Retainers and one-off projects: how to track them together

A typical agency earns in two ways at once: retainers — steady monthly clients — and one-off projects — single orders with a start and an end. These are two different economies: a retainer gives you a predictable flow, a one-off gives you a spike and then a pause. The problem shows up when you run both in a single "pot": you can't tell how much your stable base brings in versus the one-offs, or what you can count on next month.

Running retainers and one-off projects together, but seeing them separately, is what makes planning possible. Let's break down how to set that up.

Two different economies under one roof

A retainer is predictability: the client pays a fixed amount every month, you plan your team around it, and the income is even. A one-off project is unevenness: a big invoice, but with a start and an end, after which you have to go find the next one. A healthy agency leans on retainers as its "foundation" and uses one-offs as the "upper floors" that drive growth. But to manage it that way, you need to see the two flows separately.

Why you can't mix them in your books

When retainers and one-offs sit in one flow, a dangerous illusion sets in. A month with a big one-off project looks fantastic, and the agency relaxes — then next month there's no one-off, and it turns out the retainers alone barely cover costs. Or the reverse: steady retainers mask the fact that one-off projects are being taken on at a loss. You can only see the real picture by splitting the flows and calculating the profitability of each — the way we do in Which project is actually profitable.

Step 1. Tag the type: retainer or one-off

The simplest move is to add a type tag to every client or project: "retainer" or "one-off." Then at any moment you can view revenue and profit separately for each type. It takes a few seconds when you set the record up, but it gives you a strategic cross-section.

Step 2. Count the "base" separately from the "spikes"

The key figure is how much the retainers bring in on their own. That's your "base": the amount you can count on every month regardless of one-offs. If the base covers your mandatory costs (salaries, rent, taxes), the agency is stable and one-offs become pure growth. If the base doesn't cover them, you're dependent on constantly chasing one-offs — and that's a risk.

Step 3. Plan your team around the base, not the spikes

A classic growth mistake is hiring a team for a big one-off project and, once it wraps, being left with a bloated headcount and nothing but retainers. That's why you plan your permanent team around the stable retainer base and cover the peak loads of one-offs with contractors. That way you don't crash into a cash gap after a big project ends — we cover the gaps themselves in How to avoid cash gaps.

Example: base and spike

An agency has retainers worth 300,000 a month, and this month it also lands a one-off project for 250,000 — 550 in total. It looks like an excellent month. But mandatory costs are 320,000. That means the base (300) doesn't even cover them: without the one-off, the month would have been in the red. That's a direct signal: either grow the retainer base or cut fixed costs, because right now the agency is being held up by one-offs that may not be there next month.

Where to start

Tag your clients as retainers or one-offs and calculate how much the retainer base brings in on its own. Compare it with your mandatory costs — and you'll see right away how stable your agency is. The general principles of running several projects together are in Tracking several projects at once.

In Finmap, retainers and one-off projects are tracked together, but the profitability of each type is visible separately — so you always know your base. Try it free for 7 days.