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Glossary

Scope of work

A scope of work is the written, itemised description of exactly what a contractor will do on a job — the tasks, the materials, the quantities and the conditions. It is what a price is a price for.

Also called: SOW, statement of work, work scope.

A usable scope of work is a numbered list, not a paragraph. "Replace roof" is not a scope; "tear off two existing layers, install synthetic underlayment over 2,400 square feet of deck, replace all flashing at the two chimneys, haul away debris" is. The difference is whether two contractors reading it will price the same job.

A scope written before bidding is worth far more than one written after. Once each contractor has written their own version of the job, their prices describe different work, and no amount of comparison will make those numbers mean the same thing.

Good scopes also record what is not known. A roof whose deck condition cannot be seen until tear-off should say so, and say who carries that risk, rather than letting each bidder silently decide.

Why it matters

Every downstream problem in a bid process traces back to a missing scope. Without one, the bids are not comparable, the cheapest bid is usually the least complete, and the gap surfaces as a change order once the work has started and you have lost your leverage.

Related terms

  • Bid leveling — Bid leveling is the process of adjusting competing contractor bids onto a common basis so their prices can be compared directly — adding in what one bidder excluded, stripping out what another included, until every number covers the same work.
  • Exclusion — An exclusion is work a contractor has explicitly stated their price does not cover. Exclusions are a legitimate and normal part of a bid — the danger is not that they exist, but that they are easy to miss.
  • Change order — A change order is a written amendment to a signed contract that adds, removes or alters work, and adjusts the price and schedule accordingly. It is the mechanism by which a job's final cost stops matching the bid you accepted.
  • Allowance — An allowance is a placeholder amount included in a bid for work or materials that have not been specified yet — a budget line to be reconciled against the actual cost once the choice is made.

Quotrium drafts the scope, sends it to the contractors you pick, and scores every bid against it line by line. See how it works.