Retainer

[Vito]

Has anyone here ever worked on a retainer basis with a company?

I have a client who wants to secure 120 days of my time over the course of the next 12 months on a retainer basis but I'm not really too sure how its going to work are what clauses to insist on.

This is a company that I am very keen to work on as we have a good 'personality fit'...and of course to secure a guaranteed 120 days is very attractive...but not sure what will happen if they need me at a certain time and so do another client...

Any ideas / advice much appreciated.

[where did my id go?]

I've done it a few times for support work. Retainer then a specific rate for any work required. You need to agree exactly how they go about booking your time and what notice you need.

I suppose that it depends on how your other work is (bos or real consultancy/project stuff) and how you expect them to use you. 120 days is nearly half a year. What sort of sized chunks of time will they want and what notice? You may find that its impossible to do other work because of their requirements - if so then do you have a plan b that you can regard this contract as supporting or you need the rate to be appropriate.

[thunderlizard]

Have a think about why they're offering that kind of deal, and therefore what kind of service they'd be prepared to pay for.

My reading is that they've thought about hiring somebody for the whole year and have him sit on his hands for half of it, but thought that wouldn't be cost effective. They've also thought about paying somebody for 6 months only, but realised that's unfeasible if they don't know when he'll be needed.
So one option might be to charge say 75% of your annual rate all in, and accept 25% less money for 50% less work over the course of a year.