Contract statistics: clauses in 94 agreements

A small business agreement in this set has a median of 7 numbered clauses, about 16 sub-clauses and 4 pages. Company, finance and partnership agreements are the longest at a median of 10 clauses and 8.5 pages, while trade and home service agreements and sales of goods are the shortest at 6. Of the 94 agreements counted, 44 state which state’s law governs them.

What was counted

The set is every agreement in the document example library on this site on 21 October 2026: 96 contracts, deeds, leases, licences and releases for fictional Australian businesses and people. A script read each rendered document and counted the top level clauses numbered 1, 2, 3 in sequence, the distinct sub-clause numbers such as 4.2, the pages, and whether the text names a governing law. Two agreements, an employee loan and a vehicle sale, set out their terms without a numbered clause sequence and are left out, which leaves 94. The agreements were then grouped into nine types by what they do.

These are examples written to be complete and readable, not a sample of contracts in use. The count says how many clauses a careful small business agreement needs, which is the question most people asking about contract length are really asking. The post on contract length by document type counts pages; this one counts clauses.

Clauses by agreement type

Company, finance and partnership agreements sit at the top with a median of 10 clauses and 26.5 sub-clauses. The partnership agreement has 15 clauses over 11 pages and the joint venture agreement 14, because they govern contributions, decisions, profit shares, exits and disputes for years.

Business services and IT follow at 9. The service agreement for managed IT support runs 13 pages, with service levels, out of scope work, data protection and suspension each in its own clause.

Property, leases and hire have the widest range, from 3 clauses on a short licence to 17 on the 12 page commercial lease, the most clauses of any agreement in the set. The residential and farm leases each have 13.

Employment, contractors and confidentiality sit at 7. Employment agreements carry many sub-clauses, a median of 23, because pay, hours, leave and ending employment each break into several rules.

Trade services and sales of goods are the shortest at 6. A handyman or DJ agreement covers one job with a scope, a price, payment and cancellation in 4 clauses over 3 pages.

Governing law: fewer than half say

44 of the 94 agreements name the law that governs them, usually as “the law of Victoria” or a line in the agreement details. The share varies by type: 7 of 8 company agreements and 9 of 17 trade agreements, but only 1 of 9 employment agreements. Employment is the exception for a reason: most private sector employment is covered by the national Fair Work system and its National Employment Standards, so the state matters less. For a contract between parties in two states, a governing law line is one sentence that avoids an argument about where to sue.

Defined terms

22 of the 94 agreements define their terms, either in a definitions clause or with “means” inside a clause. Longer agreements do it most, because a word such as Services or Commencement Date used thirty times needs one meaning. Short trade agreements rarely need it, and adding a definitions clause to a 3 page agreement mostly adds length.

A clause count that fits the job

1. One job, one customer: 4 to 6 clauses (scope, price and payment, timing, changes, ending it, general).
2. An ongoing service or a contractor: 7 to 9, adding term, service levels, confidentiality, intellectual property and liability.
3. A lease: 7 to 13, adding rent reviews, outgoings, repairs, bond and options; in Victoria a retail lease also has to fit the Retail Leases Act.
4. Owners and investors: 10 or more, because the agreement runs the relationship.

The common contract clauses explained post covers what each standard clause does, the most common contract sections post counts the sections, and the clause pages such as limitation of liability give sample wording.

In the product

The document generator classifies every document before writing it, including its structure (flat, numbered or tabular) and its register, and a contract comes out with numbered clauses and a signature block per signer. Long documents are planned section by section and can carry a contents block whose titles match the headings. The numbered clauses page shows the layout, and the guide to creating a document with AI walks through the brief.