Free Contractor
Contract Template
The signed agreement that makes a job official. It covers parties, scope, price and payment schedule, and a change request procedure. It also covers the schedule, insurance and license lines, warranty, termination, and dispute resolution, closed with a signature block. Grab the PDF, Word, Excel, or Google Sheets version below.
No signup required. Fill it in, send it, get it signed.
Sample layout. Not a price.
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Every Section a Contractor Contract Needs
A bid or a proposal gets you the job. A contractor contract is what makes it official once the client says yes. It states who is bound and what gets built. It also states what it costs, when payment moves, how changes get handled, and what happens if something goes wrong. Ten sections carry that whole job.
Parties and agreement.
Names both sides by their legal or business names, and the project address the contract covers. Nothing else in the document means anything until this part is right.
Scope of work.
What you are building, phase by phase, plus the materials and specifications. If it is not in the scope, it is not in the price.
Price and payment schedule.
The contract price, plus milestone payments tied to what happened on site, not a due date at the end.
Change request procedure.
How a change to the scope gets requested, priced, and signed before either side acts on it. Skip this and the first change becomes an argument.
Schedule.
Start date, estimated completion, and how many working days you are counting on before weather or supply delays.
Insurance and license.
General liability and workers comp carriers and policy numbers, plus your license number and issuing state or board.
Warranty.
How long you stand behind the workmanship, and how manufacturer warranties on materials pass through to the client.
Termination.
What lets either side end the agreement early, and the notice period each side owes the other before they do.
Dispute resolution.
The process both sides agree to try before anyone files a claim in court, decided now instead of mid-argument.
Acceptance and signatures.
A line for the contractor and a line for the client. The contract takes effect once both sign it.
Pricing the job before you write the contract? Turn a photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds with SimplyWise Cost Estimator →. Free to try.
Contract vs. Bid vs. Proposal
Three documents, three jobs, in the order a project actually moves through them.
| What the document does | Bid or proposal | Contract |
|---|---|---|
| When it happens | Before the client decides who to hire. | After the client says yes, before work starts. |
| Core content | A price submission: line items, totals, and a scope narrative. | The full set of terms: insurance, license, warranty, termination, dispute resolution. |
| Change handling | Rarely addressed; the job has not started yet. | A dedicated change request procedure both sides agreed to up front. |
| What happens if something goes wrong | Not addressed; there is no agreement yet to enforce. | Termination and dispute resolution sections state the process both sides agreed to. |
| Acceptance | Awarded, rejected, or countered, sometimes without a signature. | Ends in a signature block for both parties. This is the document that governs the job. |
Need the bid first. SimplyWise ships a construction bid template for the price submission that gets you to yes. This page is the agreement you sign once you are there. Or skip the paperwork on pricing. Turn a photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds with SimplyWise Cost Estimator →. Free to try.
How to Put Together a Contractor Contract in 5 Steps
Step 1: Name the parties and the project
State your business name and the client’s name exactly as they appear on other paperwork, and give the project address the contract covers. Vague names create arguments later about who agreed to what.
Step 2: Lock the scope, price, and payment schedule together
Write the scope of work phase by phase, set the contract price, and break payment into milestones tied to what has actually happened on site. A vague scope and a firm price never survive the same job.
Step 3: Write the change request procedure before you need it
State that changes go in writing, get priced and time-stamped for schedule impact, and get signed by both parties before work on the change starts. Do this before the first change request shows up, not during it.
Step 4: Add the schedule, insurance, license, and warranty lines
Give a start and estimated completion date, list your general liability and workers compensation carriers and policy numbers, your license number, and how long you warranty the workmanship.
Step 5: State termination and dispute resolution, then sign
Name the notice period each side owes to end the agreement early. Name the process both sides will try before going to court. Then close with a signature line for the contractor and one for the client. Have your own attorney review any contract wording your state requires before you send it out.
Worked Example: A Bathroom Remodel Contract
Priya Nair accepted a bid from Harborview Construction LLC for a bathroom remodel. The contract goes out for signature the same week, before any demo starts.
The contract, block by block
- Parties and agreement. Harborview Construction LLC and Priya Nair, named at the project address.
- Scope of work. Demo of the existing tub and vanity, new tile, new vanity and fixtures, and paint, described phase by phase.
- Price and payment schedule. Deposit at signing, then a materials milestone once tile and fixtures arrive. Then a rough-in milestone, a substantial-completion milestone, and a final milestone at walkthrough.
- Change request procedure. A written request if Priya wants a fixture swap mid-job, priced and signed before Harborview orders it.
- Schedule, insurance and license, warranty. Start date, estimated completion date, Harborview’s liability policy and license number, and a stated workmanship warranty period.
- Termination, dispute resolution, signatures. Notice periods, the process they will try before court, and a line for each party with a date.
The names and details above are illustrative only, not a price for bathroom remodel work. Price the job with the construction calculators before you write a number on anything.
What Is Actually in the Files Above
The PDF and Word document carry the full contract, in order. The Excel workbook and Google Sheets version carry only the payment schedule, as a standalone worksheet. All four files use a six-column payment table: number, milestone, triggered when, percent of contract, amount due, running total.
Parties and agreement.
Contractor and client contact fields, plus a fill-in paragraph naming both parties and the project address.
Scope of work.
Three prompts: project overview, scope by phase, and materials and specifications, each with blank space for your own wording.
Price and payment schedule.
A contract price field and a five-milestone payment table: deposit, materials and mobilization, rough-in, substantial completion, and final completion. Payment methods follow: check, bank transfer, or a payment app handle. Excel calculates amount due and running total from the percent column and the contract price automatically. The other three formats ship the same columns blank.
Change request procedure.
A fill-in paragraph states that changes go in writing and get priced, with any schedule impact noted. Both parties sign before work on the change starts.
Schedule.
Estimated start date, estimated completion date, estimated working days, and a field for weather or supply contingency days.
Insurance and license.
General liability carrier, policy number, coverage amount, and policy expiration date make up the first half. Workers compensation carrier and policy number, contractor license number, and the licensing state or board round it out.
Warranty.
A workmanship warranty period field, a warranty start date field, and a fill-in paragraph on how manufacturer warranties pass through.
Termination.
Fields for the notice period to terminate for cause and convenience, in days, plus a paragraph on what triggers each.
Dispute resolution.
Fields for the dispute resolution method and the governing state, plus a fill-in paragraph on trying that process before court.
Acceptance and signatures.
An acceptance note plus a signature line and a date line for the contractor, and the same for the client. There is no card-number field anywhere in these files. This page and the files are not legal advice. Contract language and disclosures required in your state are a question for your own attorney, not this template.
Every percent, amount, and date cell ships blank. You fill in your own numbers for your own job. Or price the job first with SimplyWise Cost Estimator →. Free to try.
Free Template vs. Running It in the App
No cost
- Parties, scope, price, change requests, schedule, insurance, warranty, termination, dispute resolution, and signature blocks.
- PDF, Word, Excel, Google Sheets.
- Auto totals on the payment schedule in Excel.
- You write the scope of work yourself.
SimplyWise App
- Photo to itemized estimate in about 6 seconds.
- Material pricing pulled for your ZIP code.
- Turn a saved estimate straight into a professional, branded quote.
- Client signs to approve the quote.
- $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, about $20/mo on annual, 7-day free trial.
Frequently Asked Questions
Contract basics
Filling out the contract
More Free Templates for Contractors
Construction Bid Template
The price submission that comes before this contract.
Contractor Invoice Template
Bill the job once the contract is signed and the work is done.
Construction Change Order Template
The paperwork this contract’s change request procedure points to.
What Is a Lien Waiver?
What contractors sign at each payment milestone in this contract.
A note on the numbers on this page.
The hero preview and the worked example above are illustrative only. They use a fictional business and client to show how the sections fill in. Neither one shows a dollar figure or a market price for a bathroom remodel or any other job. Neither shows any number sourced from a pricing publisher. The downloadable files ship with every percent, amount, and date cell empty. You fill in your own numbers for your own job. This page and the attached files are not legal advice. Contract language and required disclosures vary by state, so have your own attorney review any contract before a client signs it.
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