CDM Domestic - sfsmancon

CDM Principal Contractor

Domestic Clients

Domestic Clients now have to take more responsibility for how the Health & Safety of any workers on their projects is managed.

For Clarity, a domestic client is any individual who has construction work carried out on their home, or the home of a family member, that is not done as part of any business.

As the content of the regulations is ever changing it is best to look to the HSE website for the latest updated information. Domestic Clients Roles and Responsibilities can be found here: HSE Domestic Regulations

Assuming that the Domestic client is going to appoint a Construction Manager, the following simple rules apply:

Where there is more than one contractor, the Domestic Clients role is deemed to the first Contractor engaged, (Construction Manager). They will by law have to carry out the Clients and the Principal Contractors duties.
The Domestic Client can choose to appoint a Principal Designer instead of a Principal Contractor to assume the Clients duties. This would probably be the Architect who is already carrying out the project design. However, it is a lot of work and most Architects shy away from this role. Importantly, they do not have to accept this appointment!

SFS Management Contracting would carry out the role of Principal Contractor together with the rest of their services. This would require a small additional charge and the only condition would be that it would be part of a full service contract.

We could be appointed to carry out the Principal Contractor role as a stand alone service. However, we’d need to spend a good deal of time on site, as well as producing a Construction Phase Plan. Consequently, we would need to levy a separate larger charge for obvious reasons.

Alternatively you could just ignore the Regulations and hope that you don’t get a visit from an HSE inspector! I definitely wouldn’t advise that though. Inspections are carried out by very assertive individuals who they have the right of entry to your premises.

If they find any breaches of the law, they are empowered to levy Fees for Intervention, (FFI) which are now £166 per hour spent on your site or case. The fees are imposed on the person they determine is responsible for those breaches.

If the breach is of a more serious nature then that person can also face additional fines, costs or even prosecution.

The additional FFI costs levied by an HSE Inspector would be far more than the cost of compliance; which is the whole purpose of them.

On top of their other powers, Inspectors can force a total closure of the site until all of their demands for compliance have been met. This would cause huge delays to any project.

Our Pledge to You

To manage your project with a professional and non-partisan approach.

Work in partnership to gain the best from the Building Experience.

Assist you to finish up with the most cost effective project.