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How much deposit to ask for when every job is different

You'll come away knowing how to calculate the deposit for each job based on what you're risking, not on industry custom.

By Yodai · Published September 6, 2026 · Updated October 12, 2026

4 min read

A customer asks you for a custom piece of furniture, or a remodel, or a website for their business. You agree, send the estimate, and then comes the moment to say how much you want upfront. That's where a lot of people freeze up.

The temptation is to copy a number you've seen somewhere: twenty percent, thirty percent. It sounds like an industry standard. It isn't. That number worked for a different job, with different risk, and applying it blindly leaves you exposed on some jobs and costs you the customer on others.

A deposit isn't a ritual. It's insurance against what you lose if the customer agrees and then backs out. And what you lose changes with every estimate, even when the final price is similar.

What you're risking, not what you're billing

Before you put a number down, ask yourself one question: if this customer disappeared tomorrow, what would I be stuck with that I can't get back?

If the job is your time, like a session, a consultation, or a booking, what's at stake is the slot on your calendar that you won't be able to fill with someone else. You can recover it by getting enough notice: if the client cancels a week ahead, you can still fill that slot.

If the job involves material you buy specifically for it, like fabric you've already cut, a part made for that customer, or a domain and hosting set up in their name, what's at stake is that expense, and you can't get it back no matter how much notice you get: it's already done, and nobody else wants it cut or set up that way.

The deposit covers that. The less recoverable your upfront costs are, the higher it needs to be.

Many jobs aren't purely one or the other, but a mix of both. A small remodel involves some catalog material, like paint or hardware, that you can return, and labor hours that you can't. In that case, the deposit should cover only the part that isn't returnable: the material you can return doesn't count, but the hours you're blocking off on your calendar do.

A flat deposit for everything, or a deposit calculated per job

The same deposit every time

Easy to explain and remember, which is why it's the first thing people reach for
It doesn't distinguish a job that's pure time from one with material bought upfront
On a small job it looks ridiculous; on one with a lot of material, it falls short

A deposit based on what you're risking

Calculated on the cost you won't get back if the customer backs out, not on the total estimate
On a job that's just hours, a token amount to hold the slot is enough
On a job with custom material, it covers at least that material, and goes up if it also blocks off days on your calendar

Which one do I choose: Choose the calculated deposit whenever you buy or make something specific for that customer before collecting the rest. If the job is just your time and you don't spend anything upfront, a small flat deposit, or even none at all with just the date held, is enough and doesn't complicate the sale.

Now you know what deposit to ask for on each type of job. Next is putting an expiration date on that estimate: how many days your price holds before you have to redo the math.

Three examples: what part of the price is material you buy before getting paid

Custom furniture (material cut to their order)65%

Renovation with off-the-shelf materials40%

Consulting session or consultation5%

How to explain it to the customer

Here's your estimate: $640, materials and installation included. To hold the date and order the custom wood, I ask for a $250 deposit, the cost of the material, which I can't return once it's cut. The remaining $390 is due when I deliver it. For a job that's just time, the same logic in one line: a consulting session, ninety minutes, $100. I hold the date with a $20 deposit, which gets deducted from the total on the day of the appointment.

The costly mistake: a token deposit on a job with material

You ask for a 10 percent deposit so you don't scare off the customer on a job that requires you to buy fabric, wood, or custom material. The client cancels after you've already bought it. You're left with unused material and a deposit that doesn't cover even half of what you lost. The opposite mistake is just as costly: asking for a high deposit, as if there were material involved, on a job that's purely your time. In that case you're not protecting anything extra, and all you do is make the customer hesitate before saying yes. The deposit has to cover exactly what you'd lose if the client backs out, not a dollar more or less.

What you'll walk away with

You know how to calculate the deposit based on what you're risking on each job, not on some industry custom
You tell apart a time-only job, with a token deposit or none at all, from one with custom material, where the deposit covers at least that material
You know how to add both parts together when a job is a mix of the two
You have the words to explain it to the customer without it sounding like distrust

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