What Does a 50% Deposit on Restoration Work Mean for You?

Restoration deposit payment terms of 50% up front and 50% on completion mean you pay half the quoted price to book the job and the other half when the work is finished and documented. The deposit secures the crew and equipment and covers the contractor's early costs. The second half stays in your hands until you have the result you were promised, which is the part that protects you.

What the deposit pays for

Mold and water jobs are front-loaded. Most of the contractor's cost lands in the first day or two: the crew's time, containment materials, protective gear, filters, disposal bags and fees, and commercial drying and air filtration equipment that is tied up at your house instead of earning elsewhere. The deposit covers those costs so the company is not financing your job.

It also holds your place. Water damage has to start right away, and real estate mold jobs often have a closing date behind them. A paid deposit is what moves a job from quoted to scheduled.

Are 50/50 restoration deposit payment terms normal?

Deposits on contracting work in Ontario vary widely. Small jobs are often paid in full at the end. Larger renovation projects are commonly paid in stages. A half-and-half split is common on short jobs that last days and not months, since there is no practical way to break a three-day job into several progress payments.

Our terms are 50% to book and 50% on completion, by card or e-transfer. What matters more than the percentage is what each payment is tied to. A fair arrangement ties the deposit to a written scope and a start date, and the balance to a defined finish. Be careful with any contractor who wants full payment before starting, wants cash only, or cannot say what triggers the final payment.

What you should have in hand before you pay

Do not send a deposit against a verbal price. Before paying, you should have:

• A written quote with the company's legal name, address and contact details.
• A scope of work listing the areas, what will be removed, and how it will be cleaned and dried.
• The total price, whether HST is included, and the deposit and balance amounts.
• A start date and an expected duration.
• What is excluded, such as rebuild work.
• How extra work is approved if hidden damage turns up.
• What happens to the deposit if the job is cancelled or delayed.

Ontario's consumer protection rules give homeowners rights on contracts for home services, including written-contract requirements above a set dollar amount and a cooling-off period for many agreements signed in the home. The details depend on how and where the agreement was made, so check the Ontario government's consumer protection information if you have a concern.

Card or e-transfer: which is better for the deposit?

Both work. They are not the same when something goes wrong. A credit card payment generally comes with the card issuer's dispute process, which gives you a route if work you paid for is never delivered. An e-transfer is close to cash. Once it is accepted it is very hard to reverse. For that reason, a card is the more protected way to pay a deposit to a company you have not used before. Whichever you use, get a receipt that shows the amount, the date and the job address.

When the second 50% is due

On completion should mean something you can check. On our jobs, completion is the point where the work in the written scope is done and you have the clearance report with before and after photos and readings. For water jobs that includes the daily moisture log showing framing dried to under 16% wood moisture content.

Before you pay the balance, walk the area with the contractor, compare what was done against the scope line by line, and read the report. If something on the scope was not done, raise it then, in writing. The final invoice should be itemized, since that is the document you will need for an insurer, a buyer or your own records.

How a deposit works when insurance is involved

With a direct-pay contractor, you pay the deposit and the balance yourself, then submit the itemized invoice, photos and readings to your insurer for whatever your policy covers. That means you carry the cost until the insurer pays, and you bear any gap if part of the claim is declined. Before work starts on a claim, tell your adjuster who you have hired and ask what documentation they want. That one call prevents most reimbursement problems.

If you are about to pay a deposit, read the quote once more with this list beside you, and ask for anything missing to be added in writing first. A contractor who is confident in the work will not mind.

Common questions