Electronic signatures for construction and trades
Building work generates paperwork at exactly the moments nobody is near a printer. A variation agreed on site on a Tuesday, a subcontractor starting Thursday, a quote that needs accepting before the materials order goes in. Electronic signing fits that rhythm better than most sectors.
What gets signed on a typical job
- Quotes and acceptances. The single most valuable thing to get signed, and the one most often left as an email saying "yes go ahead".
- Subcontractor agreements. Including CIS status, insurance confirmations and scope.
- Variations and instructions. The paperwork that decides who pays for the extra when the job overruns.
- Terms of business and payment terms.
- Handover and sign-off, snagging lists, completion certificates.
- Health and safety: site inductions, RAMS acknowledgements, permits.
The variation is the one that matters. Disputes about who agreed to what extra work, and at what price, are the most common cause of unpaid construction invoices. A signed variation with a timestamp and an audit trail settles in minutes what an email chain argues about for months.
Where the witnessing rules bite
Most construction paperwork is a simple contract and can be signed electronically without ceremony. Some things are executed as deeds, and a deed requiring attestation needs the witness physically present when the signatory signs. A video call does not count.
Watch for: collateral warranties, some performance bonds, parent company guarantees, and leases over three years. If a document says "executed as a deed" on it, read our guide on signing a deed before sending it.
Signing on site
The practical test for construction is whether a signer can complete it on a phone, outdoors, on patchy signal, with cold hands. That means:
- A link that works without an account, a password or an app install.
- A signature that can be drawn with a finger, or typed if that is easier.
- Fields large enough to tap accurately.
- Nothing that needs a PDF reader or a desktop.
The audit trail is the point
In a payment dispute, the question is rarely whether electronic signatures are valid. It is whether this site manager agreed to this variation on that date. Look for a record that captures the IP address, the device, the time to the second, how many times they opened it, and an explicit act of signing, bound into the PDF itself so it travels with the document.
What it costs a small builder
A firm sending six or eight documents a month is a poor fit for a per-user monthly subscription: at £10 to £25 per person per month you pay in the quiet months too, and construction has quiet months. Per-document pricing matches the work: busy months cost more, quiet months cost nothing.
General information, not legal advice. GetSigning is not a law firm. If a document matters, take proper advice on it.
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Built by a developer who has spent a decade on job management software for construction and property firms.
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