Why architecture and engineering firms use e-signatures
A design practice’s fees and liability both depend on what was agreed in writing. The appointment defines the services and the fee. Each design stage needs the client’s approval before the next one starts. A client who asks for one more option or a larger extension has changed the scope, and the fee should change with it. When those approvals happen in a meeting or an email thread, they are hard to prove later — and unpaid additional services are one of the commonest reasons design firms lose money on a project.
SignPe turns each of those moments into a signed document. Export the proposal, drawing set or variation as a PDF from the software you already use, upload it, place the fields, and send it. The client gets an email with a Review & Sign Document button and signs in their browser; you receive the signed PDF and an audit trail. Principals and project leads can do it from the web app or the SignPe app for iOS and Android.
This page covers the design firm’s side of a project. For contractors, subcontractors and site paperwork, see the construction page.
Fee proposals and client appointments
A fee proposal that is accepted by email, or not formally accepted at all, leaves the scope of services open to argument. Getting the proposal or appointment agreement signed before design work starts protects both the fee and the limits of what you agreed to do.
- Initials on the scope and fee pages. Place Initials on the pages setting out the services, exclusions, fee basis and limitation of liability, so it is clear each one was seen.
- Every client signatory. Add each person who must sign — joint homeowners, or a developer’s director and project manager — as signers on one document. There is no limit on signers per document.
- Countersign in order. Use Set signer order so the client signs first and your principal countersigns; the next signer is emailed automatically when it is their turn.
- Your firm’s stamp. Upload your company stamp once and apply it from your saved library on every appointment that carries one.
Clients without a SignPe account sign as guests after accepting an electronic-records consent screen, so there is nothing for them to install. See sign without an account.
Design sign-offs and drawing approvals
Concept, scheme and developed design stages each end with the client confirming they are happy for the design to move on. Interior finishes, layouts and specifications need approval too. A signed approval on the drawings themselves is far stronger evidence than a “looks good” email.
- Initials on every sheet. Place Initials on each drawing in the set, and use Apply to all fields of the same type so the client fills them all in one step rather than initialling sheet by sheet.
- Mark what is being approved. Shape fields — Circle, Square, Rounded, Star, Pentagon or Hexagon — and Text fields let you highlight and label the areas, options or finishes the approval covers. See add text and shapes.
- Record the revision. Add a Text field for the drawing revision and a Date field, so the approval clearly refers to one version of the design.
- Whole drawing sets in one document. Every document has unlimited pages; uploads can be PDF, Word or images up to 20 MB each.
Superseded before it was signed?
If a revised drawing replaces one that is out for approval, void the document so the old revision cannot be signed by mistake, then send the new one. Every signer and observer is told the original was cancelled.
Scope changes and additional services
Clients change their minds. An extra floor, a new planning strategy, a redesign after a cost review — each one is additional work, and each one is easier to bill if the client signed a variation to the scope and fee before you started. SignPe gets that signature while the conversation is still fresh.
- Describe the change on the page. Use Text fields for the description of the additional service, the revised fee and the programme impact, and a Checkmark for the client to confirm acceptance.
- Approve in the meeting. If the client is with you at a design review, use In person Signing so they sign on your tablet before they leave.
- Know when it is opened. Each signer moves through Sent, Received, Opened, Saved and Signed, so you know whether the client has seen the variation before you follow up.
- Chase without starting again. The Remind button emails every signer who has not signed yet, and automated reminders also nudge signers so variations do not stall.
Copy your project manager or office manager as an observer so they know when the variation is approved and the fee can be invoiced. Read more about document status tracking.
Subconsultant agreements and certificates
Lead consultants appoint structural, civil, MEP, landscape and specialist engineers, and often need non-disclosure agreements in place before a project is even discussed. Later in a project, architects and engineers issue and countersign certificates and confirmations. Each of those has more than one signatory, often at different firms.
- Subconsultant appointments. Use Set signer order so the subconsultant signs first and your principal countersigns, with Company and Designation fields to record who signed for each firm.
- NDAs before the brief. Send a non-disclosure agreement to a subconsultant or collaborator the same day — our guide to signing an NDA online walks through it.
- Certificates with several signatories. Add each person who must sign a certificate or confirmation, and copy the client or contractor as observers so they receive the completed copy.
- Delegation when a principal is away. A user can delegate their signing to a colleague in the same organisation, who can sign on their behalf; the delegate is notified.
Agreements and drawing sets you already keep in the cloud can be imported directly from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box — see cloud storage integration.
A typical design-approval signing workflow
Export and upload
Export the proposal, drawing set or variation as a PDF and upload it, or import it from your cloud storage. Save it as a draft while the team checks it — drafts do not use a document credit.
Place and assign fields
Add Signature, Initials, Date, Text and Shape fields, and assign each to the client, subconsultant or your own principal.
Add signers and observers
Choose Set signer order if one party must sign first, and copy the project manager or contractor as observers.
Track and remind
Follow each signer in the Activity timeline on the web or Document History on mobile, and use Remind if an approval stalls.
File the approval
When everyone has signed, all parties receive the signed copy. Download the audit trail PDF and keep it with the project record.
Compliance considerations for design documents
Electronic signatures are recognised for most commercial contracts under laws such as the US ESIGN Act and UETA, the EU’s eIDAS regulation and India’s Information Technology Act 2000, and appointments, subconsultant agreements and design approvals are commonly signed electronically. Professional seals, statutory certificates and documents submitted to a building authority can have their own requirements — whether an electronic signature or an image of a seal is accepted depends on your licensing or registration body and the authority involved. Confirm those with them or your legal adviser. The legality guide covers India in detail.
- An audit trail per document. The audit trail PDF shows the document ID, sent and completed dates, and each signer’s emailed, viewed and signed times.
- Only participants can open a document. Fees and unpublished designs are not visible to anyone outside the document.
- Encryption in transit and at rest. See eSignature security for how documents are protected.
- Aadhaar eSign in India. For Indian projects, Aadhaar eSign adds OTP verification through eMudhra and a PKI-signed PDF with a SHA-256 document hash and an evidence certificate.
A signed design approval records what the client agreed to; it does not replace the professional judgement, checks or records your registration body or contract requires.
How to get a drawing set approved by a client
Upload the drawing set
Export the drawings as a single PDF and upload it, or import it from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box.
Add the client
Choose Set signer order and add the client as the first signer and your project lead second. Add the project manager as an observer.
Place the fields
Add Initials on every sheet, a Text field for the revision, Shape fields around the areas being approved, and a Signature and Date on the cover sheet.
Send and track
The client is emailed a Review & Sign Document link. They can use Apply to all fields of the same type to initial every sheet at once.
Receive the signed copy
Once everyone has signed, all parties receive the signed PDF and the audit trail is ready to download.
