How Sypho protects your payment

A twenty five percent deposit confirms your booking, reserves crew capacity, and covers Sypho operational costs of dispatching a vetted team to your property on the agreed date.

The remaining seventy five percent is handled separately so you are not paying the full project value before work has been completed and reviewed. This split is built into every standard residential booking through Sypho.

The model is designed to balance commitment on both sides. You secure a start date with the deposit, and the crew knows the job is confirmed, while the largest portion of funds remains linked to completion.

The deposit is charged to your card when you complete checkout after booking. It is a real charge, not a temporary hold.

Your card details are stored securely for the balance step later in the project. Cancelling with sufficient notice before your start date is handled under the cancellation and refund policy linked in the site footer.

If you change scope after paying the deposit, any price adjustment goes through an explicit approval step. You see the revised amount before it applies.

The remaining balance is not collected in full at booking. Instead, Sypho requests a card authorisation for the seventy five percent when work is ready to proceed, typically around job start for shorter projects.

An authorisation reserves the amount on your card but does not complete the charge until capture is triggered. This is not a separate escrow account held by a third party trustee. It is a payment authorisation through Stripe, the same infrastructure used for the deposit.

While the authorisation is active, the funds are set aside on your card line so the balance can be captured when you approve the finished work.

During the job, the authorised balance is not paid out to the crew as a lump sum upfront. Crew compensation is managed operationally through Sypho after work is completed and approved.

You can view payment status from your booking dashboard. If a dispute is opened or work is paused for an approved variation, capture of the balance is delayed until the situation is resolved.

If escrow authorisation cannot be completed when required, work may be paused until payment details are updated. Sypho will communicate this clearly rather than proceeding without the agreed protection in place.

After the crew marks the project complete, you receive a review window. When you approve the work, Sypho captures the authorised seventy five percent balance to your card.

If you take no action within twenty four hours and no concern has been raised, the balance may be captured automatically in line with the terms accepted at booking.

Capture triggers settlement steps on the platform, including invoice generation and final booking status updates.

Use the review window to raise a concern before capture if something is not right. You can flag issues from your booking dashboard so Sypho can review before the balance is taken.

Opening a dispute pauses automatic capture while the situation is investigated. Sypho aims to resolve genuine workmanship concerns fairly rather than releasing payment while a clear problem remains open.

This does not replace your statutory consumer rights. It adds a structured step tied to the payment flow you already use on the platform.

The twenty four hour review window exists so you have time to inspect finished work without indefinite delay for the crew and operations team.

If you do not approve or dispute within that window, and no open issue is recorded, the authorised balance may be captured automatically. You will still have access to post-completion support and the workmanship guarantee where it applies.

If you need more time for inspection, contact Sypho promptly when completion is notified so operations can note your booking.

Many homeowners still pay tradespeople by bank transfer or cash, sometimes with a large upfront instalment and limited paperwork. If work stalls or quality is disputed, recovering money can be slow and stressful.

Sypho keeps the largest portion of the project value behind a card authorisation until you have a defined completion and review step. The deposit is smaller than paying everything upfront.

You still choose your paint and prepare access as you would with any decorator. The difference is that payment mechanics and crew vetting are handled through one platform rather than informal arrangements.