Every time you write a job onto your whiteboard or calendar without collecting a deposit, you are taking 100% of the financial and scheduling risk. If the homeowner decides to delay or shop around, your crew sits idle on Monday morning.
The psychology of calendar gating
When you tell a customer, “We will hold your installation slot for 48 hours while your deposit link is active, after which the slot opens to our queue,” you introduce healthy urgency. Serious buyers pay immediately; non-serious buyers filter themselves out without wasting your crew’s time.
Setting standard deposit thresholds
- Service calls under $1,000: Full payment pre-authorized or $150 dispatch deposit.
- Projects $1,000 – $10,000: 30% to 50% deposit upon quote acceptance.
- Major projects $10,000+: 33% initial deposit, 33% at rough-in stage, 34% upon final completion.
Let’s Get Quoted lets you automatically lock scheduling calendar dates to successful Stripe payment intents, confirming bookings only after funds clear.