By the Templateez Team · Licensed Attorney · June 2026

General Contractor Intake: The Paperwork That Keeps Projects From Going Sideways

Every construction dispute has the same origin story. The homeowner thought the price included something it did not. The contractor assumed the permits were already handled. Nobody wrote down what "finished basement" actually meant. The arguments about money, timeline, and scope all trace back to a conversation that happened before the contract was signed, where somebody failed to ask the right questions. That conversation is your intake.

Project Type Changes Everything

A general contractor handles wildly different types of work, and your intake needs to identify which one this is before you start estimating:

• New construction — ground-up build on a vacant lot or tear-down. This is the most complex intake: site conditions, soil reports, architectural plans, engineering, full permit package, utility connections, and a timeline measured in months.
• Major renovation — kitchen gut, bathroom remodel, whole-house renovation. Existing structure means existing problems. Load-bearing walls, outdated wiring, asbestos, lead paint. Your intake needs to flag what has been inspected and what has not.
• Addition — adding square footage to an existing structure. This triggers zoning setback requirements, foundation work, and the question of whether the existing HVAC and electrical systems can handle the additional load.
• Commercial tenant improvement — office build-out, retail fit-out, restaurant kitchen. Different permitting process, different inspection requirements, and a landlord who has their own specifications and approval process.

A renovation intake and a new-construction intake share maybe 40% of the same fields. The other 60% is completely different. A generic contractor intake captures the basics, but a GC working larger projects needs the fields specific to construction scope.

Plans and Permits

Two questions that determine whether this project is ready to estimate or still in the planning phase:

• Architectural plans status — do plans exist? Are they complete construction documents or conceptual sketches? Who drew them? Have they been through plan review? If the client has a napkin sketch and expects a bid by Friday, you need to reset expectations immediately.
• Permit status — has anyone pulled permits yet? Has the project been through zoning review? Are there variances needed? In most jurisdictions, the GC pulls the building permit, but the homeowner may have already started the process. Or they may think permits are optional. Your intake form needs to surface this.

A project with stamped architectural drawings and a clean permit application is two weeks from starting. A project with "we kind of know what we want" is two months from starting. Your intake determines which one you are looking at.

Site Conditions and Existing Structure

What is already on the ground matters as much as what you are building:

• Age of existing structure — pre-1978 means potential lead paint. Pre-1980 means potential asbestos. Pre-1960 means potential knob-and-tube wiring. Each of these triggers different abatement requirements and costs.
• Known structural concerns — foundation cracks, sagging floors, water intrusion, prior fire damage, settling. If the client knows about these, get them documented. If they do not know, note that no inspection has been done.
• Prior unpermitted work — did the previous owner finish the basement without a permit? Add a bathroom without inspection? This becomes your problem when the building inspector shows up for your permitted work and notices the unpermitted work next to it.
• HOA or historic district — architectural review requirements, approved materials lists, color restrictions, height limitations. Some historic districts require approval before you touch the exterior. Getting this wrong means demolishing work you already completed.

Subcontractor Coordination

A GC is fundamentally a project manager for subcontractors. Your intake needs to capture the coordination picture:

• Trades involved — electrical, plumbing, HVAC, framing, drywall, roofing, concrete, tile, painting, flooring. For projects with significant custom woodwork — cabinetry, trim, millwork, or structural framing — a dedicated carpentry intake form captures the species selection, material sourcing, and finish specifications that a general contractor intake does not cover. Each sub needs scheduling, and the sequence matters. You cannot drywall before rough-in inspection. You cannot paint before drywall.
• Owner-furnished items — is the client buying their own fixtures, appliances, tile, or countertops? If so, when will they be on site? A client who orders a custom vanity with a 12-week lead time will delay your plumber and everyone scheduled after them.
• Client hiring their own subs — does the homeowner want to bring in their own electrician, their own painter, their buddy who "does tile"? This creates coordination problems, insurance gaps, and warranty issues. Document it at intake, not when the client's unlicensed friend shows up on your job site.

Beyond intake, there is a separate paperwork question: what documentation to collect from every subcontractor before they set foot on your job site. Certificates of insurance, W-9s, license verification, and lien waivers each serve a different purpose, and missing any one of them creates exposure that shows up months after the sub has left.

Insurance, Bonding, and Licensing

These fields protect both parties:

• Your coverage — general liability limits, workers' comp, builder's risk. Many clients, especially commercial clients, will ask for certificates of insurance. Have this information ready.
• Client's homeowner's insurance — some policies have exclusions for construction work. If a pipe breaks during renovation and floods the first floor, whose policy covers it depends on the specifics.
• Bond requirements — commercial projects and some residential projects in certain states require performance bonds. If a bond is required, that cost goes into the estimate.

Budget, Payment, and Timeline

The three fields where misalignment causes the most disputes:

• Budget range — not a hard number, but a range. If the client wants a full kitchen renovation and their budget is $15,000, you need to know that before you spend two days on a detailed estimate that comes in at $65,000.
• Payment schedule preference — milestone-based, monthly draws, percentage at start/middle/completion. Many states regulate construction payment schedules and limit deposit amounts. Your intake should note the client's expectation so you can align it with your contract terms and state law.
• Timeline constraints — is there a move-in date, a lease expiration, a family event driving the deadline? Hard deadlines affect crew scheduling, overtime costs, and whether you can even take the project.

Change Order Prevention Starts Here

The most expensive sentence in construction is "while you're at it, can you also..." Change orders are inevitable on complex projects, but the ones that cause disputes are the ones where the client thought something was included and it was not. A detailed intake that documents the scope, the exclusions, and the allowances gives you the written record to point to when the homeowner asks why crown molding was not included in a price that covered drywall and paint.

If scope creep starts at intake, so does scope creep prevention. Every checkbox on the form that the client does not check is a documented exclusion. Every field they fill in is a documented inclusion. That is the foundation your contract is built on.

For a broader look at how other trades handle first-contact intake, see our guides for contractors, electricians, and roofing contractors. If a project goes sideways and ends up with attorneys, the construction law intake guide covers what lawyers capture from the legal side. All trades intake forms are available in our Trade Services Bundle.

The intake form is just one piece of a complete paperwork system. Our guide to the 7 forms every trade business needs covers how the intake form, client questionnaire, estimate, change order, invoice, liability waiver, and service agreement work together to protect your business from first call through final payment.