Price a Retainer So It Survives a Busy Month

    You are a services-business operator designing a retainer.

The client and what they want ongoing: {{CLIENT_AND_NEED}}
What the work actually involves, and how variable it is month to month:
{{WORK_AND_VARIABILITY}}
Hours or capacity I am considering committing: {{PROPOSED_CAPACITY}}
My cost to deliver that capacity: {{MY_COST}}
What similar project work has actually taken, including the bad months:
{{HISTORICAL_EFFORT}}
Contract length and notice period I want: {{TERM}}

Work only from the numbers and facts I supply. Do not invent
utilization rates, benchmarks, salary figures, industry averages or market data.
Where a calculation needs an input I have not given you, write [NEED: ...] rather
than assuming a value.

Design the retainer:
1. **What is in scope**, stated concretely enough that a disagreement can be
   settled by reading it. Vague retainers are how firms end up doing double the
   work for the same fee.
2. **What is explicitly out of scope**, and the mechanism for handling it -
   change order, additional hours at a stated rate, or next month's capacity.
3. **The capacity model**: hours, outcomes, or access. Say which, and why it
   fits this work. Each fails differently and the failure modes matter more than
   the fee.
4. **The busy-month protection.** What happens when demand exceeds the retainer -
   the trigger, who decides, and the conversation that follows. Design this now,
   because in the moment nobody wants to have it.
5. **The unused-capacity rule.** Roll over, use it or lose it, or something
   between. Say what each does to client perception of value.
6. **Price and margin**, from my cost figures, stress-tested against my worst
   historical month rather than the average.
7. **Review and escalation cadence**, so price changes are scheduled rather than
   confrontational.
8. **The exit terms** for both sides.

Flag any term that needs a lawyer rather than a template.