How to write a scope of work for a client project (with a template)

Two weeks into a website project, the client asks if you can “just add” a booking page. Was that in the price? If nobody wrote down what the job included, the question turns into an awkward conversation, or into free work.

A scope of work stops that happening. It is a short document, usually one to three pages, that you and the client agree on before work starts. This guide covers what to put in it, gives you a template to copy, and explains the Australian details that many templates, written for American agencies, leave out.

What is a scope of work?

A scope of work describes the job: what you will deliver, what you need from the client, when each part happens, what it costs and what isn’t included. It is the document you both point to when someone asks “was that part of the deal?”

Small agencies often send it as part of a bigger package. That’s fine, as long as everyone knows which document does which job.

If you write a proposal first, the scope of work is where its promises become specific. “A new website” becomes “five pages, built on your existing hosting, with two rounds of changes”. For what to send straight after the first call, see how to follow up after a discovery call.

What should a scope of work include?

Every scope needs the same ten parts. The example column uses an invented studio and client to show the level of detail that prevents arguments later.

How to write a scope of work, step by step

1. 01Start from your discovery notesRe-read the call notes and any emails. List everything the client asked for, then mark which items are in this project and which are for later. Anything you’re unsure of goes back to the client as a question, not into the scope as a guess.
2. 02Write the goal in the client’s wordsOne or two sentences on what success looks like for them. It keeps the work honest: when a request arrives later, you can ask whether it serves the goal.
3. 03List deliverables with limitsCount things. Pages, posts, concepts, sizes, file formats, hours. “Social media graphics” invites an argument; “12 square graphics for Instagram, delivered as PNGs” doesn’t.
4. 04Write what’s not includedThink about what clients in this kind of project usually assume. Copywriting, stock images, hosting, ongoing updates and training are common ones.
5. 05Set the client’s inputs and datesList each file, login or decision you need, with a date. Then tie your own dates to theirs, so a late input moves the timeline rather than squeezing your team.
6. 06Agree reviews and changesSay how many rounds of changes are included and how feedback should arrive: one consolidated list from one person works far better than comments from five people at once.
7. 07Add price, payment and ownershipState the total, whether it includes GST, the payment stages and when the client owns the work. Point to your terms of business for everything else.
8. 08Send it for sign-off with a dateAsk for a signature or a written “approved” by a specific day, and say that work starts once it’s signed and the first payment arrives.

A scope of work template you can copy

Copy this into your usual document tool and replace the parts in square brackets. Keep the headings, even when a section is short. A heading with “None” under it is still useful, because it shows you thought about it.

1. Project summary

• Client: [business name, ABN, main contact]
• Project: [one-line name]
• Goal: [what this work should achieve, in one or two sentences]

2. Deliverables

• [Deliverable 1]: [quantity, format, size or length]
• [Deliverable 2]: [quantity, format, size or length]

3. Reviews and feedback

• Included rounds of changes: [number] per [deliverable or stage]
• Feedback comes as one list from [name], within [number] working days of each draft.

4. Not included

• [Item the client might assume is included]
• [Item]
• Anything not listed under Deliverables is quoted separately.

5. What we need from you

• [File, login or decision]: by [date]
• [File, login or decision]: by [date]
• One person to collect feedback and approve each stage: [name]

6. Timeline

• [Milestone]: [date], depending on [client input]
• [Milestone]: [date]
• If an input arrives late, the following dates move by the same amount.

7. Changes to this scope

• We’ll send a short change note with the cost and the effect on the timeline.
• Work on a change starts once you approve the note in writing.

8. Price and payment

• Total: A$[amount] [including GST / plus GST / no GST (we’re not registered)]
• Payments: [percentage] to start, [percentage] at [milestone], [percentage] at completion
• Invoices are due within [number] days.

9. Ownership

• [You own / we license to you] the final [deliverables] once the final invoice is paid.
• We may show the finished work in our portfolio unless you ask us not to.

10. Agreement

• This scope is part of our terms of business, version [date], attached.
• Approved for [client]: [name, role, date]
• Approved for [studio]: [name, role, date]

The Australian details most templates miss

Many scope of work templates online are written for American agencies. They talk about wire transfers and say nothing about GST, copyright or the rules on unfair terms. These four points are worth getting right.

Say whether prices include GST

Write “A$8,800 including GST” or “A$8,000 plus GST”, never just “$8,000”. If you’re registered for GST and a client asks for a tax invoice, the ATO sets out what it must show, including your ABN and either the GST amount or a statement that the total includes GST, and for sales of A$1,000 or more, the buyer’s identity or ABN (ATO, tax invoices).

Decide who owns the finished work

Paying for creative work doesn’t automatically make the client the copyright owner. The Arts Law Centre of Australia explains that copyright stays with the creator unless it is assigned in a written agreement signed by the creator; otherwise the client usually gets an implied licence to use the work for the purpose it was made for (Arts Law Centre of Australia).

Most clients expect to own their logo or website outright, so say so in the scope. A common approach is to assign ownership once the final invoice is paid, keep ownership of your own tools and templates, and keep the right to show the work in your portfolio.

Make sure you own it first. Work your employees make belongs to your business, but anything a freelancer makes for you stays theirs unless they assign it to you in writing.

Keep standard terms fair to both sides

If you send the same terms to every client on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, they are likely to be a standard form contract. The ACCC says the unfair contract terms law protects small businesses with fewer than 100 employees or less than A$10 million in annual turnover, and that for contracts made or renewed since 9 November 2023, using unfair terms in them is banned, with penalties for breaches (ACCC, contracts).

The ACCC’s examples of terms that may be unfair include ones that let only one party change the contract, or penalise only one party for ending it. In a scope, that means change and cancellation terms should work both ways: if the client pays for work done when they cancel, say what happens if you have to stop.

You can’t write away the consumer guarantees

A business client generally counts as a consumer if the service costs less than A$100,000 including GST. Services must then be provided with due care and skill, be fit for any purpose the client told you about, and be supplied within a reasonable time if no time was agreed. The ACCC says these rights can’t be taken away by anything a business says or does (ACCC, consumer rights and guarantees).

So a line like “no refunds under any circumstances” doesn’t hold for a client covered by the guarantees, and the ACCC says misleading a client about their rights is against the law. Define the work clearly instead, so it’s plain whether it was delivered.

How to handle requests outside the scope

Extra requests are normal. They usually mean the project is going well and the client trusts you. The aim is to say yes in a way that keeps the price and the timeline honest. A reply like this works:

“Happy to help with the booking page. It’s outside what we agreed in the scope, so I’ll send a quick change note with the cost and how it affects the launch date. Once you approve it, we’ll get started.”

A change note only needs four lines: what the change is, what it costs, how it moves the timeline, and a line for the client to approve. Send it before you start the work, not with the invoice.

Decide in advance what you’ll do for free. Many studios absorb a few small changes, but list them on the next update (“no charge”) so the client can see the value they’re getting. If the client has stopped sending feedback or files on time, see how to stop chasing clients for approvals and files.

How Stack helps

Stack doesn’t write the scope for you, but it keeps the work that follows in one place, tied to the client:

• Keep the signed scope on the client’s record, with their contacts, emails and projects, so anyone on your team can check what was agreed.
• Share the scope with the client in their client portal, so you both work from the same version.
• Turn each deliverable into tasks on the client’s project, with an owner and a due date. A timer on each task records the time spent, so you can check it against what you scoped.
• Ask for the client’s inputs as requests in their portal. They can upload a file, answer a question or tell you they don’t have it yet, so you know why a date is slipping.

Start here

1. Copy the template above and fill it in for the next project you’re about to start, before the first invoice goes out.
2. Look at your last project that went over budget and add its extra requests to your “Not included” list.
3. Plan the first week of the project with the client onboarding checklist and walk the client through the scope in your kickoff meeting.