A Clear Service Contract in 5 Minutes. No $95-a-Year Subscription.

How to use this (5 steps)

1. Fill in the parties. Your business, the customer, and the job address.
2. Describe the work. Pick your trade for a worked example, then write your scope. Specific beats fancy.
3. Set the price and schedule. Enter the total and pick a split — the deposit, milestone, and balance dollars compute themselves.
4. Check the toggles. Every section is on by default. Turn off what doesn't apply, and edit any wording right in the preview.
5. Print or save as PDF, sign it with the customer, and give them a copy. Then have your attorney review the template once for your state.

The 9 things every service contract needs

1. Parties and place. Legal names, phone numbers, license number, and the job address.
2. Scope of work. What you will do, with quantities and materials. And what you won't — "anything not listed is not included."
3. Price and payment schedule. Total price, deposit, milestone, and when the balance is due. Money disputes are scope disputes with a dollar sign.
4. Change orders. Every change in writing, signed, with its price. The most profitable sentence in the trades.
5. Materials. Who buys them, when they become the customer's, and that special orders don't come back.
6. Dates and delay causes. Start date, estimated finish, and the honest list of things that push it: weather, permits, shortages, hidden conditions, customer changes.
7. Warranty. What you stand behind, for how long, and what's excluded. A clear 12-month workmanship warranty sells jobs.
8. Cancellation and disputes. How either side backs out before work starts, the cooling-off notice if you signed in their home, and a promise to talk before anyone sues.
9. Signatures and dates. Unsigned contracts are just paperwork. Get both signatures before the deposit clears.

Why handshake deals kill margins

The card says no job too small; the court date says otherwise. Without a written scope, "paint the bedroom" quietly grows into the hallway, the trim, and the ceiling — at the original price. Without a payment schedule, you finance the whole job and hope. Without a change-order clause, every extra is a favor instead of an invoice. Contractors rarely lose money on the work. They lose it on the words they never wrote down.

A one-page agreement fixes most of that for free. It also changes the conversation: customers treat a written contract like a professional's price, and a verbal quote like an opening bid.

Check your state's contractor rules

Some states require specific contract language for licensed contractors — California, for example, mandates exact notices and font sizes in home-improvement contracts, and many states set rules on deposit caps, mechanic's-lien notices, and right-to-cancel forms. This template covers the universal core, but it can't know your state. Search your state contractor licensing board plus "contract requirements" before you standardize on any template — this one or a paid one.

What the legal-template sites charge (2026)

To be fair: those services offer state-specific documents and access to lawyers, and for complex work that's worth paying for. But for a clear, plain-English service agreement — the thing most small jobs never get at all — the paywall is the only thing this page removes.

Sources: LawDepot published pricing 2026 · Rocket Lawyer published pricing 2026. Verify current pricing yourself — plans change.

Common questions