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Getting paid faster: deposits & invoicing for trades

Sonadesk · practical guides for UK trades · updated July 2026

You can be booked solid for two months and still be skint, because the money for work you finished weeks ago hasn’t landed. Cashflow problems in the trades are rarely about a lack of work — they’re about the gap between doing the job and getting paid. This guide is about closing that gap.

Deposits: the habit that fixes half of it

If you only change one thing after reading this, make it deposits. A deposit does three jobs at once:

• It funds materials, so you’re not bankrolling the customer’s job from your own pocket.
• It kills no-shows and last-minute cancellations. A customer with money down turns up and answers the phone.
• It filters out messers before you’ve blocked out days in the diary for them.

How much to ask for

There’s no single right number — it depends on your trade and the job. Sensible rules of thumb most trades settle on:

• Small jobs (a half-day or day): often no deposit, or a small fixed booking fee if no-shows are a problem for you.
• Materials-heavy jobs: at least the cost of the materials up front, so a cancellation never leaves you holding stock you can’t return.
• Bigger jobs: a percentage on booking — enough to commit both sides, but not so much that a reasonable customer gets nervous. Very large upfront demands are a red flag customers have been taught to watch for, so it protects you to stay moderate and stage the rest instead.

How to ask without it feeling awkward

The trick is to stop presenting it as a request and start presenting it as how booking works:

No apology, no negotiation, no “if that’s okay?”. Customers deal with deposits everywhere else in their lives — the only trades who find it awkward are the ones asking like it’s a favour. Put it on your quote too (“Deposit on booking: £X, balance on completion”) so it’s never a surprise.

Staged payments on bigger jobs

For anything that runs beyond a week or two, agree payment stages before you start — tied to milestones, not dates. For example: deposit on booking, a payment at first fix, a payment at second fix, balance on completion. Dates slip; milestones don’t argue.

Two rules keep staged jobs healthy:

• Invoice each stage the day you hit it, not at the end of the month. The customer has just watched the progress happen — that’s the easiest moment to be paid.
• Don’t start the next stage while the last one is unpaid. Say it kindly and early: “Just so you know how I work — I crack on as soon as each stage payment lands.” It almost never has to be enforced if it’s said up front.

Invoices that actually get paid

Send it the same day

The single biggest invoicing mistake in the trades is the Sunday-night admin pile. An invoice sent three weeks after the job feels, to the customer, like a bill for old news — and it gets treated like one. An invoice that arrives while they’re still admiring the work gets paid.

Include everything they need to pay you

• Your business name, address and contact details (and company number if you’re a limited company)
• A unique invoice number and the date
• A clear description of the work — mirror the quote so nothing looks new
• The amount, with VAT shown separately and your VAT number if you’re registered
• Payment terms — see below
• How to pay — bank details and ideally a pay-by-card link

Set short, explicit terms

“Payment within 30 days” is a habit inherited from big-company contracts — there’s no rule that says you have to offer it. For domestic work, “payment on completion” or “within 7 days” is perfectly normal. Whatever you choose, print it on the quote and the invoice so it was agreed twice before it’s ever tested.

Make paying take thirty seconds

Every extra step between “I should pay this” and “paid” costs you days. Bank transfer means finding the letter, typing a sort code, second-guessing the reference. A payment link means tapping a button on their phone while they’re still stood in the kitchen with you. Offer both — but lead with the link.

Chasing late payers without burning bridges

Most late payment isn’t malice; it’s drift. So build a polite, boring system and let the system do the chasing:

1. Day after due date: a friendly nudge, assuming the best. “Hi John — just flagging invoice 214 was due yesterday, in case it’s slipped through. Link’s here if handy.”
2. A week later: shorter and firmer, still polite. “Hi John, invoice 214 is now a week overdue — could you sort payment today? Shout if there’s a problem I should know about.”
3. Two weeks later: a phone call. Voices resolve what messages can’t, and most “disputes” turn out to be a question they never got round to asking.
4. After that: a formal letter before action, then the small claims court (Money Claim Online) if it comes to it. For business customers, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives you a statutory right to interest and compensation on overdue invoices — sometimes just mentioning it is enough.

And a quiet rule that saves more money than any chasing system: the customers who quibble hardest about deposits and terms up front are usually the ones who pay slowest at the end. It’s okay to politely decline a job.

The getting-paid checklist

1. Deposit taken at booking — stated as how booking works, not a favour
2. Materials money up front on materials-heavy jobs
3. Stages agreed before starting anything big, tied to milestones
4. Invoice sent the same day, every time
5. Short terms, printed on quote and invoice
6. A pay-by-card link on every invoice, bank details as backup
7. A fixed, polite chasing sequence you never have to think about