How Much Deposit Is Normal Before Dirt Moves on Your Orange County ADU?

What 'normal' actually looks like before anyone digs

Go read the comments under any contractor-scam video and the same question keeps coming up, usually in all caps: how do you hand over that much money before a single worker shows up? People answer their own question fast — never pay more than about ten percent up front, and pay the rest in stages as the work actually gets done.

That instinct isn't just folk wisdom in Florida. State law treats an initial payment of more than ten percent of the contract price as a line worth watching. Under that number, a deposit is mostly covering plans, permit fees, and getting your job in the queue. Cross well past it with nothing happening, and you've handed a stranger a pile of cash for a promise.

Think of a deposit as the fee to start a meter, not a tip left on the table. A real builder in Conway or Winter Garden can tell you exactly what your money buys in the first thirty days and put it in writing. If the answer is vague, that's your answer.

The clock most homeowners never knew was running

Here's the thing almost nobody hiring an ADU builder knows. Once a contractor takes an initial payment of more than ten percent for work on your home, Florida law puts two deadlines on them, whether they mention it or not.

They have to apply for the permits your job needs within thirty days of taking your money. Then they have to actually start the work within ninety days of those permits being issued. Not 'reach out.' Not 'we're slammed, soon.' Apply, then start. The only way that clock legally stretches is if you agree to it in writing — a text saying 'sounds good' after they've gone silent doesn't count.

So picture the calendar on your fridge. You wrote the deposit check in spring. By early summer there should be a permit application with your address on it, sitting in Orange County's system. If it's high summer and there's still no permit and no dirt moved, that empty lot isn't just frustrating — it's evidence.

Civil headache, or an actual crime? Florida drew a line

Watch a homeowner try to file a police report after getting ghosted and you'll see the same wall go up: the officer shrugs and calls it a civil matter, go hire a lawyer. That's the assumption a lot of vanishing builders are counting on. In plenty of situations, they're right — a slow job is a contract dispute, not a case.

But Florida wrote a specific line into the contractor statute, and crossing it isn't a dispute anymore. A contractor who takes your money, does far less work than you paid for, and then walks away for a ninety-day stretch — or blows those permit-and-start deadlines after you send a written demand — can be charged with theft. The bigger the amount, the higher the charge climbs, from a misdemeanor into felony territory. That's the leverage the shrugging cop didn't mention.

The steps that actually matter start before any of that. Keep every text, every receipt, every version of the contract. If you paid by card, your card company has to investigate a service you never received. Send a written demand giving them a set window to apply for permits, start, or refund you. And check that your builder is state-licensed, because Florida runs a recovery fund for homeowners burned by licensed contractors — the homeowner who hired an unlicensed guy in cash usually can't touch it. The license isn't paperwork. It's your parachute.

The cheapest protection is knowing what you're building before you pay

Every ghost story above shares one root: the homeowner committed real money before they truly understood the project. Whether your lot sits in unincorporated Orange County, Rio Pinar, Pine Hills, or Meadow Woods changes what you can build, how big, and which path through permitting you're even eligible for. Orange County's Ready Set Orange program, for instance, offers pre-approved ADU plans for certain lots — and knowing whether yours qualifies before you sign anything is worth more than any deposit clause.

That's the whole point of starting with the ADU Fit Check. Before a dollar changes hands, you get a plain read on what fits on your specific lot, what the county will actually allow, and what a real timeline looks like — so the first check you write is tied to a plan you understand, not a promise you're hoping holds.

Run the Fit Check first. It's a lot easier to spot a builder who's about to vanish when you already know exactly what should be happening in the first ninety days.

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