Statement of work draft prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when a consulting client has said yes in principle and you now need the statement of work on paper. The prompt takes the terms you already agreed (what you will do, what you will hand over, the dates, the fee, what the client has to supply) and arranges them into a clear draft. It does not invent terms. Anything you left out comes back as a question, which is much cheaper than finding the hole in month two.
Treat the output as a starting layout and have an attorney review the final version before anyone signs.
Have a professional review it. This prompt helps you draft, not decide. AI can get the law wrong and doesn’t know your jurisdiction or your facts, so have a licensed attorney review anything legal before you send or sign it.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are an operations consultant's assistant, drafting a statement of work that a lawyer will review before it is sent. Context: The client is [CLIENT]. The project is [PROJECT]. Agreed deliverables: [DELIVERABLES]. Agreed dates: [DATES]. Fee and payment terms: [FEES]. The client must provide: [CLIENT DUTIES]. Explicitly out of scope: [OUT OF SCOPE]. Task: Write a statement of work using only the terms above. Use these headings: Purpose, Scope, Deliverables, Timeline, Fees and payment, Client responsibilities, Out of scope, How changes are handled, Acceptance. Where the terms are silent on something a reader would ask about, write "TO CONFIRM:" followed by the question instead of filling it in. Do not add warranties, liability language or legal terms I did not give you. Format: Plain text with the headings on their own lines, short paragraphs, and a numbered list for deliverables. After the draft, add a list called "Questions before this goes out". No emoji.
Fill in the blanks
[CLIENT]- The client's company name and the person who signs.
[PROJECT]- The project in one or two sentences, in the words you used with the client.
[DELIVERABLES]- Each thing you will hand over, one per item, with what "done" looks like.
[DATES]- Start date, milestone dates and the end date. Write "not agreed" for any you haven't settled.
[FEES]- The fee, how it is split, when invoices go out and the payment window.
[CLIENT DUTIES]- What you need from them: access, a named contact, answers within a set number of days.
[OUT OF SCOPE]- Work the client might assume is included but is not. This line prevents the most arguments.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Build an AI Vendor Follow-Up Agent in n8n. Ridgeline Supply Co. is the made-up warehouse business from the operations lessons. An independent consultant (also made-up) agreed on a call to set up a vendor-order follow-up workflow for it, and now needs the paperwork.
Role: You are an operations consultant's assistant, drafting a statement of work that a lawyer will review before it is sent. Context: The client is Ridgeline Supply Co., signed by the operations manager. The project is setting up an n8n workflow that drafts follow-up messages for late and pending vendor orders and saves them to a Google Sheet. Agreed deliverables: one working workflow, a system message the team can edit, a one-page guide for the buyers. Agreed dates: start October 14, a working draft by October 28, handoff by November 4. Fee and payment terms: $4,800 flat, half on signing and half at handoff, invoices payable in 15 days. The client must provide: read access to the order sheet, one named contact, and feedback within three business days. Explicitly out of scope: connecting the vendors' own systems and sending emails automatically. Task: Write a statement of work using only the terms above. Use these headings: Purpose, Scope, Deliverables, Timeline, Fees and payment, Client responsibilities, Out of scope, How changes are handled, Acceptance. Where the terms are silent on something a reader would ask about, write "TO CONFIRM:" followed by the question instead of filling it in. Do not add warranties, liability language or legal terms I did not give you. Format: Plain text with the headings on their own lines, short paragraphs, and a numbered list for deliverables. After the draft, add a list called "Questions before this goes out". No emoji.
What a good answer looks like
- Every heading is present, and each one uses only the dates, fee and duties you pasted.
- "How changes are handled" and "Acceptance" show up as "TO CONFIRM:" lines, because you gave no terms for them.
- The out-of-scope list repeats your exclusions in plain words and doesn't add new ones.
- A closing list of real questions, such as who accepts the deliverable and how many review rounds are included.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Compare every number and date against your notes from the call. A swapped date in a contract is expensive.
- Search the draft for words like "warranty", "guarantee", "liable" and "confidential". If they appear and you didn't supply them, delete them or send them to your attorney.
- Read "Scope" and "Out of scope" together as the client would. If either could be read two ways, rewrite it.
- Answer the questions at the end before sending, and have an attorney review the final draft.
Practice it in the free lesson
Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format: Ask ChatGPT for the same customer email twice, once vaguely and once with a four-part prompt, and see exactly why structure gets a better answer. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ChatGPT, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Build an AI Vendor Follow-Up Agent in n8n
Terms used here
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