The supplier wants the purchase order. The customer has paid. But the tint is still unresolved and the final site measure differs from the drawing. A glazier deposit invoice does not make that glass ready to order.
Treat the payment request as one gate. Keep final measure, technical approval, customer selections, cleared funds and supplier release as separate gates. If one stays open, hold the order.
Give the deposit invoice one job
A deposit invoice requests the payment agreed in the accepted quote or contract. It does not prove the money has cleared. It does not approve dimensions, glass type, orientation, holes, notches or hardware preparation.
Keep these decisions separate:
- The customer accepts the quote or contract.
- The final measure and fabrication record are approved.
- The customer approves visible selections.
- The requested payment clears.
- The office releases the supplier purchase order.
Mark each gate in the job record. Do not use a vague status such as ready to order. Record exactly what is complete and what is held.
A receipt also has a different job. It records money received. The supplier purchase order authorises your order with the glass supplier. Neither document replaces the fabrication record.
Freeze every opening before requesting the glass order deposit
Inspect the site before you request money for made-to-measure glass. A drawing can start the conversation. The final site measure controls the order unless the accepted job documents say otherwise.
The opening must be ready to measure. Check the frame, reveals, floor level, wall finish and adjoining work that can alter the finished size. If another trade still needs to straighten, line or finish the opening, mark fabrication as held.
Give every panel and opening a stable label
Assign one label to each opening or panel. Carry it through the site measure, fabrication record, quote, customer selection, supplier purchase order, delivery check and installation record.
Do not use descriptions such as left window when several windows look alike. Use a stable identifier such as the job reference and opening code. State the measurement unit on every drawing, measure and supplier order.
Record who took the final measure. If a dimension came from an architect, builder, template or customer drawing, identify that source. Do not let an imported dimension look like a site measurement.
Record the supplier-ready specification
The fabrication record should contain the technical detail needed to make the unit. Depending on the job, that can include:
- Final width and height with the measurement unit
- Glass build-up and required treatment
- Tint, pattern, coating and visible orientation
- Edge work, holes, notches and cut-outs
- Frame, channel, seals and hardware preparation
- Quantity and opening label
- Drawing or template reference
- Name and date of the technical approval
Keep visible customer choices beside the technical approval. The customer can approve the tint and hardware finish. Your fabrication check still controls dimensions, treatment, orientation and machining details.
A customer payment does not settle a technical discrepancy. If the final site measure differs from the drawing attached to the accepted quote, stop. Update the fabrication record. Deal with any scope or price change before releasing the supplier order.
Hold an unresolved opening
The supplier may ask for a purchase order while the frame is unfinished. Do not order around the problem. Record the hold reason and the person responsible for clearing it.
Do the same when the customer has paid but has not selected the tint or hardware finish. Cleared funds complete the money gate only. The selection gate remains open.
Build the full job price before setting the deposit
Price the whole job first. The deposit is a payment stage within that price, not a shortcut for calculating it.
Build the cost from your own supplier quote and labour plan. Include the glass, frames, hardware, seals, consumables, freight, access equipment, disposal and installation labour that belong to the job. Add overhead and markup to reach the selling price.
Use the job pricing framework for labour, materials and markup if the selling price has not been built cleanly. Keep the cost buckets plain enough to compare with actual costs later.
Base the deposit on recorded commitments
List what your business commits before installation. That may include the supplier order, freight, templates, completed measuring work, shop preparation or hardware bought specifically for the opening.
Then ask the supplier what can be cancelled, altered, returned or credited after release. Separate reusable stock from made-to-measure items that cannot be recovered. Keep the supplier answer with the job.
Calculate the glass order deposit from those actual commitments and the accepted payment terms. Do not choose a standard percentage because it is easy to explain. The amount must come from this job.
Keep future installation labour separate unless it is genuinely committed and included under the accepted payment arrangement. Do not use the deposit to hide a job price that has not been costed.
Cancellation, refund, ownership and fabrication-risk terms belong in the accepted contract or quote terms prepared for your business. Do not invent them while writing the invoice.
Write a glazier deposit invoice that points back to the job
The invoice should identify the payment being requested without becoming a second fabrication sheet. Point it to the accepted quote or contract and the approved fabrication record.
Use the invoice writing guide and field checklist for the core business, customer, payment and document fields. Add the opening references needed to connect the payment to the glazing job.
Copy-ready deposit invoice template
| Field | Placeholder wording |
|---|---|
| Supplier | [Legal business name, ABN, address and contact details] |
| Bill to | [Customer or company name and billing address] |
| Installation address | [Street, suburb, state or territory and postcode] |
| Invoice number | [Deposit invoice reference] |
| Invoice date | [Date issued] |
| Job reference | [Job number] |
| Accepted quote or contract | [Document reference] |
| Openings covered | [Opening labels and short work description] |
| Fabrication record | [Approved drawing, measure or fabrication record reference] |
| Amount requested | [Deposit amount] |
| Payment trigger | [Agreed due date or event] |
| Payment method | [Payment instructions and reference] |
| Payment credit | [Cleared payment will be credited once against the accepted job price] |
| Release status | [Supplier order remains held until every release gate is complete] |
| GST treatment | [Treatment checked for this transaction] |
Do not copy every dimension, hole and edge detail onto the invoice. That creates two technical records that can disagree. Keep those details on the fabrication record and cite its reference.
A glazier deposit invoice marked sent remains unpaid until the money clears. Once it clears, issue or retain the payment record and apply the credit to the customer account once.
Before using deposit wording on residential work, ask the state or territory licensing regulator for the installation address which contractor licence, contract and deposit rules cover the scope. For a NSW job, that question belongs with NSW Fair Trading (opens in a new tab). Do not apply one jurisdiction’s answer across Australia.
If regulated electrical, plumbing or other trade work enters the glazing scope, ask the matching state or territory licensing regulator who may perform it. Record the answer before assigning the work.
Keep the GST trail attached to the glass order
Connect the glazier deposit invoice, cleared payment record, progress billing and final invoice inside the same customer account. The office should be able to trace the requested amount through to the credit shown at final billing.
Use a short document trail:
| Record | What the office records |
|---|---|
| Deposit request | Amount requested, job reference and issue date |
| Payment record | Amount received, clearance status, payment date and reference |
| Supplier release | Purchase order number, release date and authorised person |
| Progress billing | Completed stage, approved variation and prior credits applied |
| Final invoice | Accepted price, approved variations, all payments credited and balance |
Do not guess how GST or tax-invoice treatment applies to a deposit request, receipt, progress invoice or final invoice. Check the current treatment with the Australian Taxation Office (opens in a new tab) and have your accountant apply it consistently.
Keep the ABN, GST treatment and payment references attached to the job record. Do not try to rebuild the tax trail from bank transactions after the installation is finished.
Release the supplier order only when every gate is closed
Create a release check for each opening. The office should see the current status without reading an email chain.
Before release, check:
- The final measure is complete and carries a unit
- The technical specification is approved
- The customer’s visible selections are recorded
- Required contract and licence checks are recorded
- The deposit payment has cleared
- The supplier purchase order matches the opening labels and fabrication record
A paid glazier deposit invoice is not enough. If the tint is unresolved, the opening is unfinished or the purchase order does not match the approved record, keep the supplier release on hold.
Record who released the order and when. Attach the exact fabrication record sent to the supplier. If the supplier returns an acknowledgement or marked drawing, compare it with your approved record before production continues.
Keep emergency work separate
A make-safe visit and a made-to-measure replacement are different stages. Keep the temporary boarding, site notes and first invoice separate from the replacement-glass order.
Use the glazier emergency make-safe workflow when the job begins with broken glass or an unsafe opening. Carry the job reference forward, but do not bury the make-safe work inside the replacement deposit.
Match the delivery back to the supplier order
Check the delivery before sending it straight to installation. Match each unit to its opening label, supplier purchase order and approved fabrication record.
Check the dimensions, unit of measure, orientation, visible finish, holes, notches, edge treatment, hardware preparation and delivery damage. Record the result against each opening.
Quarantine a mismatch. Do not alter the installation scope on the fly to make the wrong unit fit. Tell the supplier what differs and record the agreed next step.
The opening can also change after the order. If site work has altered the frame or finished size, stop before installation. Record the condition and decide whether the glass, frame or scope must change.
Bill installed stages and approved variations separately
A glazing progress invoice should bill the agreed stage that can be checked. Name what has been delivered or installed. Do not bill a vague percentage with no link to the completed work.
Show approved additions as separate lines. If the installer finds extra frame preparation, difficult access or another excluded task, stop. Write a variation. State the scope, price and effect on the program of works. Get approval before continuing.
The progress invoice should show:
- The accepted quote or contract reference
- The stage completed
- The openings included in that stage
- Each approved variation due at that stage
- The deposit and other prior payments credited under the agreed arrangement
- The amount now requested
Do not rewrite the original scope after a change. Keep the accepted price and variation visible. That leaves a clean trail from the original agreement to the final account.
Worked example: follow the document chain
The house example is an electrical job, not a glazing rate card. R. Chen at 14 Oak Street accepted quote Q-1847 for a bathroom exhaust fan and four LED downlights. The quote was 1,105 sample currency units.
The ceiling was lined and the quote excluded chasing. Extra cable and chasing were approved on site as a 160 variation. Invoice INV-1847 was therefore 1,265.
That chain matters. The original quote stayed at 1,105. The approved variation stayed visible at 160. The invoice showed the combined amount of 1,265. Do not invent a deposit for this example.
The original quoted work had a job cost of 850 and profit of 255. Measured against the original quote, margin was 255 ÷ 1,105, about 23%, while markup was 255 ÷ 850, or 30%. The costs of the variation are not given, so profit cannot be calculated from the 1,265 invoice.
Use the same document discipline on a glazing job. Keep the accepted price, approved variations, payments and actual job costs in their own records.
Reconcile the glazier final payment once
Start the final account with the accepted job price. Add every approved variation. Then deduct the deposit and each progress payment already received.
Do not add the deposit to the selling price as another sale. Do not deduct it twice because it appears on both the receipt and a progress invoice. Use one customer account and one credit trail.
The final invoice should let the customer see:
- The accepted price
- Approved variations
- Prior payment credits
- The remaining glazier final payment
Keep actual labour, glass, hardware, freight, access and other costs in the job-cost record. The amount invoiced does not tell you what the job cost. Close supplier credits, unfinished installation items and recorded defects before marking the job complete.
Build a release card for the next order
Use one row for every opening. Add columns for opening ID, final measure, customer selection, technical approval, deposit cleared, purchase order, delivery check and installation status. Include a hold reason and the name of the person who can clear it.
The glazier deposit invoice sits inside that release card as the money request. It does not replace the fabrication approval or supplier release. For a broader glazing job structure, use the glazing industry workflow to keep the quote, site work and invoices attached to one job.
Yes Foreman can hold the quote, deposit invoice, payment status, fabrication reference, variation and final invoice against the job. The point is not another status screen. It is one record the office and installer can both follow.
Take the next made-to-measure order and label every opening before you request the deposit.