Retainer hours reset on a schedule, and Everhour keeps ClickUp work tied to time, rates, budgets, and billing review.
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Alejandro Luna0:00:00Kai Nani0:00:00Kai Nani0:00:00Click!
Dave Jung0:00:00Alejandro Luna0:00:00Dave JungThe calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
Set a budget, assign rates, and get alerted before you're over.
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Track your budget through time or costs
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Tracked hours flow straight into a polished invoice — no copy-paste, no manual math.
A retainer gives a client a recurring commitment, usually a set amount of time, money, or service capacity for a defined period. For ClickUp work, the practical job is to connect each task to the right client, billing status, rate rule, and retainer period before the invoice review starts.
The useful record separates billable delivery work from non-billable account management, internal review, sales follow-up, or correction work. Keep both categories visible. Billable time drives the client charge, while non-billable time explains margin, staffing pressure, and why a monthly retainer feels profitable or tight.
A working retainer needs a reset schedule, a budget type, and a billing method. The budget can be tracked in hours or money, and recurring periods can reset daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Most retainers use monthly resets because client commitments, invoices, and management reviews usually follow the same rhythm.
Rate rules need the same clarity. A project rate fits one blended hourly price. Member rates fit work where senior and junior time carry different prices. Custom task rates fit time-and-materials work where strategy, design, development, or support should price differently. Set the rule before the period starts so approved hours do not need billing cleanup later.
A client-facing retainer record should show the task, person, date, time worked, billable status, and a useful description. Tags and task context help when a client asks why hours were used. A vague entry such as "updates" creates friction. A precise entry such as "Revised onboarding email sequence after client feedback" supports the charge.
Retainers also need boundary decisions. Mark non-billable tasks inside billable projects when the work should stay out of the invoice but remain part of the project history. Keep admin-only financial data separate from day-to-day task work, and review billable amount, cost, invoiced amount, and uninvoiced amount before sending the final invoice.
A one-off tally works when one person reviews a short retainer period and sends a simple invoice from a small set of tasks. It breaks down when several people log time, different rates apply, budget alerts matter, or a client expects a repeatable billing trail every month.
Everhour adds the managed layer for that workflow: timers or manual entries on ClickUp tasks, billable and non-billable controls, hour or fee budgets, budget alerts at configured thresholds, approval review, and invoice amounts based on rates. Approved, rate-priced hours can then move into billing without re-keying the same work from a spreadsheet.
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 retainer period before the work begins, then review only the entries inside that period. Monthly resets fit most client retainers because the work, budget review, and invoice cadence line up. Recurring budgets can reset daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly, so choose the schedule that matches the client agreement.
Keep internal coordination, account planning, sales expansion, billing cleanup, and avoidable rework non-billable unless the contract says those hours are chargeable. Do not delete that time. Non-billable entries explain total effort, margin, and capacity, while billable entries show the time that belongs on the client invoice.
Use an hour budget when the client bought a defined amount of time. Use a fee budget when the client bought a recurring dollar commitment or cap. The budget choice should match the contract language, because the review question changes from "hours remaining" to "money remaining."
Use one project rate when all approved time bills at the same hourly price. Use member rates when each person has a different client-facing rate. Use custom task rates when the work type determines the price. The right rule is the one the client can recognize from the agreement.
Waiting until invoice day to separate billable and non-billable work creates the hardest review. The billing decision should happen while the task time is entered or reviewed. Late cleanup forces managers to interpret old descriptions, adjust rates, and explain why some visible work is excluded from the invoice.
Everhour Time Tracking lets team members record time on ClickUp tasks with timers or manual entries, then sends those hours into timesheets, reports, budgets, invoices, and payroll review. Admins can use approvals, locked periods, reminders, and timer rules to keep retainer records controlled before billing.
Everhour Billing & Invoicing turns uninvoiced billable time and expenses into invoices, calculates amounts from rates, and excludes non-billable work. After time appears on an invoice, Everhour marks it invoiced so the same approved hours do not return in the next billing run.
Track approved ClickUp task time, apply the right billing rules, and move recurring client work from retainer review to invoice with Everhour.
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