How to take a deposit before you start a job
Materials up front, a no-show customer, a job that drags for weeks — a deposit protects you from all three. Yet plenty of tradesmen still start work on a handshake. Here is how to ask for a deposit without losing the job, and how to invoice it cleanly.
A deposit does two things: it covers your materials so you are not banking the job out of your own pocket, and it commits the customer. The trick is asking in a way that sounds normal — because it is.
How much to ask for
Enough to cover your materials plus a bit is the usual mark — often around a third up front on a fit-out, more when the parts are the bulk of the cost. On a longer job, stage payments tied to milestones keep you from carrying weeks of expense before you see a cent.
- Small job, your materials: a deposit that covers the materials.
- Bigger job: stage payments tied to milestones, not dates.
- Supply-heavy job — a kitchen, a boiler: a larger deposit, because the money is in the parts.
How to ask without losing the job
Put it in the quote, not as an afterthought on day one. "30% deposit to book the date, balance on completion" written on the quote makes it the deal, not a favour you are asking for. And a customer who will not pay a fair deposit is very often the same one who will not pay the balance either — better to find that out before you have bought the materials.
How to invoice the deposit
Send a deposit request — a proforma or deposit invoice — before the work starts. When you finish, the final invoice shows the full price, the deposit already paid, and the balance due. If you are VAT registered, receiving a deposit can create a VAT point at that moment, so the VAT may be due when the deposit lands rather than at the end — check the detail with your accountant.
The mistakes that cost you
Starting on a promise
No deposit, no commitment. If they cancel after you have ordered the materials, you are holding the stock and the loss. The deposit is what turns a maybe into a booking.
Forgetting to deduct the deposit
The final invoice has to show the deposit already paid, or the customer pays twice and you have an awkward phone call to make. Deduct it clearly so the balance is the only number they owe.
A deposit is not cheeky — it is how you stop banking other people's jobs. Put it in the quote, invoice it cleanly, and deduct it at the end.
How to do it in one flow
MarginTap lets you set the deposit on the quote, send the deposit request, then convert it to a final invoice that deducts what is already paid — on the phone, from the job, before you have packed the toolbox.
[ See how MarginTap handles deposits and invoices → ]
Next, see five quoting mistakes that cost jobs — because a good deposit cannot save a job you priced wrong in the first place.
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