I’d never pay up front but if you absolutely must pay a deposit then I’d pay via credit card so you can do a chargeback if things go tits up. You can also offer to buy the materials direct yourself.
They could go bankrupt a week later and you’ve lost everything otherwise.
Unfortunately this means a lot of tradesmen won’t want to work with you. Fair enough really. At the end of the day it’s a trade off and risk you need to decide on yourself. I’m sure the bad guys are in the minority |