Why is an advance payment necessary?

Or: the story of how I once got burned by a client.

As much as we’d all like to believe in people’s good intentions, sometimes things just… don’t work out. Not only with the weather, but also with clients. And that’s why today we’re talking about a very important—yet sometimes uncomfortable—topic: the advance payment.

A question I sometimes get is: “Why do you ask for money before starting the work?”
The answer is simple: because experience has taught me to. Painfully. And sometimes very expensively.

Why is an advance payment necessary?

An advance payment is not greed. It’s not “asking for money up front just because.” It’s insurance.

Not because I expect you (yes, you, dear reader) to disappear—but because if you do, I’m not left empty-handed.

Web development isn’t done with a button click. It’s weeks or months of work: planning the structure, designing, prototyping, front-end and back-end development, testing, and deployment. Add to that hours of meetings, calls, and coordination.

If a client disappears halfway through—because of money issues, a change of heart, or just vanishing into the Bermuda Triangle—all that work can’t just be shrugged off as “oops, too bad.”

A real-life lesson

I’ll admit it—I’ve made this mistake.

I had a client I’d done smaller projects for before. Trust was there, everything seemed fine. When a bigger project came along, I didn’t think twice. I started without asking for an advance. Smiles, promises, materials—it all felt solid.

The website was finished. I sent the invoice. Silence. Two weeks later—more silence.

When I followed up, I got excuses: the site was “broken,” there were “errors” everywhere. In reality, the “errors” were typos in the text they themselves had provided. We fixed them. Then came more requests—extra tasks never agreed on. Still, we tried to help. When that was done, more complaints.

Finally, it became clear: they had no intention of paying. The “errors” were just excuses to justify not paying and to hand the site off to someone cheaper. “Actually, your work is really bad…” they said. It sounded like a bad joke. But it wasn’t. It was a very real, very costly lesson.

The case went all the way to the Supreme Court. We won, of course. The client lost and eventually bankrupted their decades-old family business. A shady operation finally caught up with them.

Victory on paper, yes—but in practice, the result was €0 in payment for all the time, energy, and trust invested. Still, it was a principle worth defending: this kind of “business” is not acceptable. And the lesson stuck with me.

So—do I still question whether an advance is necessary? Not anymore.

What’s a normal advance payment?

The common practice is to ask for 30–50% of the project value upfront. It’s not a strict rule—it depends on the size and nature of the project.

For smaller projects, it can be as simple as two payments: advance + final payment. For larger projects, it’s best to break it into more stages: advance → design stage → development stage → final payment.

This helps both sides. The client sees progress and has checkpoints; the developer has security that their work will be paid for.

It also sends a clear message: the project has started. There’s a big difference between a project being “planned” and being “in progress.” People value what they’ve already invested in—an old psychological truth. That means clients are more engaged, more motivated, and quicker to make decisions.

“But what if I’m afraid to ask for it?”

That’s a fair concern. At first, asking for an advance might feel like it will scare clients away.

But the truth? A trustworthy client understands why it’s needed. If someone squirms and insists on paying only after everything is delivered—that’s your first red flag.

Rule of thumb: if a client won’t commit to paying anything upfront, why should you commit your time and work with no guarantee?

The takeaway

An advance payment is a safety net for both sides. It’s not a sign of distrust—it’s a sign of professionalism. It shows that both parties are serious: the client invests money, the developer invests time and skills.

So if someone asks you: “Why do you want money before the work starts?” you can confidently reply:
“Because the work has real value. And that value begins the moment we both commit to it.”

If you’re not already asking for an advance—trust me, start now. You’ll thank yourself later. I already do.