Contractor Merchant Accounts
Built for Deposits & Big Tickets
Your account was not frozen because something went wrong. It was frozen because a $95,000 job looked like fraud to a model that had never underwritten you.
Funds held on your largest job of the year, while you are carrying the material cost? That is what boarding without underwriting produces.
A big job should
look like a big job.
Large tickets expected
Your ceiling is set during underwriting, so the job that pays for your quarter does not trigger a hold.
Progress billing
Deposit, milestones and completion structured so each payment matches work the customer can see.
Contract reviewed
We read your agreement and cancellation notice before submission, so a fixable problem gets fixed.
Dispute documentation
Guidance on the paperwork that actually wins a scope dispute, before you need it.
Field & office
Take payment at the kitchen table, on the roof, or by link from the office — on one account.
Seasonal support
A processor that expects your spring to be four times your January.
Why contractors end up in the high-risk bucket
Most contractors are surprised to find themselves here, and reasonably so. The trade is licensed, the work is local, the customers are real, and the chargeback ratio is usually excellent. None of that is what triggers the classification.
Tickets are large. A dispute on a $42,000 roof is worth roughly five hundred disputes at a coffee shop. Card-network monitoring is measured as a ratio of transactions, but an acquiring bank’s actual exposure is measured in dollars — and on a low transaction count, one contested job moves both numbers at once.
Deposits are future delivery. When a customer pays 30% to get on the schedule, they have paid for something they have not received. Until the work is complete, the acquiring bank carries the risk that it never will be. That is the same mechanism that makes travel high-risk, and it applies to a deposit on a kitchen remodel just as squarely.
Revenue is lumpy and seasonal. A roofer’s April does not resemble their January, and a hailstorm can produce a month that looks nothing like the eleven before it. Automated risk models read that as anomaly rather than weather.
Why the freeze happens on your best month
The pattern is consistent enough to predict. An aggregator boards you in minutes with essentially no underwriting. You process steadily for a year at an average ticket around $8,000. Then you land a commercial job, run $95,000 in a week, and the funds are held pending review — while you are already carrying materials and subcontractor costs on that job.
Nothing went wrong. The model simply had no idea what your business was, because nobody ever asked. Aggregators substitute post-hoc pattern detection for upfront underwriting, and a contractor’s revenue pattern is exactly the shape that detection flags. Why processors shut businesses down covers the general mechanism.
A dedicated merchant account asks first. Your expected ticket range, your seasonal curve and your largest realistic job are part of the file before you are boarded, so the job that pays for your quarter is expected rather than investigated.
Deposits, progress billing and what underwriting reads
How you take money is the part of the application that carries the most weight, and it is largely within your control.
Progress billing tied to completed milestones underwrites best. A deposit to schedule, a draw at rough-in, a draw at a defined stage, and a balance on completion means every payment is matched to work the customer can point at — which is both a shorter exposure window for the bank and a much stronger position for you in a dispute.
Large upfront deposits underwrite worst, and in some places they are also constrained by law. Several states cap what a home improvement contractor may collect before work begins — California, for instance, limits the down payment on a home improvement contract — so underwriting will ask what you take, when, and in which states. Knowing your own answer speeds this up considerably.
If you sell at the kitchen table
This catches contractors out more than anything else on this page. The FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule gives consumers a three-day right to cancel certain sales made at their residence, or anywhere other than the seller’s normal place of business, above a low dollar threshold. A number of states layer their own home-solicitation requirements on top.
If any part of your selling happens in the customer’s home — which for most remodelling, roofing, solar and HVAC businesses is all of it — your contract is expected to carry the required cancellation notice. Underwriters ask because a missing notice is a dispute the merchant loses automatically, and a bank that boards contracts missing it inherits those losses.
Winning the disputes you do get
Disputes in this trade are rarely fraud. They are disagreements about scope: work the customer believed was included, a change agreed verbally, a finish that did not match what they pictured.
The paperwork that wins them is unglamorous and has to exist before you need it — a signed contract with a written scope, change orders signed rather than agreed on site, dated photographs at each milestone, a signed completion sign-off, and a billing descriptor carrying the business name the customer actually hired. A customer who does not recognise a line on their statement calls their bank, not you.
What it costs, and the dual pricing question
Rates
Contractor pricing varies more than most verticals because the profiles vary so much. Card-present payment on completion sits closest to standard retail. Large upfront deposits taken by phone or online carry more risk and price accordingly — commonly in the 3% to 6% range.
Reserves
Not automatic. Where deposits are large or taken well ahead of delivery, a rolling reserve may apply, frequently 5% to 10% held for 180 days. How rolling reserves work explains it.
Dual pricing
At these ticket sizes, processing cost is a real line item — a few percent on a $40,000 job is meaningful money. Dual pricing lets you present a cash price and a card price, and it is worth discussing if you are not already. The rules are specific and vary by state: is dual pricing legal covers where it stands, and how to implement it covers doing it without losing jobs.
What to have ready
- Your contractor licence and bonding
- Your standard customer contract, including the cancellation notice if you sell in the home
- Your deposit and progress-billing schedule, and how change orders are handled
- Your typical ticket range and your largest realistic job
- Processing history and chargeback ratio, if you have them
- Financial or bank statements, and ownership details for the signer
Most applicants get an answer within 24 to 48 hours. Tell us your biggest job upfront rather than hoping it goes through — that is the number that decides whether your account is built for your business or merely tolerates it.
This page describes what acquiring banks and underwriters look at. It is not legal advice. Compliance obligations change and vary by state — confirm your own position with qualified counsel before you rely on any of it.
Contractor merchant accounts: common questions
Why would a licensed contractor be classified high-risk?
Two reasons, and neither is about your work. Tickets are large, so a single dispute is worth many in another category. And deposits are future delivery — the customer pays before the job is finished, which means the acquiring bank carries the risk that it never is. A roofer with a decade of good reviews still meets the definition.
Can I still take a deposit before starting work?
Yes, and it is normal practice. But some states cap what a home improvement contractor may collect upfront — California, for example, limits the down payment on a home improvement contract — and underwriting will ask what you take and when. Progress billing tied to completed milestones is the structure that reads best, because each payment is matched to work the customer can see.
What is the three-day cancellation rule and does it apply to me?
The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule gives consumers a three-day right to cancel certain sales made at their home or somewhere other than the seller's normal place of business, above a low dollar threshold, and several states have their own home-solicitation rules on top. If any of your selling happens at the customer's kitchen table, this applies to you and underwriting will expect your contract to carry the notice.
Why do processors freeze contractor accounts?
Almost always a volume spike or a single large ticket. An aggregator's risk model sees a contractor who normally runs $8,000 jobs suddenly process $95,000 and reads it as fraud or account takeover — then holds the funds while you are carrying material costs. A dedicated account with underwriting done upfront treats a big job as a big job.
What does underwriting want to see from a contractor?
Your state or local contractor licence and any bonding, your standard customer contract including the cancellation notice where it applies, your deposit and progress-billing schedule, how change orders are handled, processing history, and bank or financial statements. The contract and the billing schedule carry most of the weight.
How do I keep chargebacks down on large jobs?
Documentation, mostly. A signed contract and scope, signed change orders rather than verbal ones, dated photographs at milestones, a signed completion sign-off, and a billing descriptor the customer recognises. Disputes in this trade are usually about scope and expectation rather than fraud, and paperwork is what wins them.
What does a contractor merchant account cost?
It depends heavily on how you bill. Card-present payment on completion prices closest to standard retail. Large upfront deposits taken over the phone or online price higher — commonly in the 3% to 6% range — and may carry a rolling reserve. Dual pricing is also worth discussing at these ticket sizes.
Tell us your biggest job, not your average one.
That is the number that decides whether an account is built for your business or just tolerates it.