I totally agree about taking a deposit, but it's useless unless it's nonrefundable. The exception being of course if I cannot complete the work for some reason. But I'm a portrait painter, so the work is not resellable So if the client changes their mind or gets too unreasonable in their demands and the transaction is cancelled, I keep the deposit for all the hours I put into it and also the materials.
I totally agree about taking a deposit, but it's useless unless it's nonrefundable. The exception being of course if I cannot complete the work for some reason. But I'm a portrait painter, so the work is not resellable So if the client changes their mind or gets too unreasonable in their demands and the transaction is cancelled, I keep the deposit for all the hours I put into it and also the materials.