What carries forward
- Scope of work and exclusions, exactly as approved.
- Line items and total price from the approved version.
- Payment terms, deposit amount and milestone schedule.
- Timeline or start window, with the conditions attached to it.
- Warranty terms and the change-order process.
Freeze before you send
Once the contract goes out for signature, the document must stop changing. A packet that can be edited mid-signature produces a situation where two parties signed different versions — which is worse than having no signature at all. If something must change, withdraw the packet and issue a new version.
Multi-party signing
Where both a customer signer and a business representative are required, each signs independently through their own link. The partially-signed state is a real state: the agreement is not executed and no final document should be generated or shared until every required signature is captured.
Where financing fits
If the customer is financing the work, approval sits between the estimate and the contract, not after it. The contract should reflect the financed amount and the deposit structure the lender requires, so the payment schedule does not have to be rewritten later.
After execution
The executed contract, the certificate of signatures and the delivery record attach to the customer and to the job. That bundle is what protects you in a dispute and what the crew's scope is derived from. Storing it in an inbox is not storage.