Writing a scope of work before you call a contractor means putting on paper exactly what you want done, area by area and task by task, before you invite anyone to bid. You write the first draft yourself, in plain English, and you send the identical document to every contractor you contact.
That one habit turns three wildly different quotes into three comparable ones. Every bidder is finally pricing the same job instead of guessing at their own version of it.
Most homeowners skip this step. They call three companies, describe the project a little differently each time, and then stare at three numbers thousands of dollars apart with no way to tell which one is honest.
One section of the template below protects your budget more than any other, and it is not the list of work you want done. We will get to it.
What a Scope of Work Actually Is
Scope of work is contractor language for the answer to a single question: what are all the things you need me to do?
It is not a design. It is not a set of blueprints. It is not a price. It is a plain list of the work you want performed, the materials you have chosen (and the ones you have not), the changes you want made to the layout, and the things you specifically do not want touched.
Three documents get tangled together constantly, so it helps to separate them:
- Scope of work. What will be done. You write the first draft, the contractor refines it with you.
- Estimate or bid. What it will cost. The contractor writes it, using your scope.
- Contract. The binding agreement. It contains the final scope, the price, the schedule, and the terms.
The order matters more than most people realize. An estimate is only as accurate as the scope it was built on. A contractor handed “we want to redo the bathroom” is pricing a fantasy. A contractor handed a list of eleven specific tasks is pricing a real job, and can be held to it.
Why You Write the Scope of Work Before You Call a Contractor, Not After
Handing every contractor the same document does five things at once:
- Comparable bids. Without a shared scope, one company includes demolition and dumpster fees, another assumes you are pulling out the old vanity yourself, and a third quietly leaves out the tile. The prices look different because the jobs are different. A shared scope forces an apples to apples comparison.
- Your own decisions, made first. Writing the list is where you discover you never actually decided whether the tub stays. Doing that thinking upfront, ideally after separating your must haves from your nice to haves, is far cheaper than discovering it in week three.
- A live test of the contractor. Watch what happens when you hand over a detailed scope. A good one reads it, asks sharp questions, and pushes back where something will not work. A weak one skims it and hands you a round number. That reaction tells you more than any review.
- Fewer change orders. Most cost overruns are not dishonesty. They are things nobody wrote down. Every item you specify now is an item that cannot become a surprise later.
- The backbone of your contract. In Pennsylvania that is literal, and there is a law behind it. More on that below.
The Seven Parts of a Homeowner Scope of Work
Copy the headings below into a document, fill in the blanks, and you have a real scope. It does not need to be pretty. It needs to be specific.
1. Project summary
Two sentences at the top so nobody misreads the job.
Project: [what you are remodeling] at [your address]. Goal: [the outcome you want, in one line, for example: a fully updated hall bathroom with a walk in shower replacing the tub].
2. The work, area by area
This is the heart of the document. List every area, and under each one, list the tasks as separate lines. Verbs first: remove, replace, install, relocate, repair, patch, paint.
Hall bathroom – Remove and dispose of existing tub, tile surround, vanity, toilet, and flooring – Install new walk in shower with tile surround, glass door, and niche – Install new 36 inch vanity, sink, and faucet – Install new toilet – Tile floor – Replace ceiling exhaust fan – Add two outlets, one GFCI beside the vanity – Prime and paint walls and ceiling – Replace baseboard and door trim
If the project covers several rooms, repeat the block for each one. If you are still deciding whether to do everything at once or phase the work room by room, write both versions and ask for a price on each. Two versions is reasonable. Five is not, and contractors will start charging for the estimating time.
3. Materials, fixtures, and finishes
Name what you have chosen. For anything undecided, give an allowance, which is a dollar figure the contractor should assume so the bid stays realistic.
– Tile: chosen, [brand and product], homeowner supplies – Vanity: chosen, [brand and model], contractor supplies – Faucet and shower valve: not chosen, assume a $400 allowance, contractor supplies – Paint: not chosen, contractor supplies, standard interior latex
Say clearly who buys each item. Half the disputes in remodeling start with a homeowner assuming a fixture was included and a contractor assuming it was not.
4. Layout and structural changes
Anything that moves a wall, a pipe, a vent, or a window belongs in its own list. These drive permits, inspections, and cost far more than any finish does.
– Remove non load bearing wall between kitchen and dining room (contractor to confirm whether it is load bearing) – Relocate the shower drain approximately 3 feet toward the exterior wall – Widen the doorway to 32 inches
5. What is not included
Here is the section that does the quiet work. Exclusions keep a bid honest, and almost no homeowner writes them.
Every gap you leave, a bidder fills with an assumption, and a cheap bid usually wins by assuming the cheap version. So state the boundaries out loud, in both directions: what you are handling, and what you expect them to handle.
– Permits: contractor to pull and coordinate inspections, cost included in the bid – Dumpster and debris removal: included in the bid – Appliances: homeowner purchases, contractor installs – Painting the hallway outside the bathroom: not included – Homeowner will empty the room and clear the closet before the start date
Now nobody is guessing, and no bid can win on a technicality.
6. Timing and access
– Target start: [month] – Hard deadline, if any: [date and why] – Household constraints: [we will be living in the house, dogs on site, work hours 8 to 5, no weekend work]
7. Budget range and how you want the bid returned
Give a range. Contractors are not trying to spend all of it. They are trying to find out whether your project and your number belong in the same universe before either of you wastes an evening.
Then ask for the bid in a format you can actually compare:
Please return the bid as line items, with labor and materials separated, allowances listed individually, permit fees shown, and any exclusions stated in writing.
That last sentence is the whole game. A single lump number cannot be compared to anything.
What Pennsylvania Law Does With Your Scope
This is where the document stops being a helpful list and starts being a legal one, and it is where Wilkes-Barre homeowners have more protection than they realize.
Under Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, any home improvement contract over $500 must be in writing and signed by both parties. It must contain a description of the work, the materials to be used, a set of specifications, the total price, and approximate start and completion dates.
Those first three things are your scope of work.
The law goes further:
- None of that work, those materials, or those specifications can be changed without a written change order signed by both you and the contractor.
- On projects over $5,000, the deposit is generally limited to one third of the contract price, or one third plus the cost of special order materials.
- The contract must carry the contractor’s Pennsylvania registration number.
- The contract must give you written notice of your three day right to cancel.
A contract that fails to meet those requirements is not enforceable against you, the homeowner.
Read that again with your scope in hand. The list you wrote at the kitchen table is not a courtesy. It is the raw material the law requires your contract to be built from, and the more specific it is, the more that contract actually protects you.
Two things worth doing before you sign:
- Check the registration number. It looks like PA123456 and must appear on ads, estimates, proposals, and contracts. You can verify any contractor’s registration free by calling the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection at 1-888-520-6680. A legitimate remodeler in Luzerne County will hand the number over without blinking.
- Never let a change happen verbally. Something usually shifts mid project. When it does, it goes on paper and both of you sign it. That is the law, and it is also just how good projects run.
How to Send It, and What Should Happen Next
Email the same document to every contractor you are considering, ideally before the site visit so they have time to read it. Three bids is the standard for a reason: two gives you no pattern, and five turns into a research project you never finish.
What a good response looks like:
- They read the scope and come back with questions, not just a number. Questions are the single best signal you will get.
- They tell you where you are wrong. Sometimes the drain cannot move. Sometimes the wall is holding the house up. A contractor who says so before signing is the one you want.
- They return a line item bid that maps to your scope, so you can lay all three side by side and see exactly where they differ.
What should worry you:
- A number with no breakdown
- A bid dramatically lower than the others (check what they left out, and it is usually the exclusions)
- Anyone who never mentions permits
- Anyone who wants more than one third down
At 570 Remodeling, the on site visit exists precisely so the scope gets nailed down before a single price is written, and every estimate comes back detailed, fixed, and transparent. For the wider view of how this step fits the rest of the job, the complete guide to home remodeling covers the whole arc. The step by step planning sequence shows you what happens on either side of it.
Write the scope. Then call. You will get better bids, better contractors, and a project that ends where you thought it would.
Ready to hand your scope to someone who will actually read it? Call 570 Remodeling at (570) 938-4541 or request a free quote. We will walk your Wilkes-Barre or Luzerne County home, tighten the scope with you, and give you a detailed, fixed estimate you can hold us to.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I do not know exactly what I want yet?
Write it anyway. A rough scope beats no scope. Describe the outcome you want and the decisions you have made, then mark the rest as undecided and attach an allowance so the bid still lands in the right range. Contractors expect to help you finish the details. What they cannot do is price a project you have not described.
How detailed should a scope of work be?
Detailed enough that two different contractors reading it would price the same job. If a line could be read two ways, rewrite it. “Update the bathroom” fails that test. “Remove tub, install walk in shower with tile surround and glass door” passes it.
Who writes the final scope of work, me or the contractor?
You write the first draft, the contractor refines it, and the final version goes into the contract. The industry default is for the contractor to produce the scope from scratch, which is exactly how homeowners end up with three bids describing three different projects. Starting the document yourself keeps you in control of the comparison.
What is the difference between a scope of work and an estimate?
The scope defines what will be done. The estimate prices it. The scope comes first, and a detailed one is the only way an estimate can be accurate. Once you sign, the scope and the price both live inside the contract.
Should I tell contractors my budget?
Yes, as a range. Withholding it does not get you a lower price. It gets you bids for a project you cannot afford and weeks of wasted conversations. A contractor who knows your number can tell you which parts of your scope fit inside it and which do not, and can suggest ways to get most of what you want for what you have.
Is a scope of work legally binding?
Not on its own. It becomes binding when it is incorporated into a signed contract. In Pennsylvania, the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act requires the contract to include a description of the work, the materials, and the specifications, so your scope is what the binding part is made of.
What is a change order?
A written, signed amendment to the agreed scope, with its own price. Anything added, removed, or swapped after the contract is signed should go through one. Pennsylvania law requires both the homeowner and the contractor to sign it, and a project without change orders is a project heading for an argument.
What if the bids still come back completely different?
Ask each contractor to walk you through their line items against your scope. Differences almost always trace back to an assumption, a missing allowance, or an exclusion nobody stated. A very low bid usually means something was left out, not that someone found a shortcut.
Do I need an architect or designer before I write a scope?
Not for most projects. A single room remodel, a deck, a siding replacement, or a basement finish can be scoped by the homeowner and refined with the contractor. Structural changes, additions, and full layout rework are where a designer or architect earns the fee, and even then, your written scope is what tells them what you are trying to achieve.
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