Updated Aug 21, 2023
Contracts and sub-agreements are both able to communicate your terms and conditions and obtain an e-signature from your client. After you build your contract, you can then send it to your client.
For more information on the differences between a contract and a sub-agreement and which works best for you, please see this article.
Create a contract or sub-agreement
To create a contract or sub-agreement template that you can use over and over again, go to Templates >> Forms.
We recommend watching the video above for an overview of how to build contract and sub-agreement templates. You can personalize your contract and sub-agreement to fit your business, but we recommend adding the following:
Signature and initial fields
What makes contracts and sub-agreements different from the other templates in Dubsado is that you can add a section for signatures and initials that can be signed electronically after you've shared the form with a client.
To add these to your form, click on the Initials field to add an area for initials or Signature field to add an area for a signature. Click here for detailed instructions.
Your client’s information
If you add a Text Box element and include smart fields, your contract will autofill your client’s information, such as their name or event date.
Invoice details
A Text Box element with an invoice smart field will add your client’s payment plan or total invoice price to your contract or sub-agreement. For detailed instructions on how to autofill invoice details, click here.
FAQ
What happens if I need to update my contract or sub-agreement?
What happens if I need to update my contract or sub-agreement?
When you add a contract or sub-agreement to a project, it makes a copy from your base template stored in Templates >> Forms. This means that you can update templates to use with new clients going forward without affecting contracts or sub-agreements that you've already added to projects.
I customize my contract for each client. Do I need to make a new template each time?
I customize my contract for each client. Do I need to make a new template each time?
Nope! When you add a contract to a project, it makes a copy from your base template stored in Templates >> Forms. This means that you can edit a specific copy of a contract inside of a project without affecting your base template. Create a template to give yourself a starting point, then customize as much as you need after adding the contract to a project.
Also, remember that you can use smart fields to automatically customize details in the contract like the client's name or invoice total. You might not need to do any manual customization at all!
Can I edit a contract or sub-agreement that’s already been sent to the client?
Can I edit a contract or sub-agreement that’s already been sent to the client?
If the contract or sub-agreement has not been signed yet, then you can edit that contract or sub-agreement. To edit, go to Projects and open the client’s project:
For contracts, click the down arrow next to Contract in the project sidebar and click Edit.
For sub-agreements, go to the Forms tab, hover over the sub-agreement, then click Edit.
However, if the contract or sub-agreement has been signed, then the contract and sub-agreement locks and can't be edited. This is to ensure that the terms and conditions aren’t changed after your client has agreed to it.
Instead of editing, remove that contact or sub-agreement and then add a new copy to the project. You can then edit the new unsigned version and request your client to resign.