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Template

Website maintenance proposal template

A proposal you can send before the first care invoice. Three tiers, what happens when a month runs over or under the hours, a line for what is not included, and the sample report as the proof. Copy it, or download the Markdown.

The tiers are blank on purpose. Price them with the care plan pricing calculator. The contract that follows, once they say yes, is the website maintenance contract template.

Blank proposal

# Website maintenance proposal

Prepared for: [Client]
Site: [https://example.com]
From: [Studio]
Date: [date]

## What I am proposing

A monthly care plan for a site that is already live. I watch it, I make the small fixes that fit the hours, and I send one page you can open. This is not a redesign.

## What you get every month

- A check of the homepage on the schedule we name in the agreement.
- One page: the work I did, whether the site was up, and when the certificate and the domain expire.
- Fixes that fit the hours in the tier you pick.
- A note when something needs a decision from you, such as a renewal.

## Tiers

| Tier | Hours / month | Response | Price / month |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Care | [hours] | [time] | [price] |
| Standard | [hours] | [time] | [price] |
| Priority | [hours] | [time] | [price] |

Hours are time I spend. Unused hours are not a bank unless we write that down.

## When a month runs over or under

Under: unused hours [do not carry over / carry over one month, then lapse].
Over: before I go past the hours in your tier, I ask you first. You can approve the extra at [rate] an hour, or we move the job to next month.
Hours used: every line on your monthly page shows the minutes I spent, so you can see what is left before you ask.
Term: month to month. Either of us can stop with [30] days notice.

## Not included

New pages, a new feature, and a new design. Those are quoted on their own.
I do not promise a person at night unless the tier you pick says so.

## The page you would get

A sample of the monthly page, from a fictional studio: https://retainerproof.com/demo
The PDF of that sample: https://retainerproof.com/demo/pdf
Yours would use your site. The sample is not a client of mine.

## Next step

Reply with the tier. I will send the care plan agreement before the first invoice.

Download the blank Markdown

Filled example

Northwind Web Studio proposing care for Harbor & Co. Neither is a customer. The prices are the calculator defaults so you can see a finished table. Replace them.

# Website maintenance proposal

Prepared for: Harbor & Co
Site: https://harborandco.example
From: Northwind Web Studio
Date: 1 October 2026

Harbor & Co is not a customer. The prices below are the calculator defaults (1, 2, and 4 hours at $90, with a 50% margin, no tool cost, and no floor). They are an illustration so the template has a shape. They are not a market study. For published US medians, use the pricing calculator on this site.

## What I am proposing

A monthly care plan for the brochure site. I watch the homepage, I make small fixes inside the hours, and you get one page each month.

## Tiers

| Tier | Hours / month | Response | Price / month |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Care | 1 | Next business day | $135 |
| Standard | 2 | Same business day | $270 |
| Priority | 4 | Within 4 business hours | $540 |

## When a month runs over or under

Under: unused hours do not carry over.
Over: before I go past the hours in your tier, I ask you first. You can approve the extra at $135 an hour, or we move the job to next month.
Hours used: every line on your monthly page shows the minutes I spent.
Term: month to month. Either of us can stop with 30 days notice.

## The page you would get

https://retainerproof.com/demo

## Next step

Reply with Care, Standard, or Priority. The agreement comes before the first invoice.

The sample they would click is annotated here, and the page itself is /demo. Do not describe that page as a client of yours.

The question most templates skip: what if the month runs over, or under?

The proposal templates that rank for this search list services, testimonials, and a price table. None of the ones I read says what happens in the month the client asks for six hours on a two-hour plan, or the month they ask for nothing. That is the month the plan gets questioned, so put the answer in before they sign.

In a 2022 r/web_design thread on retainers, the person asking said their client wanted to know how many hours were left in the month. PrimarchtheMage, who works on retainers, described the rule I copied into the template: extra hours are billed hourly, and when they are about to go over the cap they ask the client first. Sometimes the client says yes. Sometimes the job moves to next month.

The other side shows up in an older thread. Bonejob dropped retainers because clients felt forced into a long relationship. JoeyCalamaro had clients who never asked for a change but liked knowing they could. A short notice period, written in the proposal, answers the first worry. Saying plainly that unused hours do or do not carry over answers the second, before anyone feels they paid for nothing.

The lines are in the blank above, under "When a month runs over or under". Pick one option for unused hours and delete the other. Hours left is only something you can show if you write minutes down as you work. On the client page, each work line carries its minutes.

Questions

Should unused maintenance hours roll over?

Your call, but write it down. Rolling over forever turns the plan into a bank of hours you owe. One month, then lapse, is a middle option. No rollover is fine if the proposal says so.

Should the proposal list Starter, Studio, and Agency?

No. Those are what you pay for the reporting tool: $9, $29, and $79 a month. The client is buying care hours and a page. Keep your tool bill out of their proposal unless you have a reason to show it.

Is this a contract?

No. It is the offer. The care plan agreement is the scope sheet you send after they pick a tier. Neither one is a law-firm contract.

What do I attach?

Link the sample digest. Attach a PDF only if they asked for a file. The sample PDF is at /demo/pdf.

Plans are Starter at $9/month for up to 5 sites, Studio at $29/month for up to 25 sites, and Agency at $79/month for up to 100 sites. Studio is the plan marked recommended. Starter, including a trial, keeps a small Powered by RetainerProof link on the client digest and the public status page. Studio and Agency remove that link. Prices are on the pricing page.

More resources

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Also see pricing and a sample client digest.