Is this VA client actually paying you? Free, no signup.
Track real hours, not invoiced ones. Include the task time only here; admin and comms go below.
Scope creep is never one big ask. It is ten small ones you said yes to without a number attached.
Assumes every client pays and costs like this one, so adjust down for your worst ones.
Retainer creep is the slow version of a pay cut: the fee stays fixed while the hours drift. This calculator checks whether your VA retainer still pays your rate once every hour is counted. Start with your bar: minimum dollars per hour (35) and monthly take-home goal. Pick a preset: Starter admin ($400, 15 agreed hours), Marketing support ($600, 20 agreed), or Exec support ($1,200, 30 agreed), all editable starting points. Enter your monthly fee, agreed hours, and actual hours worked this month, task time only. The invisible-hours card takes client comms plus check-ins, your own admin (invoicing, reports, tools), and out-of-scope extras as a count times minutes each. The breakdown shows agreed versus actual hours, comms plus admin, extras, total real hours, the on-paper rate (fee divided by agreed), and hours over agreement flagged as free. The big number is true dollars per hour versus your bar, with PRICED RIGHT, CREEPING (within 80% of your bar, plus the monthly raise in dollars), or THE RETAINER TRAP verdicts. Roster math shows retainers needed for your goal, the real hours that roster costs, a raise-the-fee-not-headcount flag past 160 hours a month, and clients needed at the fair price. No signup.
Example only, not typical pricing. Marketing support preset: $600 per month for 20 agreed hours. Actual task hours are 28, comms 3, admin 2, extras are 4 x 30 minutes = 2.0 hours. Total real hours = 28 + 3 + 2 + 2 = 35.0. True rate = 600 / 35 = $17.14 per hour, while the on-paper rate is 600 / 20 = $30.00 per hour. Hours over agreement = 28 - 20 = 8.0 hours worked free. At a $35 per hour bar, $17.14 is under 80% of the bar ($28), so the verdict is THE RETAINER TRAP. A fair retainer = 35 x 35 = $1,225 per month. Roster math: a $4,000 goal at $600 per retainer needs 6.67, rounded up to 7 retainers, which is 7 x 35 = 245 real hours per month. That is over 40 hours a week, so raise the fee, not the headcount. At the fair price, 4,000 / 1,225 = 3.27, rounded up to 4 clients, hits the goal.
**Q** Why track actual hours when the client pays a flat fee?
Because the flat fee is the income and the hours are the cost. If the hours drift and the fee does not, your effective rate falls every month without a single conversation.
**Q** How do I handle out-of-scope extras?
Enter the count and minutes each; the tool adds them to real hours so the verdict reflects them. The number is your starting point for the scope conversation.
**Q** What if raising the fee is not an option?
Hold hours at the agreement. The hours-over-agreement line shows exactly what is free, which makes the cap concrete for both you and the client.
**Q** Should client comms really count as work?
Yes. Check-ins, status messages, and calls are labor. They sit in their own field so you can see how big the slice is before deciding what to do about it.
**Q** What does the roster math tell me?
Whether the retainer can scale. If seven clients hit your goal but cost 245 hours a month, the business model needs a higher fee, not more clients.