Services Agreement Template
The master agreement for providing services to a customer, covering deliverables, fees, IP ownership, liability and termination.
This is the agreement an agency, consultancy or professional services firm signs with a client. It is the counterpart to the contractor agreement: use that one when you are hiring, and this one when you are the one being hired.
At 23 clauses it covers the areas that generate disputes: what exactly is being delivered, when payment is due, who owns the work product, and what happens when something goes wrong.
Use it when
- Running an agency, studio or consultancy with recurring clients
- Setting up a master agreement with statements of work underneath it
- Any engagement where deliverables, milestones and IP need defining
- Client relationships large enough that a purchase order is not enough
Use something else when
- You are the one hiring. Use the independent contractor agreement
- The engagement is a single small project, where a short scope document and an invoice may be proportionate
What is in the document
Every section of the services agreement template, as it appears in the file you download.
Questions
What is the difference between a services agreement and a contractor agreement?
Mostly perspective and scale. A services agreement is typically the service provider's paper, built for repeat client work with statements of work underneath. A contractor agreement is typically the hirer's paper for a single engagement.
Who owns the deliverables?
This template licenses the IP in the deliverables to the customer on a perpetual, royalty-free basis while the provider retains ownership of underlying tools and methods. That split is standard in professional services and worth explaining to clients up front.
Should I use statements of work?
Yes, for anything ongoing. The master agreement holds the legal terms and each SOW defines scope, timeline and price. It means you renegotiate scope without reopening liability and IP every time.
Does this include payment terms?
Yes. Fees and expenses are a dedicated clause with fill-in fields for amounts, schedule and expense handling.