In this article, you will learn how to request deposits from your clients using estimates in Workiz.

Deposits are collected during the estimate phase. After you create an estimate for the proposed work, the client can approve it to move forward. If a deposit is required, they'll be prompted to pay it as part of the approval process. 

To give your clients the option to pay deposits online via credit card or ACH, you will need to be set up with Workiz Pay. To learn more about signing up for Workiz Pay, please see this article. 

Creating and sending your deposit request

1. Open the estimate you want to collect a deposit for
2. Scroll down past the line items and select Deposit
   
    
3. Set your deposit as a dollar amount or percentage of the total cost
   
4. (Optional) Select Set for future estimates to use this across all future estimates
5. Select Save
6. Scroll to the top of the page and select Send
7. Ensure your client has the option to pay online
   
8. Send your estimate via text or email

When deposits are collected

Option 1: Require deposit during approval (default)

When using Workiz Pay, all estimates that include a deposit will require your clients to pay as part of the approval process in the client portal. They will be prompted to pay the deposit after signing online.

This is the default for all accounts. 

When using the default system settings, your clients will only see the option to approve and make a deposit if the estimate status is set to Unsent or Pending. Manually changing it to any other status will remove the ability to make a deposit online.

Option 2: Let clients pay deposit offline or after approving estimate

Workiz also gives you the option to let clients approve the estimate first and pay the deposit later. This is helpful for customers who are ready to move forward but not prepared to pay upfront. They can complete the deposit afterward, either offline or by revisiting the estimate in the client portal.

If you want to give your clients more flexibility with paying deposits, you can make these changes from your Workiz Pay settings page.

1. From the sidebar menu, select Workiz Pay
2. Select My account
3. Under Payment policy, turn the toggle switch on for Allow clients to pay deposit offline or after approving estimate
   
4. Select Save

If you modified your payment policy to allow for clients to pay deposits offline or after approving an estimate, your clients will only be required to sign the estimate online to signal approval. After signing, they will see two options: Pay later or pay now. 

If they choose to pay later, they can complete the deposit in one of the following ways:

• Offline
  The client can contact you directly and provide payment using their preferred method. For payments like cash or check, you'll need to manually record the payment in Workiz. 
• Online
  The client can reopen the estimate link and pay the deposit online by credit card. 

How you’ll be notified of a deposit payment

If your client chooses to pay the deposit online, you will be notified in the Message Center. You'll get separate notifications for:

• The estimate approval

• The deposit payment

Applying a deposit to an invoice or job

In Workiz, online deposits can only be requested through estimates — they can’t be requested directly on jobs or invoices.

If the estimate is linked to a job, the deposit will automatically be applied to the job’s balance. When an invoice is later created from that job, the deposit will also be applied to the invoice balance.