Deposits and progress invoices for bigger jobs

The bigger the job, the more that “bill at the end” quietly turns into an interest-free loan you’re giving the client — you’re buying materials, paying for your own time, and carrying all of the risk, weeks before you see a cent. A deposit up front and progress invoices along the way keep the cash moving at the same pace as the work.

Start with a deposit, agreed to on the quote

The deposit term belongs on the quote, not sprung on the client after they’ve said yes — see how to write a quote that wins the work for getting that written down clearly from the start. A few things make a deposit hold up:

• 25–50% of the total, before work starts. Big enough to cover your material costs and confirm the client is genuinely committed, not just shopping quotes.
• Stated as a number, not just a percentage. “30% deposit ($1,350)” reads as a real bill; “30% deposit” makes the client do the math themselves.
• Framed as scheduling the job, not just starting it. “A deposit reserves your place on the schedule” gives the client a reason to pay promptly, beyond just goodwill.

Split the rest into progress invoices tied to real milestones

For anything that runs more than a couple of weeks, break the remaining balance into progress invoices tied to visible stages of the work — not arbitrary dates. A milestone the client can see for themselves is a milestone they’ll pay against without much friction:

• Materials delivered or rough-in complete for a renovation or install — something the client can look at and confirm happened.
• A defined phase finished — demo done, framing done, first coat applied — rather than “50% of the time has passed,” which the client has no way to verify.
• Final invoice on completion, once everything’s done and signed off, for the remaining balance — this one should feel small by the time it arrives, because most of the job was already paid for along the way.

Keep every progress invoice as clear as the first one

A progress invoice needs the same rigor as any other — see what to put on an invoice for the full list — plus one extra thing: a running total. Show what’s been invoiced so far, what this invoice covers, and what’s left on the job. That single line heads off the question every client eventually asks on a multi-stage project — “wait, how much have I actually paid you so far?” — before they have to ask it.

It’s also worth carrying the deposit forward visibly on the final invoice as a credit, rather than a separate line the client has to reconcile in their head against a payment they made weeks ago. The clearer the running math, the less room there is for a payment to stall over a number nobody can quite account for.

Split the bill to match the work, and a bigger job stops feeling like a bet you’re financing alone — it becomes a series of small, easy payments that just happen to add up to the same total.