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I concur that the more detailed a contract, the better. With each contract I wrote, I got longer and longer last year, as much for myself as for the client. Then I am not leaving out anything along the way, and the client cannot accuse me of such. My contract really came in handy on one of the last jobs that I did because it became much more involved. I was then able to point to the contract when I wanted/needed more money.
Here is an example of my wording:
Backyard—Landscaping
- Define and create flower bed along north side of house @ approx. 30 ft. x 4 ft., plant flowers, mulch
Backyard—Retaining wall
- Excavate, backfill and build retaining walls along NW and NE corners of the home @ approx . 15 ft. long x 2 ft. high (average h)
Front yard--landscaping
- Build up dirt around south and southeast corner of the house for raised flower bed, plant flowers, mulch.
- Define and create bed around utility boxes at southeast of property, plant tree, ornamental grasses and flowers.
Materials
- Mulch @ approx. X cu. yd.
- Edging @ approx. X ln. ft.
- Wall Stone @ approx. X tons
- Backfill aggregate @ approx. X tons
- Drain tile @ approx. X ln. ft.
- Vibratory plate compactor rental
- Plants—Backyard: Purple hydrangea @ approx. X; Stormy Seas coral bells @ approx. X; Fragrant hosta @ approx. X
- Plants—Front yard: Violet Crape Myrtles @ approx. X; Crème Brule coreopsis @ approx. X; Shenendoah Switchgrass @ approx. X; Eastern Redbud cercis tree @ X
I really like JP's advice about making estimate numbers arbitrarily high!
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