Scope Card / SOW one-pager

Statement of work

Freelance statement of work one pager.

A short SOW for independent designers, developers, and consultants. One page. Fee, timeline, what's in, what's out, revision rounds, and a place to sign. Send it with the proposal.

What a one-page SOW is

A record of the job before work starts. Who. What. How much. When. What is not in the fee. How extras get billed. A line that extras need written approval first.

It is a business document, not legal advice. For most fixed-price work, this is enough. A lawyer can still write a master services agreement if the job is large.

Why one page

Long statements of work get filed unread. A card gets forwarded. Your client can show it to a partner without a meeting. You look like a shop that already drew the wall.

SCOPE CARD

Date: [Today]
From: [Your name / studio]
To: [Client]
Project: [Project name]
Fee: $[Amount]
Timeline: [e.g. 4 weeks from deposit]
Deposit: [optional, e.g. 50%]

What's included
- [Deliverable]
- [Deliverable]
- [Deliverable]

What's not included
- [Usual extra]
- [Usual extra]
- [Usual extra]

Revisions: [N] rounds. Extra rounds and new work billed at $[rate]/hour.
Extras require written approval before work starts.

Client approval: ___________________________
Your name: [Your name]

What to put on the page

1. Names, project, date, fee. The commercials in one breath.
2. What's included. One item per line. Boring and specific.
3. What's not. The extras people assume.
4. Revision rounds and an extra-work rate.
5. A signature line. Work on extras starts after a written yes.

How this sits with the proposal

The proposal sells the work. The scope card bounds it. Paste the plain-text version under the quote. Attach the PDF. Do not wait until week three to name the outs.

If they later say "can you also," that is a change request, not a new SOW. Keep this page. Point at it.

Need only the out list? Steal the what's not included page. Need a pasteable paragraph under the fee? Use the freelance out of scope clause.