Housewright's Blog

                As contractors we want to have a good relationship with our customers; many of us get in the mindset that as long as we perform quality work that relationship will blossom. This isn’t always the case though – our work can be flawless but if the customer did not completely understand what work was to be performed that happy relationship can quickly turn contentious. A good way of avoiding this situation entirely is to provide the customer with a detailed scope of work with your contract, make sure the customer understands the scope of work, and to stick to the scope of work.

            A detailed scope of work can be viewed as the customer’s map of what will be done to their house so it is important to remember to not get too technical. Over the years I have found that many customers either have no clue about the construction process or have a skewed view of what will happen once their project starts. The scope of work fixes that problem and allows the customer to feel a little more at ease because they have at least an understanding of what will be taking place. Take a simple roofing project for example; a scope of work for a re-roof could look something like this:

Scope of Work

1. Remove all existing asphalt shingles, roofing underlayment, drip edge, and flashings and dispose of.

2. Contractor will replace up to 64 square feet (two 4’x8’ sheets of plywood) of damaged roof sheeting – additional wood replacement will be done under a change order. Replacement or repair of damaged structural members are not included in this scope of work.

3. Install new “Manufacturer X” synthetic roofing underlayment to entire roof.

4. Install new white, aluminum drip edge to entire perimeter of roof.

5. Install Ice & Water guard in all roof valleys and on all gutter edges of roof.

6. Install new “Manufacturer X” asphalt roofing shingles to entire roof; this includes starter shingles and ridge caps.

7. Install 40 feet of “Manufacturer X” continuous ridge vent at peak of roof.

8. Install new copper flashing and counter flashing on masonry chimney and install new pipe jack flashing on the 4 pipe penetrations in roof.

9. Remove all construction generated debris from property and clean gutters at completion of project.

Exclusions:

Repair or replacement of damaged structural members.

Replacement of damaged roof sheeting beyond the 64 square feet mentioned in scope of work.

Repair to masonry chimney.

Any work not included in the Scope of Work must be arranged between the contractor and home owner via a change order.

            This explains to the customer everything that will be included in their project, just as importantly it tells them what will not be included. When I meet with the customer to go over the contract with them I also go over the Scope of Work to make sure they understand it and to answer any questions they may have about it. Many times I will take samples of certain materials to show the customer as we go over the SOW. I started doing this because not all customers are going to know what certain materials (like synthetic roofing underlayment) are – it is simply another step to prevent confusion further down the road.

            Once the project begins it is important to follow the scope of work. The customer now understands what will be done and they will expect it to be done – I like to take lots of progress pictures to show the customer. The SOW also tells the customer what not will be done for the price they agreed to. When something comes up that is outside of the scope of work the additional work is not started until the customer has been informed and has signed a change order detailing the scope of work of the additional work, the cost of the additional work, and any changes to the schedule because of the additional work.

            There have also been many times that I have included a scope of work with the initial proposal that I give a customer. This helps to set my proposal apart from the competition – the customer can see what all I have included in my proposal. This is where a very detailed SOW can potentially help land more projects, especially if the other bidders did not include a scope of work in their proposals. Writing a detailed scope of work can be time consuming at first, especially for larger projects, but I believe the benefits far outweigh the extra time it takes to include one in our contracts.