How to ask for a deposit up front
A deposit is the cheapest protection a small business has. It filters out clients who were never going to pay and funds the materials you'd otherwise carry yourself.
Most people who don't take deposits avoid it for the same reason: it feels like distrust. It isn't. It's a normal commercial term, and the clients who object to a reasonable one are almost always the clients who would have paid late anyway.
How much to ask for
- Materials-heavy work: enough to cover the materials, plus a margin. You should never be out of pocket buying someone else's supplies.
- Service and creative work: a quarter to a half up front is common, with the balance on delivery.
- Long projects: forget the single deposit and bill in stages against milestones. Cash arrives throughout and neither side carries much risk.
When to ask
At the quote, not after it's accepted. Put the deposit term in the quote itself so it's part of the price the client agrees to. Raising it later reads as a new condition and invites a negotiation you've already won.
Wording that doesn't sound defensive
Say it flatly, as process rather than as a request: "To book the work I take 40% up front, with the balance due on completion. I'll send the deposit invoice and get you in the diary as soon as it's paid." It frames the payment as the thing that reserves their slot, which is both true and much easier to say yes to.
Invoicing the deposit
Send a real invoice for it — numbered, dated, and described as a deposit against the job. A verbal arrangement plus a bank transfer leaves no record of what the money was for.
On the final invoice, list the full value of the work, then add a line for the deposit already paid as a negative amount or as a discount, so the balance due is the remainder. The client can see the whole job and exactly what's left to pay.
If they won't pay a deposit
Sometimes it's genuine policy — large organisations often can't pay anything without a purchase order and an invoice against delivered work. In that case shorten the payment terms, stage the billing, or keep the first job small. If it's a small client simply refusing, treat it as information about how the rest of the job is likely to go.