Principal designer
Does CDM apply to domestic projects?
Short answer
Yes. CDM 2015 applies to construction work on someone's home in the same way it applies to a commercial site. What is different is who carries the client duties. Regulation 7(1) moves most of them onto the contractor, or onto the principal contractor where there is more than one, unless the principal designer agrees in writing to take them instead. The one duty that stays with the homeowner is making the appointments under regulation 5.
What a domestic client is
A domestic client is someone having construction work done on their own home, or the home of a family member, where the work is not connected with a business. The moment the property is part of a business, the position changes completely.
Landlords are not domestic clients. Work on a rented property is connected with a business, so a landlord is a commercial client and the full client duties in regulation 4 stay with them. More for landlords.
What regulation 7 actually does
Regulation 7(1): where the client is a domestic client the duties in regulations 4(1) to (7) and 6 must be carried out by the contractor for a project where there is only one contractor; the principal contractor for a project where there is more than one contractor; or the principal designer where there is a written agreement that the principal designer will fulfil those duties.
Regulation 7(2): if a domestic client fails to make the appointments required by regulation 5, the designer in control of the pre-construction phase of the project is the principal designer, and the contractor in control of the construction phase of the project is the principal contractor.
Read those two together and the picture is clear. The homeowner is not expected to run a construction project. But the roles do not vanish because nobody filled a form in: the law fills them in, using whoever is standing closest.
Where DIY ends and CDM begins
HSE's guidance on the Regulations includes a decision chart for domestic clients, and one of its branches is the one people are usually looking for. If the work will not be carried out by someone on the client's behalf, it is classed as DIY and CDM 2015 does not apply.
So genuinely doing the work yourself, on your own home, is outside these regulations. The moment you pay somebody to do it, you are a client and they are a contractor.
What this means for you
Homeowners: the practical duty is to appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing before work starts, on any project with more than one contractor. The rest largely moves to the people you have engaged.
Designers: if your client has not appointed anybody and you are in control of the pre-construction phase, regulation 7(2) means the role is yours. What that means in practice.
Builders: on a domestic project where nobody is appointed, you become the principal contractor and pick up the client's duties too. That is a lot to inherit by accident.
Sources
- CDM 2015, regulation 5: appointment of the principal designer and the principal contractor legislation.gov.uk
- CDM 2015, regulation 7: application to domestic clients legislation.gov.uk
- HSE: domestic clients, roles and responsibilities hse.gov.uk
- Managing health and safety in construction, L153 HSE guidance on the Regulations
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