Deposits filter tire-kickers, fund materials, and kill day-of cancellations — but asking wrong loses jobs. When to require one, how much, how to word the ask, and how to handle the customer who balks.
Two truths coexist in every service business. First: a customer with money down almost never cancels, ghosts, or "goes another direction" the night before. Second: asking for money before the work exists makes some good customers flinch. The deposit question is about managing both truths at once — and the answer is a policy, not a mood.
The obvious function is cash flow — materials for the fence job get funded by the fence job, not by your credit card float. But the deeper function is commitment filtering. The customer who agrees to a 30% deposit has decided. The one who says "let's just confirm closer to the date" has not, and their slot on your calendar is fiction wearing a name. A deposit converts your schedule from a list of intentions into a list of contracts.
There's a third function nobody advertises: deposits end the worst collections scenario. A job with 30% down and payment due on completion can go at most 70% sideways. A handshake job can go 100% sideways, after the work is done, which is the most expensive kind of sideways there is.
Deposits earn their friction on some jobs and waste it on others. The rule of thumb:
Require a deposit when the job involves materials you must buy (fencing, fixtures, plants, equipment), the job blocks a half-day or more of calendar, the work is custom or non-resellable, or the customer is new and the ticket is large. Common structures: 25–33% for general work, 50% for materials-heavy or custom jobs, and never much beyond 50% — a deposit above half starts feeling like risk transfer rather than risk sharing, and several states cap contractor deposits by law (check yours).
Skip the deposit when it's a small ticket, a quick recurring visit, or an established customer with history. A $45 mow doesn't need a deposit; it needs a no-show policy. Charging your five-year weekly clients a deposit is friction with no filter value — they already committed, five years ago.
The entire art is making the deposit a feature of the estimate, not a negotiation after it. The line item does the talking:
Total: $2,400. Deposit to schedule: $720. Balance due on completion.
Stated that way — printed, standard, unemotional — a deposit reads as "this is how professionals book work." Asked verbally and apologetically ("would it be okay if maybe we took something up front?"), the identical request reads as either distrust or desperation. Put it in the estimate template once and every future ask is made for you. Make it payable online with the approval — card, one tap — and the deposit arrives while the yes is still warm. (JobVivi handles exactly this: deposits live on the estimate/invoice, the balance math stays straight automatically, and the customer pays through whatever processor you've connected.)
Some will. Sort them fast:
The reasonable skeptic — often burned by a contractor who took a deposit and vanished — wants safety, not victory. Offer structure: a smaller deposit, payment by card (their bank protects them), and your written scope with dates. Reasonable skeptics accept structure gratefully; it's why they asked.
The absolute refuser on a large custom job is telling you how the final invoice conversation will go. Believe them. "No problem — we require deposits on projects of this size, so we may not be the right fit" costs you a job you'd have chased payment on until spring.
Deposits on new customers and materials-heavy or calendar-heavy jobs, 25–50%, stated as a line item in every estimate, payable online at approval, balance on completion. No deposits on small or recurring work — that's what reminder systems and cancellation policies are for. Written once, applied always, apologized for never.
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