Retainer overages: authorization before invoicing

Define the overage rule at setup

Record the included allowance, period boundaries, overage rate and which work is eligible. Confirm who at the client can approve extra spending and who at the agency can pause or reprioritize delivery. Do not assume the person attending a project meeting controls the billing budget.

Write down whether additional work needs approval before it starts and what happens if the client does not respond. These are agreement questions to resolve with the client and appropriate advisers. The billing tool records the outcome; it should not be presented as deciding the commercial rule on your behalf.

Define services, exclusions and authorization contacts at kickoff with the retainer agreement scope checklist.

Keep excess usage separate from unused capacity. The unused retainer hours guide explains policy choices and the external manual reconciliation.

Sustained demand may call for a next-term scope discussion. The renewal and price increase guide keeps that conversation separate from charging current overages.

Check the forecast before the allowance is exhausted

Review usage while there is still time to choose. Compare approved hours with work already logged but awaiting review, then estimate the remaining tasks separately. A forecast of six extra hours is not six hours already billable. Label estimates, actual usage and unreviewed work so the client can distinguish them.

Offer concrete choices: reduce the remaining deliverables, move agreed work to a later period or authorize a defined extra amount. Explain any effects on dates. A warning that the allowance is nearly used is useful, but it does not by itself authorize an overage charge.

Capture commercial authorization outside ABH

Send a concise request naming the current period, extra tasks, proposed hours, rate and maximum amount. Ask the authorized contact to confirm before the work proceeds. Keep the response in your external agreement records and reference it in the review pack. Do not copy a private email thread into client-facing invoice notes.

ABH time-entry approval is an internal review action. It does not provide a separate client overage authorization workflow. Likewise, a client opening a public invoice link is not evidence that they approved extra work in advance. Keep the agreement reference distinct from the time-approval record.

Worked example: 5.5 authorized extra hours

Illustrative fictional example, USD, excluding taxes: a retainer costs $2,400 for 24 included hours in one calendar month. The agreed overage rate is $120 per hour. Before the extra work starts, the authorized client contact confirms in writing that the agency may spend up to 5.5 additional hours on the named tasks, for up to $660.

After delivery, the agency reviews 29.5 approved eligible hours in the same period. Overage hours are 29.5 minus 24, or 5.5. The additional charge is 5.5 multiplied by $120, or $660. The total draft invoice is the $2,400 base plus $660, giving $3,060.

The review pack contains the allowance, period, approved time summary and external authorization reference. It does not multiply all 29.5 hours by the overage rate or add the base fee twice. If the approved eligible time had been lower than the authorized ceiling, the agency would review the actual overage against the agreement rather than automatically bill the maximum.

Reconcile time that should not enter the calculation

Filter for the right client, project and dates before examining totals. Exclude non-billable internal work and resolve duplicate entries. Separate hours that remain disputed or have already been invoiced. An apparent excess may be a tagging error rather than additional service delivery.

Use the timesheet approval guide to make the agency review consistent. If eligible hours exceed the authorization ceiling, stop and reconcile the difference. Do not quietly increase the authorized amount in your notes or treat internal approval as permission to charge the client more.

Review the invoice as a separate decision

ABH Pro tracks retainers and overages, and the Owner manually generates the period invoice. Review the base, included usage, extra hours and rate against the source records. The retainer invoice guide provides the billing calculation context; it is not a substitute for the authorization record.

Give the overage line a description that identifies the period and agreed additional service without exposing confidential internal notes. Keep sufficient evidence to explain the calculation if the client asks. Check that ordinary time invoices have not already charged for the same extra work before releasing the draft.

Handle uncertainty before requesting payment

If the client disputes the extra work, separate the facts: the original allowance, what was requested, who authorized it and what was delivered. Preserve the records and route the issue to the person responsible for the agreement. This guide does not recommend fees, enforcement actions or a legal position.

For future periods, use the monthly retainer review to surface pressure earlier. If the request changes the deliverables rather than just the volume of existing work, follow a scope change procedure. Additional hours and additional scope may need different explanations even when the arithmetic looks similar.

Use a decision log when plans change

Keep a brief log of authorization requests that were accepted, declined or left unanswered. Include the request date, named tasks, proposed ceiling, client decision and the location of the external evidence. If the client approves fewer hours than requested, update the delivery plan before the team continues. For the fictional 24-hour retainer, an authorization for 5.5 extra hours should remain identifiable even if several people log the work across different days. At invoice review, compare the combined eligible usage with that single ceiling rather than treating each timesheet as a fresh allowance. Keep the log private to the appropriate reviewers and share only the relevant decision summary with the client.

Overage approval checklist

• Confirm the included allowance, eligible work, rate and reporting period.
• Identify the client contact authorized to approve the additional budget.
• Record the extra tasks, hours and ceiling in external written authorization.
• Review actual time, exclusions, disputed records and previous billing.
• Compare the draft overage with both approved usage and the authorization ceiling.
• Keep the client summary clear and preserve the supporting agreement reference.