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Client Delivery

Retainer Hours Burndown

Retainer overruns are discovered at invoicing, which is the worst possible moment for everyone. This workflow totals tracked hours weekly, posts the burndown to the internal channel, tells the client when they pass three quarters of the allowance with time left in the month, and forces the conversation about the following month before the overrun rather than during the argument about it.

9 stepsRequires Zapier Starter or higher25 minMedium
HarvestNotionMicrosoft TeamsAsanaSchedule by ZapierFormatter by ZapierFilter by Zapier

What you get

Retainer consumption is visible weekly instead of at invoicing.
Clients are warned at 75 per cent, while the month can still be managed.
Overruns become a scheduled conversation rather than a billing dispute.

Workflow blueprint

SC
When this happens
Schedule by ZapierEvery Week
1HA
HarvestFind Time Entries
2FO
Formatter by ZapierNumbers — Spreadsheet-Style Formula
3FO
Formatter by ZapierDate / Time
4NO
NotionCreate Database Item
5MT
Microsoft TeamsSend Channel Message
6FI
Filter by ZapierOnly continue if
7MT
Microsoft TeamsSend Chat Message
8AS
AsanaCreate Task

The full blueprint — every field mapping, example value and the written copy for each message — is included with purchase.

Getting it into Zapier

Build this one from the recipe. The blueprint gives you the exact trigger, action events and field mapping for all 9 steps, so it is a copy-and-paste job rather than a design job.

You need your own Zapier account. Zapier’s Free plan runs single-step Zaps only; multi-step Zaps need a paid plan, and Paths and Webhooks need Professional. How this works →

Not on Zapier?

n8n — import and go

An n8n workflow JSON ships with this template. Import it and all 9 steps arrive on the canvas wired in order, and 4 of the 9 nodes arrive with their fields already filled in — the subject lines, the message copy, the delays, the column names. Every step maps to a native n8n node.

What an import cannot carry is your credentials, and the IDs that only exist inside your own account — which spreadsheet, which channel, which board. Those stay in a sticky note under the node, listing what is already done so you do not retype it, and what is left so you can see it.

Make — build guide

A Make-specific guide ships with this template: every module in order, every field value, and the concept translations that catch people out — filters live on the links between modules, and the schedule lives on the scenario rather than in a trigger module.

Self-hosted n8n has no per-task fee, which is worth knowing if this workflow runs at volume. Platform coverage →

Setup steps

1
Total the hours every Friday

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

2
Work out the percentage used

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

3
Read the day of the month

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

4
Record the week

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

5
Post the internal burndown

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

6
Continue only past the warning threshold, with time left to act

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

7
Warn the client

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

8
Raise the next-month conversation

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

Implementation notes

  • Warn at 75 per cent with days still on the clock. A warning at 95 per cent is not a warning, it is an announcement.
  • Show the breakdown. Clients accept the number far more readily when they can see that four of the hours were meetings they called.
  • Three months over 90 per cent means the retainer is priced wrong. Reprice it — quarterly overage arguments cost the relationship more than the money is worth.
  • Never bill overage that was not agreed in advance and in writing. One surprise line item undoes a year of goodwill, and it is the item they remember.