I’ve been in the freelance game for a while now, but figuring out client deposits for bigger projects still feels tricky.
I typically request 30% upfront, but with lengthy projects, I’m starting to question if that really offers enough security. Learned the hard way when a client disappeared on me last year.
I take whatever they offer at the start. A little upfront is better than nothing when you have bills.
I go with 40% upfront and then bill every two weeks after that. This keeps money coming in regular and stops clients from thinking they can string you along for months without paying.
Never do a big project on just one payment at the start and one at the end. That is asking for trouble. Weekly or biweekly billing keeps everyone honest.
For bigger projects I now ask for 50% upfront. This covers my initial costs and time spent.
I break the rest into milestone payments. This reduces risk and helps with cash flow during the project.
I learned to change my deposit approach after getting burned too many times. Now I ask for 60% upfront on projects over $5000.
Sounds high but here’s my reasoning. That 60% covers all my prep work, research, and gets me through the first major chunk of deliverables. Then I invoice the remaining 40% when I’m about 80% done with everything.
This way I’m never sitting on months of unpaid work. If they bail near the end, I’ve already been paid for most of my time. The final 40% is small enough that most clients don’t stress about paying it quickly.
Yeah, some potential clients walk away when they hear 60% upfront. But the ones who stay are usually the good ones who actually have their finances sorted out.
Three payments works well for me on bigger stuff:
This way you’re not sitting there waiting months for payment while doing all the work. Plus clients seem more comfortable with smaller chunks than one huge upfront payment.
If they push back on the structure, that’s usually a red flag about how they handle money anyway.