Few parts of hiring a contractor make homeowners warier than the deposit — and understandably. Handing money to someone before a single tile is set feels like an act of faith. Here’s the honest picture: why deposits exist, what a reasonable one looks like, and why the paper behind it matters far more than the payment itself.
Why deposits exist at all
Before day one of your project, real money has to move. Tile, a vanity, glass, and fixtures are ordered — sometimes custom-made and impossible to return. A crew’s days get reserved on a calendar, which means other jobs are turned away. A deposit connects the start of your job to those two facts: materials purchased and time held.
A reasonable shape
On a well-run job, payments follow work you can see:
- A modest share up front, tied to ordering materials and scheduling — not the whole job.
- Progress payments at visible milestones — demolition complete, rough plumbing and electrical inspected, tile set.
- The final payment when the work is finished and walked through with you.
The exact split varies by project. The pattern matters more than any single payment: money follows progress, and you can always point to what a payment was for.
Red flags worth walking away from
- Most or all of the price demanded before any work is done or materials ordered
- Cash-only terms, or a deposit requested before you’ve seen a written quote
- Pressure to sign today because “the price changes tomorrow”
- No written contract at all — just a verbal promise and a start date
Any one of these means the paper trail that protects you doesn’t exist. That’s the real risk — not the deposit itself.
The written contract is the real protection
In Connecticut, home improvement contracts are required to be in writing. A proper one spells out:
- A clear description of the work — the scope, in plain terms
- The total price
- The payment schedule — when each payment is due, and what stage of work it follows
- Start and completion dates
- The contractor’s name, address, and Connecticut home improvement registration number
- Your cancellation right — Connecticut requires the contract to state that you may cancel within three business days
Changes belong on paper too: extra work gets a written change order that you approve before the extra work happens. (It’s exactly how surprises behind a wall should be handled — here’s what that looks like when it’s done right.)
Where Ivy stands
With Ivy, the order of events is fixed: a site visit first, then a written quote through Ivy with the scope and payment schedule on paper — before any work begins. Whatever schedule a quote contains, you see it in writing and approve it first. Nobody asks you to hand over money on a handshake.
This article is general information about how deposits and contracts commonly work — not legal advice.
Want to see what a written quote looks like before you commit to anything? Start with a site visit — the quote comes after, in writing, and the decision is yours.