Deposits - your thoughts and what you do as a professional.

[Bathbeyond]

Hi all,
I'm really here with the agenda of getting other peoples thoughts on charging deposits. To date I usually charge a third of my labour to hold a date for a customer. I've had no issues until recently where 2 of my prospective clients have tried to negotiate a lower deposit or change the date to 2 weeks before the work is due to start. The reason for the latter is that now I am booking several months in advance, the client feels he does not want to part with the deposit (around £1200) so far in advance . I am pretty firm on how I feel about this but I just wondered if anyone else has had this experience and their feelings on the matter and how you dealt with it.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Half upfront unless it’s materially heavy then all the materials upfront

 

[Ben-gee]

I agree with your customer. You don’t need the deposit months in advance.
I take it about a month in advance, the exception being when I’m ordering goods with a long lead time in which case I take the full value of goods at time of order.
In reality it a customer pulls out of a job or pushes dates back (hardly ever happens), you are able to pull a job forward to fill the gap.

 

[SimonG]

All materials before start, normally 2 weeks before. Any argument then I tell them to jog on.

 

[oz-plumber]

FWIW - I can see the customers point of view on this one.
Give them a estimated start date and when you're committed 2 weeks out, then ask for the deposit.

I personally wouldn't pay a deposit on anything that was scheduled months away without a confirmed start date.

Mind you, during the 'pandemic', I was ordering materials and equipment for some jobs, 6 months in advance, so the jobs could be completed and finished on time.
But that was only for customers I have had long working relationship with.

 

[PETE 123]

Say i was doing a boiler swop.
10% b4 any goods ordered
say 50% when boiler on site / on wall not working.
the rest on completion.

been doing this way for 40 yrs no problem.