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Cool :) Seems like a great chap.

Harry Roberts spoke about a great method for approaching this which at least gives you a convention for how to go about untangling a mess like the one you describe.

The question was asked during his ITCSS talk at DaFED - here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1OKZOV-iLj4#t=3426

Seeing as you're an OOCSS disciple you should watch/listen to the whole thing - it's excellent.

For general web design inspiration it's hard to beat these 2.

• SiteInspire
• Awwwards

For eCommerce stuff We just launched Shop Site Awards

We specialize in eCommerce web design and while the bigger inspiration sites are great for general inspiration, there was a real lack of eCommerce specific design inspiration. So we scratched an itch and put this together in a few days. Should be useful to anyone doing eCommerce specific design.

Honestly - I'd go the other way. I'd bring on someone to do the billable work and have you focus on biz dev. I know - I know - you probably want to stay in the trenches working on projects. But if you're building a business as a business owner you are the best Biz Dev/Sales person for your business. It's very hard to outsource/delegate this activity in a small agency as you're really selling you.

If you bring someone to do the billable work it's easy to quantify their value, leaving you to focus on bringing home the bacon.

Yip - Alistapart was at the height of it's powers then. Although they are still breaking the mold with stuff like this http://alistapart.com/article/axiomatic-css-and-lobotomized-owls

Sliding doors of CSS - seminal article on how to make css menus. Pretty much changed how I built sites overnight

http://alistapart.com/article/slidingdoors

Good question.

I make a distinction between support calls and consulting calls.

• Support Calls - you can call me to follow up on an URGENT/IMPORTANT issue after you've first logged it.
• I also allow "How do I" type calls and deduct them from their allocated time. I ensure the client understands this and most are happier with this arrangement rather than being billed per call which can get very messy for you and clients generally don't like it
• Consulting conversations - this is trickier. You will need to judge these ones yourself. Perhaps a 'consulting' call could become new business? With good clients these calls are great and I welcome them because more often than not you'll get more value/new business out of them. A bad client for me is one who thinks they can just ring me at any time of the day to shoot the breeze and pick my brains on all sorts of topics. If there's a risk of that starting to happen I'll generally try to upsell them to a paid consulting gig (i.e. Hey client x, there's a lot more to this topic than meets the eye. For me to really get in-depth with you on this one we'd need to schedule a couple of workshops (either remote or in person) to really explore this in detail. That's something I've done with my other clients in the past and they've gotten a lot of value from it.) Most clients are decent human beings and will either agree or back off :)

Make sure you cover:

• Scope - what you will/won't do - make a list - be precise - especially on the things the retainer/sla doesn't cover

• Process - describe in as much detail as possible how the client should log issues and how you will then triage and manage them to resolution. Make sure you include timeframes for initial responses and expected/average resolution timeframes. Also make sure the client knows that they are only expected resolution timeframes. Some problems can't be resolved under an SLA. My 5 year old site don't work in IE75! Also explain in the agreement how you will allocate and estimate time for each job/issue they raise.

• Agreement terms - you should consult a lawyer on this one - don't rely on the Docracy template. You'll need to cover topics like Agreement period, billing conditions, termination clauses, liability, dispute management.

• Reporting - how often will you communicate to the client how much time they have (assuming you operate a retainer with a fixed amount of time per month).

That's all I can think of right now. Retainers/SLA's can be great for steady cash flow and for maintaining client relationships but make sure you manage them properly and get the right structure and process with your client at the start.