The Deposit Policy Builder
Write a deposit policy with a dollar amount, a refund window and the exact wording to say it — in one sitting.
Published Aug 31, 2026
Preview
Most no-show losses come from a specific, countable gap: money you spent before the customer paid you anything. This guide walks you through finding that number for your own business, turning it into a deposit amount and form, writing the refund window in language a customer will accept in the same click that accepts your price, and saying it out loud without flinching. Budget about ninety minutes, plus whatever time your state's rules take to look up.
1. Count your last ten jobs and mark the ones that cost you money first
Open your invoicing tool, your bank feed, or your notebook. List the last ten jobs you quoted — including the ones that fell through. For each one, write down a single yes or no: did you spend money, or block time you could have sold to someone else, before the customer had paid you anything?
That is where the free part ends.
The rest walks the whole thing through, step by step — including the parts people get wrong and what to do when the normal route fails.