The Short Contract Every Service Job Should Have

The short version

• Six items cover almost every dispute a residential service business will have.
• A short agreement people actually read beats a long one nobody opens.
• Recorded approval matters more than the format of the signature.
• Have a professional check it once for your trade and your state.

Most owners are either operating with no written agreement at all or with a template downloaded years ago that nobody has read since. Both leave you exposed in the same place, which is the moment a customer remembers the job differently than you do.

A useful agreement for residential service work is short. Here is what it has to contain.

Scope, including what is not included

The scope is the heart of the document. What you will do, in enough detail that someone who was not there could tell whether a task is covered.

Then the exclusions. Permits, disposal, concealed conditions, customer supplied materials, restoration of surfaces you had to open. Every exclusion you write down is an argument you will not have while standing in someone's hallway.

Price and payment schedule

The total, what triggers each payment, and the method. If there is a deposit, the amount and what happens to it if the job is cancelled.

This is also where you state that work outside the scope is priced separately and approved before it is performed. That single sentence is the foundation of every change order you will ever issue.

Timing, stated honestly

Give a realistic start window and a realistic duration, and name the things that can move them. Material lead times, inspections, weather, access to the property.

Owners are tempted to promise the best case. The best case becomes the expectation, and every day past it feels like a failure even when the job is going well.

• Start window rather than a single date
• Expected duration with the usual causes of delay named
• What access you need and when
• Who is responsible for pets, parking and clearing the work area

Warranty, with a boundary

State what you warrant, for how long, and what voids it. Workmanship is normally yours. Manufacturer defects normally pass through to the manufacturer. Customer supplied material is normally excluded.

A clear warranty is a selling point. An unbounded one is a liability that will eventually be tested by the least reasonable customer you have.

Cancellation and approval

Say what happens if the customer cancels after you have ordered material or blocked the calendar, and say what happens if you have to cancel.

Then get it approved before work starts. A digital acceptance with a timestamp is enough in most residential situations and it is far easier to produce months later than a paper copy in a truck. Keep the approved copy attached to the job rather than in an email folder, because the version you can find in ten seconds is the only version that helps you in an argument. Have a lawyer review the finished document once for your trade and your state, then reuse it.

Six clauses and the dispute each one prevents

| Clause | Dispute it prevents | | --- | --- | | Scope and exclusions | I thought that was included | | Price and payment schedule | I did not agree to pay that now | | Timing | You said it would be done last week | | Change order process | You never told me that would cost extra | | Warranty boundary | You should fix this for free two years later | | Cancellation terms | I want my deposit back after you bought the material |

Do this before your next job

Build the short agreement once and reuse it on every job.

1. Write your scope and your standard exclusions as reusable blocks.
2. Add the payment schedule and the change order sentence to the same document.
3. Give a start window and a duration rather than a single optimistic date.
4. Put a boundary on your warranty, including customer supplied material.
5. Have a lawyer review the finished document once for your trade and your state.

Common questions

Is a text message agreement enforceable?

A written record of agreement is generally better than nothing, but it is a poor substitute for a document with a scope attached. Use a proper agreement and keep the texts as supporting context.

Do I need a lawyer to write it?

Have one review it once for your trade and your state. That is a small cost against the first dispute it prevents. Nothing here is legal advice.

Will asking for a signature scare off customers?

It reassures more people than it scares. A customer who will not approve a written scope is telling you something useful.

What about very small jobs?

A short approved quote with scope, price and terms serves the same purpose. The document can scale down. The six items should not disappear.

Keep reading

• Estimates, Quotes and Proposals: Which One to Send
• What to Do When a Customer Will Not Pay
• Invoicerus for roofers
• Invoicerus for HVAC companies

Try it on your next job

Open the free invoice generator and run one real job through it. No account, no card, nothing to install. If it saves you time, the job price calculator is the next one to try.

Invoicerus does the same work on autopilot once your services and prices are set up. Start free and bring one week of jobs with you.