Should you take a deposit as a tradesperson? (and how much)

Should you take a deposit? For almost every job, yes. A deposit is the difference between funding your customer’s materials out of your own bank account and starting a job with money already in. The trades that don’t ask are usually the ones chasing payment and covering material costs on a credit card. Here’s when to take one, how much, and how to ask without it feeling awkward.

What a deposit actually does for you

A deposit does three jobs at once. It covers your materials so you’re not out of pocket before you start. It filters out the tyre-kickers, because someone who won’t put anything down was rarely going to pay in full. And it turns a “yeah, sounds good” into a booked, committed job.

A painter buying £400 of paint and sundries for a job shouldn’t be carrying that cost themselves. A deposit means the customer funds the materials for their own job, which is exactly how it should work.

How much should you ask for?

A quarter of the total is the figure most trades settle on. Go higher, up to half, when you’re buying a lot of materials up front or the job is booked well in advance.

Some real examples:

• A landscaper on a £2,400 patio: 25 percent is £600, which covers the slabs and aggregate.
• A plumber on a £3,000 bathroom: a 40 percent deposit of £1,200 covers the suite and tiles ordered in.
• An electrician on a £600 fault-find and repair: a small job like this might take no deposit, or a flat £100 to hold the slot.

The rule of thumb: your deposit should at least cover what you’ll spend before you turn up.

When to take it

Take the deposit on acceptance, before the job goes in the diary. Not after you’ve started, not on the first morning. The moment they say yes is the moment they’re most committed, and it’s the natural point to lock it in. “A job isn’t booked until the deposit’s paid” is a fair, clear line to hold.

How to ask without the awkwardness

The trick is to make it standard, not a negotiation. Put it on the quote as a normal term: “25 percent deposit on acceptance, balance due on completion.” When it’s written down and they’ve accepted the quote, there’s no awkward conversation to have. You’re not asking for a favour, you’re following the terms you both agreed.

If you take deposits through a pay link on the quote, it’s easier still: they accept, they pay, it’s done in the same breath.

What if they won’t pay a deposit?

Treat it as useful information. A customer who’s happy with the price but refuses any deposit for a job they say they want is telling you something before you’ve committed a Saturday to it. Plenty of trades will say the jobs that went wrong on payment were the ones where they waived the deposit to be nice. You can always make an exception for a repeat customer you trust. Just keep it the exception, not the habit.

How to take the deposit

You’ve got three easy ways, and the customer picks whatever suits them. A card payment through a link on the quote is the fastest: they accept and pay in the same tap, and the money’s on its way to you straight away. A bank transfer works too, with your details on the quote, though you’re then waiting on them to actually do it. Cash is fine for smaller local jobs. Whichever they use, record it against the job the moment it lands, so your paperwork always matches your bank.

Bigger jobs: use stage payments

On a long or expensive job, one deposit at the start isn’t enough to protect your cashflow. Break it into stages instead: a payment to book and buy materials, one partway through at an agreed point, and the balance on completion. A kitchen fitter on a three-week job might take a third up front, a third once the units are in, and a third at the end. You’re never more than a stage out of pocket, and the customer only ever pays for work they can see.

Keep the deposit separate from the price

A deposit isn’t extra money and it isn’t a discount. It’s the first part of the same total, paid earlier. Show it that way on the quote and the invoice: the full price, the deposit taken, and the balance due. When the customer sees the deposit knocked off the final invoice, there’s no confusion and no sense they’ve paid twice. It keeps your own numbers honest too, because a deposit sitting in your account isn’t profit, it’s money you already owe to the job.

Are deposits refundable?

Set the expectation in writing so there’s no argument later. A fair and common line: the deposit is refundable up to the point you order materials or book the dates, and non-refundable after that, because by then you’ve spent it or turned other work away. Put that on your quote. This isn’t legal advice, and consumers do have cancellation rights on some contracts, so if you sell on the doorstep or online it’s worth a quick read of the rules. The principle holds: be clear up front and most disputes never happen.

Make it standard and stop carrying the risk

A deposit isn’t being pushy. It’s the most basic protection there is, and once it’s a normal line on your quote, nobody blinks at it. Take a quarter on acceptance, cover your materials, and start every job with money already in.

Snapquo takes the deposit the moment a customer accepts, by card, bank transfer or cash. Read how to price the whole job for profit first, and how to get paid faster once the work is done. Or see how it works.