Here's a situation that plays out in flooring shops constantly. You order the material, you pay your installer, and you're still waiting on the customer's final payment two or three weeks later. In that window, you've fronted the entire cost of the job out of your own pocket. Do that on enough jobs at once and you'll feel the squeeze even when business is genuinely good, which is part of why a job can look profitable on the bid and lose money by the time it's installed.
This isn't a pricing problem
This isn't a sales problem or a pricing problem. It's a deposit and draw schedule problem, and it's one of the easiest things in the business to fix once you actually look at it.
Most deposit structures never got updated
A lot of shops still run on whatever deposit structure they started with years ago. Maybe it's a flat amount that made sense back when jobs were smaller. Maybe there's no real structure at all, and it just depends on the customer and how the conversation went. Neither of those protects your cash flow on a job that's grown to five figures.
Match your draws to when your costs actually hit
The fix is matching your draw schedule to when your actual costs hit. Material gets ordered up front, so a meaningful deposit needs to come in before that happens, not after. If a job spans multiple weeks, a progress draw partway through covers labor costs you're carrying in real time instead of floating them until the end. Final payment on completion covers the last stretch and gives the customer a reason to sign off promptly instead of letting it drag.
This doesn't have to feel aggressive to the customer
None of this needs to feel aggressive to the customer. Most homeowners have no problem with a deposit, a mid job payment, and a final payment, especially if it's explained clearly up front as just how the job is structured. What actually damages trust is surprising someone with a payment ask they weren't expecting partway through.
If you're not sure whether your current deposit percentage actually covers your material cost, that's worth checking directly. Pull your last several jobs and compare deposit collected against material cost paid out. If material consistently costs more than the deposit you're collecting, you're financing part of every job whether you meant to or not, the same blind spot that lets rework quietly eat margin without ever showing up as its own line item.
FloorStrategy is built to keep job costs and payments visible so your draw schedule actually matches the real timeline of a job. FloorStrategy's founder pricing is locked in for life if you sign up before spots run out. See plans.
FAQ
Why does a flooring job drain your cash flow even when it's profitable? Because you often pay for material and labor weeks before the customer pays their final invoice. During that gap you're fronting the job's entire cost out of your own pocket, even on jobs that are priced well.
How should a deposit and draw schedule be structured? Match it to when your real costs hit. A meaningful deposit before material gets ordered, a progress draw partway through a multi week job, and a final payment on completion.
Will customers push back on a deposit and draw schedule? Most homeowners are fine with it as long as it's explained clearly up front. What actually damages trust is surprising someone with a payment ask they weren't expecting partway through the job.