What is a scope of work?

A scope of work is the part of a quote, proposal or contract that spells out exactly what's included in a piece of work, and, by implication, what isn't.

What it means in practice

The scope of work is what stops "we'll sort the website" turning into an argument three months later. It's usually organised as sections: pages, features, integrations, content, testing, each one specific enough that both sides can check it off. Anything not written down is, strictly, not included, which is why a thin scope of work is where scope creep gets in.

The term is often used interchangeably with statement of work. Where studios distinguish the two, the statement of work is the whole contractual document and the scope of work is the section (or exhibit) inside it that defines the boundaries of the job.

Example

A scope of work for a brochure site might list: 8 template pages, one contact form with email notification, on-page SEO for those pages, and one round of client revisions, with a note that copywriting and photography are excluded and quoted separately.