A Christmas light installation deposit should cover the product for that house and the slot on the calendar, collected the moment the homeowner signs. On GlowBid's default rate card that is 30 percent of the taxed total: $640.26 on a $2,134.20 two-storey, against $393.95 of materials at supplier prices. Balance on install day, takedown bundled, and a lease pays a deposit once then a 14-day invoice each season. The schedules, the cancellation rules and the math are below.
I run a permanent lighting company in Ottawa and built GlowBid. Strandr's mistakes post lists no deposit as a mistake, prices it at "$113 to $225 out of pocket plus a crew slot you cannot resell", and stops. Jobber's start-up guide does not mention deposits at all. This page gives the schedule for each of the three agreement types, what to do when the customer cancels, and the consumer rules that override your contract in Ontario and California.
How much deposit should a lighting installer take?#
30 percent of the taxed total on every agreement type, collected at signature, on GlowBid's default card. Installers set their own percent on the rate card, and the table is what the default does on each kind of job, next to what the other published schedules say. The materials figures are the installer income page's supplier prices.
| Job |
Our default deposit |
Balance |
What the deposit has to cover |
| Seasonal, lights included ($2,134.20 two-storey) |
30% at signature, $640.26 |
$1,493.94 on install day |
$393.95 of cord, bulbs, clips and timer, plus the slot |
| Seasonal service on customer-owned lights ($1,500 minimum job) |
30% at signature, $450.00 |
$1,050.00 on install day |
The slot; there is no product to buy |
| Permanent track ($4,987.60 from the permanent agreement template) |
30% at signature, $1,496.28 |
$3,491.32 the day the install is finished and shown working |
Channel cut per house, which does not go back on the shelf |
| Multi-year lease ($1,910.20 season 1) |
30% of season 1 at signature, $573.06 |
$1,337.14 on the first install day; later seasons invoiced 14 days before install |
Season 1 product plus the slot; later seasons carry no deposit |
| Strandr's template |
50% under $1,000; 40% from $1,000 to $5,000; 33% over $5,000 |
50% at install; or 40% at install and 20% at takedown; or 33% at install and 34% at 30 days |
Not stated |
| Christmas Lights HQ (Geiman) |
50% at booking |
Not stated |
"This funds your material purchases for upcoming installs" |
| LightQuoter's template |
"$[Deposit / %] due at signing" |
"[on completion of installation / net X days]" |
Blanks |
Thirty percent works on our card because the materials on a lights-included job are about 18 percent of the price, so the deposit covers the product with $246 to spare, and the job is not underwater if it cancels after the spool is cut. On a cheaper rate card the same 30 percent may not clear the materials, and that is the test: if the deposit is less than the product you will buy for that house, raise it or you are lending the homeowner money.
30/70, 50/50 or 40/40/20: which schedule fits which job?#
30/70 or 50/50 for a seasonal job with takedown bundled; 40/40/20 only if takedown is a separate visit the homeowner has not paid for yet. The three schedules on the same $2,134.20 job:
| Schedule |
At signature |
At install |
At takedown |
What is left to chase in January |
| 30/70 (GlowBid default) |
$640.26 |
$1,493.94 |
$0 |
Nothing |
| 50/50 (Geiman, Strandr under $1,000) |
$1,067.10 |
$1,067.10 |
$0 |
Nothing |
| 40/40/20 (Strandr, $1,000 to $5,000) |
$853.68 |
$853.68 |
$426.84 |
$426.84 for a trip that costs about $150 |
The 20 percent held to takedown is the one I would not run. It is meant to guarantee the crew comes back in January, but it turns the takedown into a collections call in February, when the homeowner has forgotten the lights were ever up, and it leaves your most expensive trip unpaid. Bundle the takedown in the per-foot rate, book the January date at install, and collect the whole balance while the lights are on and the homeowner is standing in the driveway looking at them. The seasonal contract template has the takedown window as a clause with dates, which is what makes the promise credible without holding money back.
Between 30 and 50 percent, the difference is who carries the product for six weeks. Fifty percent at booking in October funds the reorder for the next houses, which is why Geiman's guide says sell first, collect 50 percent, then buy. Thirty percent is easier to close at the door and still clears the materials on our card. Either is fine; set it once on the rate card and stop negotiating it per job.
When and how is the deposit collected?#
On the same screen as the signature, on the homeowner's phone, before the quote is a booking. A signed quote with no deposit is a reservation. The product you buy for it is inventory with one possible buyer, and the slot you hold for it is one you cannot resell inside 15 days, which is the cost Strandr puts a number on.
In GlowBid the customer signs the quote on their phone, the signed document gets a SHA-256 fingerprint, and the Stripe deposit collects on the same page. The deposit goes through Stripe Connect to your account and carries Stripe's 2.9 percent plus 30 cents, $18.87 on a $640.26 deposit, plus a GlowBid platform margin under 1 percent that is shown to you before you connect Stripe. If you want the card fee back on the balance, take it by e-transfer or cheque on install day and record it in the payments ledger; the invoice shows both payments against one total.
How is a multi-year lease paid?#
Deposit at signature, balance of season 1 on the first install day, then each later season invoiced 14 days before that season's install and due before the crew arrives. The lease carries no deposit after season 1 because the product is already on the house or in your bin with the customer's name on it. This is the two-storey from our lease agreement template on a declining 10 percent schedule, where the homeowner keeps the lights after season 3:
| Season |
Season price |
Deposit at signature |
Due on first install day |
Invoiced 14 days before install |
| 1 |
$1,910.20 |
$573.06 |
$1,337.14 |
|
| 2 |
$1,678.68 |
|
|
$1,678.68 |
| 3 |
$1,510.81 |
|
|
$1,510.81 |
When the lease is signed, GlowBid creates each season's install job and takedown job, and the season 2 invoice comes from that job on the date the clause says. Early termination after the first install is a fee of 50 percent of a season if more than half the term remains, otherwise 25 percent, and seasons already installed are not refundable. Those percentages are our sample wording, not legal advice; leases and early-termination fees are exactly the clauses consumer-protection rules watch.
What happens when the customer cancels?#
Inside the cooling-off window, refund it all. After it, keep the deposit against materials already ordered and the slot, and say so in the contract. Our seasonal template gives 3 days for a full refund; Strandr's uses a sliding scale, a full refund less $100 at 45 days out, half the deposit kept at 30 to 45 days, 75 percent at 15 to 29 days, all of it under 15 days. Both are fine as far as they go. Three rules sit on top of whatever you write:
- Ontario's 10 days. The province's contract rights page says "you always have a cooling-off period when you sign a contract in your home" and "you can cancel the contract for any reason within 10 days of receiving a written copy", and most agreements over $50 must be in writing. A deposit taken at the kitchen table is refundable for 10 days no matter what clause 9 says. Whether a quote the homeowner opens on their own phone after you leave is a contract "signed in the home" is a question for an Ontario lawyer, and I would assume it is.
- California's cap. The Contractors State License Board says "the down payment cannot be more than $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less, for a home improvement job", and "the payments to the contractor cannot exceed the value of the work performed (with the exception of the down payment)". Permanent track screwed to the fascia is home improvement on its face; whether seasonal lights are is a California lawyer's call.
- The tax on a kept deposit. In Canada the CRA treats a forfeited deposit as a taxable supply, so a $549.49 deposit kept in Ontario carries $63.22 of HST at 13/113. Refund it and "there are no tax consequences". The GST and HST guide has the deposit timing rules.
If you cannot do the work for a reason inside your control, refund the deposit in full. The clause is there to cover a cut spool, not to profit from a cancellation.
Worked example: the two-storey on 30/70, with dates#
$2,134.20 signed October 14, $640.26 collected the same minute, $1,493.94 on November 20, and nothing owing at the January 15 takedown. This is the house from our per-foot pricing guide, 250 lit feet, 16 ft of jumps and a timer on GlowBid's default seasonal card, with tax at 0 as the default ships.
| Date |
Event |
Paid |
Running balance |
| October 14 |
Quote signed on the homeowner's phone; deposit through Stripe |
$640.26 |
$1,493.94 |
| October 15 |
Spool, bulbs and clips ordered for this house ($393.95) |
|
$1,493.94 |
| October 17 |
Cooling-off window closes; deposit now covers materials and the slot |
|
$1,493.94 |
| November 20 |
Install finished, lights on; balance by card or e-transfer on the driveway |
$1,493.94 |
$0.00 |
| January 15 |
Takedown in the contract's window; bin labelled and stored |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
In Ontario, with the tax line set to 13 percent HST, the Kanata version of this house totals $1,831.62 CAD, the deposit is $549.49 and the balance is $1,282.13, because the engine takes the deposit percent from the taxed total. In US dollars that is about $1,323 at the Bank of Canada's 1.3840. You can draw this house in the free tool and see the footage the price comes from.
Mistakes that turn a deposit into a loan#
- A deposit smaller than the product. 10 percent of $2,134.20 is $213.42 and the bulbs alone are $219.45. Set the percent so it clears the materials on your own card, not on someone else's.
- Signature today, deposit "when I see you". The booking is the deposit. Collect it on the signing screen or the slot is not sold.
- Holding 20 percent to takedown. It finances your most expensive trip with the homeowner's memory. Bundle takedown, book the date at install, collect the balance on the driveway.
- Deposit as a percent of the pre-tax subtotal. In Ontario that leaves 13 percent of the deposit's share of HST to chase on the balance. Take it from the taxed total.
- Counting the deposit as profit. $640.26 in October is $393.95 of product and $246 of slot. The profit is on the install-day invoice.
- Cutting channel before the deposit clears. Custom-cut track with no deposit is inventory with one possible buyer, and on a permanent job the deposit is the channel.
- A kept deposit with no tax on it. In Canada the CRA deems 13/113 of it to be HST in Ontario. Book it that way.
- One cancellation clause for three agreement types. A seasonal cancellation, a permanent cancellation with cut channel, and a lease termination in season 2 are three different clauses. The permanent agreement template and the lease template each carry their own.
Where the deposit rule lives#
On the rate card, with the per-foot rates, the minimum job and the tax line, so every quote applies it the same way: runs and premiums, add-ons, discount, minimum-job check, tax on the subtotal, deposit as a percent of the taxed total. The homeowner signs on their phone, the deposit collects on the same page, the balance invoice carries both payments in the ledger, and a signed lease books every season's install and takedown job on the day it is signed. Photo measurements are estimates confirmed on site, and every quote says so. Core is $299 a year at the founding price for the first 100 companies, and the free roofline tool draws the house the deposit is for.
