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Remodeling contract checklist

What a remodeling contract should cover before anyone signs, from the scope to the last payment. Go through it with your own contract and tick off what’s there. Most fights on a job come from a line that was missing.

This is a checklist, not a contract. Have your contract written or checked by an attorney who knows your state’s rules.

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Contract checklist
Who and where
The work
Price and payment
Dates
Changes
Finishing
If something goes wrong

Why the missing line costs the most

One remodeler’s job grew from $12,000 to $17,500 as the client added work, and then the client asked for a lower price. The contract never said how changes were agreed, so each addition lived only in conversation. On the other side, a homeowner with no written contract at all was being asked for thousands more for upgrades they said they never approved. A few lines in the contract would have settled both before they started.

The three lines that prevent the most fights

How changes get agreed. Nearly every job changes. The contract should say that every change is agreed in writing before the work, with its price and days. See what a change order is and our change order form.

Draws tied to finished stages. When a payment falls due because a stage is done and signed off, neither side is paying or working ahead of the other.

Days to answer a sign-off. When the client has a set number of days to sign off a stage or say what needs fixing, the job doesn’t stall on silence. Use our punch list template for the walkthrough.

Write the job once, and both of you keep the same version

In Everkept you set the stages, the draws, what each stage must meet and the days to answer as you write the job. Your client signs from the email. From then on every change, sign-off and payment is added to the same record, and the total is the same on both phones.

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This is general information, not legal advice. States differ on what a home improvement contract and its changes must contain. Check with your state’s contractor licensing board or an attorney.