DDwellingerby RCB Group
Guide · about 6 minutes

What a scope of works template needs, section by section

A scope of works is the document that turns a quote into something a client can read, compare and sign. Here is what RCB Group puts in one, and why.

What a scope of works is for

Three things. It tells the client exactly what they are buying. It tells your site team exactly what to build. It tells both sides what a variation is. If any of those is unclear, the scope is not finished.

Scope before price

Quantities and descriptions come first, with no money attached. Only when the scope is agreed do you price it. Pricing a scope you have not written yet is how numbers get invented and margins get lost.

The sections

  1. Project identification: address, drawings and revisions the scope is based on, date, version, status (draft, for review, estimated quotation).
  2. Assumptions: what you have taken as given: ground conditions, existing services, access, working hours.
  3. Preliminaries: scaffold, waste, welfare, protection, fees.
  4. Works by element: demolition, substructure, structure, envelope, insulation and fire, first fix, second fix, finishes, external works. Each with a description and quantity where measurable.
  5. Allowances (provisional sums): items not yet chosen, with the allowance stated and who supplies and fits.
  6. Client-supplied items: kitchens, sanitaryware, tiles, flooring, decorative fittings, with a selection deadline where programme depends on it.
  7. Exclusions: explicit. Carpet, furniture, planning fees, Party Wall awards, anything not drawn.
  8. Responsibilities: who designs, supplies, installs, approves, certifies and pays for each element.
  9. Programme: weeks per stage.
  10. Payment structure: deposit and stage payments, tied to stages not dates.

Where templates earn their keep

Lofts, extensions, refurbishments, kitchens and bathrooms each have a stable skeleton. The elements rarely change; the quantities and choices do. A template carries the skeleton, the standard assumptions and the standard exclusions, so each scope starts 70% written and you spend the time on what is specific to this house.

Version control is not optional

Scopes change after the survey, after the engineer, after the client's choices. Each version needs a number, a date and a one-line note of what changed. When the client says "that was not in the scope", you open version 3 and read it together.

If you want the template rather than the theory, the estimating and scope page shows how the platform carries these sections for lofts, extensions and refurbishments.

Published 2026-10-10 by RCB Group. General information for contractors, drawn from RCB Group's own estimating practice. Not advice for a specific project.