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CDM principal designer in the South West
The statutory CDM 2015 principal designer appointment, taken as a standalone service on South West projects. Fixed fees, priced online, with the whole appointment handled through short structured forms and one site visit.
Short answer
If your project in the South West will involve more than one contractor, including subcontracted trades that never overlap, regulation 5 of CDM 2015 requires you to appoint a CDM principal designer in writing before construction begins. ClearCDM takes that appointment on residential and smaller commercial projects, on a fixed fee from £750 plus VAT. If nobody is appointed on a domestic project, regulation 7(2) puts the role on the designer in control of the pre-construction phase, whether or not anyone has discussed it.
Projects we take on in the South West
- House extensions, lofts and refurbishment
- Barn and outbuilding conversion
- New build houses and small residential schemes
- Rural and agricultural projects
- Small commercial and hospitality fit out
What changes across the region
The South West is not one building type, and the pre-construction questions change with the geology and the settlement pattern as much as with the age of the house.
- Bristol and Bath. Georgian and Victorian terraces, steep ground, tight urban access. The two flagship pages go into this properly: Bristol and Bath.
- Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire villages. Solid wall construction, rubble stone, lime, thatch in places, and buildings that have been altered for two hundred years without anybody writing it down. The unknowns are genuine unknowns rather than missing paperwork.
- Rural and agricultural conversion. Barns and outbuildings, where asbestos cement roofing and fragile surfaces are common and where the structure is often doing something other than what it looks like it is doing.
- Coastal and estuary sites. Exposure, access, and ground that is not always what the next field's is.
- Long single track access. Which is a logistics question that becomes a safety question when a lorry has to reverse three hundred metres past a hedge.
The fee is fixed wherever in the region the project is, and it covers what the job ordinarily needs. What varies is the programme rather than the price: a distant site means the visit is planned in rather than assumed to be available at a day's notice.
How the appointment runs
Five steps, short forms, one site visit. The appointment in writing, structured forms to everybody involved, a visit to record the building as it is, the design risks coordinated, and the pre-construction information issued to whoever is pricing and building before work starts. The full process, and what the role covers.
Fees
Fixed fees from £750 plus VAT, read off a published schedule rather than taken as a percentage of your build. The same starting fees apply wherever the project is, and the figure on your confirmed quote is the figure you are invoiced: there is no expenses line and nothing is added afterwards. The fee schedule.
This is the CDM role, not the Building Regulations one
Since October 2023 England has had a second principal designer role, under Part 2A of the Building Regulations 2010. It is a separate appointment about designing to meet the Building Regulations, and ClearCDM does not provide it. Most projects that need one need both. The difference in full.
Questions we get asked in the South West
How far across the region do you work?
Across the South West as a normal working area, and into London and the South East as well. The published starting fees are the same wherever the project is.
Do you need to visit every site?
One pre-construction visit is part of the standard service, because drawings show intent and a visit shows the building. On distant sites we combine it with the information gathering so it is one trip rather than several.
Nearby
Sources
- CDM 2015, regulation 5 legislation.gov.uk
- CDM 2015, regulation 7 legislation.gov.uk
- HSE: principal designers, roles and responsibilities hse.gov.uk
- Bristol City Council: conservation areas
- Historic England: conserving Georgian and Victorian terraced housing guidance on managing change
Price your the South West project
A few questions about the works and you have a fixed fee in about two minutes, and the figure you see is the figure you are invoiced.
Get an instant quote →Not sure yet? check whether the appointment is required at all.