPsigner
- Add fields — Signature, date, and monthly scope acknowledgment
- Send — Email a secure signing link
- Track — Monitor signing in real-time
- Store — Archived with audit trails