Retainer hours reset on a schedule. Everhour keeps Basecamp work tied to approvals, rates, budgets, and billing records.
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A retainer needs a defined period, a client scope, and a clear rule for hours. The work still lives in Basecamp projects, lists, and to-dos, so the billing record should keep that same structure visible. A practical retainer record shows who worked, which Basecamp to-do received the time, the date, the note, and whether the work should count toward the billable commitment.
Retainers also need reset logic. A monthly retainer should separate July hours from August hours, even when the same Basecamp project continues. A weekly or quarterly commitment needs the same boundary. Without a period boundary, approved hours drift into the wrong client statement, unused capacity becomes hard to explain, and overages lose their audit trail.
Retainer tracking starts with the billing method. Everhour can treat Basecamp projects as billable, fixed fee, or non-billable, then apply project rates, member rates, or custom task rates where the client agreement requires a different price. That structure keeps the same Basecamp to-do connected to the right billing treatment without turning every time entry into a separate rate decision.
Non-billable work still belongs in the record. Internal review, goodwill fixes, or account management can stay visible while remaining outside the billable total when the task is marked non-billable. That distinction matters for client conversations because the client sees the charged work, while admins can still review billable, non-billable, billable amount, and cost fields for the account.
A retainer works best when usage is visible before the period closes. Everhour can track Basecamp project budgets by hourly rate, fixed fee, or non-billable status and send automatic budget emails at 50%, 80%, or custom thresholds. Those alerts give account leads time to slow work, request approval for overage, or move non-urgent to-dos into the next retainer period.
The main mistake is mixing retainer fulfillment with general client activity. A support to-do, a strategy call, and a rush request can all sit inside the same client project, but they do not always belong in the same billing bucket. The retainer record should show the to-do, list, task ID, task status, person, and note so finance can explain why each hour counted.
A one-off tally works for a single client and a small number of weekly entries. It is enough when the agreement is simple, no one disputes the detail, and a single person controls billing. The limits appear when multiple people log time, rates differ by person or task, or the client expects a clean history of used, unused, and overage hours.
A managed workflow keeps the paper trail in one place. Everhour embeds tracking controls in Basecamp through the browser extension, syncs Basecamp projects, lists, and to-dos into reports, and supports approvals before billing. Approved, rate-priced hours can then feed invoice review without rebuilding the same billing detail by hand.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
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Set the reporting date range to the exact retainer period and review only approved time inside that range. A monthly client statement should exclude prior-period cleanup and next-period planning unless the agreement says those hours roll forward. The same Basecamp project can continue across months, but the billing record needs a clean period boundary.
Yes. Unused hours should stay visible in the period review because they explain the gap between the contracted commitment and actual work delivered. The record should separate used billable hours, non-billable support time, and remaining capacity so the client conversation does not rely on a single total without context.
The useful review fields are the Basecamp project, to-do, list, task ID, task status, person, date, hours, and note. Those details connect the billed time to the work the client recognizes. A vague note such as "client work" weakens the record because it does not explain the deliverable, request, or follow-up.
Overage work should be separated from standard retainer hours before invoicing. The record needs the date, person, Basecamp to-do, billing rate, and approval context for the extra work. If the client agreement requires approval before overage billing, unapproved extra time should stay visible for review instead of being blended into the normal retainer total.
Yes. Non-billable retainer work should remain in reports so admins can see the full billing picture without charging the client for every hour. In Everhour, a billable Basecamp project can include specific tasks marked non-billable, which keeps those hours out of billable totals while preserving them for billability and account review.
Everhour Team Management supports retainer review with timesheet approvals, lock rules, admin time correction, roles, project assignments, and team groups. Managers can approve or reject submitted time before billing, then protect approved entries from regular member edits so the retainer record stays stable after review.
Everhour Billing & Invoicing can generate invoices from uninvoiced billable time and expenses, calculate amounts from rates and billable work, and exclude non-billable tasks. Invoice line items can be grouped by structures such as project, task, person, or date so the client receives the level of detail the agreement requires.
Approve retainer time before billing, lock reviewed periods, and keep Basecamp work tied to the right people and projects. Everhour gives teams a cleaner approval trail for recurring client billing.
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