Statement of work (SOW)
The signed document that spells out exactly what you're delivering, by when, and what counts as done. The project's definition of finished.
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What it is
A statement of work is the project-specific half of a contract. It names the deliverables, the schedule, the price, who supplies what, and the conditions under which each deliverable counts as accepted. The legal boilerplate (payment terms, IP, liability) usually lives in a master service agreement, and the SOW attaches to it as an exhibit.
Reach for one on any engagement where 'a website' could mean five pages or fifty. A usable SOW has four blocks: numbered deliverables with counts, a dated timeline with client-dependency dates, acceptance criteria per deliverable, and an exclusions list. The exclusions list is the block people skip and the one that saves the project.
Gotcha: adjectives are not deliverables. 'A modern, responsive marketing site' is unbillable and unarguable. 'Six unique page templates, two breakpoints each, two rounds of revisions per template' is a thing you can finish, invoice, and defend.
Ask AI for it
Draft a statement of work for the project described below, structured as an exhibit to an MSA. Include these sections: project summary, numbered deliverables (each with a specific count and format, no adjectives), acceptance criteria per deliverable, timeline with dated client dependencies, fee and payment schedule tied to milestones, an explicit 'not included' exclusions list, revision limit, and a clause stating that anything outside the deliverables list requires a signed change order. Keep it under two pages and write it in plain English, not legalese.