The property manager has paid, but the master-key authority has not approved the hierarchy. Do not order. A locksmith deposit invoice should release special-order hardware only after the money, authority, schedule, and supplier purchase order match.
Make the deposit the order-release gate
Use a deposit when ordering commits your cash to configured cylinders, restricted keys, special finishes, keyed systems, or other job-specific hardware. Treat it as a control point. Not a generic request for money.
Do not collect against an unfinished specification. If door thickness, handing, backset, function, finish, cylinder type, or keying is unknown, inspect the site first. Money received does not make a vague order safe.
Keep four records separate:
- The accepted quote records the scope and price.
- The deposit invoice requests part payment under the accepted terms.
- The payment record confirms receipt.
- The supplier purchase order commits your business to the hardware.
A signed quote is not a payment record. A paid invoice is not approval of a master-key hierarchy. A customer purchase order is not your supplier purchase order.
Give the job a clear status: awaiting approval, awaiting payment, ready to order, or ordered. Only use “ready to order” when the accepted scope, named approver and approval record, confirmed payment, and checked supplier purchase order are all present.
Keep the quote, deposit invoice, payment record, approved schedule, and purchase order under one job reference so the release decision stays with the job.
Freeze the authority and hardware scope before requesting payment
Start with the customer record. Write down the legal customer name, service address, billing address, approving contact, and customer purchase order number if one exists.
Then identify who can approve the actual security work. A property manager may approve price but lack authority over a restricted-key system. Retain the signed or dated schedule approval and any authority document required by the customer, system owner, or hardware supplier. Payment does not replace that record.
Before altering locks or releasing restricted keys, ask the relevant state or local licensing authority whether it requires identity, ownership, authorization, or job records. Write the answer in the job record.
Measure every opening. The description from the first call is not the order specification. Record:
- Opening or door reference.
- Door material and thickness.
- Door preparation, handing, and backset.
- Lock type, function, and finish.
- Cylinder type and keying.
- Lock, cylinder, and key quantities.
- Restricted-key or master-key reference.
- Installation, testing, and handover work.
- Excluded preparation, repair, access, or electrical work.
If the site measure finds a different door thickness or handing, change the scope before invoicing the deposit. Do not take payment for hardware you have not specified.
For a master key system deposit, attach the approved hierarchy and door schedule. Give the schedule a version and approval date. Record who approved it. Use the master-key quote process for counting every opening before you ask the customer to fund the order.
After delivery and issue, use a locksmith key control register for controlled keys and authority. The deposit record controls purchasing. The key register controls what happens to keys afterward.
Check the license and permit questions for this scope
Identify the official state or local licensing authority that regulates the work you plan to accept. Ask which license covers that scope and write the answer in the job record. Do not assume one state or city follows another jurisdiction’s rules.
If the planned work may need a permit or inspection, ask the local building department that question before quoting. Keep the answer with the site scope so it is not discovered after the hardware arrives.
Build the deposit from the supplier commitment
Do not choose an arbitrary percentage because it sounds normal. Start with the cost your business will commit when it releases the supplier order.
List the configured hardware, cylinders, keys, finishes, freight, and other supplier charges included in the accepted scope. Keep installation labor and later site work separate when they will be billed later.
Use this worksheet to derive the request without turning the deposit into a new charge:
Supplier amount payable when the order is released: [your own figures] Plus freight payable at release: [your own figures] Plus other committed order costs due now: [your own figures] Equals supplier amount due now: [your own figures] Deposit amount authorized by the accepted contract: [your own figures] Accepted selling price: [your own figures] Less deposit amount due: [your own figures] Equals quoted balance remaining: [your own figures]
Compare the supplier amount due now with the deposit authorized by the contract. If the deposit does not cover that commitment, record the cash your business must fund before anyone releases the order. Do not increase the deposit without changing the accepted terms.
The special-order lock deposit is part of the accepted selling price. It is not a guessed share added on top. The quoted balance remaining must equal the accepted selling price less the deposit due.
Price the full job before setting the deposit. Include labor, materials, overhead, and markup in the accepted price. The job-pricing guide gives you the cost-to-price structure without prescribing a made-up deposit percentage.
Record what the deposit secures. Be exact. It may secure the release of an approved hardware schedule to the supplier. It does not approve unresolved door preparation, extra cylinders, or a keying hierarchy that remains unsigned.
Clear U.S. vendor setup and tax treatment before counting on payment
A commercial customer may accept the quote while its accounts-payable setup remains blocked. That accepted quote does not fund your supplier order.
Ask the customer what its accounts-payable team needs before you send the deposit request. That may include a customer purchase order, vendor record, certificate of insurance, matching billing address, or federal tax information. Keep the customer purchase order separate from your supplier purchase order. One authorizes the customer’s spending. The other commits your money.
If the customer requests Form W-9 information, use the IRS Form W-9 page (opens in a new tab) and provide the requested business information through your normal secure process. Use the IRS only for the federal tax-document question.
Ask the official state or local revenue authority how sales tax applies to the job location and transaction before sending the invoice. Use that answer to set the tax lines shown for hardware, labor, and the deposit. Do not copy the treatment from a job in another location or assume every line receives the same treatment.
Record vendor approval on the job. Do not move the status to ready to order because the customer says payment is “in process.” Use the confirmation required by the accepted locksmith payment terms.
Build the locksmith deposit invoice from the accepted quote
Open the accepted quote. Carry its customer, site, scope, exclusions, and reference into the invoice. Do not rewrite the job from memory.
The locksmith deposit invoice should contain:
- Your business name and customer’s legal name.
- Service and billing addresses.
- Deposit invoice and job references.
- Accepted quote number, total, and acceptance date.
- Customer purchase order, if supplied.
- Approved hardware schedule and version.
- Deposit amount due under the accepted terms.
- Payment due date or payment event.
- A precise description of what payment secures.
- The condition that releases the supplier order.
- The quoted balance remaining after the deposit.
- Work and amounts to be invoiced later.
- Tax lines checked with the state or local revenue authority.
- Scope exclusions and change-order rules.
- Payment reference and accepted payment method.
Describe the commitment. “Deposit” alone tells the customer and your staff too little. State that confirmed payment secures the approved special-order hardware and permits release of the named schedule to the supplier.
A deposit is part payment against the accepted job. It is not another charge added to the quote. Keep the remaining balance open for later billing.
Copy-ready deposit invoice template
Use this blank locksmith deposit invoice structure. Replace every bracketed field with information from the accepted quote and approved hardware schedule.
LOCKSMITH DEPOSIT INVOICE Deposit invoice: [invoice number] Invoice date: [date] Payment due date or event: [date or agreed event] Job reference: [job number] Accepted quote: [quote number and acceptance date] Accepted quote total: [your own figures] Customer purchase order: [number or not supplied] Customer legal name: [name] Authorized contact: [name and role] Security-system authority: [name and role, if different] Service address: [site address] Billing address: [billing address] Accepted work: [scope matching the accepted quote] Approved hardware schedule: [file name, version, approval date, and approver] Deposit amount due: [your own figures under the accepted payment terms] Tax lines: [lines checked with the state or local revenue authority] Quoted balance remaining after deposit: [your own figures] What payment secures: [special-order hardware, configuration, keying, or supplier commitment] Order-release condition: [required approval and payment confirmation] Work invoiced later: [installation, testing, handover, and remaining accepted work] Exclusions: [door preparation, repair, access, electrical work, or other exclusions] Payment reference: [deposit invoice or job reference] Change rule: [written change order required before changed hardware is ordered]
Compare the finished document with the quote and schedule. If a finish, cylinder, quantity, or opening reference differs, stop and correct the underlying record. Use the invoice-writing guide for the wider invoice fields once the job-specific details are settled.
Write locksmith payment terms that tell staff when to order
Define what confirmed payment means for that customer and payment method. The office should not have to guess whether a remittance email, card result, bank record, or customer portal status meets the accepted condition.
Keep payment status and job status separate. A paid deposit does not mean the entire job is paid. It means the recorded part payment has been received.
Keep supplier timing separate too. Your terms can say when you will release the order after the gate is passed. They should not promise a supplier delivery date you do not control.
Write what happens if the customer cancels or asks for a change after release. Base the wording on the accepted contract, supplier commitment, and rules for the job location. Do not label every deposit non-refundable without checking the contract and local requirements.
Match the master key system deposit to the purchase order
Use one job reference across the quote, approved schedule, deposit invoice, payment record, and supplier purchase order. That reference makes a mismatch easier to spot.
Run a three-way check before release. Match the approved schedule to the accepted quote, then match both records to the supplier purchase order. Check every opening, dimension, handing, function, finish, cylinder, keying reference, and quantity.
Reconcile the money in the same check. Record the supplier amount due when the order is released, the customer deposit amount authorized by the accepted contract, and any difference your business must fund. The customer deposit must match the contract even when it differs from the supplier amount due.
Do not treat price approval as system approval. If the property manager paid but the system authority has not approved the hierarchy, keep the job at awaiting approval. Hold the order.
Attach the supplier confirmation to the job record. Compare substitutions, revised configurations, and quantities against the approved customer schedule before accepting them.
Inspect the shipment before booking installation. Match carton labels, cylinder quantities, keying references, and finishes to the purchase order. Record shortages, damage, and mismatches. Delivery proves a box arrived. It does not prove the order is right.
Stop and write a change order when the job moves
A customer may add a cylinder after paying. A finish may change. A site check may expose a different backset. Stop before changing the supplier order.
Write a change order that records:
- The changed opening, lock, cylinder, key, or finish.
- The price effect.
- What the supplier will charge or refuse to change.
- The effect on installation.
- Whether an original item can be changed, canceled, or returned.
- The approval needed before release.
- Any further payment required under the accepted terms.
Do not edit the accepted quote to hide the change. Keep the original approval intact and add the new record.
The house example is electrical, but the document rule is the same. On the Oak Street bathroom, quote Q-1847 was 1,105. The ceiling was lined, and quote Q-1847 excluded chasing. Extra cable and chasing became an approved 160 change order, so invoice INV-1847 was 1,265. The original quote stayed intact while the later work had its own approval.
Use that same separation for changed locksmith hardware. The accepted quote records the original deal. The change order records what moved afterward.
Deduct the deposit on the final invoice
Mark whether the accepted quote total and each approved change order include tax. If a total includes tax, do not add that tax again.
Build the final invoice from the job records. Use this line order:
Accepted quote total: [your own figures] — [tax included or tax not included] Plus tax on the accepted quote only if not included: [your own figures] Plus approved change orders: [your own figures] — [tax included or tax not included] Plus tax on approved change orders only if not included, as required by the state or local revenue authority: [your own figures] Less each recorded deposit or part payment: [your own figures] Equals balance due: [your own figures]
Do not add the deposit on top of the accepted price. Do not mark the full job paid when only the deposit was received. Label the payment clearly as a credit or payment already received against the job.
Match each payment amount and reference to the locksmith deposit invoice that requested it. If the customer made more than one part payment, show each recorded payment separately. The final balance should be traceable without searching email threads.