Scope of works template

A scope of works is what is in the job and what is out of it, numbered, in order, with exclusions written down rather than implied. A price without a locked scope is how you donate extras. Lock the scope first. You add your own rates after, and the model does not invent them.

This page gives you a scope of works template in three forms:

• A blank block you copy, fill in and strike through: inclusions, exclusions, items to confirm, assumptions.
• A filled example for a kitchen rewire, one trade, no prices.
• Copy-paste prompts for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini that generate the same structure from the photos, voice note and exclusions list you already leave site with.

The AI part is not speculative admin. In the US, among 76 specialty trade professionals in Houzz's 722-firm AI survey fielded in May 2025, 38% already use AI and those users save 3.8 hours a week, with estimate creation the top use in project and client management.

You sign off every line. A scope of works template you generate from the site visit beats a blank PDF you download and pretend fits every bathroom.

A scope of works is what is in and what is out. Numbered. In order. Named products only when you named them or the photo shows the badge. Exclusions written, not implied.

A WhatsApp one-liner is not a scope. "Bathroom refit, labour and materials" is how you end up supplying tiles they already bought, ripping out a bath they wanted to keep, or arguing about making good. The customer who gets a clear inclusions and exclusions list can see you listened. The one who gets a one-liner shops the number and fights the extras.

A scope of works is not a schedule of works. That is a programme. It is not a method statement or RAMS. That is CDM paperwork. Different documents. Do not mash them into one dump.

Rates stay off the scope of works page on purpose. Scope first. Then you price from your list.

Four documents get called the same thing on site, and mashing them together is how a scope of works stops being useful. This table sets out what each one answers, taken from the distinctions above.

Document	What it answers	Does it carry a price?	Who owns it
Scope of works	What is included, what is not included, items to confirm, assumptions	No. Rates stay off this page on purpose	You, from the site visit
Quote	What the locked scope costs	Yes. You add your own rates from your list	You, after the scope is locked
Schedule of works	Sequencing: the programme	No	Whoever runs the programme
Method statement / RAMS	Safety and CDM: how the work is carried out safely	No	You. Competence on RAMS stays with you

The template and the prompts on this page are for the first row only. Do not ask a chatbot to certify a method, and do not let a scope of works turn into a risk assessment.

Copy the block. Fill the blanks. Strike what you are not doing. This is the blank scope of works template.

SCOPE OF WORKS

Job: [ ]
Address: [ ]
Date: [ ]
Trade: [ ]

One-line summary:
[ ]

WHAT IS INCLUDED
1. Strip-out / isolation: [ ]
2. First-fix: [ ]
3. Named kit: [ ]
4. Second-fix / install: [ ]
5. Making good (only if you are doing it): [ ]
6. Test / commission / handover: [ ]
7. [ ]
8. [ ]
9. [ ]
10. [ ]

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED
Keep or delete.

- Making good, plastering, decorating
- Other trades (electrics / plumbing / joinery / tiling). Strike the ones that are you
- Disposal / skip / waste off-site
- Parking / congestion / ULEZ
- Building control / notification fees
- Customer-supplied kit (fit only; no warranty on their parts)
- [ ]

ITEMS TO CONFIRM
1. [ ]
2. [ ]
3. [ ]

ASSUMPTIONS
1. [ ]
2. [ ]

This is the scope of works. Not a price. Not a schedule of works. Not a method statement or RAMS.

Valid until: [ ]

Here is the same scope of works template filled in. Kitchen rewire. One trade. No prices.

SCOPE OF WORKS

Job: Kitchen rewire as part of a refit
Address: 9 Church Lane, [town]
Date: [today]
Trade: Electrician (NICEIC)

One-line summary:
Eight extra sockets, induction hob, recirculating extractor. 1960s board staying pending confirmation.

WHAT IS INCLUDED
1. Isolate, prove dead, lock-off.
2. First-fix: eight additional double sockets, positions as marked on site.
3. Cooker circuit for customer-supplied induction hob. Cable size to confirm.
4. Spur for customer-supplied recirculating extractor. Accessories in [finish, to confirm].
5. Making good: not in this scope.
6. Test, certificate, handover.

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED
- Making good, chasing, plastering, decorating
- Plumbing, joinery, tiling, kitchen fit
- Disposal off-site
- Parking / congestion / ULEZ
- Building control / Part P fees if notifiable
- Customer-supplied hob, extractor and accessories (fit only)
- Board change. See items to confirm.

ITEMS TO CONFIRM
1. Cooker circuit cable size and route
2. Board staying or replacement required
3. Accessory finish

ASSUMPTIONS
1. Meter and tails adequate
2. Extractor is recirculating. No external fan circuit.

This is the scope of works. Not a price. Not a schedule of works. Not a method statement or RAMS.

Valid until: [date]

If you want the typing done from photos and voice, the prompts further down generate the same scope of works structure. You still sign off.

US, May 2025: among 76 specialty trades in Houzz's 722-firm AI survey, 38% already use it and those users save 3.8 hours a week. Estimate creation is the top AI use in project and client management. The source is the specialty-contractor cut in the Houzz PDF, not the magazine write-up.

Generating a scope of works does not need a new workflow app. It needs the three things you already leave site with.

Photos. Wide of the space. Close of the kit: boiler badge, consumer unit, pipework, flue, the actual fault, the bit that will cause a row.

A 60 to 90 second voice note, or the rough notes you already scribble. Customer, address, what they want, what stays, what is awkward, any brand they named. Get a transcript off whatever you already use. Paste it. Do not polish it. Talk it the way you talk it in the loft: 9 Church Lane, kitchen as part of their refit, 1960s board, eight sockets on the run, induction hob, extractor is recirculating, they think the cooker circuit is 6mm and I could not see the run.

Your standard exclusions list. The one you already mean: making good, decorating, other trades, disposal, parking, building control fees, customer-supplied kit, anything the last job fought you on.

That is the brief. The model is the typing.

Tanner Tattini at Contractor Guide Pro published this on 25 April 2026 (updated 24 July 2026). ChatGPT Plus: Custom GPT or a Project. Claude Projects take the same files. Gemini runs the same prompts.

One-time, about 20 minutes. Dump three to five scopes you actually won, plus your standard exclusions, into the Custom GPT or Project. New drafts then inherit how you write and what you always leave out, instead of starting from a blank US contractor.

After the site visit, paste the job into Prompt 1. Original wording from Contractor Guide Pro (US "scope of work", "labor", city and state):

Write a detailed scope of work for the following project: [describe the job, e.g., full bathroom remodel including tile, plumbing rough-in, vanity install, and fixture hookup]. Include materials, labor steps in order, and exclusions. Format it as a numbered list. I am a licensed [trade] contractor in [city, state].

UK paste. Scope of works. Labour. Town, UK. Gas Safe or NICEIC if you hold it.

Write a detailed scope of works for the following project: [describe the job, e.g., full bathroom remodel including tile, plumbing rough-in, vanity install, and fixture hookup]. Include materials, labour steps in order, and exclusions. Format it as a numbered list. I am a [Gas Safe / NICEIC] [trade] contractor in [town/city], UK.

Fill the brackets with the actual job, not a slogan. A plumber: full bathroom gut and refit, bath staying, new mixer shower over, customer supplying tiles, first-fix plumbing to existing soil, no electrics in this scope. A spark: kitchen rewire as part of a refit, existing 1960s board, eight additional sockets, induction hob, recirculating extractor, cooker circuit not verified. Town is the town you are standing in.

It should come back numbered: materials, labour in order, exclusions. It should not come back with a total. If it prices the job, you asked the wrong question. Strike the numbers and run it again.

Same source, Contractor Guide Pro. Same Custom GPT. Do not let the model invent a 15mm run because 15mm is common, or a Part P notifiable board change because most kitchen jobs have one, or a through-wall flue because that is what last week's job was.

Based on the information below, draft [document type]. If any critical details are missing or unclear, list exactly what additional information is needed rather than making assumptions. Do not use vague terms like 'as required,' 'adequate,' or 'appropriate.'

Put scope of works in [document type]. Paste the photo description, the voice transcript and the rough notes underneath. If it comes back with a list of missing information, that is the useful output. Answer those points. Send it back. Repeat until the list is empty.

Vague filler is how you get done on day two. "As required", "adequate", "appropriate", "to current regs" with no named regs. Delete them. Name the thing, or put it under items to confirm.

Pipe sizes, cable sizes, flue route, condensate, existing circuit, whether the bath stays, who is supplying the sanitaryware: either you said it, the photo shows it, or it stays on the missing list. The model does not guess.

Prompt 1 is the job in words. This pass is the job you actually stood in, and it produces the same scope of works structure from the site visit itself.

Upload the site photos. Paste the transcript. Attach your exclusions if they are not already in the Custom GPT. Then:

You are drafting a scope of works only. No prices.

I have attached:
1. Photos from the site visit
2. A voice transcript / rough notes
3. My standard exclusions (if attached, or already in this GPT / Project)

Write a numbered scope of works for a UK homeowner:
- Materials you can actually see in the photos, or that I named in the notes
- Labour steps in the order I would do the job
- A short inclusions list
- A short exclusions list (use mine, plus any that follow from what is visible)
- Assumptions I must verify before this goes out
- Items to confirm: anything not visible in the photos and not stated in the notes. Leave those lines blank.

Do not invent pipe sizes, cable sizes, flue runs, product models, Part P notifiable status, or building control outcomes.
Do not use "as required", "adequate", "appropriate", or "to current regulations" unless you name the regulation I gave you.
UK English. No prices. No marketing fluff.

What comes back should look like a scope, not a blog post. If a close-up shows a Worcester badge, it can say Worcester. If the photo is a wide shot of a cupboard, it cannot name the model. That line goes under items to confirm.

You still walk the draft against the photos. If a product, size or exclusion appeared from nowhere, it guessed. Cut it.

Prompt 1 is for you: numbered labour, materials, the order of work. Homeowners bounce off that if it reads like a first-fix list.

Kieron Penrose at AI Alchemist uses this as the Scope Clarifier. Inclusions. Exclusions. Plain English. No price. Run it on the signed-off scope of works draft, or on the same rough notes, then paste the output under your letterhead. Google Docs or Pages if that is where the pack already lives. You are not learning a new document app.

You are a professional tradesperson writing a clear scope of works for a customer job quote.

My trade: [e.g. "Plumber" / "Electrician" / "Decorator" / "Builder"]
Customer: [First name], at [brief property description — e.g. "a 3-bed semi in Leeds"]
The job (my rough notes): [Describe the job in your own words — as rough as you like — e.g. "Replace old back boiler with new combi, new rads in 2 rooms, flush system, magnetic filter, new controls, tidy up pipework in kitchen"]

Write a clear, professional scope of works section for the quote. It should include:

WHAT IS INCLUDED:
[Bullet points of every element of the job in plain English — no jargon]

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED:
[Bullet points of common extras customers assume are included but are not — e.g. "making good of any plasterwork", "electrical work", "disposal of old boiler off-site (available on request at additional cost)"]

Keep the language plain and specific. The customer is a homeowner, not a tradesperson — write for them.
Do NOT include the price in this section.

Two documents, same job: the numbered scope you work from, and the inclusions and exclusions they can actually read. Do not let this pass invent extras you did not agree. If it adds "electrical work" as an exclusion on a spark's job, that is a bad paste. You are still the editor.

Do not send the AI scope of works draft untouched. Before it leaves, six checks.

Check	The rule
Named products	You specified them, or a photo shows the badge. Otherwise they are items to confirm, still blank.
Exclusions	What is not covered is written. Making good, other trades, disposal, parking, customer-supplied kit, anything your last dispute was about.
Items to confirm	Still a list. Never filled by the model.
Assumptions	You agree, or you change them.
Vague filler	Search for "as required", "adequate", "appropriate". Delete.
Labour order	The sequence you will actually follow, not a generic bathroom off the internet.

You remain the competent person. Gas Safe, NICEIC, building control: your call, not the model's.

Then you add your own rates. The model does not invent them.

If you do not want to keep stitching prompts, Tradehand is a UK trade-specific option that already turns job details into a clear customer-facing pack (scope, then the quote path). Use it or don't. Delete the name and everything above still holds.

Four things stay with you whatever the scope of works draft says.

Pricing. Your rates, your markup, your day rate. Not its guess at a combi in Leeds.

CDM competence. A scope of works is not a risk assessment. Do not ask ChatGPT to certify a method.

Warranty and contract language you have not approved. If it writes a 12-month guarantee you do not give, that is now your problem.

Legal or notifiable status. Part P, Gas Safe notification, building control: you decide from the actual install, not from a tidy paragraph.

Next survey: photos, voice, exclusions already in the GPT. Prompt 1, then Prompt 2 until the missing list is empty. Scope Clarifier if they need homeowner English. Sign off. Scope the same day. Then price it.

You already knew what was in the job. You just stopped leaving it unwritten.