How to ask for a deposit before starting work

Asking for money before you've done any work feels awkward the first few times. It shouldn't. A deposit isn't a sign you don't trust the client — it's how tradies, creatives and event suppliers everywhere protect themselves from buying materials, blocking out a date, or starting a job for someone who then disappears. The businesses that ask for one, consistently and without apologising for it, tend to get paid faster and chase far less.

Why a deposit matters more than it seems

Once you've quoted a job, you're carrying two kinds of risk until the client pays in full: the cost of materials or booked time you've committed to, and the chance the client changes their mind, goes quiet, or disputes the price after the fact. A deposit shrinks both. It covers your immediate outlay, and it gives the client a reason to stay engaged — people who've already paid something are far more likely to see a job through than people who haven't spent a cent.

It also filters out the clients you don't want. Someone who balks at a modest, clearly-explained deposit on a job with real upfront costs is telling you something useful before you've bought a single tile or blocked out a Saturday.

When it makes sense to ask

Not every job needs one. As a rule of thumb, reach for a deposit when any of these apply:

You're buying materials before you start — timber, paint, stock for an order, a venue booking.
The job takes more than a day or two, so you're carrying your own time as unpaid cost for a while.
You're holding a date or slot for the client — a wedding, an event, a busy install week — and turning other work away to do it.
It's a new client with no payment history with you.
The total is large relative to your normal cash flow, even if the client is a regular.

For a quick, same-day job with no material cost and a client who always pays on the spot, a deposit is usually more friction than it's worth — due on receipt after the work is done is fine.

How much to ask for

There's no single correct number, but a few common patterns work well in practice:

30–50% upfront is the most common range for jobs with real material or booking costs — building work, renovations, custom orders, most events.
100% upfront is normal for small, materials-only jobs (custom printing, small product orders) or for a first job with a brand-new client where you'd rather not carry any risk at all.
A flat booking fee works well for event suppliers and creatives — photographers, DJs, caterers — where the fee's real purpose is to hold the date, with the balance due closer to or on the day.
Milestone deposits suit longer jobs: a portion upfront, a portion partway through, and the remainder on completion, so you're never too far ahead of what's actually been done.

Whatever percentage you land on, use the same one for every client of a similar type. A consistent rule is easier to explain, easier to defend if it's ever questioned, and it stops each conversation turning into a negotiation.

How to actually ask for it

The wording matters less than saying it early and saying it plainly — ideally on the quote, before the client has even said yes, so it's never a surprise sprung on them afterwards.

On the quote itself, one line is enough:

"A 40% deposit ($720) is required to secure this job, with the balance due on completion."

In an email once a quote is accepted, something like:

"Great, let's get this booked in. To secure the date and order materials, I'll send a deposit invoice for $720 (40% of the total) — once that's paid I'll confirm the start date and we're all set."

For event or creative bookings, framing the deposit as the thing that actually locks in the date tends to land better than framing it as payment:

"A $300 booking fee holds your date — I only take a limited number of jobs per week, so this is what confirms the slot is yours."

None of this needs to sound apologetic. Stating the deposit as a normal, standard part of how you work — because it is — reads as more professional than hedging it, not less.

Turning it into a proper deposit invoice

A deposit request should be an actual invoice, not just a mention in an email — that's what gives the client something to pay against and you something to point back to if there's ever a question about what was agreed. A clean way to structure it:

Invoice for the deposit amount only, clearly labelled ("Deposit — 40% of total job value, $1,800").
Reference the quote or job it relates to, so it's obviously linked.
Note the remaining balance and when it'll be due (on completion, or split across milestones).
If you charge tax, show it on the deposit invoice the same way you would on the final one — how that's handled varies by country, so check the specifics with your accountant if you're not sure.

When the job wraps up, the final invoice should show the deposit already paid as a credit against the total, not ask the client to pay the full amount again. If a client ends up not going ahead and you need to reverse a deposit you've already invoiced, a credit note is the proper way to do it rather than just deleting the invoice.

If a client pushes back

Some clients will ask why. The honest answer is usually enough: materials need to be ordered, or the date needs to be held, and a deposit is what makes that possible without you carrying all the risk yourself. If someone still won't agree to a reasonable, clearly-explained deposit on a job with genuine upfront costs, that's worth treating as information about how the rest of the job might go, not just a one-off objection to work around.

Getting the mechanics out of the way

Once you've decided on a percentage, the easiest way to keep it consistent is building it into how you quote — so the deposit line appears automatically instead of being something you have to remember to add. InvoiceCharlie lets you turn an accepted quote straight into a deposit invoice, track what's been paid against the total, and send the final invoice automatically showing the balance owed. If a client wants to pay by card rather than bank transfer, online payments are handled the same way for a deposit as for any other invoice.

For everything that comes after the deposit's been paid — chasing the balance, choosing sensible payment terms, and what to do if a client goes quiet — how to get paid faster and payment terms explained cover the rest. Need to send a one-off deposit invoice right now with no account? The free invoice generator will build one in your browser in a couple of minutes.