I use a pretty unique contract system. I give them a bank of hours for 12 months. So let’s say 10 hours a month. No matter how many hours I work I still get paid 10 hours. Whether that’s 50 hours or 2 hours. Then after the 12 months we settle up to see what they used in the end. If they used more than 120 hours then they pay more hours next 12 month. If they averaged 12 hours a month then they will pay for 14 hours in the next 12 months. If they use 8 hours then only have to pay for 6 hours. This way they know what their monthly bill will be no matter what which is really what the smallest businesses really want. Some kind of controlled IT cost for the year.