12 guide sections

Contracts and eSigning Help

Prepare, send, track, and complete electronic agreements.

Getting a contract executed usually means emailing PDFs around and hoping the version that comes back is the one you sent. eSigning keeps that whole process attached to the Commitment or Change Order it belongs to: you prepare the document, route it to approvers and signers, watch who still owes you an action, and end up with a signed PDF on the record. For contract amounts, SOVs, and retention, use the Commitments guide.

Start here

Common task recipes

  • Send a Commitment for signature: Open the Commitment, start Prepare for Esigning, upload or generate the PDF, choose two signers, place fields, preview, and select Send for Signing.
  • Add internal review before signing: Add users under Approvers in Step 1. All approvers must approve before signer routing continues.
  • Send a signed copy to stakeholders: Add Copy Recipients. They receive the completed contract after signing.
  • Chase an outstanding action: In Contract Status, select Send Reminder beside the pending recipient.
  • Stop an incorrect envelope: Select Actions → Cancel eSigning. The source contract returns to Draft and existing signing access stops.

Set up and prepare

Configuring document-signing settings and templates

If you're about to send more than one contract, spend a few minutes in Organization Settings first. Signing order, email wording, and reusable templates all come from there, so setting them once saves you correcting the same details on every contract.

Review these before you start preparing contracts:

  • Document Signing Settings
  • Vendor Contract Signing Order and Prime Contract Signing Order: whether Other Party or My Organization signs first
  • The default wording of the approval-request and signing-request emails
  • Contract templates

Signing order is set separately for the two directions your paper travels, because most contractors don't work the same way in both. Vendor Contract Signing Order governs subcontracts, purchase orders, and vendor change orders — the ones you issue. Prime Contract Signing Order governs the owner contract and prime change orders — the ones you receive. Both start on Other Party, so the other side signs first unless you change it.

You'll need Update organization-level settings as well as Manage financials like change orders, contracts, receipts (excluding financial reporting) to see this section at all.

Templates can save real time by providing reusable document content, fields, approvers, copy-recipient defaults, and approval-request email wording. In Step 1, use Choose a Template and Manage templates.

Note: Treat a template as a starting point, not a finished contract. Verify the actual PDF, project users, recipients, fields, and email content every time.

Pro Tip: Set organization defaults before preparing many contracts. Updating defaults doesn't rewrite an active signing request, so anything already in flight keeps going the way it was sent.

We changed our signing order. Does that affect contracts already out?

Updating defaults doesn't rewrite an active signing request. That's why it's worth getting the defaults right before a batch of contracts goes out.

Why did our subcontracts change order but the owner contract didn't?

They're separate settings. Vendor Contract Signing Order covers subcontracts, purchase orders, and vendor change orders; Prime Contract Signing Order covers the owner contract and prime change orders.

What can a template carry for me?

Document content, fields, approvers, copy-recipient defaults, and approval-request email wording. Everything else — the actual PDF, the project users, the recipients — still deserves a look before you send.

Get these settings right once and every contract after it starts from the correct footing.

Prepare contract documents and recipients

Prepare the contract when the source Commitment or Change Order is ready to enter approval and signing. This first step is where you lock in the exact PDF and the exact people, before you place any fields on the page.

  1. Open the applicable Commitment or Change Order.
  2. Start Prepare for Esigning.
  3. In Configure Contract, review Upload Contract Documents and Recipients.
  4. Optionally choose a template.
  5. Under Contract Documents, either upload your own PDF or let us generate the initial contract PDF from the source record — give it a moment to finish.
  6. Choose the required 1st signer and 2nd signer.
  7. Add optional Approvers and Copy Recipients.
  8. On a Commitment, set up the insurance request if you need one. This section doesn't appear on Purchase Orders or Change Orders.
  9. Select Next.

Note: The flow requires exactly the two signing positions shown by the organization signing order, and the same person can't fill both positions.

For help deciding who belongs in each role, see Understanding approvers, signers, and copy recipients.

Next won't let me continue. What's missing?

Step 1 needs a contract PDF and two different signers. If a document is still uploading or generating, wait for it to finish — and check that nobody is holding conflicting signer, approver, or copy-recipient roles.

Do I have to upload the PDF myself?

No. Under Contract Documents you can upload your own PDF, or let us generate the initial contract PDF from the Commitment or Change Order and use that.

Finish this step and the document and the people are settled, which leaves only the fields.

Choose approvers, signers, and copy recipients

Four kinds of people can appear on a signing request, and putting someone in the wrong one is a common reason a contract sits still. Here's what each role does so responsibility is unambiguous before you send.

  • Approvers review before signing begins. All listed approvers must approve. Rejection stops the active flow.
  • The 1st signer completes assigned fields first.
  • The 2nd signer countersigns after the first signer.
  • Copy Recipients do not approve or sign. They receive the completed contract.

Add an approver when your process requires an explicit decision before anyone signs. Use Copy Recipients for people who need the completed contract but don't need to approve or sign, and avoid assigning the same user to conflicting roles.

Note: Approvers are invited one at a time in their listed order. Only the current approver can act or receive a reminder, and signing begins after the final approver completes review.

Our second approver says they never got anything. Is it lost?

Probably not. Approvers are invited one at a time in the order you listed them, so a later approver simply hasn't been reached yet. Only the current approver can act or receive a reminder.

Should this person be an approver or a copy recipient?

Make them an approver when your process needs an explicit decision from them before anyone signs. Make them a copy recipient when they just need the completed contract — copy recipients don't approve or sign.

Does a recipient who unsubscribed from our emails still get theirs?

Yes. Contract and eSigning email ignores a recipient's unsubscribe, because a signature request nobody receives stalls the contract rather than reducing their inbox. If someone insists they got nothing, look at the address on their directory record before you assume it was suppressed.

Assign these roles deliberately and the routing does what you expect the first time.

Place fields, preview, and send

With the PDF and recipients configured, this step decides what each signer is actually asked to do. Place fields so each person sees only their own actions, then preview both signer views before you send.

  1. In Place Fields, select the signer from the recipient control.
  2. Place each signature, initials, and date field on the correct page.
  3. Check field ownership and placement.
  4. Select Next.
  5. In Confirm & Send, review approvers, signing order, copy recipients, the Approval request email, and the signing-request email.
  6. Select Preview Document for each signer to verify their view.
  7. Leave the link placeholders alone. The approval email needs its approval_link placeholder and the signing email needs its signing-link placeholder — they're what turn into the recipient's personal button. Edit the wording around them all you like; delete one and that person gets an email with no way to act on it.
  8. Select Send for Signing.

Note: You need at least one field before you can continue, and each field has to be assigned to the signer who should complete it.

Pro Tip: Previewing lets you check the document without sending it, so use Preview Document on both signer views. That's where missing fields, incorrect ownership, and placement problems show up, and catching one here is far easier than cancelling an envelope later.

Why is Send for Signing disabled?

Confirm you have two recipients, at least one field, and no preview or send already in progress. If a send fails, correct the visible error and retry from the existing record rather than starting over, so you don't create a duplicate envelope.

Does previewing send anything to the recipients?

No. Previewing shows you the signer's view without sending the request.

Once you send, eSigning manages the source record's status and the contract is genuinely in motion.

Approve and execute

Approve, sign, or reject a contract

When it's your turn to act, you'll have a signing request of your own — by email or as an in-app action. Review the full document before you approve, reject, or complete the fields assigned to you.

  1. Open the email or in-app signing action.
  2. Select Review & approve or Review & Sign, as shown.
  3. Review the complete document.
  4. Complete the required decision or assigned fields.
  5. Submit.

Approvers can approve or reject. If you reject, we record the decision and any reason you provide, stop the contract, return the source record to Draft, and notify the preparer. Signers act in order, so the next signer can't complete fields early.

Note: Don't forward your personal signing link. Each request is tied to its recipient's assignment.

Can I sign before the person ahead of me?

No. Signers act in order, so the next signer can't complete fields early.

What happens when I reject?

We record your decision and any reason you provide, stop the contract, return the source record to Draft, and notify the preparer so the issue can be corrected.

Act on your own request and the record shows exactly who decided what.

Track contract status and send reminders

When you need to know who's holding the contract, open the source Commitment or Change Order and review Contract Status. It shows approvers, signers, copy recipients, and each person's progress, such as Pending, Viewed, Approved, Signed, or Rejected.

For an outstanding recipient, select Send Reminder. The button briefly changes to Reminder sent.

Note: Only the active approver can receive a reminder; later approvers wait for their turn. A reminder doesn't skip approval or signing order.

Use the source activity history to review approval and rejection milestones. Contract Status shows the rejection reason when the recipient provided one.

Pro Tip: When someone is simply slow, send a reminder rather than starting a second eSigning record. A second record means a duplicate envelope, and the contract's history is harder to read afterward.

Why can't I remind the approver who's next in line?

Approvers are reached one at a time, so only the active approver can receive a reminder. Later approvers wait for their turn, and reminding won't move them up.

Where do I see why someone rejected?

Contract Status shows the rejection reason when the recipient provided one, and the source activity history records approval and rejection milestones.

Check this panel and you always know whose desk the contract is sitting on.

Retrieve the completed signed document

Once everyone has completed the required approvals and signatures, the finished contract comes back to the source record. Here's what you'll see and where to find the executed PDF you'll need for your contract file.

  • The panel shows Contract Signed.
  • The source Commitment or Change Order becomes Fully Executed.
  • Constructable attaches the signed PDF to the source history.
  • Signers, approvers, copy recipients, and the creator receive the completed-contract email without duplicate delivery when one person has multiple applicable roles.
  • Select View Signed Document to open the final PDF.

Note: The executed PDF is part of your contract history, so keep it in place rather than replacing it with an unsigned source file.

Someone is a signer and a copy recipient. Will they get two emails?

No. The completed-contract email goes out without duplicate delivery when one person holds multiple applicable roles.

Everyone signed, but I can't find the document.

Confirm the panel shows Contract Signed — completion is what retrieves and attaches the final PDF. If all recipients have signed and the file still isn't available, contact support with the project, source record, recipients, and signing times rather than resending.

At this point the contract is executed and the proof is filed with the record it belongs to.

Cancel eSigning and revise a contract

Cancel eSigning when the active request contains a document, recipient, or field that needs to be corrected. From Contract Status, select Actions → Cancel eSigning. Confirm Yes, Cancel.

Cancelling:

  • Returns the source contract or Change Order to Draft
  • Prevents recipients from continuing to sign that request
  • Preserves a cancellation event

After cancellation, correct the source and prepare a new signing request.

A rejection ends the signing request the same way a cancellation does, and the Commitment or Change Order goes back to Draft — but the panel stays on the record reading Contract rejected, with who rejected it and the reason they gave. That's on purpose: you want the refusal in the history, not erased.

Note: Don't cancel a completed contract for a routine financial correction. Use the Commitments or Change Events workflow instead.

Can recipients keep signing after I cancel?

No. Cancelling prevents recipients from continuing to sign that request, so nobody can act on the old envelope while you correct it.

Does cancelling erase the attempt?

No. A cancellation event is preserved, so the record still shows that a request went out and was stopped.

Cancel, correct, and resend, and the history shows what happened without leaving an active request behind.

Manage connected contract work

Manage contract attachments and insurance requests

Two different things are called a contract document here, and mixing them up sends the wrong file out for signature. Confirm which one you're attaching before the request goes anywhere.

The Commitment's Contract Document is separate from the eSigning Contract Documents prepared in the three-step flow. Before sending, verify that you selected the intended file.

On a Commitment, Step 1 shows the company's existing insurance policies and lets you turn on the insurance requirement, add a note explaining what you need, and attach example documents so the sub can see the format you expect. The insurance section doesn't appear on Purchase Orders or Change Orders.

The requirement lands on the outside party — the subcontractor or vendor signing on the other end — and not on your own organization's signer. Whoever signs for you is never asked for a certificate on the way through, whichever side signs first. Approvers, who review before signing, aren't part of the request either.

Note: The insurance request collects the information but doesn't confirm that coverage is valid. Review submitted insurance through your project's compliance process.

Do approvers have to submit insurance?

No. Only the outside party signing the contract is asked for insurance. Approvers review before signing and aren't part of that request, and neither is your own organization's signer.

Does an insurance request mean the coverage has been checked?

No. The request collects the information; confirming that coverage is valid is still your project's compliance process.

Confirm the file and the insurance setup before you send, and the package that goes out is the one you meant to send.

Use contracts and eSigning on mobile

Approvals and signatures rarely wait until you're back at a desk. Recipients can open signing requests and complete assigned actions on mobile, and source records and status panels use compact layouts on smaller screens.

Use desktop web to configure recipients, place fields precisely, compare pages, preview both signer views, and manage templates.

Once you've signed, you can download the contract documents without waiting for the other party — useful when you want your own copy on file the moment your part is done.

Pro Tip: Split the work by device. Approving and signing are fine from a phone; preparing is worth the larger screen, because a misplaced field there means cancelling and sending again.

Note: On an iPhone or iPad, a signing link opens in Safari. If it can't, we say so — Failed to open Safari — and give you a link to tap instead, along with Try again and Reopen in Safari. Tapping through is safe; nothing about the signing request has gone wrong.

Can I prepare a contract from my phone?

It's not the place for it. The preparation flow is a three-step web workflow that's best completed on desktop, where you can configure recipients, place fields precisely, compare pages, preview both signer views, and manage templates.

Sign where you are, prepare where you can see the page.

Work with financial contract records

Signing and the financial record touch each other at four points, and those are the ones that trip people up. Here's what happens at each, and where to read further.

Before you send. The Commitment or Change Order has to have its amounts and SOV settled, because the contract PDF is generated from them. Changing a value after the document is out means cancelling and resending, not editing the PDF.

While it's out. The source status is driven by signing, so you can't move the Commitment along by hand. Amounts stay editable in the ways Financials normally allows, but any change you make won't be reflected in the document already in someone's inbox.

At execution. The source record becomes Fully Executed and the signed PDF attaches to its history. That's the moment the contract starts behaving as an executed commitment for budget and invoicing purposes.

After execution. Editing an executed Commitment or Change Order needs Edit commitments and change orders after they have been executed. Routine money corrections after execution go through the Change Order workflow — don't cancel a completed contract to fix a number.

For the money itself, use the separate guides for Prime Contract, Commitments, Change Events, Invoices, and Budget.

Know what changes hands at each of these four points and the two records stop feeling like one confusing one.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshoot contracts and eSigning

Nearly every eSigning problem is a package or permission you don't have, a step that's still missing something it requires, or a turn that hasn't come around yet. Find your symptom and work through the checks in order.

Prepare for Esigning is missing

  1. Confirm the Financial package is active.
  2. Confirm you can view and edit the source Commitment or Change Order.
  3. Ask an administrator to check financial write access.
  4. Confirm the source record is in a state that can begin eSigning.
  5. If an active eSigning record already exists, use its Contract Status panel instead of creating another.

Next is disabled in Configure Contract

Step 1 requires:

  • A contract PDF
  • Two different signers

Wait for uploads or generated documents to finish. A person cannot occupy conflicting signer, approver, or copy-recipient roles.

Next is disabled in Place Fields

Add at least one field, and assign every signature, initials, and date field to the signer who should complete it.

Send for Signing is disabled

Confirm that you have two recipients, at least one field, and no preview or send already in progress. If sending fails, correct the visible error and retry from the existing record so you don't create a duplicate envelope.

The contract says Awaiting Approval

Every listed approver must approve. Review the per-recipient Pending, Viewed, Approved, or Rejected state and send a reminder to the outstanding approver.

A signer cannot sign yet

Signing happens in order. The next signer receives access only after all required approvals are complete and the earlier signer has finished.

The source status cannot be edited

When eSigning is active, it manages the source status for you. Continue through the eSigning workflow instead of editing that status directly. After execution, editing the source also needs Edit commitments and change orders after they have been executed.

The signed document is missing

Confirm the panel shows Contract Signed. Completion retrieves and attaches the final PDF. If all recipients have signed but the file isn't available, contact support with the project, source record, recipients, and signing times rather than resending.