A one-page scope for a local business website

A bakery owner signs off a five-page website in January. In February she asks where the online ordering is. She's sure it came up on the first call. The designer is sure it didn't. Neither of them is lying: they just remember a friendly conversation differently, and nothing was written down that both of them read.

A one-page scope stops that. In a one-person AI agency it's also the page your agent builds from. It lists what you'll build, what the client gives you, what isn't included, how changes work and what "finished" means. It's short enough for a busy owner to read properly before signing, which is the whole point. A ten-page document nobody reads protects no one.

Below is a template you can copy, with a worked example for a small bakery, and notes on each part.

What goes in a website scope of work?

Seven headings cover a small local business site:

1. The goal. One sentence on what the site is for.
2. What's included. Pages and features, counted.
3. What the client supplies. Words, photos, logins, and by when.
4. What's not included. Your list, in plain words.
5. Changes. How many rounds, what counts as a round, and how extras are quoted.
6. Finished means. The checks the site passes before launch, and what the client receives.
7. Dates and money. Milestones, deposit and when the rest is due.

The goal is there for a reason. When a request comes in halfway through, you can ask, "Does this help the site do what we agreed it's for?" That question settles more arguments than any clause.

A one-page scope you can copy

Here's the template filled in for a bakery. Replace the details with your client's.

Website scope: Corner Street Bakery

Goal. Help local customers find opening hours, see what's baked each day, and order celebration cakes by enquiry.

Included.

• Five pages: Home, Our bakes, Celebration cakes, About, Contact.
• A cake enquiry form that sends to the bakery's email.
• Opening hours and a map on every page footer.
• Works on phones, tablets and computers.
• Basic search setup: page titles, descriptions and a sitemap.
• Launch on the bakery's own domain.

The client supplies, by 30 January.

• Final wording for the About page and cake descriptions, or approval of drafts we write from a short call.
• Up to 20 photos, or permission to use the ones on the bakery's Instagram.
• Access to the domain account (as a manager or delegate, not ownership).

Not included.

• Online ordering or payments.
• Copywriting beyond the drafts named above.
• Photography.
• Logo or menu design.
• Updates after launch (available as a monthly care plan).

Changes. Two rounds of changes on the design and one on the finished site. A round is one list sent together. Anything outside this page is quoted before we start.

Finished means. Every link and form tested, checked on a real phone, basic accessibility checks done, and the client has approved the final version. The client receives the logins, a copy of the site files, and a one-page guide to making small edits.

Dates and money. Design by 14 February, site ready for review by 28 February, launch the week after approval. 50% deposit to start, 50% on launch.

That fits on one page. It's also easy to talk through on a call, heading by heading.

Why write down what the client supplies?

Because late content is the most common reason a small project stalls, and it's easy to blame the designer when it does. Put a date next to each thing you need. If the date slips, the launch moves, and everyone can see why.

Research you did before the pitch helps here. If you wrote down the questions you asked on the first call, the answers become the brief; turning research into questions for the call shows how to set that up.

What should be out of scope?

Anything a reasonable client might assume is included, but isn't. For a local business site, that's usually:

Often assumed	Say it plainly
Online ordering or bookings	Not included; quoted separately
Writing all the words	We write drafts for these pages only
New photos	Not included; we'll use yours
A new logo	Not included
Changes after launch	Covered by a care plan, or quoted
Moving an old site's content	Up to a set number of pages

The "not included" list isn't there to say no. It's there so that when the client does want online ordering, you both know it's a new piece of work with its own price, and the conversation is easy.

How should changes be handled in a scope?

Count them, and define a round. "Two rounds of changes" means little until you add "a round is one list sent together". Without that line, fifteen separate emails become fifteen rounds.

Then say what happens after the included rounds: "Further changes are quoted before we make them." Most clients are happy with that, because it's fair, and because they've read it before signing.

What does "finished" mean?

Write down the checks the site passes before you call it done. Clients can't see most of the work, so this is also how they learn what they're paying for.

For a small site, a sensible list is: every link and form tested, the site checked on a real phone, and a basic accessibility pass. Google says it uses the mobile version of a site's content for indexing and ranking, so the phone check isn't optional. For accessibility, the W3C's Easy Checks are a good start: page titles, image descriptions, headings, colour contrast, keyboard use and form labels. The website QA checklist turns all of this into a list you can work through.

Add what the client receives at the end: logins, files and a short guide. That line heads off the "where's my website?" email a year later.

How do you walk a client through the scope?

On a short call, not by email alone. Share the page and read each heading aloud. Stop at "not included" and ask, "Is there anything on this list you were expecting?" That one question brings out the online ordering, the new logo or the extra pages while they're still cheap to discuss.

Then ask the client to reply "agreed" in writing, or sign. If they want something added, change the page, send the new version, and get the "agreed" on that version, not the old one. A scope only helps if both of you are looking at the same copy.

Proposal, scope, then what?

The proposal wins the work. The scope defines it. Send them together: the proposal says why and how much, the scope says exactly what. A website proposal template covers the first half.

Once both are agreed, the deposit starts the project. Keep the signed scope, the quote and the payment together with the client's details, so any "I thought that was included" can be answered by opening one page; the page on quotes, deposits and payments shows one way to keep them together. While you build, check work against the same scope, not your memory of the call. Building, reviewing and delivering client websites covers that part.

A scope won't stop every misunderstanding. It makes most of them short, because you both have the same page to look at.