Contracts that match where you work
Choose your state or province and your contract carries the right rules for that jurisdiction: mechanics' lien and Preliminary Notice warnings and your state's right-to-cancel and deposit limits in the US, statutory holdback under your province's Builders Lien or Construction Act in Canada, and Quebec's hypothèque légale de la construction and RBQ licence provisions. Built from state lien statutes, contractor licensing boards, provincial construction acts, and the Civil Code of Québec. Every US state, DC, the territories, and every Canadian province and territory are supported.
What every construction contract should include
- The parties and the project: your business name and licence number where required, the client's name, and the property address
- Scope of work: what is and is not included, in specific plain language, so there is no "I thought that was in there" later
- Contract price and payment schedule: the total and when each payment is due, tied to progress
- Deposit or down payment: the amount, within your jurisdiction's limit
- Change orders: how changes get priced and approved, so a change becomes a signed change order, not an argument
- Schedule: approximate start and substantial completion, with allowance for delays beyond your control
- Warranty, termination, and dispute terms
- Signatures from both parties
A template puts all of these fields in front of you so none get skipped. That alone makes your contracts more complete than most.
The part a generic template gets wrong: your jurisdiction's rules
This is where a region-aware contract earns its keep. The elements that change by location include:
In the United States: the mechanics' lien and Preliminary Notice warnings that many states require in the contract itself, your state's right-to-cancel or cooling-off period and its detachable cancellation form (for example, three business days in California, five if the owner is 65 or older), deposit caps where the state sets one (California's, for instance, states that the downpayment may not exceed $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less), and licensing disclosures such as the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) notice.
In Canada: the statutory holdback under your province's Builders Lien Act (British Columbia) or Construction Act (Ontario), the lien and holdback release language tied to that statute, and new-home warranty programs where they apply, such as Tarion in Ontario, the 2-5-10 warranty in British Columbia, and the GCR in Quebec.
In Quebec: the civil-law framework, including the hypothèque légale de la construction (the legal hypothec of construction), the required licence RBQ, and the warranty articles of the Civil Code of Québec. Quebec imposes no statutory holdback percentage, which is itself a difference a generic contract gets wrong.
In Puerto Rico: a Spanish-governing contract with the Aviso de Cancelación.
These are not decorative clauses. A missing or incorrect cancellation notice, an over-limit deposit, or the wrong lien language is exactly what undermines a contractor in a dispute.
A template is a starting point; the contract is part of the job
A template is a static file you fill in by hand every time. The real time saver is when the contract is generated from your estimate, already matched to your region, ready to e-sign, and then becomes the live budget you track the job against. No re-keying the same numbers into a separate document, and no wondering whether you used the right version for where you work.
That is what TradesMetrics does, and building and sending it is free, with no subscription and no per-seat fees.
Build your contract free
Start from a template, or build your estimate and contract free and let the contract match your state or province automatically. Either way, put the agreement in writing, with the rules your jurisdiction actually requires.
This is general information, not legal advice. Construction contract requirements vary by jurisdiction and change over time; confirm the rules for your location, or have a contract reviewed by a lawyer where the stakes warrant it.