The subcontractor scope letter that protects your margin

A scope letter isn't a formality. It's the document the GC will hold up six months later when they ask why you didn't include something. Here's how to write one that holds up.

The scope letter is the page nobody reads at bid time and everybody reads at change-order time. It's also the only document that travels with your bid into the project file. Get it right and you have a defense. Get it wrong and every gap becomes your problem.

After fifteen years of writing them, losing arguments about them, and rewriting them on Sunday nights, here's the structure that holds up.

Don't make the GC hunt for it. Line one of the letter should answer the question: "What is this contractor pricing?"

1. Scope name — not "concrete," but "cast-in-place concrete." If precast is in the package, you're not bidding it unless you say so. 2. Bid date — anchors which version of your pricing this is. 3. Plan and addendum dates — anchors which version of the documents your pricing is based on. If a new addendum drops after, every change is a re-price, not a sour conversation.

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