Deposits and Progress Billing: How to Fund Bigger Jobs

Big jobs are good for revenue and dangerous for cash flow. If you buy materials and pay your crew for weeks before seeing a dime, one slow-paying customer can put you underwater. Deposits and progress billing fix that.

Take a deposit before work starts

A deposit collected when the contract is signed does two things: it funds the materials and early labor, and it confirms the customer is serious. For material-heavy trades like roofing or construction, starting a large job with no money down is a real risk. A deposit of a sensible percentage is standard and expected.

Consider a $12,000 roof replacement. The shingles, underlayment, and disposal might be a large share of that cost, all paid out before the first nail goes in. Starting that job with zero money down means floating thousands of your own dollars on the bet that the customer pays on time at the end — and if they stall, you've covered their materials out of pocket. A deposit at signing turns that bet into a funded job, and the customer who happily puts money down is also the customer who's genuinely committed rather than shopping around.

Bill in stages as the job progresses

Rather than one invoice at the end, split larger jobs into milestones — for example, deposit, mid-project, and completion. Each milestone triggers an invoice as that stage finishes, so your incoming cash tracks the work you've already done and paid for.

On that same roof job, a sensible structure might be a deposit at signing to cover materials, a progress payment once the tear-off and decking repair are done, and the balance at final inspection. Each stage bills as it completes, so your incoming cash moves in step with the costs you've already absorbed — instead of carrying the entire job on your own books until a single end-of-project invoice clears.

Tie billing to clear milestones

Define each stage in the contract so there's no ambiguity about when a payment is due. Clear milestones prevent disputes and make staged invoices feel fair rather than arbitrary.

Vague stages invite arguments; specific ones don't. "50% on completion of framing inspection" leaves nothing to debate — either the inspection passed or it didn't. Spelling each trigger out in the contract up front means a progress invoice never feels like you're asking for money early; it reads as the agreed term both sides already signed, which keeps the relationship smooth even on a long, expensive job.

Make the stages easy to pay

Staged billing only helps cash flow if each invoice gets paid quickly. Send each milestone invoice online with card and ACH options and automatic reminders, so a progress payment doesn't sit unpaid while the next stage of work piles up costs.

The whole point of staging is undone if a milestone invoice sits unpaid while your crew has already started the next phase. Sending each one online with a "Pay now" button and offering ACH for the larger balances keeps payments moving, and automatic reminders mean a mid-project invoice doesn't quietly age out while you're focused on the work itself.

Keep it all on one record

Track the deposit, each progress payment, and the final balance against a single job so you always know what's been collected and what's outstanding.

With three or more payments tied to one job, it's easy to lose track of who owes what — especially across several active jobs at once. Keeping the deposit, every progress payment, and the remaining balance on a single job record means you can glance at any project and see exactly what's been collected and what's still outstanding, without reconstructing it from a pile of separate invoices.

A worked example, start to finish

Tie it together on a single hypothetical job — a $20,000 kitchen remodel. At signing you collect a deposit to cover cabinets and early labor and to confirm the customer is committed. The contract spells out two further triggers: a progress payment when rough-in (plumbing and electrical) passes inspection, and the balance on final walkthrough. As each milestone hits, you send that invoice online with card and ACH options and let the automatic reminders handle follow-up, so no stage payment lingers while the next phase runs up costs. Every one of those payments posts against the one remodel record, so at any moment you can see the deposit in, the rough-in payment in, and the balance still due. The result is that a large, multi-week job never forces you to bankroll the customer — your cash comes in step with the work, and nothing about the schedule of payments is a surprise to either side.

Tabsy supports deposits, milestone-based progress billing, and online payments tied to each job — see how it works for roofing contractors and general contractors, or view pricing.