We have a signed agreement with the homeowners — our daughter and son-in-law. DD drew up the agreement from information on the internet, we went back and forth a few times adding a line here and adjusting the budget numbers. Then we sat on it for six months. But the building plans are going before the city this week (it’s called intake) and in 6 weeks or so we will be calling in the heavy equipment to start serious construction.
So it was time to get things signed.
I found a notary public on-line and made an appointment for Saturday afternoon (not many notary publics — notaries public — are open Saturday). We all met, our grand-daughter hurled her stuffed toys around an office, and we signed the contract and had it notarized.
Then we all went back to our place for spaghetti dinner and a dvd of Peter Pan.
It is done.
There’s nothing much to the contract, it’s just to save arguments and more importantly, hurt feelings when we run across unexpected costs or problems. But it feels good in an official kind of way.
The Lady Who Lives Down the Lane 
Can you share an example/draft of your agreement here? Why did you go to a Notary?
Hi, my daughter drew up the agreement with some help from the internet. It’s really an ad hoc document, and since I’m not a legal expert, I’m apprehensive about sharing it. The notary public even said he could tell from the wording that it was based on an American document. We used a notary public just so we would have a signed-and-sealed document to refer to if there was ever any question to what we had all agreed to. We all trust each other and are sure we have each others’ best interests at heart, but it was much easier just to have it in writing.