The Deposit & Draw Schedule: Who's Financing This Job, You or Them?

Same $28,000 job, same customer, same price. On a 10% handshake deposit you're $11,000 underwater the day materials get ordered and $18,200 underwater at substantial completion — and if they go quiet then, that's your bill for being polite. On 40/30/25/5 with draws tied to milestones, your worst moment is $200 in the black, and a customer who never pays another cent keeps only the $1,400 final draw.

How it works

• The Draw Builder — your job amount, your costs by stage, any draw percentages you want to test. The exposure row shows who's the bank at every milestone; the WORST MOMENT and IF-THEY-NEVER-PAY rows show what each schedule risks
• The Rules — the deposit ask said as furniture ("40% down covers your materials, ordered this week — card or check?"); milestones defined in one photographable sentence; the draw invoice sent at 4pm the day the milestone lands, photo attached; the kindly pause when a draw is missed; the small, punch-list-defined final draw; retainage priced into commercial bids
• Know your state, twice — deposit caps and lien deadlines are law, not math; this file tells you which hour to spend with your attorney

Built for

Remodelers · GCs · landscapers · kitchen & bath · any trade running jobs big enough that the schedule decides who carries the risk.

What you get

One .xlsx file, three tabs, instant download. Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice. No macros, no subscription. Not legal advice — the math half of the conversation.