Can I Require Payment Upfront?

Yes, with agreement

There is no general law in Australia that forces you to do work before being paid. You are free to require payment up front — in full or in part — provided the customer agrees to those terms before the work starts. Plenty of businesses do exactly this: prepaid services, custom orders, and new-customer jobs are routinely paid before delivery.

The non-negotiable is prior agreement. Upfront terms must be set out and accepted before you begin, in your quote and terms, not announced after the customer thinks the job is booked on normal terms. Get that agreement in writing and keep it. A customer who knowingly accepted "payment before work starts" has a clear, enforceable arrangement with you.

When it makes sense

Requiring payment up front is most justified when your risk is high or your costs are committed early:

• New customers with no payment history.
• Custom or made-to-order items that cannot be resold.
• Small jobs where a deposit-and-balance process is more hassle than it is worth.
• Situations where you must buy materials or pay others before starting.

In these cases, upfront payment simply matches who carries the risk to who controls the work. For lower-risk jobs with trusted customers it is often unnecessary, and a deposit or normal terms may serve better. See whether to invoice before or after the work.

Full payment or a deposit?

Requiring everything up front removes payment risk entirely, which is attractive, but it shifts all the risk onto the customer — and some will balk, especially on larger amounts. A deposit plus a balance on completion is often the fairer middle ground: it covers your committed costs while leaving the customer protected until the work is done.

A rough guide: full prepayment suits small, standardised jobs and prepaid services; a substantial deposit suits larger or custom work. The bigger the amount, the more a customer reasonably expects to hold something back until delivery. See how much deposit to ask for to size the alternative.

Stay fair under consumer law

Even with agreement, upfront terms should be fair. Australian Consumer Law guards against unfair contract terms and against taking payment when you have no intention or ability to supply. Requiring full payment for a large job and then leaving the customer with no recourse if something goes wrong is the kind of imbalance that can be challenged.

Keep your terms reasonable and your obligations clear: what the customer is paying for, when you will deliver, and what happens if you cannot. This is general information, not legal advice — if you are structuring significant upfront terms, it is worth confirming your position with a professional. Fair, clear terms are also simply easier to enforce if a dispute arises.

How to present it

Frame upfront payment as a normal condition of the work, not a sign you distrust the customer. Tie it to something concrete — securing the booking, ordering materials, or your standard process for new customers — so it reads as routine rather than personal. Confident, plain wording earns far more agreement than an apologetic tone.

Make paying easy, with clear details and ideally a payment link, so the upfront step does not become a bottleneck before you can start. If a new customer flatly refuses any payment before work and the job carries real risk, treat that as a signal worth heeding. See how to ask for a deposit politely for wording you can reuse.