We’re planning some renovations and we’re a fair way down the track with a construction company.

We’ve got a quote for about $82,000 total including about $16k fixtures and fittings.

Indicative start date is 23 Jan 2024,  but they’re looking for a 40% deposit at the beginning of December 2023.  I’m a bit hesitant about being an unsecured creditor to the tune of $32k for near 2 months.  I appreciate they’ll need some dosh up front so they can order the kit and pay for that (although I assume they’ll do this on account and won’t be paying for it until after delivery) and there’s the Christmas break to potentially slow procurement down.

My question to the GZ community is has anyone ever negotiated the deposit amount with a small business in a similar scenario, and how did you go about it?