Contractors hesitate at the screen-signing moment: “Will this actually hold up?” The legal answer has been settled for decades.
The law, briefly
- United States: the federal ESIGN Act (2000) and the UETA (adopted by 49 states) say a signature can’t be denied legal effect just because it’s electronic. A finger-drawn signature on a phone satisfies them.
- Canada: PIPEDA and provincial e-commerce acts (like Ontario’s ECA and Quebec’s Act respecting legal framework for IT) do the same.
- Elsewhere: the EU’s eIDAS, the UK’s ECA 2000, and equivalents in most countries mirror this.
Construction change orders are ordinary commercial contracts — none of the usual e-signature exceptions (wills, some real-estate transfers) apply to them.
Legal ≠ automatically strong
Courts accept e-signatures; what they scrutinize is attribution and integrity — can you show who signed, what exactly they signed, and that nothing changed afterward? That’s where implementations differ:
- Intent and consent: the signer saw the document and meant to sign it — signing directly below the listed line items and total shows this cleanly
- Attribution: a printed name and date captured alongside the drawn signature
- Integrity: the document can’t be edited after signing — locked records or, better, a cryptographic hash recorded at signing time
- Retention: both parties get a copy they can keep (a PDF sent immediately)
How ScopeProof implements this
The customer reviews every line item on screen, signs with a finger or Apple Pencil, and types their name; the app stamps the date and time. Signed change orders are immutable — the app refuses edits; corrections require a new, linked revision. With dispute-proof mode (Pro), a SHA-256 hash of the order’s contents — line items, photos, signature, GPS, and timestamp — is recorded at the moment of signing, so any later alteration is mathematically detectable. Remote signatures add a documented sent → viewed → signed timeline.
Signatures that hold up
Every ScopeProof signature records the drawn signature, printed name, and exact date and time, tied to the line items approved — and the document locks at signing. Pro adds a cryptographic hash so tampering is provably detectable.
