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Retainers are commonly used in design and engineering firms. Sometimes known as a deposit or a kick-off fee, retainers are often used to cover the costs of initial planning and design work, or to ensure that the architecture firm is available to provide ongoing support and consultation throughout the project.
Continue reading to learn about how to collect and manage Retainers in Monograph.
📚 For more information on building invoices in Monograph, please refer to this article.
Building a Retainer Invoice
To begin building a Retainer invoice, navigate to the Project Overview > click 'Create Invoice'. As a best practice, it is best to collect a Retainer by itself with no other charges included on the invoice.
In the Invoice Builder, go to the "Additional Items" tab and click "Add Line Item". Then, select "Retainer" from the drop-down menu. Here, you can also adjust the Item name (if needed) and input the description and amount for the Retainer.
Next, in the Designer tab, if you'd like to hide the Services Through dates used on the invoice (since this is just for a Retainer), select the option to hide the "Services Through" date range. If you'd prefer to include a Services Through date range, it is not required to be hidden. Fill out all other required fields and add any additional information as needed.
If you wish to hide any Fixed Fee lines items or any previously billed amounts, use the toggles on the left side of the Invoice Designer to turn off all other options. This will ensure that only the Retainer is included on the invoice.
Once the Retainer invoice is ready, click Next: Preview to go to the Invoice Preview page and Open/Share the invoice with your client.
Tracking the Retainer
Once the retainer has been paid, the Financials tab will update to show the Retainer beneath the Other Items tab. This section will update throughout the workflow of sending and applying a retainer.
The Projects Overview screen will also update once the Retainer has been paid to show a summary of the balance. This will also update throughout this workflow.
In both the Builder and Designer tab, there is a purple box that will remind you that there is a retainer to be applied and that amount will also update throughout the workflow.
If you'd like to show the Retainer Summary on any invoices following the Retainer invoice, use the "Show Retainer Summary" toggle to enable the summary.
Applying the Retainer
When it's time to apply the Retainer, Monograph will allow you to apply the retainer to just one invoice or spread the retainer over multiple invoices.
To apply the retainer, create a new invoice and navigate to the Designer tab. Click on the 'Apply retainer' link.
This will send you to the bottom of the page where, beneath the total, the amount of retainer to be applied can be entered into the box. This amount will then be subtracted from the total to show the Amount Due.
Once the retainer amount has been applied, the applied amount will appear at the bottom of the invoice between the Grand Total Due and the Amount Due. This is what your client will see on the Invoice.
Once the Invoice is open, the Financials screen and the Retainer Summary in the Projects Overview screens will update accordingly.
Mapping Retainers
For accounting purposes, the Retainer can be mapped to a specific QuickBooks Service. This means that, when you send a Retainer invoice (or an invoice that includes an applied retainer) to QBO, the Retainer amount will appear in the correct account.
To select the account, when QuickBooks Online is connected, navigate to Settings > QuickBooks > Retainers and choose the account from the dropdown.
