The truck pulls into the driveway at seven, the man with the clipboard walks straight past the car you parked there and asks for the homeowner, and you are the one holding the coffee. You are the one who will answer the questions all week. Before anyone starts, the paper needs to match that reality.
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Start with the name block
Read the top and bottom of the contract before anything else. Look at whose name is on the agreement, whose name is on the payment, and whose signature is on the last page. If the house belongs to Mom and you are the person managing the job, you need to know who has the authority to approve changes and who can sign off when the work is finished. Ask the person who helps Mom with her paperwork and money to look at the name block with you. We are not giving legal advice here, just telling you that the name on the page decides who the company answers to.
Find the scope line
The scope is the sentence that says what is being done. Count the rooms, the walls, the trim pieces, the doors, the fixtures. If the scope says 'paint the bedroom' and does not say ceiling, trim, or two coats, you have just found the place where extras will come from later. Write your own short list of what you expect to be done, then hold it against the contract line by line. Anything you expect and cannot find on the page is a question to ask before the first drop cloth goes down.
Read the extra-work clause
Every job runs into something. The tile comes up and the subfloor is soft, or the wall opens and the old wiring is not what anyone expected. What matters is what the contract says happens next. Look for three things: whether extra work needs written approval before it starts, how that extra work gets priced, and who gets the call when it comes up. Ask the company to say the answer out loud, then ask them to put it on paper. A verbal promise made at seven in the morning is hard to hold them to at five in the afternoon.
Check the money paper
Look at when money is due and the exact name of who it is payable to. A company name is what you want. A personal name on the check, or a vague payee line, is worth a question. Ask whether you will get a written receipt for each payment. Ask whether the final payment is tied to a walk-through where you and the crew look at the finished work together. That final walk-through is the moment when problems are cheapest to fix, so it is worth protecting in the paper.
Match the start and finish to your two calendars
The contract may list a start window and a finish window. Put those on the calendar you already use, next to the kids' row and Mom's row. Who is home for the crew each morning? Who is driving whom to school during the work? If the window slips, what does the paper say? Some agreements are silent here, and silence means the schedule will be whatever the crew decides. Ask for a rough daily plan in writing so you can plan the collisions instead of discovering them with a truck in the driveway.
Ask who stands behind the work
The workmanship promise is the warranty on the labor. Read what it covers, how long it lasts in the paper, and what starts the clock. Ask whether the promise belongs to the company or to a single person who may not be there in a year. Look for whether parts and labor are described separately, since a paint or fixture warranty can mean something very different from the warranty on the installation. If the words are unclear, ask for them to be clarified in writing before you sign, not after.
Keep the signed copy where you can find it at two in the morning
Once everyone has signed, you need the signed page, the quote it came from, and any warranty paper in one place. Keep a copy at Mom's house in her folder, and keep a copy with you. Write down the company's phone number and the name of the person you deal with on the front page. Future you, the one who is up at two in the morning with a leak under the sink, will be grateful the answer is in one folder and not spread across three inboxes.
The short list before anyone signs
Check the name on the agreement and who holds the authority to approve changes. Compare the scope to your own list. Read the extra-work clause and ask for it in writing. Confirm where payments go and whether you get receipts. Put the start and finish windows on both calendars. Ask who stands behind the work and for how long. Keep the signed copy somewhere you can actually find it. If you want a fuller view of how this desk checks paper before writing about it, see How We Write, and if you are new to the site, the reading order lays out where to go next.