Explaining recurring care to clients
How do I explain a website maintenance fee to a small business owner?
Show the setup fee and yearly care as simple, honest math over a few years, and frame care as the owner getting to focus on their trade while you handle the site.
Read the transcript
Business owners hate surprise fees. So be the clearest person they talk to all month. Put it in one small table. A setup fee in year one. A yearly care fee after that. And the total over three years. For example, $2,500 to build it, then $1,000 a year. Three years comes to $5,500, all in. Those are example numbers. Use your own. Then say what they stop worrying about. No learning DNS. No chasing renewals. No broken contact form. That's your job. Theirs is running the business. Say what's not included before they ask. New pages are quoted first. And give them a clear exit. It renews yearly. The domain always stays theirs, and if they want to keep the site, there's a one time buyout fee, agreed upfront. For you, project fees arrive once. Care fees arrive every year, for every client who stays. Practice it out loud until it takes under two minutes. The full lesson is free, in the Swokei Academy.
What you will be able to do
Explain a setup fee plus yearly care to a business owner with simple, honest math, framed as them focusing on their trade while you look after the website, and see what care does for your agency over several years.
Before you start
- Have a care scope from Scoping a maintenance plan and your fees from Setup fees and recurring care.
Why this matters
Owners are wary of recurring fees. They have been burned by subscriptions that charged monthly and did nothing visible. If you mumble the care fee at the end of the call, it sounds like one of those. So be the most transparent person they have spoken to all month: both fees, the total over a few years, and what they get. Then the real point: every hour they spend fighting a website is an hour not spent on the plumbing, the clinic or the bakery.
For you, project fees arrive once, but care fees arrive every year for every client who stays, and build a base that pays for the quiet months.
Illustrative example: $2,500 setup and $1,000 a year of agreed care. Your prices, costs and retention will differ.
- $3,500Year 1
- $1,000Year 2
- $1,000Year 3
- $1,000Year 4
- $1,000Year 5
Step by step
Tick each step as you do it. Your ticks are saved in this browser.
Lay out the math in one small table
Setup fee in year one, care fee each year, and the total for years one, two and three. Owners trust what they can check in their head.
Say what care includes in one sentence
"Care means we host the site, keep it updated and backed up, watch for problems, and make up to a set number of small edits a year, with replies within one business day." Have the full scope ready to share.
Frame it around their time, not your tasks
"You will not need to learn what DNS is, chase a renewal, or figure out why the form stopped sending. That is our job. Yours is running the clinic."
Compare it to what they already know
"It is like having your books done. You could do it yourself. Most people would rather not."
Say what is not included before they ask
"New pages or big changes are quoted separately so you always know the cost first." This makes the fee feel safer.
Offer a clear exit
"It renews yearly. If you leave, your domain stays yours and the site runs until the end of the year you paid for. If you want to own the site and take it with you, there is a one time buyout fee, written in the agreement from day one." Owners say yes more easily to things they know they can leave.
Do the agency side of the math for yourself
Project your own care income with illustrative numbers and a cautious retention guess. This is for planning, not a promise.
Practice out loud
Role play or record yourself. Under two minutes, then stop and let them ask.
Example
You are talking to a plumbing company owner in Phoenix, using the example offer of around $2,500 upfront plus $1,000 a year for agreed maintenance.
What you show the client:
YOUR WEBSITE (illustrative example)
Year 1: setup $2,500 + care $1,000 = $3,500
Year 2: care $1,000
Year 3: care $1,000
Three year total: $5,500
Care includes: hosting, updates, backups, monitoring,
up to a set number of small edits a year, replies within 1 business day.
Not included: new pages or features, quoted first.
Leave anytime at renewal. Your domain stays yours. To own and take
the site, pay the one time buyout fee written in this agreement.
What you say:
"So the build is a one time $2,500. After that it is $1,000 a year
and you never have to think about the website. If the form breaks,
or something needs updating, that is on us. You keep doing what you
are good at, which is plumbing. Over three years that is $5,500 all
in. You can leave at any renewal, your domain stays yours, and if you
want to take the site too, the buyout fee is in the agreement.
What questions do you have?"
The agency side, for your own planning only:
ILLUSTRATIVE PROJECTION (not a forecast, not a promise)
Assume 10 new clients a year, 70% stay on care each year, care $1,000.
End of year 1: 10 care clients care income about $10,000
End of year 2: 7 kept + 10 new = 17 care income about $17,000
End of year 3: 12 kept + 10 new = 22 care income about $22,000
(rounded to whole clients; real retention, prices and costs will differ)
The lesson is the shape, not the totals: care income builds slowly and depends on how many clients stay, which is why retention matters in Numbers worth watching. And this is revenue; your care costs come out of it.
Bad version: "And there's a small monthly fee for maintenance, it's basically nothing, everyone has one." It hides the number and calls the work worthless.
Common mistakes
- Hiding the care fee until the end. A surprise fee feels like a trick. Show both fees together, early.
- Listing technical chores. Owners do not buy "dependency updates". They buy not having to think about it.
- Assuming everyone stays. Projecting 100% retention makes your plan look great and fail quietly.
- Forgetting the exit. Say upfront that the domain stays theirs and owning the site means a one time buyout fee agreed in writing.
Try it yourself
Write your client table with your own fees and a three year total, and a two minute explanation with the "focus on your trade" point, the not included line and the exit. Then make an illustrative three year projection with a cautious retention guess. Practice the explanation out loud twice.
Deliverable: a client fee table, a written two minute explanation, and a labelled illustrative projection.
Time: about 30 minutes.
Resources
- Maintenance scope template the scope behind your one sentence summary
- Website proposal template put the fee table in writing
- Run the sales meeting where this explanation fits in the call
- Numbers worth watching track the retention that drives care income
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Last reviewed October 18, 2026. Prices, laws and tool terms change, so check current terms before you rely on any figure.