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SINLETechnologies LLC

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How to read a statement of work

The lines that have to exist: what ships, what is out, when the card runs, who owns the repo, and how you cancel. If they are missing, it is a pitch.

Read the statement of work like a contract, because it is one. Pretty process diagrams are optional. The money lines are not. If those lines are missing, you are looking at a pitch — even if it arrived as a PDF on letterhead.

SINLE will not charge a card before you approve this page. Typical projects: 50% to start, 50% on delivery, USD, Stripe. The LLC on the PDF is SINLE Technologies LLC. Code, design, and admin transfer on final payment. If another studio will not write those sentences, you do not have a partner. You have a vendor who intends to keep the keys.

Use the sequence below as a checklist against any SOW — ours included. Slack is not a change order. A Figma file is not a statement of work.

Mark the page before you sign

Print the SOW. Highlight eight lines: deliverables, out of scope, price in USD, when the card runs, the legal name, what transfers on final payment, the change-order rule, how you cancel. Any line you cannot highlight is a hole. Holes get filled later, on their terms.

A clean SINLE page says: 50% to start, 50% on delivery, SINLE Technologies LLC, repo and admin on final payment, Slack is not a change order. If another studio will not write those sentences, you are renting.

The sequence

Do these in order. Skip a line and you are back to a workshop.

  1. 01

    Find the deliverables list

    Pages, features, environments, handoff. “Innovation support” is not a deliverable.

  2. 02

    Find the out-of-scope list

    If there is none, the quote will expand until the money is gone.

  3. 03

    Find when the card is charged

    Nothing before you approve the page. Typical projects: 50% to start, 50% on delivery, USD.

  4. 04

    Find who is on the invoice

    The LLC on the site should match the LLC on the PDF. A trade name is fine if the legal name is there too.

  5. 05

    Find what you own on final payment

    Repo, files, admin, prompts written for you. Third-party tools keep their own licences — that should be written.

  6. 06

    Find the change-order rule

    New job, new page, new price. Slack is not a change order.

  7. 07

    Find how you cancel

    Notice, what you keep, what is refunded if work has not started. If this is vague, assume you are stuck.

  8. 08

    Find the lock if an agent is in scope

    Money and sends stay human. If the SOW is silent, the agent will be silent-and-wrong in production.

Keep these

  • A Figma file is not a statement of work.
  • If you cannot leave with the work, you do not own it.

Do this before you spend

  1. 01Highlight the eight lines on the SOW in front of you.
  2. 02Send back every missing line as a question, in writing.
  3. 03Do not pay a deposit until the page answers them.
Ask for a written scopeRead the terms

If you want that page from us, send the job. Nothing is charged before you approve the statement of work.

Questions

What belongs in a statement of work?
What will ship, what will not, dates, price in USD, when the card is charged, who owns the work on final payment, how changes are priced, and how you cancel.

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Get the page before the card.

A statement of work names deliverables, price, what is out, and who owns the repo. Nothing is billed before you sign it.

Ask for a written scopehello@sinletech.com