Blog - EthanBDev vs $5k/Month Agency Retainers
Most agency retainers quietly waste money. A look at where the spend actually goes and why a focused developer is often a better fit for BC SMBs.
By Ethan Breitkreutz
Comparisons
The invoice you never read
A BC founder shows me their last agency invoice. $5,200 for the month. Line items: strategy session, content audit, two blog posts, minor site updates, "ongoing optimization." The site is unchanged from last month except for a footer tweak and a new testimonial.
This is not fraud. This is the retainer model working exactly as designed.
How agency retainers work
The agency sells a monthly block of hours or a flat monthly fee. You get a mix of services — some development, some content, some strategy calls. The model is great for the agency because revenue is predictable. It can be great for the client when the work queue is actually full.
Most months, the work queue is not full. The agency still bills the retainer.
Where it breaks down
- Use-it-or-lose-it hours. Quiet months cost the same as busy months. You pay whether you have work or not.
- Inflated task lists. To justify the spend, small tweaks get stretched into multi-step "initiatives" with kickoff calls and reports.
- No ownership. Cancel the retainer and things stop working. Passwords, platforms, and know-how live with the agency.
- Strategy that never ships. A lot of retainer time goes into decks, audits, and recommendations. Execution is the bottleneck.
See my work
Look at the actual built things. Empire Landscaping. Gaia Landscaping. Sweet Yards Landscaping. ZB Salon. Each one is a shipped product, not a stack of strategy decks.
Why I am different
I do not sell retainers I cannot fill. If you need ongoing dev work, we agree on scope and I bill for what I actually deliver. If you only need me once a quarter, that is fine.
I am based in Kelowna. Same-day replies. Direct access. No account manager translating your request into a ticket.
Fair pricing, no office overhead. You get a developer, not a delivery team.
You own everything. Code in your repo. Content in your CMS. Domains in your registrar. If we stop working together, nothing breaks.
I have been developing since high school and I ship on modern tools — Next.js, React, Tailwind, headless CMS. Real software, not a monthly drip of small edits.
FAQ
Do you ever do retainers? Sometimes, when the scope is real. Something like "two days a month of dev work on this app." I will not sell you a retainer just to capture your budget.
Who should use an agency retainer? Companies with consistent, varied marketing needs across design, content, ads, and dev. If you genuinely use the hours, a retainer is fine. Most SMBs do not use the hours.
What is the alternative to a retainer for ongoing work? Project-based pricing with a support agreement for bug fixes and small updates. Pay for work done.
How do I audit my current retainer? Ask your agency for the last six months of time logs. Read them. If you cannot map hours to tangible output, you are overpaying.
Can you take over from an agency? Yes. I do it regularly. Look at the portfolio and the industries I work with.
The clean exit
If your retainer feels off, it probably is. A developer who charges for work actually done is almost always a better deal for a small business.
If this is too much to evaluate on your own, reach out — I'll give you a straight answer about whether I'm a fit, even if it means pointing you elsewhere.
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