How fractional executives track hours against retainers
Last updated
Short answer
Set committed hours per client, log time weekly (calls automatically, other work roughly), and compare hours worked against what each retainer pays for. The numbers that matter are percent of committed hours used, effective hourly rate and over-retainer work in dollars, checked every week rather than at renewal.
Most fractional retainers are priced on an expected amount of time, even when the contract never says hours. Tracking against that number is how you notice scope creep while you can still do something about it.
1. Write down committed hours for every client
Every retainer has an implied number of hours, even if it isn't in the contract. Write it down per month: "$9,000 a month, about 28 hours." Weekly targets follow from it (monthly hours divided by about 4.3). Without this number, you can't tell busy from over.
2. Log calls automatically, everything else roughly
Calls are the easiest hours to capture and the easiest to forget. If your calls are recorded, the recording length is the honest number; the calendar invite is the fallback. Everything else (prep, decks, async work) can be a rough daily or weekly number. Rough and consistent beats exact and abandoned.
3. Track three numbers per client
- Percent of committed hours used. Under 80% is comfortable, 80 to 100% is a warning, over 100% is free work.
- Effective hourly rate. Fee for the period divided by hours worked. Month to date during the month, the full month once it's done.
- Over-retainer work in dollars. Over hours × (monthly fee ÷ committed hours). This is the number that makes a scope conversation easy.
4. Review it weekly, not at renewal
A client running 25% over for one week is noise. Running over for six weeks is a pricing problem, and by renewal it's a habit the client expects. A five-minute weekly look across every client catches it while it's still a conversation.
How frac does it
frac reads your Google Calendar and Fireflies recordings. Recorded client calls go on your timesheet at their real length; meetings without a recording wait for you to confirm. You add other work in a weekly grid without erasing call time, and view hours by week, month or quarter, in hours or percent of time. Each client shows hours against committed hours, effective rate and over-retainer dollars, and frac drafts a monthly invoice from the fee in the app for you to review. It never sends anything for you.
Common questions
Should fractional executives track hours on a retainer?
Yes, even when you don't bill by the hour. Hours tell you whether each retainer still covers the work, what your effective hourly rate is per client, and when to renegotiate scope before renewal.
How do you calculate effective hourly rate on a retainer?
Divide what the client pays for a period by the hours you actually worked for them in that period. A $9,000 monthly retainer with 36 hours worked is $250 an hour. If the same client takes 45 hours, it drops to $200.
How do you put a dollar value on over-retainer work?
Work out what each committed hour is worth (monthly fee divided by committed hours per month), then multiply by the hours you worked over. 7 hours over on a $9,000, 28-hour retainer is 7 × $321, about $2,250 of unbilled work.
How precise does retainer hour tracking need to be?
Rough is fine. Quarter-hour accuracy over a month is enough to see which client is eating the week. Most people abandon exact timers within weeks; a weekly habit with calls logged automatically holds up.
How does frac track hours?
Recorded client calls log themselves at their real length. You add other work by day in a weekly grid without overwriting the call time. frac shows each client against committed hours (green under 80%, amber 80 to 100%, red over) with effective rate and over-retainer dollars.