Your contractor wants 50 percent up front. Here is how to think about it
Deposit practice varies by state. California's contractor licensing board publishes that a down payment for home improvement work in that state cannot be more than 1,000 USD or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less. Most states publish no such limit, so a percentage on its own settles nothing. What settles something is how far payments have run ahead of the work.
Updated 2026-09-24. General planning information, not professional advice. Every figure on this page names the document it came from.
What a deposit percentage does and does not tell you
General information, not legal or financial advice. Payment rules for home improvement work differ by state and sometimes by city, and what applies where you live is decided by your own state licensing authority.
A deposit percentage is a fact about money. It is not a fact about work, and on its own it does not describe the thing a homeowner is actually worried about, which is paying for a kitchen and then not getting one.
Take two contractors who both ask for the same share up front. The first releases a cabinet order the week the money arrives, pays a factory that builds to order, and holds a crew slot that was booked three months ago. The second orders nothing, starts nothing, and the money sits. The percentage on the two invoices is identical. The position the homeowner is in is not.
So the percentage is a starting position for a conversation, not a verdict on a contractor. The questions that do the work are what the deposit buys, what is ordered with it, and what has to be finished before the next payment is due.
Typical range, verify with your professional. This page publishes no typical deposit percentage, and it publishes no dollar figure for any construction work. No source in this kit publishes one, so inventing one here would be inventing a benchmark. Anyone quoting a normal deposit percentage for US remodeling is quoting their own experience, which is worth hearing and is not a published figure.
What official sources actually publish about down payments
There is no single national rule on contractor deposits in the United States. Rules for home improvement work are written state by state and sometimes city by city, some states publish a limit on what may be asked for up front, and many publish nothing on the subject at all.
Model code figure, verify locally. California's contractor licensing board publishes, on its own consumer page about home improvement contracts, that the down payment cannot be more than 1,000 USD or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less, for a home improvement job or swimming pool, excluding finance charges. That is what one state board publishes for work in that state. It is not a national rule, it is not quoted here as advice, and what applies where you live is decided by your own state licensing authority. Verify it with that authority before relying on it.
The same California board also publishes a separate threshold about the contract itself, stating that a written contract is required for home improvement projects over 500 USD in that state. Both of those figures are about paperwork and money up front. Neither one is a price for any construction work, and neither one says anything about what work costs.
Other states publish something different in kind, which is the part most articles on this subject leave out. The table below is three published examples, not a survey of the country.
| The authority | What it publishes | What that does not mean |
|---|---|---|
| California's contractor licensing board | A down payment limit for home improvement work in that state, of 1,000 USD or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less, excluding finance charges, and a written contract threshold above 500 USD | It does not apply outside that state, and this page does not tell you how it applies inside it |
| Washington's state labor and industries department | Registration requirements behind an active listing, including a surety bond of 30,000 USD for a general contractor and 15,000 USD for a specialty contractor, and a public register showing lawsuits against the bond | A bond is not a deposit limit and an active registration is not a judgment about the work |
| Pennsylvania's office of attorney general | A home improvement contractor registration, a written contract threshold above 500 USD, and an explicit statement that registration "is not an endorsement, recommendation, or approval" | A registration number is not a license, and the register displays what the contractor entered on the form |
Three state authorities, three different kinds of published rule. The place to look is your own state authority, and the answer there may be that no figure is published.
The useful conclusion from all three is not a number. It is that the board or register in your own state is the place that answers this question for you, and that the answer there may be that nothing is published.
Why a contractor asks for money before the first day
Money before the start is normal in remodeling for reasons that have nothing to do with anybody behaving badly, and a homeowner who treats every deposit as a warning sign will lose good contractors and keep the ones with nothing better booked.
- Materials are bought in advance. Tile, fixtures and appliances are paid for before they are delivered, and the contractor is paying for them before the homeowner sees anything.
- Cabinets are made to order. A cabinet order goes into a factory queue against a signed drawing and a deposit, and a made to order cabinet run is not a returnable item.
- A schedule slot is being held. A contractor who commits a crew to one job in one month is refusing other work for that month.
- Subcontractors and suppliers have their own terms, and those terms usually arrive before the first invoice a homeowner sees.
That is why the sharpest question about a deposit is not how large it is. It is what gets ordered the day it clears, and when the homeowner will see proof that the order was placed. A deposit that releases a cabinet order and a deposit that releases nothing are two different transactions wearing the same percentage.
The number that actually matters: percent paid against percent complete
Percent paid is arithmetic. It is what has been paid divided by what was signed for, and it can be worked out from the invoices in about a minute.
Percent complete is a judgment, and it belongs to the homeowner. It is made by walking the job and looking at what exists, not by reading the schedule and not by accepting the figure on an invoice. Rough plumbing in and inspected is a thing you can see. A tiled shower with no glass is a different thing you can see. Neither of them is a percentage anybody handed you.
The gap between percent paid and percent complete is the only number in this whole exercise that tells a homeowner something the invoices do not.
The gap is not an accusation. Payments run ahead of visible work at perfectly ordinary moments, most obviously when a large materials order is paid for and the materials are still in a factory. What the gap does is put a date on a conversation. A gap that appears at the cabinet deposit and closes when the cabinets are installed has explained itself. A gap that opens in week two and keeps widening through week nine has not.
Work the gap out before every payment rather than after the project. Twenty minutes walking the job before money leaves is the entire method.
What a payment schedule looks like when it is tied to work
A payment schedule tied to work names a condition that can be seen and verified before each payment falls due. A payment schedule tied to the calendar names a date, which arrives whether or not anything happened. The difference between the two is the difference between a schedule that protects both sides and a schedule that only measures time passing.
| The payment | What it is usually tied to | What to ask before you send it |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit at signing | The agreement itself, and often the first orders being released | What is ordered with this, and when do I see the order confirmation |
| Materials draw | Specific materials bought and paid for by the contractor | Which materials, from which supplier, and where are they now |
| Milestone at rough in | Rough plumbing, electrical and framing complete, and inspected where a permit applies | Has the rough inspection happened, and what is still open on it |
| Milestone at cabinet installation | Cabinets delivered and installed, level and secured | Are all the cabinets here, including the fillers and panels on the order |
| Milestone at substantial completion | The work usable, with only listed items outstanding | What exactly is still outstanding, and by what date |
| Final payment | The punch list closed and the closeout records handed over | Which items from the walkthrough are done, and which are not |
No percentages and no dollar figures appear in this table on purpose. What each payment is worth comes from your own agreement, and this page does not tell you what that agreement should say.
One structural point is worth noticing before anything is signed: a schedule with a final payment that falls due before the walkthrough has put the last payment and the punch list in the wrong order. Once the last payment is made, the remaining items run on goodwill. What your own agreement provides for is a question for your contractor and your own adviser, and it is a question worth asking while the schedule is still being discussed.
Allowances and change orders, the two quiet ways the total moves
A remodel that ends above the number on the first page of the quote has usually not got there through anybody behaving badly. Allowances and change orders are ordinary mechanisms, and both of them move a total with nothing going wrong.
An allowance is a sum carried in a quote for something not yet chosen: the tile, the faucets, the lighting. When the thing is finally chosen and it costs more than the sum carried, the total moves, and nobody did anything except choose a tile. Allowances are where a project goes over quietly, and the way to see it coming is to write down what each allowance was against what the chosen item actually cost, on the day it is chosen.
A change order is the written record of work added or removed, with what it cost and how many days it added to the schedule. Full detail on how a change gets priced, and why the price arrives after the decision has been made, is on the page about what each change added to the total.
The cheapest thing on this page to fix today is the change that was agreed standing in the dust and never written down. One email each, describing what was agreed and what it costs, sent the same day. It costs nothing, it takes a minute, and it is the only line in a whole remodel that can be repaired by typing.
What to ask before you send any payment
| Ask this | What a thin answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| What does this payment cover, in work that is already done | "We are about at that stage." A stage is not a list of completed work. |
| What was ordered with the last payment, and can I see the confirmation | "Everything is on order." Nothing names a supplier, a product or a date. |
| What has to be finished before the next payment is due | "We will see where we are." The next payment has been tied to a mood. |
| Which changes so far are in writing, and what did each one add | "We will square it up at the end." The total is being reconciled after the leverage is gone. |
A thin answer is not proof of anything. It is a reason to ask the same question again in an email, where the answer gets written down.
- Walk the job before you send money, every time, and look at what exists rather than what is invoiced.
- Work out percent paid from your own agreement, and set your own percent complete beside it.
- Keep every change in writing, with the cost and the days it added, on the day it is agreed.
- Record what each allowance was carried at against what the chosen item actually cost.
- Check what your own state licensing authority publishes about home improvement work, before signing rather than during a disagreement.
What this page is not
General information, not legal or financial advice. Payment rules for home improvement work differ by state and sometimes by city, and what applies where you live is decided by your own state licensing authority.
This page does not tell you what your agreement means, whether any term in it can be enforced, what a fair deposit is, or what to do if you and your contractor disagree. Those are questions for a qualified professional in your own state, and they are not questions a web page can answer for a stranger.
What this page does is name the published sources, attribute each figure to the authority that published it, and give a method that works in every state: compare what has been paid to what has been finished, and ask what each payment buys before it leaves.
Common questions
Is a 50 percent deposit normal for a remodel?
Deposit practice varies by state and by contractor, and no published source in this kit gives a normal percentage for US remodeling. Some states publish a limit on a down payment for home improvement work and many publish none. The percentage matters less than what the deposit buys and what is ordered the day it clears.
Is there a legal limit on contractor deposits in the United States?
There is no single national rule. California's contractor licensing board publishes that a down payment for home improvement work in that state cannot be more than 1,000 USD or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less, excluding finance charges. Most states publish no such limit, and what applies where you live is decided by your own state licensing authority.
Why does a contractor need money before starting work?
Materials are bought and paid for in advance, cabinets are made to order and a made to order run is not returnable, and a crew slot is being held against other work. Those are real costs a contractor carries before a homeowner sees anything. The question worth asking is what the deposit orders, not only how large it is.
What should a remodel payment schedule be tied to?
A payment schedule tied to work names a condition that can be seen and verified before each payment falls due, such as rough in complete and inspected, or cabinets delivered and installed. A schedule tied to dates on a calendar measures time passing rather than work finished. What your own agreement contains is a question for your contractor and your own adviser.
What is the difference between percent paid and percent complete?
Percent paid is arithmetic: what has been paid divided by what was signed for. Percent complete is a judgment made by the homeowner walking the job and looking at what exists. The gap between the two is the only figure that tells a homeowner something the invoices do not, and it is worth working out before every payment.
What should I do about a change that was agreed verbally?
Send one email per change, the same day, describing what was agreed, what it costs and how many days it adds, and ask for confirmation. A change agreed on site and settled on the final invoice is the most common argument on a remodel, and it is the one line in a whole project that can be repaired by typing.