Deposit Invoices: How Much Contractors Should Ask For (and How to Word It)

A job started without a deposit is a project you're financing on a stranger's word. You order the materials, block out the diary, turn down other work — all against a promise. Most contractors know they should take deposits and still start jobs without them, usually because asking feels awkward. It stops feeling awkward the first time a no-deposit client vanishes with £2,000 of boards in their garage.

How much to ask for

Sizing follows the risk. Materials-heavy jobs: the deposit covers materials plus a margin, typically 25–50% of the job total — you should never own the client's kitchen for a fortnight. Labour-heavy jobs: 10–25% works as a commitment deposit that secures the start date. Anything bespoke or non-returnable — made-to-measure windows, special-order stone — gets paid for in full before you place the order, as its own line. Those items have no resale value; the risk on them is total.

A deposit is a free credit check

Understand what a deposit actually buys you beyond cash: information. A reasonable deposit request is a free credit check. Clients with skin in the game stop treating the start date as optional, answer messages faster, and make decisions when asked. And the client who bristles at a standard deposit on a four-figure job is telling you, in advance and for free, exactly how the final invoice conversation will go. Believe them.

How to word the deposit invoice

Word it as a proper invoice, not a text asking for money. Reference the accepted quote, describe it plainly — 'Deposit for works at 14 Orchard Lane, as per quote Q-1041. Deducted in full from the final balance.' — set the due date as 'payable before works commence', and include your bank details with the invoice number as the payment reference. A real deposit invoice starts the job's paper trail and sets the tone: this is a business, papers get issued, papers get paid.

That phrase 'deducted in full from the final balance' is doing quiet, important work — it tells the client the deposit isn't a fee on top, and it commits you to showing it as a visible deduction line on the final invoice. Do that without fail. A final bill that plainly shows 'less deposit paid 3 May: −£1,200' closes the loop and is exactly the kind of transparency that gets final balances paid without questions.

The 14-day cooling-off period

One legal note for homeowner work in the UK: contracts signed in the client's home usually carry a 14-day cooling-off period, during which the client can cancel. If they want you to start inside that window, get their request to begin early in writing before committing serious spend. It's one line in an email and it protects the deposit if they change their minds mid-order.

Cleared funds confirm the slot

Then the rule that makes all of it real: cleared funds confirm the slot. Not a promised transfer, not 'it'll be with you Friday' — money in the account. Booking a start date against a promised deposit is how the job that's 'definitely going ahead' quietly turns into a week of dead diary. Clients understand 'the date's confirmed once the deposit lands' instantly, because every other serious business they deal with works the same way.

Deposit, stage payments, final balance — keep them linked as one job with one running total, so the final invoice reconciles at a glance. The deposit isn't just your protection; handled cleanly, it's the first proof the client gets that hiring you was the organised choice.