Construction Scope of Work Template

What is a Construction Scope of Work?

A construction scope of work is the contract document defining exactly what work a contractor must perform: the activities, the standards they must meet, and what is excluded.

It controls what gets paid for. Work described in it is work the contractor must deliver; work left out becomes a variation priced after award.

Construction Scope of Work Example

Here's an example of a construction scope of work for a trade package, showing the inclusions schedule, the exclusions and work by others, and the interface register.

What Should You Include in a Construction Scope of Work Document?

A construction scope of work document needs five things: the work broken down far enough to price, the standards it must meet, what is included, what is excluded, and where this scope meets somebody else's.

This template in Word format covers all of it across eighteen sections.

What Is Excluded from a Construction Scope of Work?

Anything the contractor is not being paid to do, named explicitly, plus who is doing it instead. An exclusion that does not say who picks the work up has moved the argument rather than settled it.

Exclusions worth writing on most projects:

• Work by others. Owner-supplied equipment, separate contracts, utility authority works, and anything the owner is delivering directly.
• Design. Whether the contractor is designing any part of the work, and to what stage. Design responsibility left unstated is design responsibility argued about later.
• Latent conditions. Contamination, unmarked services, rock, and asbestos. What was assumed, and what happens if the assumption is wrong.
• Temporary works. Access, scaffolding, craneage, hoarding, and traffic management, when another party is providing them.
• Permits and approvals. Which the owner obtains and which the contractor obtains.
• Testing and commissioning. Where the contractor's obligation ends and the operator's begins.
• Making good. Reinstatement of adjacent areas, landscaping, and existing finishes disturbed by the work.
• Provisional items and allowances. Anything priced against an allowance rather than a measured quantity.

For a client-side team, the exclusions schedule is the most useful page in the document. It is the list of work still sitting with the owner, and on most projects nobody has costed it.

How to Write a Scope of Work in Word Using This Template

Complete the basis of the scope before writing any of the scope itself. You cannot describe work accurately without knowing which drawings and specifications you are describing, and what status they are at.

1. Fill in document control, including which document takes precedence when the scope and the specification disagree.
2. Complete the project overview: the site and its constraints, the parties, their authority, and the contract form.
3. Register every drawing, specification, model and survey the scope relies on, with the issue status of each.
4. Write the scope summary as a plain statement of the Work, then break it down by work element and by construction stage.
5. Set the workmanship standards and tolerances, choosing prescriptive or performance wording deliberately for each.
6. Complete the inclusions schedule, then the exclusions and work by others.
7. Fill in the interface register, naming every point where this scope meets another party's.
8. Record every assumption. An assumption not written down is a risk somebody has priced silently, or not at all.

Sections 10 to 16 cover site conditions, schedule, quality, health and safety, submittals, the commercial framework and completion. Fill them in against the contract rather than from the template's defaults.

What Are the Different Types of Construction Scope of Work Templates?

Four, and the difference is who is procuring the work: a project scope of work, a consultant scope of services, a trade scope of work, and a subcontractor scope of work.

Any of them can be written prescriptively, specifying the method and materials, or on performance, specifying the result the work must achieve. The template flags which suits each element.

Project type changes the content, not the structure. A residential remodel scope turns on rooms and fixtures; a tenant improvement scope turns on building coordination. Both use the same eighteen sections.

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Related Articles and Templates

Explore these resources for construction scope, bidding, estimating, materials, and scope changes:

• Statement of Work Template
• Work Breakdown Structure Template
• Construction Material List Template
• Construction Proposal Template
• Construction Bid Template
• Construction Estimate Template
• Change Order Template
• Construction Bidding: Guide for Project Success