How Fernings Approaches CDM Compliance

At Fernings, we treat CDM as a standard part of how we run every job, not as a hurdle to get through. Our aim is for you to understand what it means for your project without needing to become an expert in it yourself.

CDM stands for the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. It is the law that governs how health and safety is managed on construction projects in Great Britain, and it applies to work on your own home just as much as it applies to a commercial building site.

In plain terms, it exists to make sure risks are considered early, responsibilities are clearly assigned, and the people managing your project have the competence and organisation to carry it out safely from start to finish.

Under CDM, homeowners having work done on their own property are usually treated as a domestic client. This is a specific legal position, and the regulations are written so that the practical duties that come with it pass to the professionals running the project rather than to you.

In most cases that means us. Where there is a single contractor on site, we take on the client duties directly. Where a project involves several trades working together, we make sure a principal contractor, and where relevant a principal designer, is clearly appointed so there is never any doubt about who is responsible for what.

We set out these appointments in writing before work begins, as part of how we scope and agree every project. That means you always know, and we always know, exactly who holds responsibility for safety at each stage.

This is particularly important on larger refurbishments where architects, structural engineers and multiple trades are involved. Rather than responsibility drifting between parties as the job progresses, it is agreed and recorded from day one.

Before any work begins, we prepare the method statements, risk assessments and site set up needed to run the job safely, managed through our own health and safety systems. This is not something we work out as we go. It is built into how we plan every project, whatever its size.

Site inductions, welfare arrangements and the coordination between trades are all considered up front, so that by the time work starts on your property, the framework for running it safely is already in place.

Where a decision or a stage of the project touches on health and safety, we explain it in the same plain, straightforward way we communicate everything else, as part of our regular project updates rather than as a separate, technical conversation.

You should never feel like CDM is something happening in the background that nobody has told you about. If it is relevant to a decision you are making, we will explain what it means and why it matters, in terms that are actually useful to you.

The purpose of CDM is straightforward. It makes sure a project is planned properly and that responsibility for safety is clear at every stage. That is exactly how we like to run a job regardless of what the regulations require, so for our clients it rarely feels like anything extra at all.

Whether you are having a single room refurbished or taking on a full renovation, you can expect the same approach: clear appointments, safety planned from the outset, and nothing left for you to manage that should not be yours to manage in the first place.