# Turn a retainer contract into recurring invoices, and see the months nobody billed

URL: https://www.orla.finance/en/use-cases/retainer-billing
Markdown twin of that page. Append `.md` to any Orla page URL to get one.

Upload the signed contract. Orla reads the fee and the dates, sends each month's invoice, and lists the months still waiting for one.

#### Harlow Coffee, three months behind

Alder & Wren has billed Harlow Coffee $6,000 on the first of the month since March. June went missing while the account lead was away, August slipped during a launch, and September hasn't gone out either. That's $18,000 of finished work nobody asked for, and it only showed up when the cash forecast looked thin.

#### From the signed PDF to the missed months, in one sitting

Recorded on the demo studio's books; the waits while the model reads are cut. The steps are the same in your space.

1. **Hand the contract to the assistant** (Contracts · Read with the assistant): The signed PDF sits in Documents as a contract nobody has read yet. One press and the assistant reads it once: a monthly retainer of $6,000 from March 1, billed on the 1st, fourteen days to pay.
2. **Confirm the client** (Harlow Coffee Co.): A card asks who the client is, matched to the contact you already have. The contract card that follows names the account the money lands in.
3. **Create the contract** (Create contract): Nothing is sent today. From the next date in the contract, each month's invoice is issued and emailed on its own until the contract ends.
4. **See what was never billed** (Not billed under contracts): June, August and September have no invoice and no payment for that amount. Missing: $18,000.
5. **Bill a missed month** (Invoice with the assistant): The assistant prepares the invoice for the period, dated today with “Jun 1 to Jun 30, 2026” on the line, and sends it when you press. Orla doesn't backdate it.

#### What Orla does

- Reads the signed contract once: fee, period, start and end, days to pay.
- Issues and emails each retainer invoice on its date, and stops when the contract ends.
- Lists every period with no invoice and no payment, with its amount and a total per currency.
- Reads a new version of the file on its own and shows what changed.

#### What stays with you

- Check what was read, and correct it in plain words.
- Press Create contract, and press again for each missed month you want billed.
- Invoice each milestone when it's done: on its day the owners get a notice, and one press sends it.

#### What Orla does not do here

- Backdate an invoice for a missed month. It's dated today, and closed tax years stay off the list.
- Send milestone invoices without a press. Only retainers go out on their own.
- Put a rate on a quote that isn't in the contract.
- Copy bank details out of the contract file.

Contracts and recurring schedules need Pro or higher, and contracts as the source of invoices is being switched on space by space. A schedule already set up keeps billing on any plan.

#### Questions

##### How do I invoice a retainer fee?

On the day the contract says, for the fee it says, with the period written on the line. In Orla the contract does it: the fee and the dates are read from the signed file, and each period's invoice is issued and emailed on its date.

##### What is retainer billing?

A fixed fee billed on a schedule for ongoing work, usually monthly. The weak spot is the month nobody remembers to bill, which is what Not billed under contracts is for.

##### Can a missed month be invoiced with its old date?

No. It's invoiced today, with the period it covers on the line, so the books and the client's copy tell the same story.

##### What happens when the rate changes halfway through?

Upload the new version of the contract. Orla lists the fields that changed and, when you press Apply from the date, ends the old schedule the day before and starts the new one.

#### Read next

- Late invoices: who owes you, and who to call: https://www.orla.finance/en/use-cases/late-invoices
- Contracts and schedules in the product: https://www.orla.finance/en/product/money#contracts
- Orla for agencies and studios: https://www.orla.finance/en/for/agencies