FIRST MEETING WITH MAIN CONTRACTOR

Before the start of the project, you need to hold a meeting with the main contractor to establish a regular timeframe for site meetings and other pre-contract issues. This first meeting needs to be at your property and with a senior member of the main contractor’s team or the contractor himself.

Your first meeting agenda should include:

• site set-up (site consideration checklist);
• visitors;
• site instructions;
• inspections/quality control;
• environmental issues;
• welfare facilities;
• health and safety issues;
• site meetings.

SITE SET-UP

When the time comes to start the project, you should know where the builder/contractor plans to set up the site office and any welfare facilities (if applicable). You need to be satisfied that their plans are not going to cause you unnecessary inconvenience.

Site consideration checklist

In order to make life easier, a site consideration checklist is useful to eliminate elements that are not required and those that will need to be prioritised, as discussed in Chapter 6.

The checklist should include:

• site office size and position;
• parking restrictions;
• storage of material (including protection);
• skip position;
• portable toilet (if applicable);
• scaffolding (security arrangements);
• water facilities;
• power facilities;
• noise restrictions (if applicable);
• delivery times (site working hours);
• photographs (pavement and road).

There may also be many other considerations, depending on the nature and location of the project. Some builders or companies will have a person who deals with site planning, analysing all aspects of the work from local traffic controls to where the site toilet will be situated. However, this level of planning is usually associated with the commercial side of the construction industry.

It is important to discuss these issues in detail, as they can cause client/contractor problems even if the standard of work is very high.

VISITORS

If the work is to be carried out while you are not at the property during the day, you must ensure that the security and privacy of your home is not compromised by any unauthorised visitors. You must let the builder/contractor know that only visitors who have an active role to play in the project will be allowed access, and that employees of the builder/contractor are aware of these instructions.

In order to ensure that these risks are minimised, it would be advisable to issue the builder/contractor with a list of people who may need to have access to the property. These may include representatives of elements of the project that you are dealing with yourself, such as carpet suppliers, kitchen suppliers, specialist finishing contractors, etc.

It would be advisable, however, to arrange to meet any representatives of companies that you are dealing with yourself at a mutually agreed time to ensure that the correct information is passed on.

Some reps will assume that the builder/contractor knows all of the specific details of the project and may be given information that is acted upon, only to find later that the information was incorrect. In this situation, the project could be delayed because alterations to or a complete reinstallation of equipment is required. This would definitely cause problems all round.

The site foreman should have a site diary in which all site visitors are recorded, and which you must be informed of at site meetings. If an inspection of some description has been carried out, information should be recorded in the diary against the name of the person who made the inspection together with any comments or results.

It is important to let the builder/contractor know that if his employees see anyone on site who should not be there, they should ask them to leave the site immediately.

SITE INSTRUCTIONS

As mentioned in Chapter 5, it is inevitable that there will be some extras or variations. It is, therefore, very important to establish a method of controlling the cost and time factors relating to them.

Recording the information and issuing site instructions is one method of ensuring that you maintain control of additional work being carried out. It is, therefore, important that this issue is fully discussed and it is understood that the main contractor is not to carry out any additional work without a site instruction being issued (see Figure 9.1), unless it is absolutely unavoidable.

Before any additional work is carried out, you need to be sure that your budget can be adjusted to accommodate the work and that you are fully aware of the implications with regard to the expected completion date.

The site instruction is a very useful and effective way of avoiding misunderstandings and disagreements on agreed works between you and the main contractor. Most subcontractors will have an identified role to play in the project. However, they will not usually carry out additional work unless instructed by the main contractor. It is advisable to always issue site instructions through the main contractor wherever possible.

If you find yourself in the situation where you need the subcontractor to carry out additional work and the main contractor is not available, the site instruction will usually allay any fears he may have of not getting

paid for the work. The site instruction will also form part of the documentation for the final account. These instructions may also show where savings have been made!

INSPECTIONS/QUALITY CONTROL

It is important to carry out your own inspections and to agree to inspect the work at each site meeting with the main contractor. If there are any issues that you are not quite happy with, you must bring these to the attention of the main contractor at your earliest opportunity. However, you must bear in mind that until works are offered to you as complete, some work may look below standard when in fact it is in mid process. The main contractor should be able to explain these processes.

As far as quality control is concerned, it is the main contractor’s responsibility to ensure that the material and labour meet the required standards. This includes all works carried out by subcontractors.

If in the unlikely event the main contractor tries to pass responsibility over to you for ensuring quality control of work that he is responsible for, you need to remind him that the reason for employing a builder/contractor in the first place was to ensure quality and standards are placed in the hands of professionals in this field.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

There are laws governing the burning of waste material and the disposal of material such as asbestos etc. It is very important to discuss the possibility that there may be hazardous waste on your project even if you are uncertain. You need to be satisfied that the main contractor knows his obligations in this matter and that he is to inform you of any such findings.

WELFARE FACILITIES

The type of work that is to be carried out and your specific requirements with regard to the security of your property will dictate what kind of facilities will be provided for the contractors.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act 1999, employers are required to provide rest facilities during work hours and eating facilities during rest breaks. Employers must also provide adequate sanitary conveniences with hot and cold running water.

On small domestic projects that do not have sufficient space for site cabins etc. the client would normally come to an arrangement whereby the contractors would use the client’s basic facilities, i.e. WC, water and electricity supplies. If, on the other hand, you do have space and the project involves many different trades etc. it is advisable to insist on the main contractor making their own welfare facility arrangements.

This could mean that they require water and electrical supplies to a site cabin. However, there are facilities that can be hired by the main contractor which are completely self-contained and can be independently powered by a small generator.

HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES

During the course of the project there will be progress meetings which will have a set agenda for the main issues. However, before the project starts you must discuss the potential risks with regard to anyone living at or visiting the property during the work.

Typical questions to ask include the following:

• Is there going to be a scaffold, and if so what measures will be put in place to stop unauthorised persons gaining access outside of normal working hours?
• What measures will be taken to avoid excessive dust and noise affecting you and your neighbours (particularly where there are cars close by)?
• How often will the debris be removed from site, and by what means?
• If there are to be any deep excavations, what measures will be taken to avoid anyone falling in?
• Can you see a copy of the main contractor’s health and safety policy? Employers who employ more than five employees are required to produce a written statement of their policy on health and safety, and the organisation and arrangements that are in place to bring that policy into effect.

There will obviously be other questions which you may wish to ask, depending on the size and nature of the project.

SITE MEETINGS

Once you have agreed on the frequency of site meetings, it is important to establish the issues that will be discussed and exactly what information you will expect to receive at these meetings. If the main contractor is not in the habit of producing reports to highlight progress etc. it would not be unreasonable for you to issue an agenda and take notes of the verbal discussion.

These meetings and the recording of information discussed will undoubtedly be of vital importance during the course of the project, particularly when finalising payments for additional work. It is at these meetings that specifics are normally discussed in detail.

The agenda

The agenda should include the following issues:

• progress against programme;
• health and safety issues;
• external issues (neighbours etc.);
• delays;
• information required;
• additional work;
• any other business.

Progress against programme

By looking at the progress against programme sheet (see Figure 9.2) you can see at a glance the areas that have fallen behind and those that are ahead of schedule. Each area can be discussed in order as they appear on the programme. It would also be useful if you can agree that the main contractor provides you with a brief description of each element and how it affects the overall programme.

Health and safety issues

Health and safety issues need to be included even if the main contractor has nothing to report, as there may be issues that you would like to discuss. You may need to know any site activities that will require warning the neighbours etc. that there will be excessive noise or dust.

External issues

External issues cover unforeseen circumstances beyond your control that may need your intervention or assistance, i.e. warning neighbours of activities that require full use of parking spaces, trimming back of neighbours’ trees, etc.

Delays

Delays need to be discussed at each meeting and whether or not the time can be pulled back. Clients who are warned of possible delays in advance tend to be more understanding, particularly if they are made fully aware of the reasons.

Information required

Information required would normally be requested by the main contractor during the course of the project, but it is a sign of good management if you can pre-empt any answers to questions that they may need, well in advance of them actually asking.

Additional work

As it is likely that there will be additional work, you must discuss the financial implications of this at the earliest opportunity. Additional work can include many small elements of work which can amount to much more than you realise when added together.

Any other business

This is usually on the agenda to give the members of the meeting the opportunity to discuss any issues that have not otherwise been covered. During the course of the meeting, it is inevitable that decisions would have been made on financial and contractual matters. These matters and anything that has a bearing on the project that has been discussed, should be confirmed with the main contractor at the earliest opportunity. This will give him a chance to contact you if there are any misunderstandings before proceeding too far with his interpretation of what was said.

CORRESPONDENCE

You will have learnt from this guidebook that written evidence of quotes, specifications, contracts and so on is very important. Any professional contractor will be only too happy to receive and send written confirmation of any contractual correspondence, which could include confirmation of verbal agreements and requests for information. If you enter into any form of contract with only verbal agreements, you are leaving yourself wide open in the event of anything going wrong.

AVOIDING CONFLICT

The construction industry, by its very nature, is one that can cause inconvenience to the client, neighbours, local businesses and the general public. It can be very frustrating to have to endure dust and noise for weeks on end. It is therefore advisable to inform your neighbours and others who may be affected by the work. This will enable them to make allowances.

Your contractor should furnish you with enough information about how he intends running the project for there not to be any nasty surprises. In any eventuality it is important to maintain good working relations and confirm any concerns that you may have in writing rather than getting into conflict.

If the builder’s or the contractor’s employees or any of the subcontractors are not behaving in a responsible manner or are not adhering to agreements that have been made with regard to security measures, for example, you need to bring this to the attention of the senior person on site.

If the situation does not improve, then you must inform the builder/contractor both verbally and in writing, and if necessary ask for the offending person to be removed from your project.

SITE TIDINESS

One of the first things that is noticed by all visitors to a project is how messy or tidy a site is. It is a fact that people form opinions of companies and individuals by first appearances. The main contractor may be able to turn out a good standard of work but if he does it in a messy environment, it counts for nothing.

It is not unreasonable for you to emphasise that the project needs to be as tidy as possible at all times. This would highlight the main contractor’s professionalism and would ensure that you and any visitors that you may have during the course of the project are not exposed to any dangers.

No site will ever be 100 per cent tidy or 100 per cent safe but it is important to ‘minimise the risk’. You need to ensure that standards are maintained and that the main contractor has the correct signs and security procedures in place. This is much easier to monitor if the site is tidy.

If the builder/contractor knows that you will be expecting high standards generally, the chances are you will get them.

PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORDS

It is advisable to take plenty of photographs of the work as it proceeds. Apart from the opportunity to look back and see how your property has changed, it would be crucial evidence should things go wrong.

Some contractors feel uncomfortable when clients take photos, but this is easily remedied by telling them that you are taking them to show your friends the changes – and that they may be used for his portfolio once the project is satisfactorily completed.

If you have any reservations about any aspect of the work either before or during the contract, you must inform the main contractor’s attention straightaway.