Getting paid
Usually no. Sometimes obviously yes.
You already have a payment structure for the job. Then the scope grows by a third and you are carrying the extra materials, the extra days, and the extra risk on a customer whose payment behaviour you may not know yet. Asking for money up front on added work feels like a bigger ask than it is, and skipping it on a large change can put more of your money on the line than the original job did.
Direct answer
For most add-ons, no deposit - the work is small, the trust is established, and asking creates friction for very little protection. Take a deposit when the change is materials-heavy, when it is large relative to the original job, or when the customer's payment history is unknown. Frame it as covering the order, not as securing the job.
01Workflow
Deciding whether to ask
- 1
Compare the change to the original contract - anything approaching a third of it deserves consideration.
- 2
Check what proportion is materials you have to buy before you can start.
- 3
Consider what you know about how this customer pays, not how much you like them.
- 4
If you ask, ask at approval time, in the same message as the price.
- 5
Tie the amount to something concrete - the materials cost, not an arbitrary percentage.
02Practical notes
What matters in the field.
Materials are the honest reason, and customers accept it.
A deposit that covers parts you must buy before you can begin is easy to explain and hard to object to. It is not about trust and everyone understands it. A percentage deposit with no stated purpose invites the question of why you need it, and that question rarely goes anywhere good.
Size relative to the original job matters more than the absolute number.
A $600 change on a $20,000 remodel is a rounding error. The same $600 on a $900 job has doubled your exposure to a customer you have known for two days. Judge the change against the contract it is attached to, not against a fixed threshold.
Payment behaviour is data you already have.
If the deposit on the original job was slow, or if there was a conversation about the schedule of payments, that is the signal. Contractors who track this describe the same pattern: the customers who dispute change orders are usually the ones who were already awkward about the first invoice.
Milestones can replace a deposit.
For a large addition, tying the extra to the existing payment schedule is often smoother than a separate up-front request - the added work joins the next milestone rather than becoming its own transaction. Homeowners are increasingly advised to structure payments this way, so it also matches what they expect.
Do not use a deposit to solve a trust problem.
If you want money up front because you suspect you will not be paid at all, the deposit is treating a symptom. That is a moment to look at the whole job - the original terms, what is outstanding, and whether taking on more scope for this customer is a good idea in the first place.
03Checklist
Before you ask for one
The change sized against the original contract, not in isolation
The materials portion identified as its own number
What you already know about how this customer pays
The request made at approval time, not after work begins
The amount tied to a concrete cost rather than an arbitrary percentage
The alternative considered: fold it into the next milestone instead
Example
How to ask without it being strange
'The added bathroom work is $4,200. The fixtures are $1,600 of that and I have to order them, so I'd take that up front and the rest with the final payment.'
'No deposit needed for this one - it's small and I've got the parts on the truck.'
'Rather than a separate payment, I can just add it to the next milestone. Easier for both of us.'
04FAQ
Common questions.
What percentage is normal for a change order deposit?
There is no standard, and quoting one usually invites negotiation. Tying the request to a specific cost you can name - the fixtures, the special order, the material package - is both easier to justify and easier to accept than a percentage.
The customer refused the deposit. Should I do the work anyway?
That depends on why you wanted it. If it was purely materials, offer to have them pay the supplier directly or to order once payment clears. If you wanted it because you are uneasy about being paid at all, a refusal is information worth taking seriously.
Does taking a deposit change anything legally?
Deposit rules for residential contracting vary considerably by state - some cap what you can take up front, and some require specific contract language. If you plan to take deposits routinely, that is worth checking locally once rather than assuming, because the limits are real in some places.
See what the approval record looks like.
Open the sample PDF first, then download SiteTicket AI if this is close to how you handle added work, customer approval, and invoice backup.
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