On Codeable, experts can set up retainers as additional tasks for recurring or ongoing work. These agreements function like a subscription, with a set price and duration that automatically renews at the end of each billing cycle. This means experts don’t need to create a new task each time, clients don’t have to re-enter payment details for each cycle, and payments to experts are automatic without requiring clients to mark each cycle as complete.

Available Billing Cycles:

- Weekly

- Every 4 Weeks

- Monthly

- Quarterly (Every 3 months)

- Yearly

The retainer feature is ideal for tasks like routine WordPress updates, security audits, speed optimizations, SEO projects, and custom plugin/theme updates.

To begin, identify the recurring task you need assistance with, hire an expert, and fund the project. Discuss the details of the work and agree on the price upfront. Once you've aligned on the scope of work and costs, the expert will create a retainer task in our application tailored to your needs.

Note: We're currently working on a feature that will allow you to create a retainer task directly. Until then, you'll need to hire an expert first, and they will create the retainer task for you.

After the expert sets up the retainer task, a banner will appear at the top of your workroom screen, prompting you to fund the retainer task.

For example, if a retainer is funded on April 16 and follows a monthly billing schedule, it will automatically be marked as complete on May 16. On this date, the expert is paid for their services from April 16 to May 16, and you are charged for the upcoming month's work.

If you need to update your bank card information for an active retainer, contact our support team via live chat or email us at [email protected]. We will provide you with a link to update your payment method without your developer needing to create a new retainer.

To modify the billing cycle of your retainer, please reach out to our support team for assistance.

If you need to pause payments temporarily, our support team can help. Just contact us, and we’ll take care of it.

There are no contracts or lock-in periods with retainers. You can request cancellation at any time. We can offer a partial refund for any unused time.

To cancel a retainer, follow these steps:

1. Click on "VIEW ALL TASKS" to locate the retainer task.

2. Use the "CANCEL" button to stop the retainer.

Alternatively, you can ask your expert to cancel the retainer task on your behalf. This will not affect payment for the current period's work, but you won't be charged again after cancellation.

If you're unable to fund a newly created or ongoing retainer task due to payment issues, we recommend contacting your bank or card issuer to pre-authorize the transaction. Inform them that this is a recurring payment.

For an active retainer task, Stripe automatically retries processing the transaction the following day. Stripe will make up to three additional attempts, one per day, after each failed attempt. If the payment fails four times in a row, the retainer task will be automatically canceled, and your expert will need to set up a new task for you to put in the payment method.

You can also switch to using regular, one-off additional tasks instead of retainers. Your expert can create additional tasks for ongoing work, and you need to fund each task manually and mark them as complete.

Retainers come with the same 28-day warranty as regular projects and additional tasks. The only difference is that retainers are automatically funded and marked as complete each month.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact our support team. We’re here to help!