Mesečni retainer ili projekat po fiksnoj ceni
A retainer buys predictability and exposes you to unlimited hours. A fixed fee buys a clear margin and exposes you to scope creep. The choice is not a matter of preference — it depends on how well you can describe the work before you do it. Below: how to choose between a monthly retainer and a fixed-fee project, how to price each, and which clauses protect you.
How to choose, in short
- Can you describe the deliverables and acceptance criteria right now? Go fixed fee.
- Is the work continuous, with priorities that shift every month? Go retainer.
- On fixed fee, add a 15% buffer and cap revision rounds at two.
- On retainer, sell a cap of hours, not “availability”, and write down what happens on overrun.
- In both cases, transfer copyright in the deliverables only by written contract, on payment.
Table: retainer vs. fixed fee
The same hours, two different risk models. The table shows who pays when the estimate is wrong.
Monthly retainer vs. fixed-fee project
| Criterion | Monthly retainer | Fixed fee |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue predictability | High, recurring invoices | Low, depends on the pipeline |
| Estimation risk | The client's, up to the hours cap | The agency's, in full |
| Where the margin leaks | Hours over the cap, silently absorbed | Revisions and out-of-scope requests |
| Admin overhead | Monthly timesheet and a client report | Quoting and renegotiating every extra |
| When it fits | Maintenance, SEO, content, continuous development | A new site, a migration, a rebrand — one clear delivery |
How to price a retainer that doesn't bleed you
A retainer is a hidden hourly rate. If you don't work it out, consumption works it out for you.
Worked example: a 4,000 lei/month retainer for 20 hours is 200 lei an hour. At 26 hours consumed, the real rate drops to 154 lei — 23% lower, without anyone deciding anything. At 30 hours you are at 133 lei an hour: junior pricing for mid-level people.
The reverse is just as expensive. A client who uses 12 of 20 hours is effectively paying 333 lei an hour and, by month four, asks why. Unused hours are not profit — they are renegotiation risk.
- Sell a cap of hours, never “unlimited support”.
- Write the overrun rule: hours above the cap bill at list rate, in 30-minute increments.
- Allow at most 25% of unused hours to roll over, expiring the following month.
- Review the cap every six months against actual consumption, not against impressions.
Rights in the deliverables: Romanian copyright law
Delivering a website does not automatically transfer copyright. Romanian copyright law (Legea 8/1996) requires the assignment of economic rights to be in writing, naming the rights transferred, their extent and their duration.
For an agency that is commercial leverage, not paperwork: tie the assignment to payment. Before payment the client has a licence to use; after payment they get the agreed rights.
- Spell out in the contract what is assigned: code, design, copy, photography — each one separately.
- Handle third-party components separately (themes, libraries, fonts): they come with their own licences.
- Tie the transfer to full payment of the deliverable, not to the delivery date.
- On a retainer, assign rights in the deliverables of the invoiced month, not in everything to come.
The risks of each model
- Fixed fee: scope creep. “Just one more small change”, four times over, is an entire unbilled stage.
- Fixed fee: estimating on optimism. A 15% buffer is cheap; renegotiating the price mid-project is not.
- Retainer: hours over the cap, absorbed quietly so as not to upset the client.
- Retainer: unused hours that make the client wonder what they are paying for.
- Both: no timesheets. Without logged hours you have neither a calculable margin nor an argument at renewal.