How to write a service agreement in plain words

Most disputes between a business and a client do not start with bad faith. They start with two people who remember a conversation differently. A service agreement is the cheapest way to stop that: it writes down what was promised, while everyone is still friendly.

Many people avoid agreements because they imagine pages of legal language. A good one for a small job is the opposite. It is short, it uses ordinary words, and a client can read it in ten minutes and say "yes, that is what we agreed".

This guide walks through the parts, in the order they usually appear, with the questions each part must answer.

Start with who and what

Name both sides properly: the legal name of your business or yourself, the client's company name or full name, and an address for each. If you work as a company, use the company name, not a brand name, because the agreement binds the one who signs it.

Then describe the service in one or two sentences, in the way you would explain it to a friend. "We will design and set up a five page website for the client's bakery" is better than "web services". The detailed list comes next, but the opening sentence keeps everyone pointed in the same direction.

Write the scope as a list

The scope is the part that matters most. It answers two questions: what will you do, and what will you not do.

• List each deliverable as a thing someone could check off. "Three logo options in the first round" can be checked. "Branding" cannot.
• State the limits: number of revisions, hours included, number of pages, meetings, locations.
• State what you need from the client and by when: texts, access, photos, decisions. Many delays are the client's, and the agreement should say what happens when they are late.
• List what is not included. If you will not write the texts, host the site or fix problems caused by someone else, say so.

If the job is large or has stages, put the detailed scope in a separate statement of work and refer to it from the agreement. Our statement of work template is built for that, and the freelance service agreement and consulting agreement templates cover the agreement around it.

Price and payment

Be exact. Say the price or the rate, the currency, whether tax is included, and when each payment is due. If you take a deposit, say how much and that work starts when it arrives. If payment is in stages, tie each stage to something visible, such as "on approval of the design" rather than "when we are about halfway".

Add what happens when payment is late: a reasonable interest rate or fee if the law where you are allows it, and the right to pause work. Do not invent a punishing number. A fair, modest term is easier to enforce and easier to get agreed.

Say how expenses are handled. Travel, stock photos, printing and software licences should either be included in the price or be charged at cost with the client's approval first.

Changes will happen, so plan for them

The client will ask for something extra. That is normal, and it is not a problem if the agreement says how it is handled: the client asks in writing, you say what it changes in price and time, the client agrees, and only then do you do it.

A sentence such as "work outside the scope is quoted separately and starts only after the client approves the quote" saves more friendships than any other clause. It also gives you a polite thing to say: "Happy to do that, here is what it adds."

Who owns what

Clients often assume they own everything you make the moment they pay, and makers often assume they keep everything. Neither is automatically true, and the rules differ between countries, so write it down.

Decide and state:

1. Whether ownership of the finished work passes to the client, and when (usually on full payment).
2. Whether you keep the right to show the work in your portfolio.
3. What happens to tools, templates and materials you brought to the job. Most people keep those and give the client a licence to use them within the work.
4. What happens to material the client provided. It stays theirs, and you promise to use it only for the job.

Confidentiality and data

If you will see the client's customer lists, financial figures or personal data, say that you will keep them private and use them only for the work. If you will handle personal data of other people, the law where you work may require specific terms, so read the rules that apply to you or ask a professional.

For a standalone confidentiality agreement see NDA basics. A short confidentiality clause inside the service agreement is often enough for ordinary work.

Ending the work

Agreements fail most often at the end, so it pays to describe it early:

• Finishing. How the client accepts the work, and how many days they have to raise problems.
• Stopping early. How much notice either side must give, and what the client pays for work already done.
• Serious problems. What happens if one side breaks the agreement and does not fix it within a stated number of days.

Keep these short and symmetric. A term that only helps you looks one sided, and clients notice.

Liability, in moderation

Many agreements limit how much you can be asked to pay if something goes wrong, often to the fees for the job. This is common and reasonable, but laws restrict what such limits can do, especially for consumers and for harm to people. Use the wording from a trusted template, and have a professional check it if the amounts are large.

Signing and keeping it

Both sides should sign, or accept in a way that leaves a record, such as signing a PDF or replying "agreed" to the final version. Keep the signed copy and the emails around it together in one place, named so that you can find it in a year.

A few habits help:

1. Send the draft in an editable format first, so the client can ask for changes.
2. Number the versions and make sure the one signed is the last one.
3. Put the start date and the end date, or the way the end is decided, on the first page.
4. Read it once more, out loud if you can. A clause that is hard to say is probably hard to understand.

Where nerix helps

You can start from one of our free templates and fill in a short form. The document builds itself, and you download it as Word or PDF. What you type stays in your browser.

If you want to adapt the wording, ask nerix in the chat to turn your notes into a first draft, tell it the scope, the price and the payment stages, and ask it to make a clause shorter or in simpler words. It opens the draft in a document beside the chat and keeps each version. The numbers and dates in a document and Sheet can be filled in beside it.

It does not know your law, your risks or what you agreed on the phone, so read every line yourself. For large or unusual agreements, a short review by a lawyer is cheap compared with a dispute.

The short version

Say who, what, how much, by when, what happens when things change and what happens when the work ends. Use plain words, keep it to a few pages and sign it before the work starts.