The property manager has paid, but the person responsible for the master-key hierarchy has not approved the schedule. Do not order. A locksmith deposit invoice is only the payment request. The approved specification, accepted quote, cleared deposit and checked supplier purchase order release the supplier order.
Put the locksmith deposit invoice inside one release sequence
Use a deposit when releasing an order commits your business to configured cylinders, restricted keys, a special finish or job-specific hardware. Treat the deposit as an order control. Not a routine request for part payment.
Measure each opening before you ask for money. Correct any difference in door thickness, handing or backset before you price and order the hardware.
Keep these records separate:
- The accepted quote records the agreed work, price and exclusions.
- The deposit invoice requests part payment under the accepted terms.
- The payment record shows that your business received the money.
- The customer purchase order authorises its spending.
- Your supplier purchase order commits your business to the hardware.
A remittance message is not proof that payment has cleared. A paid invoice is not approval of a restricted-key schedule. A customer purchase order is not an instruction to your supplier.
Give the job one current status. Keep the choices plain: awaiting specification, awaiting approval, awaiting payment, ready to order or ordered. Move it to ready to order only when the approved specification, accepted quote, cleared deposit and checked supplier purchase order are present.
Put the quote, schedule, deposit invoice, payment record and supplier purchase order under one job reference. That gives the office one place to check before anyone sends the order.
Define confirmed payment for the agreed method. Name the person allowed to change the job status to ready to order, so a remittance message or customer phone call cannot release the supplier order by mistake.
Contract terms cannot remove statutory consumer rights. Before taking payment from a consumer, provide the required pre-contract information and check the current rules on cancellation, bespoke goods and fair deposit terms under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (opens in a new tab) and, for a contract agreed remotely or away from your business premises, the Consumer Contracts Regulations (opens in a new tab).
Freeze the lock specification and approval before invoicing
Start with the site survey. Give every opening its own reference. Do not order from a description such as “five office doors” or “replace the front lock”.
Record what the supplier and installer need:
- Door or opening reference.
- Door material and thickness.
- Handing, backset and existing preparation.
- Lock type, function and finish.
- Cylinder type, size and keying.
- Lock, cylinder and key quantities.
- Restricted-key or master-key reference.
- Installation, testing and handover work.
- Excluded door preparation, repairs, access work and making good.
Photograph the opening where the picture helps settle a measurement, finish or preparation detail. Name the image with the job and opening reference. A loose photo in a phone does not control an order.
If the survey changes the enquiry details, update the quote before sending the deposit request. The customer may be waiting for an invoice, but you still need the correct door thickness, quantity and finish first.
Name the person who can approve the security schedule
Commercial jobs often have several contacts. One places the order. Another approves invoices. A third controls the master-key system.
Write down each role. The person who accepts the price may not have authority to approve a restricted-key or master-key hierarchy. Do not treat payment as security approval.
For a master key system deposit, record the hierarchy, doors, cylinders, key groups and initial key quantities before requesting payment. Use the master-key suite quote process for the opening and keying schedule before you send the deposit request.
Version the schedule that has been approved
Give each door and keying schedule a file name, version and date. Record the approver's name and the approval date. Mark superseded versions so nobody orders from an old attachment.
The approval should identify the exact version. “Looks fine” in an email thread is weak if three schedules have circulated. Record which document the customer accepted.
After installation, move issued restricted keys into a locksmith key control register for keys and authority. The deposit controls the purchase. The register controls issue and return.
Build the special-order lock deposit from the supplier commitment
Price the whole job first. Build the accepted selling price from labour, materials, other job costs, overhead recovery and markup. Use your own supplier quotes and labour plan. The job-pricing guide for labour, materials, overhead and markup sets out the structure.
Then list the costs that become committed when you release the supplier order. Include configured hardware, cylinders, keys, special finishes, carriage and other order costs due at that point. Keep installation labour and later site work separate if they will be invoiced later.
Compare like with like. Label the worksheet as net or gross, and do not compare a supplier total including VAT with a customer deposit excluding VAT. Check the VAT treatment and whether input VAT can be recovered before the payment milestone is accepted.
Do not guess a standard percentage. Total the supplier costs payable at release and compare that commitment with the accepted payment milestone. Either fund the shortfall yourself or revise the payment terms, get them accepted again and then issue the invoice.
Supplier hardware payable at order release: [your figures] Carriage payable at order release: [your figures] Other committed order costs due now: [your figures] Supplier commitment at release: [your figures] Deposit authorised by the accepted terms: [your figures] Accepted selling price: [your figures] Less deposit due: [your figures] Quoted balance remaining: [your figures]
The deposit sits inside the accepted selling price. It is not another charge on top. Deduct it when calculating the quoted balance remaining.
State what the money secures. For example, it may fund the release of the approved schedule for special-order locks. It does not approve missing measurements, extra cylinders or an unsigned master-key hierarchy.
Write the deposit invoice from the accepted quote
Open the accepted quote. Carry across the customer name, site, job reference, scope, exclusions and accepted price. Do not rebuild the job from memory.
Your locksmith deposit invoice should show:
- Your business details and the customer's legal billing name.
- Invoice date, deposit invoice number and job reference.
- Service address and billing address.
- Accepted quote number, acceptance date and total.
- Customer purchase order number, if supplied.
- Approved hardware schedule, version and approval date.
- Deposit amount due under the accepted terms.
- VAT information checked for the transaction.
- What the payment secures.
- The exact order-release condition.
- Quoted balance remaining after the deposit.
- Installation and other accepted work to be invoiced later.
- Exclusions and the rule for variations.
- Payment reference and agreed payment method.
Use a precise description. “Deposit for locks” is not enough. Name the schedule, special-order hardware and condition that permits release to the supplier.
Copy-ready locksmith deposit invoice template
Before using the VAT fields, decide whether the office is issuing a VAT invoice or another payment request. Apply HMRC's current tax-point rules to that document. Do not put a future payment date in the VAT tax-point field just because the deposit has not cleared.
LOCKSMITH DEPOSIT INVOICE Deposit invoice: [invoice number] Document being issued: [VAT invoice or other payment request] Invoice date: [date] VAT tax point: [enter only when required for this document under current HMRC guidance] Payment due date or agreed event: [date or event] Job reference: [job number] Accepted quote: [quote number and acceptance date] Accepted quote total: [your figures] Customer purchase order: [number or not supplied] Customer legal name: [name] Commercial approver: [name and role] Service address: [site address] Billing address: [billing address] Accepted work: [scope copied from the accepted quote] Approved lock and keying schedule: [file name, version and approval date] Deposit amount due: [your figures under the accepted payment terms] VAT registration number: [if required] Net amount covered by this invoice: [your figures] VAT rate and VAT amount: [checked under current HMRC guidance] Gross amount due: [your figures] Quoted balance remaining after deposit: [your figures] What payment secures: [the named special-order hardware and supplier commitment] Order-release condition: [approved schedule, accepted quote, cleared payment and matched supplier purchase order] Work invoiced later: [installation, testing, handover and other accepted work] Exclusions: [door preparation, repairs, access work, making good or other exclusions] Payment reference: [invoice number or job reference] Variation rule: [written approval required before changed hardware or extra work proceeds]
Keep the person who approved the security hierarchy in the controlled job record, not on an invoice that may circulate through an accounts team. Let the invoice reference only the approved schedule version and date.
Once the lock-specific information is settled, use the invoice-writing guide for standard invoice fields. Compare the finished invoice with the accepted quote and approved schedule before sending it.
Clear VAT and CIS questions before the order-release date
Ask for the customer's legal billing name, billing address, customer purchase order and invoice submission method. Record any named accounts contact.
If your business is VAT registered, compare the draft with HMRC's current VAT invoice requirements (opens in a new tab). Check the unique invoice number, business and customer details, invoice and supply dates, description, net amounts, VAT rate, VAT amount and gross total required for the document you are issuing.
A deposit may create an advance-payment VAT question before the final work is invoiced. Check HMRC's current VAT guidance for deposits and advance payments (opens in a new tab), decide the VAT tax point it requires and record that decision against the job.
If the customer claims that CIS applies because the locksmith work sits within a wider construction contract, ask for the basis of that treatment and compare the contracted work with HMRC's CIS scope and payment guidance (opens in a new tab). Record whether the customer will pay gross or make a deduction before invoicing. Do not assume that a lock installation is covered.
Check the supplier purchase order line by line
Compare the accepted quote with the approved schedule. Then compare both with your supplier purchase order.
Check line by line:
- Job and opening reference.
- Door dimensions, handing and preparation.
- Lock function and finish.
- Cylinder type and size.
- Keying or hierarchy reference.
- Hardware, cylinder and key quantity.
- Named schedule version.
- Supplier part or configuration reference.
On site, a common stop point is a finish or quantity that differs between the schedule and purchase order. Do not pick the version that looks most likely. Return the job to awaiting approval, correct the record and repeat the check.
Match the money too. Record the customer deposit against the same job as the supplier commitment. Keep the eventual supplier bill, labour and other costs there as well. Boring cost tracking shows whether the finished job recovered what the quote allowed.
Price approval alone does not authorise the keying arrangement. Record the keying approval in the controlled job record before sending the supplier purchase order.
Record changes after the deposit has cleared
Stop when the customer changes a finish, opening, quantity or keying instruction. Check whether the supplier order can still be changed. Record any supplier charge before promising the customer an answer.
Write a variation for changed scope or price. Name the old specification, the new specification, the price effect and any timing effect. Get approval before amending the supplier purchase order or doing extra site work.
Use the same rule during installation. If the installer finds extra door preparation that the accepted quote excluded, stop and price it. Do not bury the labour in the final balance.
The house example is electrical, but the document rule is the same. R. Chen at 14 Oak Street accepted quote Q-1847 for 1,105. The lined ceiling meant extra cable and excluded chasing became an approved 160 variation. Invoice INV-1847 was 1,265. The quote, variation and invoice remained separate records; these sample currency units are not locksmith rates.
Carry the deposit into the final invoice as part payment already received. Add only approved variations and the remaining accepted work. Do not calculate job profit from money received alone. Supplier costs, labour and other actual job costs must be complete first.
A locksmith deposit invoice is for planned work that needs an approved supplier order. For a lockout or urgent replacement, use the emergency locksmith invoice guide for call-out labour, hardware and authority, and choose that billing path when you open the job.