I do hope you're not breaking the golden rule.. to NEVER pay in advance for anything, and always go get materials yourself or at least require a receipt if its small things. I can't tell you how many times I've heard of workers taking money to go get something and never returning, or asking for an advance "for rent" or some other thing and never returning to finish the job... it's just a fact of life here when getting any kind of work done... you NEVER pay until the job is done, if they don't like it, they can find other work. Or rare exception you might pay half now half on completion, but you need to be very wary of that and only do so with an established business not with a freelance worker.. and be sure you get receipts for every penny paid. I hope you're not about to learn that the hard way.
