E-signature for construction

Q: How do I find every change order on one job?

Put the job number in metadata when you create each one. Then filter with list_documents or your own records.

docuinked helps a builder or trade contractor get subcontracts, change orders and proposals signed from the job site, with a named person checking the price on each draft before a client or sub sees it.

What a construction business signs

A job produces paper from the first quote to the last payment.

Proposals and client contracts, close to a sales agreement or a service agreement.
Subcontract agreements with trades, often with a statement of work per job.
Change orders, which are small but frequent and carry money.
Purchase orders to suppliers.
Pay application and invoice approvals.
Safety and site rule acknowledgements for crews.
Independent contractor agreements for one-off help.

Lien waivers and some contract forms are set by state law, and some need a notary. Those vary a lot by state. docuinked doesn't offer notarization, and we don't know your state's rules. Check them before you move those forms online.

A workflow story

A remodelling company runs four crews. Change orders were the problem: agreed on site by voice, then argued about at the end.

The site lead writes up a change in the estimating tool: move a wall, $2,400, three extra days.
A Make scenario turns it into a one-page change order PDF with anchor text "Owner signature:" and "Contractor signature:".
It calls create_document with fields placed by anchor, the homeowner as signer 1 and the project manager as signer 2.
The project manager gets an approval request and checks the price and days against the estimate. Approves.
The homeowner signs on a phone the same afternoon. The project manager countersigns.
document.completed adds the sealed PDF to the job file and updates the contract total.

Months later, if anyone asks about that wall, the audit trail shows when the homeowner opened it and when they signed.

An automation example

Placing fields by anchor means the PDF from your estimating tool needs no special setup:

curl https://docuinked.com/v1/documents \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DOCUINKED_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: change-order-1182-07" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title": "Change order 7, job 1182",
       "pdf_url": "https://example.com/co-1182-07.pdf",
       "signers": [{"name": "Pat Kim", "email": "pat@example.com"},
                   {"name": "Project Manager", "email": "pm@example.com"}],
       "fields": [{"signer": 1, "kind": "signature", "anchor": "Owner signature:"},
                  {"signer": 2, "kind": "signature", "anchor": "Contractor signature:"}],
       "ordered": true}'

An agent can draft change orders too. Connected by MCP, it can read a site note and prepare the draft. The project manager still approves the exact draft, and only the homeowner signs. See approvals.

For construction software

If you build project or estimating software for builders, signing can live inside your product. Each builder is a sub-account under your one key. Homeowners and subs see your name, logo and colour, and docuinked branding can be removed. You can embed signing in your client portal on allowed sites, with browser events to update the page. Emails still send from docuinked's address until custom sending domains, which are coming. See platforms.

What docuinked doesn't do here

Notarization. Not offered.
State lien waiver forms. We don't know which forms your state requires or whether they can be signed electronically. Ask a construction lawyer.
Payments and retainage. Not handled.
Drawings and large plan sets. PDFs are limited to 25 MB in the beta. Link large sets instead of attaching them.
Bulk send to a whole crew. Coming. Today each person gets their own document.

Common questions

Can a homeowner sign a change order while we are on site?

Yes. Send it and they sign on their own phone. If they don't check email often, create a signing link and text it to them yourself. Treat that link like a password.

Should change orders need approval if the estimator already checked them?

We would keep it. Approval is a second person seeing the final draft as the server holds it, after any automation has filled it. It catches the case where the right price went into the wrong job.

Can a sub sign a subcontract on behalf of their company?

Yes, if they have authority to. docuinked records who signed and how. Whether that person can bind their company is between you and them.

How do I find every change order on one job?

Put the job number in metadata when you create each one. Then filter with list_documents or your own records.

Try it in test mode

Free during the beta. Test keys send no email, so you can build the whole flow first.

Get an API key Read the quickstart