The nine templates above are blank on purpose — but blank templates teach you the shape of the work, not the standard. So here is one deal, invented but realistic, carried from first phone call to signature with the artefacts that matter to this deal filled in as they would actually be written. Read it once straight through; then use it as the benchmark for your own. The site names and currency are deliberately generic — swap in your own market's pricing and terminology; the discipline is what to copy, not the numbers.
The Brief: Kestrel Civil
A 92‑seat civil engineering and surveying firm. Head office at Riverside (60 staff), branch offices at Aldercreek (20) and Ironbend (12) — the last of these a remote regional site with a long history of poor connectivity. Twenty‑two years old, family‑founded, now run by a managing director who owns a third of it. Their work is heavy on CAD and survey data — big files, moved constantly between the office and the field.
They have never used a managed service provider. IT is one internal manager plus a break‑fix contractor who has been with them since 2011 and bills by the hour. The lead came in warm: their insurance broker told them their cyber policy would not renew on the same terms without multi‑factor authentication and tested backups. Renewal is 31 March.
Cast
| Who | Role | What they actually care about |
|---|---|---|
| Meredith Vaughan | Managing Director, part‑owner | Billable utilisation, the insurance renewal, and never having another week like last November |
| Tanya Brooks | Finance Manager | Cash flow, predictability, and not being surprised by an invoice |
| Dave Rasheed | IT Manager (the only one) | Whether this is the meeting where his job gets outsourced |
| Rob Ellery | Principal Engineer, Ironbend | That the VPN drops when he opens a survey file, and has for two years |
| "Bruce" | Incumbent break‑fix contractor | Fifteen years of relationship and a very low hourly rate |