How to Write a Scope of Work (With Example)

A scope of work lists objectives, deliverables, what's in and out, assumptions, the timeline, revision rounds, acceptance criteria, and how changes get handled. Here's how to write each part, with a full example. A scope of work pins down the job in a client agreement. What you'll deliver, by when, and what doesn't count. A scope of work describes the job.

A statement of work usually wraps that scope together with price and terms. Write one for any fixed-price job, or any project longer than a few weeks. We'll build one together, for a consulting project. An operations assessment for a logistics client. Every detail here is illustrative.

A proposal persuades: the problem, the options, the price. A scope of work defines what, when, and what's out. Does a scope of work include pricing? Often not. The price sits in the proposal or contract.

The scope says what it buys. For freelancers and small teams, both often live in one document. My proposal video covers the rest of that document. It's linked below. Write it in this order: your call notes, the deliverables, the out list, the dates, then review it together.

Deliverables come first, because every other part refers back to them. Draft it while the call is fresh, the same day if you can. Then walk the client through it on a short call, before they accept. Questions on that call are cheap. Questions in week four are not.

Keep a template, so no part gets skipped on a busy week. Part one, the objectives. One or two sentences on what the work is for, and how you will both know it worked. Write it in the client's words, from your discovery call. 'Improve operations' is too vague.

'Find where orders stall' is something you can finish. Keep it to results you control. You can deliver a plan. You can't promise their shipping times. One objective is best.

Three is the most a reader will remember. Part two, the deliverables. The things you will hand over, each one something you can count. Six interviews. One process map.

A report of up to fifteen pages. One workshop. Write nouns, not verbs. 'Support' and 'assist' can never be finished. Add the format and the size: a PDF, a page limit, forty-five-minute calls.

If you can't tell when a deliverable is done, it isn't written clearly yet. Monthly work? Cap the volume: hours, posts or calls each month. Say who delivers what. If the client supplies photos, write that down too.

Part three, in and out of scope. List what's included, then just as clearly, what isn't. The out list does the heavy lifting. It answers questions before anyone asks them. Here, that's new software, hiring and training, and putting the fixes in place.

Anything they might assume comes free goes on the out list. For a website, that might be copywriting and hosting. For a brand, printing and signage. Gray areas? If something could be read either way, decide which side it's on now.

Out of scope is not never. You can still offer it as a separate, optional add-on. Part four, the assumptions. What has to be true for the plan to work, and what you need from them. Interviews booked in week one.

Order data by day five. One person who approves. If an assumption breaks, the timeline or the price can change. Say so in the scope. It isn't a threat.

It shows both sides where the plan depends on them. Common ones: access to their tools, content by a date, and one approver. Name who approves at each step. One decision-maker beats a committee. Part five, the timeline.

Milestones from kickoff to the workshop, with a sign-off at the big ones. Count in weeks from kickoff. Then a late start moves every date together. Give the client's part deadlines too, like five business days to review a draft. A milestone needs a name, a date and a person who signs it off.

Put dependencies in order: interviews before the map, the map before the report. Add a buffer week to anything longer than a month. Part six, the revision rounds. Here, two rounds on the report are included, and more are billed at $225 an hour. Define a round: one set of written comments, sent together.

Scattered notes over three weeks aren't one round. They're ten. Price extra rounds in the scope, so nobody negotiates later. A round changes the agreed draft. A new direction is a change request.

Part seven, the acceptance criteria. What makes each deliverable done, in terms anyone can check. The report covers all six interviews. Every fix has an owner, a cost and a date. Avoid 'to the client's satisfaction'.

It never ends. Name the person who signs off, and say what sign-off unlocks, like the final invoice. Set a review window, so a draft never waits weeks for comments. For a website, that might be: every page works on a phone, and the form sends. Part eight, the change process.

New requests come in writing and get a price and a time, and nothing starts until they approve. Formal contracts call it a change order. Whatever the name, it's the line that stops scope creep. A change can be small. It still goes through the same four steps.

Write the turnaround too: you reply with a price within two business days. Add approved changes as a new line or a new proposal. Put together, all eight parts fit on about one page, in plain words, agreed before any work starts. Eight short sections. A client can read it in about two minutes.

Longer projects need more detail, not more pages of legal-sounding words. How long should a scope of work be? One page for most client projects. Give it a version number. When it changes, the new version replaces the old.

The full example is in the description. Swap in your own project. Website or design job? Same eight parts, different nouns. Four mistakes: vague verbs like support, no out-of-scope list, unlimited revisions, and no dates for the client's part.

Copying last project's scope without changing the details is a fifth. And don't leave the scope in an email thread. Put it in the document they accept. This is general information. For a large contract, have a lawyer review the terms.

Here's that scope in a Workspace369 proposal, the tool we use to show it. Add a Deliverables section, list what is included, then what is not, and highlight it so it stands out. Objectives, Timeline and Terms are built-in sections you add the same way. On Specialist, send it from the editor, your client opens the link, accepts and signs, and pays the deposit. Once it is accepted, set the work up as a project.

The project holds the budget you priced, a task for each deliverable, and progress as each one gets done. Link the accepted proposal to the project, so the scope sits next to the work. When the client asks for more, that scope is the first place you check. Proposals and projects start on Cadet, $29 a month. Deposit on acceptance starts on Specialist, $149 a month.

So the checklist: objectives, deliverables, in and out, assumptions, timeline, revisions, acceptance and the change process. Write it before the work starts, and get a clear yes on it. Then keep it open while you work. It answers most "can you also" questions. Which part do your projects usually skip?

Tell me in the comments. The full example and my proposal videos are linked in the description.