Ongoing support retainer
Priority engineering support for recurring needs and smaller tasks.
Not every engineering need is large enough to justify a separate project. Often what is needed is someone who already understands the product, equipment or system and can respond properly when a question arises: checking a proposed change, sense-checking a calculation, reviewing a drawing or picking up a small discrete task.
A retainer reserves an agreed amount of my capacity each month for exactly that. The commercial basis is agreed once, so individual requests can be picked up without a fresh scoping, quotation and scheduling exercise each time.
It works best where there is a steady flow of small, reasonably well-defined requests and where ongoing familiarity with the product or project adds value. Larger or self-contained tasks can still be scoped separately as Phase 0 or a defined-scope sprint.
What this usually looks like
Outputs
- Engineering judgement, including checks, mark-ups and technical feedback
- Decision support through concise emails, sketches, notes and calculations
- Technical answers to queries and minor support tasks
Allowance and response
- Pre-agreed monthly time allowance, typically 5 or 10 hours
- Reserved capacity with an agreed response time
- Time recorded and reported in 30-minute increments
- Unused time doesn’t carry forward into later months
How it runs
- Retainer agreement confirming the purpose, allowance, response time and suitable tasks
- Requests normally handled by email, with phone or video calls where useful
- Concise outputs issued as needed, with supporting attachments where required
- Monthly summary of time used and tasks supported
How to use it
- Send small separate tasks as they arise
- Include the relevant context and source material with each request
- State the question, desired outcome and priority clearly
- Retainers are intended for small, recurring requests. Larger or less clearly defined tasks may be better handled as Phase 0 or a defined-scope sprint.
- The arrangement reserves capacity for timely engineering input, rather than creating an obligation to use every available hour.
- Requests remain subject to the agreed purpose of the retainer and my professional responsibilities. Capacity is limited to a small number of ongoing arrangements.
Case study
Fabricated steel silos
Initially brought in for 3D CAD expertise, Frugal went on to provide broader ongoing mechanical engineering design services across drawing production, design review, manufacturability input, structural assessment, and live technical queries.
Common questions
A few quick answers about suitable requests and how the retainer works.
Need priority engineering support as issues arise?
Tell me what kind of recurring input you need and I’ll let you know whether a retainer is the right fit.