No Deposit Until We Start, and Why It Protects You

You've just signed a renovation contract, and the first invoice lands before a single tradie has set foot on your property. It's normal. Most people pay it without thinking twice. I don't send one.

I don't ask for a deposit until the week we actually start your job. Not when you sign, not while you wait for us to fit you into the schedule. When the trades turn up and the work begins, that's when your money starts moving.

Your money should go on your job, not on funding someone else's while you wait your turn. That's the whole idea. If I'm not on site yet, I haven't earned anything from you, so I don't ask for anything.



I'd rather not take your money and have something happen than take it and let you down. That's not how I want to run this.

If a deposit sits with a business for weeks or months before work starts, that money isn't sitting still. It's often being used to keep other jobs moving, or to cover costs that have nothing to do with you.



If anything goes wrong in that gap, you're the one left waiting, and your money is the one that's gone. Taking no deposit until we start removes that risk completely. There's no gap for anything to go wrong in.

You get a detailed, itemised quote first, so you know exactly what you're paying for. Once that's agreed and we've locked in a start date, that's the point your money changes hands, in step with the work actually happening in your home.

You'll see the trades arrive. You'll see the work start. Then, and only then, does the first payment move.

I've heard the stories. Homeowners who've paid a deposit to someone who disappeared, or dragged their feet for months while the money sat in someone else's account. I don't want to be another version of that story, even accidentally.

Do it once, do it right, and make sure the person paying for it never has to wonder where their money went. That's the whole policy, and it's not going to change.

If that's the kind of certainty you're after for your renovation, get in touch and we'll talk about your job properly, starting with an honest quote.