---
title: "Retainer"
slug: portal/retainer
url: https://projectri.com/docs/portal/retainer
section: portal
audience: portal
app_route: "/portal/retainer"
mobile: "/(portal)/retainer"
updated: 2026-09-08
source: Projectri documentation
---

# Retainer

How much of this period's retainer is left, what it started with, what has been carried in, and what has been used.

![Retainer](https://projectri.com/docs-shots/portal-retainer.png)

## What it is

Your retainer balance for the period you are in. One card per active retainer,
each with the period's dates, a headline figure for what is left, a bar, and the
three numbers that make it up.

It exists so that "how much do we have left this month" is a question you can
answer yourself.

## How to get there

**Retainer** in the sidebar. Like invoices, it exists only for **primary** and
**billing** contacts — a balance is money.

## How to use it

### Read a card

1. The name of the retainer, and the period's start and end dates.
2. The headline says how much is **left**, or — when you have gone past the
   allowance — how much you are **over**.
3. The bar underneath fills as the period is consumed.
4. The row below breaks it down: the **allowance** for the period, anything
   **carried in** from last time when there is some, and how much has been
   **used**.

### Read the units

1. A retainer is measured either in money or in hours, and the figures follow
   whichever it is. An hours retainer shows hours, not a currency amount.

## What it affects

Nothing. This screen reports; it changes nothing and notifies nobody.

## On mobile

The phone app has a retainer screen, but nothing in the app's navigation points
at it — in practice you check the balance in a browser.

## Limits and gotchas

- **Only approved work is counted.** Time that has been logged but not yet
  approved is not in the figure, on purpose — it is not a number your supplier
  has stood behind yet.
- Paused and ended retainers are not shown; only active ones.
- The balance is recomputed as you read it, so it cannot be stale.
- The rules behind the number — what happens to unused balance, what happens
  when you go over — are in your contract rather than on this screen.
- A retainer whose period window does not cover today simply does not appear.

## Related

- [Invoices](/docs/portal/invoices) — what has actually been billed.
- [Change orders](/docs/portal/change-orders) — changes to the agreed value.

## Related

- [Invoices](https://projectri.com/docs/portal/invoices.md): Your invoices with what is still outstanding, any credit notes applied, payments received, a pay button where card payment is available, and a way to query one.
- [Change orders](https://projectri.com/docs/portal/change-orders.md): Changes to work already agreed — what the contract value and end date go from and to, what is being added or removed, and your approval.
- [Quotes](https://projectri.com/docs/portal/quotes.md): Every quote your supplier has sent you, with its reference, version, date and total — the same documents as the emailed links.