For designers and engineers

We do one thing: CDM principal designer services. We offer no design services of any kind, so your client relationship stays yours. You keep your design appointment; your involvement in our process is one structured designer form per project, and your ordinary designer duties are unchanged.

Where the role lands by default

Where a domestic client makes no appointment, the designer in control of the pre-construction phase can be treated as the principal designer by default, even where nothing was agreed and nothing was priced. If you are the architect, engineer or technician leading the design, that can be you. The clean answer is to record the position at fee proposal stage and give the client a route to appoint someone suitable.

How referral works

Send the site address and a one line description of the works to mail@clearcdm.co.uk, or pass on your client's details and we will take it from there. A firm written quotation normally follows within two working days. On acceptance the appointment pack goes to the client the same week, each designer receives a short online form, and the core CDM outputs are issued through to a recorded start on site handover.

Plain dealing

Where a referral arrangement exists with a practice we disclose it to the client on request, and partners are asked to disclose it to their client before the client acts on a recommendation. Terms on contact; nothing about the arrangement changes the fee the client pays. Ready made recommendation wording for your fee proposals and terms is available, ask for it.

The Building Regulations principal designer

Many projects also need a separate principal designer appointment under the Building Regulations, a role introduced by the Building Safety Act 2022. It is a different appointment from the CDM role on this page. We can advise on whether it applies to your project.

Guidance

HSE for designers: www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/2015/designers.htm