On Friday, Nina receives a message saying the job is complete. The roof covering is finished; the included gutters are still booked for Tuesday. She looks at the payment schedule: "balance on completion." Mike reads it twice and gets no closer to finding Tuesday. The missing detail should have been settled before work started.
"Halfway through" sounds clear until one person means half the shingles and the other means half the contract price. A useful payment milestone describes finished work that both sides can identify. It also says the amount due and what remains afterward.
For a short replacement, two payments may describe the agreed sequence clearly. When decking, skylights or another trade are involved, name the stages rather than relying on a bare list of "deposit, progress, balance."
Start With the Deposit
Ontario's consumer guidance recommends keeping a roofing down payment to no more than 10%. That is consumer advice, not a reason to describe every larger deposit as automatically illegal. Ask what any requested deposit reserves or purchases and how cancellation terms affect it.
Pay the business named in the contract using a method that leaves a record. The receipt should identify your address, the payment date and the amount credited against the contract. A friendly message saying "got it" is less useful when you need to reconcile the final invoice months later.
Before paying, settle the product and colour. Ordering a special material while the colour remains undecided creates a problem a larger deposit will not solve.
Define Progress in Observable Terms
Possible stages include delivery of the agreed materials, completion of a specified roof area or completion of the roofing installation before separately scheduled gutter work. Choose stages that suit the actual project. Avoid "half done" unless both sides can explain what counts as half.
Nina asks how the stage will be confirmed. Pat offers the sensible format to request: dated photographs and a short progress note she can review from the ground. Authorising an invoice should not require her to climb onto the roof.
A payment milestone is also not proof that every hidden detail is correct. Keep the installation photo plan in the scope before those details disappear.
Make Each Payment Explainable
The written schedule connects an amount to a verifiable event.
Signed scope
Confirm products, price and deposit terms before paying.
Defined progress
Separate finished roofing from a later gutter visit; specify the amount due at each agreed stage.
Approved changes
Add documented extras to a running total.
Completion review
Reconcile invoices, outstanding items and applicable legal holdbacks.
Try the Schedule Against a Real Delay
In Nina's schedule, the roof covering is finished on Friday, but the included gutters are booked for Tuesday. Is Friday the final-payment milestone, a roofing-stage milestone, or neither? There is no need to discover the disagreement when the invoice arrives.
Write the trigger so it matches the contract: "roofing installation complete, with gutter balance remaining" is more informative than "job complete" when another trade still has work to do. The amounts and legal obligations still need to be agreed properly; the wording simply makes the intended sequence visible.
Pat writes five lines: original price, approved changes, payments received, balance and work still outstanding. Suddenly the disagreement is visible without anybody arguing about percentages. Nina does not need to climb a ladder to judge an invoice. She needs a stage she can recognise and a record showing what remains.
If the work dates remain vague, settle the schedule before committing the deposit.
Keep Extras Out of Verbal Arithmetic
If damaged decking is uncovered, the change should identify the location, quantity, unit price and effect on the total. Ask whether labour, material, disposal and tax are included. Our decking change-order guide shows the information worth requesting.
Final Payment Needs a Defined Review
Agree when the completion walkthrough happens and what documents will be supplied. Include the invoice, product information, warranty paperwork and any outstanding work with a responsible person and target date.
Statutory construction holdbacks and lien obligations can affect payment in Ontario. Ask a qualified Ontario legal adviser about their application to your contract; do not assume a private payment schedule overrides them or use a general article as authority to withhold an arbitrary amount.
If the work or bill is disputed, describe the issue promptly in writing and get advice before changing payment obligations. A clear schedule helps both parties finish the job without an argument about what "finished" was meant to mean.
Then a decking change enters the conversation, remembered as two different verbal totals. Dave asks for the approved quantity and unit price. This is why we like written arithmetic: it does not become more confident every time someone repeats it. Any statutory payment obligations still need proper advice; a tidy worksheet does not replace them.
Keep the agreed payment milestones separate from Ontario statutory holdback and release questions.