How to Take a Deposit from a Client Before Starting Work

How to Take a Deposit from a Client Before Starting Work

Taking a deposit before starting a project is one of the most effective ways to protect yourself from non-payment, filter out clients who aren't serious, and improve your cash flow. Here's how to set it up, what amount to ask for, how to invoice it, and what to say when a client pushes back.

Why Deposits Matter More Than Most Freelancers Realize

A deposit does several things at once. It covers your time if a project gets canceled halfway through. It filters out clients who were never serious about moving forward. It improves your cash position during a long project. And it shifts the psychological dynamic: once a client has paid you $1,000 or $2,000, they're invested in making the project work.

Consider what happens without a deposit on a 3-month website project worth $9,000. You do two months of work, deliver mockups and a staging site, and the client goes quiet. You're out 60+ hours of work. With a 33% deposit ($3,000) collected upfront, at least your first month of work is covered. You're still dealing with a bad situation, but it's a much less devastating one.

Most experienced freelancers and agencies consider deposits non-negotiable after they've been burned once. If you haven't been burned yet, start the policy now rather than waiting to learn the hard way.

How Much Deposit to Ask For

There's no universal rule, but common practice by project type:

By Industry

• Web design and development: 25-50% upfront, with the remainder at delivery or split into milestones
• Graphic design: 50% upfront is very common, especially for logo or brand work
• Photography and videography: 25-50% to book the date, balance before or on delivery
• Writing and content: 50% upfront, 50% on delivery
• Consulting and strategy work: 50-100% upfront for short engagements; milestone billing for longer ones
• Construction and trades: 10-30% is typical; some states cap how much contractors can take upfront

By Project Length

For short projects (under 2 weeks): 50% or full payment upfront is normal. There's not much time for a lot to go wrong.

For medium projects (2-8 weeks): 25-50% upfront, with the balance split into 1-2 milestone payments.

For long projects (over 2 months): 25-33% upfront, then milestone billing every 30 days or at key deliverables. Asking for 50% upfront on a 6-month project may be hard for clients to absorb.

New vs. Existing Clients

Many freelancers ask for a higher deposit percentage from new clients (50%) and reduce it for established clients they trust (25-33% or even milestone-only billing). That's a reasonable policy, and you can tell new clients honestly: "My policy with new clients is to require 50% upfront. After we've worked together, we can adjust the structure."

How to Invoice a Deposit

A deposit invoice is structurally the same as any other invoice. The key differences are what you label it and how you handle the final invoice.

The Deposit Invoice

Create an invoice before the project starts. Label the line item clearly:

• "Project deposit - 50% of total project fee ($4,500 of $9,000 total)"
• "Retainer for [Project Name] - 33% upfront ($2,000 of $6,000 total)"
• "Booking deposit - 25% of photography package ($375 of $1,500 total)"

Note the total project value and what percentage this invoice covers. That way the client understands the full scope of what they're committing to, and you have it documented.

Include the same payment terms you'd use on any invoice. Payment due on receipt is appropriate for a deposit, since you shouldn't start work until it clears.

The Final Invoice

When the project is complete and you're billing the remaining balance, the final invoice should show:

• The full project fee
• A line item for "Less: deposit paid on [date], Invoice #[number]" as a deduction
• The remaining balance owed

This keeps your records clean and shows the client exactly what they paid versus what remains. It also prevents any argument about the deposit being "extra" money on top of the project total.

You can create professional deposit invoices and final invoices with automatic deductions using WaffleInvoice's free invoice generator. The deposit flow is simple to set up and creates a clean paper trail.

When to Send the Deposit Invoice

Send it when the client verbally confirms they want to proceed, before you start any work. The typical sequence:

1. Client reviews proposal or quote and says "Let's do it"
2. You send the deposit invoice the same day or the next business day
3. You start work only after the deposit clears

This sequence is important. Starting work before the deposit is paid, "just to get things moving," is how you end up doing 10 hours of work on a project the client never actually confirmed. The deposit is the confirmation.

What to Say When Clients Push Back

Some clients will question the deposit requirement. Here's how to handle the most common pushbacks.

"We don't usually pay deposits."

"I understand, and I don't make exceptions to this policy. The deposit protects both of us - it confirms your commitment to the project so I can reserve time on my schedule, and it means we both have something at stake. A lot of my clients were unfamiliar with this at first and it works out fine."

"Can we do 25% instead of 50%?"

Negotiating the percentage is reasonable. You can accept 25-30% if the client is established, the project is large, or you've decided you want the work enough to flex on terms. Just don't go below 25% on anything over $2,000 - below that level the deposit doesn't really protect you from much.

"What if we're not happy with the work?"

"The deposit is non-refundable if you cancel the project, but it's applied to the work I do. If there are revisions or issues, we'll work through them together - the deposit doesn't change that. I can include a revision policy in the agreement if that would help."

"We'll pay you faster than anyone else, we promise."

Be polite but firm. "I appreciate that, but this is a standard policy I apply consistently. It helps me manage my schedule and cash flow across multiple projects." The right clients respect this. The ones who keep pushing are often the ones who would have given you payment problems anyway.

Making the Deposit Non-Refundable (and Saying So)

Most freelancers make their deposits non-refundable if the client cancels. This is standard and accepted. The rationale: you turned down other work to take this project. If the client cancels, you've lost that opportunity cost.

State it clearly in writing. In your proposal or in the deposit invoice notes:

"This deposit is non-refundable in the event of project cancellation. If the project is completed, the deposit is applied toward the total project fee."

Most clients don't have a problem with this as long as it's disclosed upfront. The clients who push back hard on non-refundable deposits are, again, often the ones who might cancel.

Note: if you cancel or fail to deliver, you should refund the deposit. The non-refundable clause protects you from client-side cancellations, not your own failure to perform.

Deposits on Recurring Work

For ongoing monthly retainer relationships, a deposit works differently. Instead of a one-time project deposit, many freelancers bill retainer fees at the beginning of each month before the work starts. So the January retainer invoice goes out on January 1 (or late December), and you begin January work after it's paid.

This is a form of advance payment rather than a traditional deposit, but it achieves the same result: you're not doing work for which you haven't yet been paid.

See how to set up payment terms for freelancers for more on structuring recurring billing.

The Bigger Picture: Deposits as Qualification

Asking for a deposit does something valuable beyond protecting against non-payment: it screens clients. A client who balks at a 50% deposit on a $3,000 project and refuses to budge is telling you something. They either don't have the money, don't trust you, or aren't really committed to the project. Any of those is useful information before you start working.

Serious clients who have budget and intent don't typically have strong objections to deposits. They understand that you're running a business. The deposit conversation itself can be a quick diagnostic on whether a client is going to be good to work with.

Set up your first deposit invoice and manage your full invoicing workflow at WaffleInvoice. It's free to start and handles deposit invoices, final invoices with deductions, and automatic payment reminders in one place. You can also use the Word invoice template if you prefer a downloadable format to start.