How to write a simple service agreement?

To write a simple service agreement, work through seven parts: the parties, the services described specifically, the price and payment schedule, the timeline, who owns the work product once paid, a liability cap, and how either party terminates.

Describe services like you would to a colleague: monthly bookkeeping for one entity, up to 80 transactions. Vague scope is the single largest source of service disputes.

Payment terms deserve equal precision. Deposit or no deposit, net-15 or net-30, and a late fee. Then keep the language ordinary. A simple agreement in plain English signs faster, reads cleaner in a dispute, and is exactly as binding as one stuffed with heretofores. One page is plenty for most engagements.

Or fill the seven parts as form fields in this free service agreement template.