True Effective Hourly Rate Diagnostic

Subject: Reviewing our retainer scope

Hi Helix Bio team,

Thanks for a productive working relationship. While reviewing our time, we found the engagement is running well beyond what we agreed: 20 contracted hours, but 44 hours actually delivered per month.

That extra 24 hours covers account management, unplanned calls and revisions that sit outside our original scope. We want to keep giving you that level of attention, so we'd like to agree on one of two options:

1. Trim scope by around 25% so we deliver within the agreed hours, or
2. Adjust the fee by 120% to reflect the time this work genuinely takes.

Happy to walk through the breakdown on a short call this week.

Best,
[Your name]

TRUE EFFECTIVE HOURLY RATE DIAGNOSTIC: Helix Bio
Structure: Monthly retainer
Fee: £3,000 · Contracted hours: 20
Hidden hours: 24.0 (internal cost £1,125)
  - Account management / strategy: 6 h @ £45
  - Senior delivery: 8 h @ £60
  - Junior delivery: 5 h @ £30
  - Revisions / unplanned calls: 5 h @ £45
Nominal rate: £150/hr
Effective rate: £68/hr
Realised: 45% · Grade: Critical
Margin leakage: £3,600 per month · £43,200 per year
What-if (scope −0%, fee +0%): £68/hr, 45% realised, Critical