Completing beautiful projects for your clients is what you do best. You care about every detail of your work — including those important pieces of paperwork that will help you and your client as you work toward completion of their amazing project. Here are five documents you should always provide your general contractor business clients.
The Protection Paperwork
The first thing your customers want to know is that you are bonded, licensed, and insured. Making that clear up front on your website and in other marketing will attract more customers. Once you’ve provided your license and the paperwork indicating that you have those important safeguards in place, they will feel more comfortable hiring you.
The Construction Contract
We’d all like to live in a world where a handshake and a smile will suffice. However, peace of mind comes to both parties when you put agreements down in writing. When the general contractor documents this commitment, it binds both parties. It protects both you and your clients as the job progresses. In this contract, your customers find information for payment arrangements and the scope of work coming.
The Statement or Scope of Work
The Statement of Work or Scope of Work is the place where you, the general contractor, document what will be happening in the overall project. Will you be working with subcontractors? What sort of work will they be doing? What materials will each stage of the project need? Is there a payment for change orders after the job is underway? Every single detail in the scope of the project needs to be in writing. This way there is no confusion going forward about how things get accomplished.
The Schedule
Your client will greatly appreciate knowing the timeline for your work. They want to know how long it will take and when you think it will be done. The more meticulous you can be in defining these parameters, the more reassured your client will be as they watch it all unfold. A document that breaks the schedule down into phases helps the client understand better why certain things must be done in certain ways.
The Estimate of Costs
There is a lump sum cost for the job, but the client doesn’t know how that sum was reached. Add a detailed list of the cost of labor and materials. On top of this, there are the costs of permits, accounting fees, labor, taxes, and more. Giving an estimate can help your customers know exactly where their money is going.
These five documents you should always provide are just the start of the paperwork you can give your clients. However, you also know that many of your clients are going to seek financing. Don’t forget to provide them with financing paperwork for HFS Financial when you partner with us! Your clients can apply here, but you can also partner with us to offer your customers access to our services too. If you have any questions, you can contact us at 1-800-254-9560 or use our online form. With HFS Financial, “You Dream it, We Finance It.”