What goes on an independent contractor service agreement
A retainer is the difference between looking for work every month and knowing what next month looks like. What it has to settle is the thing both sides quietly worry about: the client fears paying for nothing in a quiet month, and you fear the month where they want eighty hours for the price of twenty. Say what the hours buy, and what happens to the ones nobody used.
- The hours or days a month included, and the rate behind them
- What those hours cover, and what falls outside them
- Whether unused hours roll over, and for how long
- The rate for hours beyond the retainer
- Response time, which is often the real thing being bought
- How it is invoiced — in advance is usual, and worth writing down
- The term, the notice period, and when the rate is reviewed
The sample line items and example prices this sheet opens with are on the independent contractor invoice template — the same table, which is about the trade rather than about this paper, so it lives in one place rather than on all six.
What you get
A PDF, and a link your customer can open in any browser. Word and Excel versions are not available yet — if a spreadsheet is what you need, this is not yet the tool for it, and saying so is cheaper for both of us than you finding out after typing everything in.
Pick how it looks
Six looks, from a plain classic sheet through a bold top band to a shop ticket, and your initials go on automatically until you upload a logo. See all six.
How to send it
Most customers want the paper on their phone, so the service agreement goes out by WhatsApp, text or email, or as a link that needs no app and no account on their side. Or download the PDF to print it or keep it for your own records.
Questions
Should unused hours roll over?
It is the question every retainer runs aground on. Rolling over indefinitely becomes a balance you can never work off; not rolling over at all makes a quiet month feel like a loss. One month’s carry is the usual compromise, and agreeing it in advance is what stops it becoming a conversation.
What is the client actually buying?
Availability, more often than output. A retainer promising a response inside a day is worth more to most clients than one promising ten extra hours, because what they are protecting against is needing you and not having you. Price it that way and say so.