Retainer: Pay us Z up front. I do X hours work. Y is deducted out of retainer Z, which then must be replenished before more work. Basically a pay up front method.
Ah I see. I thought it was “pay X per month/week, work or no work, and some hours are included in X”. Then the longer the client delays, the bigger bill accumulates as a penalty for not paying on time. I guess it’s more of a “lost post-payment trust on future projects” kind of thing here.