The nonrefundable processing fee comes first and begins the process. The larger gift follows successful vetting, so it is not made at the outset. Progression afterwards depends on the underlying employment-based classification, which introduces its own timing considerations.
Two payments, two different risks
The first payment is at risk in the plainest sense: it is nonrefundable and it is made before anyone knows whether vetting will be successful. That is a reason to resolve admissibility questions in advance rather than to treat the fee as the way of finding out. The second payment comes later and is larger, and by then the applicant has more information but has also committed to the process.
Beyond those two points the timetable is not entirely within anyone's control, since progression runs through existing immigrant categories subject to their own requirements and to visa availability. Ferruccio should therefore plan the business consequences of a long timetable, including who runs the chandlery in his absence, and he should re-read the official terms before each payment rather than relying on what they said when he started.