FIELD NOTES · FOR CONTRACTORS
Resources
Straight answers on proposals, deposits, change orders, and getting paid — built from industry data, written for people who run the job themselves.
August 10, 2026
When Should a Contractor Collect a Deposit? (At Signing — Not 'Before We Start')
The deposit you collect 'before we start' is already too late. Here's when to collect, how much is normal, what states allow, and why signature-plus-payment in one step is the highest-leverage change in your cash flow.
Read the articleAugust 3, 2026
How to Protect Yourself From Payment Disputes Before They Happen
More than 1 in 3 contractors get paid late because of disputes over the work. A signed scope, documented change orders, and an audit trail of who signed what and when prevent most of them.
Read the articleJuly 27, 2026
How Many Proposals Should It Take to Win a Job? Contractor Close Rates by Lead Source
Repeat customers close at 50-70%. Angi and Thumbtack leads close at 10-20%. Here are the real contractor close-rate benchmarks by lead source — and what they mean for where you spend.
Read the articleJuly 20, 2026
Contractors Lose 130 Hours a Year Chasing Payments. Here's How to Get That Time (and Cash) Back
Construction DSO averages 83 days vs 60 for other industries. The fix isn't nagging harder — it's collecting the deposit at signing and invoicing against a schedule the customer already agreed to.
Read the articleJuly 13, 2026
Why Customers Ghost After You Send a Proposal (and How to Stop It)
Most contractor proposals die from slow delivery, generic formatting, and a hard-to-sign process — not price. Here's the data on why customers go silent and what fixes it.
Read the article
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