Deal Safety Calculator
Should I take this order?
Take it if your cash stays above your reserve until the customer pays. In the sample, a $48,000 order with $30,000 of up-front costs, a 20% deposit and 60-day terms takes cash down to $14,641 — $359 under the reserve. A deposit of 21% ($10,080), or payment within 52 days, makes it safe; the order earns $17,598 after the cost of waiting.
A profitable order can still hurt a business: you pay for materials and people now and are paid weeks later, while the rest of the business keeps spending. This page follows your cash from the day you pay the costs to the day the customer pays, and tells you the deposit and the payment terms that keep it above your safety line — before you say yes.
FailAt a 20% deposit and 60-day terms, cash falls to $14,641 — $359 under your reserve. Ask for a deposit of at least 21% ($10,080), or payment within 52 days.
| Lowest cash during the order | $14,641 | just before the customer pays on day 60; your reserve is $15,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum safe deposit | 21% · $10,080 | rounded up to a whole percent; keeps the lowest cash at or above your reserve |
| Longest safe payment terms | 52 days | at a 20% deposit; after that the rest of the business pulls cash under the reserve |
| Profit on the order | $18,000 | order value − direct costs |
| Profit after the cost of waiting | $17,598 | $402.41 for funding the costs yourself for 60 days at 12.0% |
| Lowest price that covers the costs and the wait | $30,472 | at a 20% deposit; below this the order loses money |
| Deposit | Lowest cash | Versus reserve | Profit after the wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | $5,041 | -$9,959 | $17,408 |
| 10% | $9,841 | -$5,159 | $17,503 |
| 20% | $14,641 | -$359 | $17,598 |
| 30% | $19,441 | +$4,441 | $17,692 |
| 40% | $24,241 | +$9,241 | $17,787 |
| 50% | $29,041 | +$14,041 | $17,882 |
Runs in your browser with fixed, tested formulas — the same exact arithmetic as the Business X-Ray. Nothing you type is sent or stored.
One question answered. Eight more are waiting.
This page tests one thing with a few monthly numbers. The Business Decision X-Ray runs your whole business through the same engine, day by day: nine tests, the exact breakpoint, the smallest repair and a dated action plan. Open demo of every section, no sign-up.
How this calculator works
On day 0 you pay the order’s direct costs and receive the deposit. Until the customer pays the balance, the rest of the business goes on as usual: if it normally uses cash, the balance keeps falling at that monthly rate (days × 12 ÷ 365 of a month, rounded down), so the lowest point is the day before payment; if it normally adds cash, the lowest point is day 0.
The minimum safe deposit is the smallest one that keeps that lowest point at or above your reserve, rounded up to a whole percent so it can go in a quote. The longest safe terms are how many days the cash left above the reserve on day 0 lasts at the rest of the business’s monthly burn, at the deposit you entered.
The cost of waiting is what the part of the costs you fund yourself — costs minus deposit — costs at your cost of money for the days until you are paid. The lowest price covers the costs and that wait at the same deposit percentage.
The formula
Lowest cash = cash − direct costs + deposit + (monthly net × days × 12 ÷ 365, only when the monthly net is negative).
Minimum deposit = max(0, direct costs − max(0, cash without the order − reserve)), then rounded up to a whole percent of the order.
Longest safe terms = (cash − costs + deposit − reserve) × 365 ÷ (−monthly net × 12) days, rounded down. Cost of waiting = (costs − deposit) × cost of money × days ÷ 365. Lowest price = costs × (1 + k) ÷ (1 + deposit % × k), with k = cost of money × days ÷ 365.
Worked example
The sample business is offered a $48,000 job. It must spend $30,000 on materials and subcontractors before the customer pays the balance in 60 days, has $38,000 in the bank, keeps a $15,000 reserve, and in this season the rest of the business uses about $1,500 a month. Without the job, cash would be $35,041 on day 60.
With a 20% deposit ($9,600) cash falls to $14,641 just before the customer pays — $359 under the reserve. Asking for 21% ($10,080) keeps the reserve intact; so would payment within 52 days. The job makes $18,000; after the cost of funding the costs for 60 days at 12% it makes $17,598, and it would stop making money below $30,472.
What this calculator does not do
- It assumes all direct costs are paid on day 0 and the balance arrives in one payment on the day agreed. Late payment is not modelled — test a longer term to see what it would do.
- The rest of the business is a steady monthly average; a payroll or tax payment on a specific day inside the wait can dip lower. The Business X-Ray tests the day-by-day path with your real dates.
- It does not check the customer’s credit, contract terms or any legal limits on deposits. It is not legal or financial advice.
Questions people ask
What does ‘normal monthly net cash’ mean?
What the rest of the business adds to or takes from the bank in an ordinary month without this order: sales collected minus everything paid. If you don’t know, enter 0 — the page then only tests the order itself, and the low point is the day you pay the costs.
Is this the same as the deposit calculator?
It adds the payment terms and the rest of the business. The deposit calculator answers one question — how much deposit — from a single snapshot of cash; this page follows the cash until the customer pays, finds the longest safe terms and prices the wait.
What if the customer pays in stages?
This page assumes one deposit and one balance payment. For stage payments, run it with the largest amount you would be waiting for, or use the Business X-Ray’s deal test, which models each payment on its date.
Why include a cost of money on my own cash?
Because cash tied up in a customer’s order cannot pay down a credit line or sit in savings. At 12% a year, funding $30,000 for 60 days costs about $590 — small on one job, but it adds up across every job you finance yourself.
Related decisions
- Deposit Calculator — The smallest deposit that keeps a big order from draining your cash.
- Payment Terms Cash Flow Calculator — What Net 60 or Net 90 does to your cash — before you agree to it.
- 13-Week Cash Flow Calculator — Week-by-week cash for the next 13 weeks, and the first week that breaks.
- How much deposit should I ask for on a big order?
- What if my biggest client pays late? Net 30 to Net 60
Formulas reviewed 26 September 2026
