Why We Never Skip the Retainer Conversation
Software that isn't maintained degrades. Integrations change, edge cases emerge, and businesses evolve. A retainer isn't an upsell, it's the difference between a system that stays useful and one that quietly breaks six months after launch.
The Three Retainer Tiers We Offer
- Monitoring tier: we watch for breakage and fix bugs, no new features included
- Active tier: monitoring plus a set number of small improvements or adjustments monthly
- Growth tier: monitoring, improvements, and a standing block of hours for new features as the business scales
How We Price Each Tier
Pricing is based on system complexity, not a flat rate across all clients — a simple booking automation costs less to maintain than a multi-integration AI agent handling several workflows. We size the retainer to the actual system, not a one-size-fits-all number.
What Happens If a Client Declines a Retainer
We're upfront that declining maintenance means the system is frozen as-is at handoff, with no monitoring and no support beyond critical bug fixes for a defined window. Most clients choose a retainer once they understand this tradeoff clearly, rather than being pressured into it.
The Number That Actually Justifies the Cost
We frame every retainer conversation around the cost of the system going down or degrading silently versus the monthly retainer cost — for most clients, even a single day of a broken lead-follow-up system costs more than a month of maintenance.
