How to use your documents
Step-by-step guide to downloading, filling, and using your KubitDocs templates on site — from the first fill-in through to keeping copies for your records.
Do I need a method statement or a RAMS?
What a method statement is, what a RAMS adds, when a one-page safe system of work is enough, and when the person who lets you on site will want more.
What is a construction phase fire plan, and who has to write one?
The fire risk assessment and fire plan a construction site needs under the Fire Safety Order and CDM, the fire marshal, the hot works register, and why the insurer's Joint Code is the sales hook.
Temporary works: what BS 5975 actually expects from a contractor
The coordinator, the design brief, the category, the check, the inspection before loading and the strike release — the procedure BS 5975-1:2024 sets out and the documents that evidence it.
Who writes the lift plan, and what has to be in it?
LOLER regulation 8, the appointed person, contract lift versus crane hire, and the plan the lifting permit relies on.
Site traffic management: what CDM regulation 27 expects on a small site
Routes, segregation, deliveries, the banksman and reversing — the traffic management plan a principal contractor is expected to have, sized for a small site.
What a site waste management plan has to contain, and why the client asks for it
The duty of care, the hierarchy, the carriers and the notes — and why the plan is still asked for after the 2008 Regulations were revoked.
Health surveillance on a construction site: who needs it and what the records look like
HAVS, noise, dust and skin — which workers need surveillance, who provides it, and the health record versus the medical record.
What does an SSIP assessment actually ask for?
The twenty written arrangements a CHAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline or SMAS assessment asks a small contractor to show, and the records behind each.
What is an inspection and test plan, and who signs it?
Hold, witness, surveillance and record points, the acceptance criterion from the specification, and the sign-off chain between subcontractor, principal contractor and client.
What paperwork does practical completion actually need?
The completion inspection, the handover certificate, commissioning and life-safety certificates, the O&M manual, training, meters and the certificate that closes the defects period.
Who writes the rescue plan for work at height?
Work at Height Regulations regulation 4, the confined space arrangements, why the plan cannot rely on the emergency services alone, and the drill that proves it.
What is a POWRA, and does it replace the RAMS?
The point-of-work check made at the workface on the day, how it sits beside the RAMS and the briefing record, and when to stop.
What asbestos paperwork do you need before a refurbishment starts?
The survey, the register, the management plan, the licensed or notifiable decision and the handover after removal — the dutyholder's set under the 2012 Regulations.
What notices must a construction site display?
The statutory notices a site must show, the boards it should, and why none of them replaces the prescribed safety sign.
Who does the daily plant check, and where is it kept?
PUWER maintenance and inspection, the operator's pre-use check by machine type, operator authorisation and what happens to a defective machine.
Working in a live hospital: what paperwork does the estates team expect?
The Health Technical Memoranda role model, the permits and authorisations an NHS estates team controls, infection control and fire safety assessments, and the ward handback.
How do you check a subcontractor is competent before you place the order?
CDM 2015 regulation 8, the pre-qualification questionnaire, what an SSIP certificate is evidence of, and the register that chases insurances and accreditations.
What goes in a site file?
The nine sections of a principal contractor's site file, which sheets have a statutory form or retention period behind them, and the two mistakes that make a file worthless as evidence.
Why RAMS get rejected, and what a good one contains
The five reasons a risk assessment and method statement comes back from a principal contractor, and the sections a good one contains.
Do I need a hot works permit?
Where the hot works permit requirement comes from, what the permit actually does, and the fire watch that gets skipped.
COSHH assessments: who writes them and what one has to say
The employer duty under COSHH 2002, why a data sheet is not an assessment, the substances that matter on site, and what the assessment must set out.
Scaffold inspections: every seven days, by whom, and what the record shows
The three inspection triggers under the Work at Height Regulations, who counts as competent, and the Schedule 7 record.
Work at height: when a RAMS is enough and when you need a permit
The hierarchy in regulation 6, when standing arrangements cover the work, and when a permit and a rescue plan are needed on top.
Toolbox talks: what they are for, how often, and what to record
Where the duty comes from, a frequency that works on a live site, what makes a talk land, and the record to keep.
Excavations: the daily inspection and the permit to dig
The permit that deals with what is under the ground and the start-of-shift inspection that deals with the hole once it is open.
Confined spaces: what counts, and what the permit and the gas test do
The definition in the 1997 Regulations, the duty to avoid entry, and what the permit and the atmospheric test record.
What goes in a construction phase plan?
The twelve sections a construction phase plan is expected to cover under CDM 2015 regulation 12, who has to write it and when, what HSE means by proportionate, and the documents that sit around it.
What are enabling works?
Enabling works explained by a working principal contractor: what the package covers, why clients buy it separately, and the paperwork an enabling works contract generates.
Perimeter hoarding: what it’s for and what gets checked
Why construction sites are hoarded, the legal duty behind the boundary, what a principal contractor specifies, and why standing hoarding carries an inspection record.
Trench fill foundations: what they are and what the records look like
Trench fill versus strip foundations, why clay and trees drive the choice, and the checks and records that happen before and after the pour.
External wall fire barriers: why the record matters as much as the work
What cavity barriers in external walls do, the regulatory context since Grenfell, why installation is where it goes wrong, and what the inspection record has to show.
What is a permit to work, and when do you need one?
Permits to work explained: what a permit controls, the tasks that need one, the issuer and receiver roles, and where permit systems fail on real sites.
Is an accident book a legal requirement?
Who must keep one under the 1979 social security rules, the five things an entry records, three-year retention, keeping injury details private, and why the book never reports anything to HSE.
What is a pay less notice?
The notified sum, who serves a pay less notice, what it must state, the timing against the final date for payment, what happens without one, and the residential occupier exclusion.
Do you need a written contract for building work?
Why an accepted quote is not enough, the information and 14-day cancellation rules for homeowners, the Consumer Rights Act terms, Construction Act payment terms for business clients, and when a standard form fits better.
What should a builder's quote include?
Scope, exclusions, the total price with VAT for homeowners, provisional sums, programme, payment stages, validity, trading disclosures and the cancellation information for off-premises contracts.
Your legal responsibilities when you have building work done
What the law puts on you as a homeowner — planning permission, building regulations, party wall notices — what it puts on your builder, and what is not law at all.
Before you hire a builder: the checks to make
Builders are not licensed, so the checks are yours: who the business is, insurance, scheme membership checked at source, references, and why not to agree work at the door.
Getting and comparing builders' quotes
Write a brief first, ask for itemised written quotes, compare them like for like, and know what you must be told before you are bound.
Your right to cancel building work
When the 14-day right to cancel applies and when it does not, what happens if work starts early, and how to cancel.
Deposits and stage payments: paying a builder with less risk
There is no legal cap on deposits — what the guidance says, paying in stages tied to work, card protection and its limits, and keeping receipts.
Party wall notices: what homeowners need to do
Which notice your work needs, how long before you start, what your neighbour can do, surveyors, and when a notice runs out — England and Wales.
When building work goes wrong: your options
Your rights, putting the complaint in writing, dispute schemes, the letter before claim, small claims court, card protection, and where to get free help.