Deposits, Payment Schedules and Change Orders
Why a deposit exists at all
Material gets bought before labor gets performed. Cedar, steel posts, concrete and gate hardware are ordered against your job, and on a cedar order that has to come in from a yard rather than off the rack, that money is spent whether the job proceeds or not. A deposit that roughly matches the material package is normal. A deposit that also covers the crew's wages for work nobody has done yet is not.
Schedules that hold up
Two shapes cover most residential work in this area.
- Half at material delivery, half at completion. Fine for a job that runs two or three days.
- Thirds: at signing, when posts are set and cured, and at the final walk. Better on anything with drive gates, retaining work or more than about 300 feet.
Tie each payment to a milestone you can stand in the yard and verify, never to a calendar date. Spring here loses days to storms and to ground too wet to auger, and a date based schedule quietly puts that weather risk on you. Holding back the last portion until the final walk is standard and no reputable outfit is offended by it.
Change orders: settle the unit price in advance
Almost every change on a fence job falls into a short list, and every item on that list can be priced before anyone digs.
| Extra linear feet beyond the measured run | price per foot |
| An additional gate or a widened opening | price per gate by width |
| A hole that will not auger through shale | price per hole |
| Removing a stump or an old concrete footing in the line | price each |
| Repairing an irrigation line that was not marked | hourly plus parts |
With those five numbers agreed on the contract, a mid job surprise becomes arithmetic. Without them, it becomes a negotiation held while your yard is open and the crew is standing there, which is the worst possible moment to be discovering what something costs.
Put it in writing before the work happens
A change order should name the item, the quantity, the agreed unit price, the new total, and any effect on the finish date. Both parties sign it, and it happens before the extra work, not on the invoice afterward. Text messages count if they carry those five things, so a photo of the obstruction with a short reply agreeing to the per hole rate is a perfectly good record.
The last payment
Walk the whole line before you release it. Check that gates swing and latch without being lifted, that no post is out of plumb, that caps are on and hardware is tight, and that the spoil and offcuts are gone. Ask for a receipt marked paid in full and, on larger jobs, a lien waiver. That last document costs nothing and closes the file.