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Afternoon all,
Was wondering if somone can advise. I work for a garden/landscaping services contractor in Kent and wanted to get some opinions on whether CHAS or Safe Contractor membership would be beneficial for our business? We have a lot of domestic customers currently but would like to take on more commerical customers but we are finding it hard to find information to help us decide which organisation would be better for us. Any information would be much appreciated! Kind regards
Trevor
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How many people does your company employ directly? Cheers Andy
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Hi Andy, Around 30 currently Kind regards Trevor
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Hi Trevor, I would say that the best way for you to choose would be to do a simple survey of the type of commercial customers that you have in mind and ask them if they have any stipulations or not – it will also vary on their size of operation etc. Construction companies i.e. new builds etc. will probably state one or the other – possibly another depending on what suits them. Non – Construction companies i.e. where you would carry out grounds maintenance etc. – I would be surprised if they had a stipulation but you never know. If the Client has a preference and you want their work then you have to get that one. This means that for most contractors that they end up having more than one accreditation simply for business purposes. One thing that I have noticed with some large construction companies is that having their specified choice becomes part of the contract agreement and that they will withhold payment if your accreditation is not current i.e. out of date. Cheers Andy
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It would help as you’ve demonstrated that you consider H&S in your work by fulfilling the CHAS requirement. This will also be required for Local Authority frameworks as well as sub contract work for Principal Contractors.
I would also say, understanding H&S is even more important than just getting the Certificate.
Kieron
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I have some experience in this area. CHAS and safecontractor work together, join one and you are in with the other. There may or may not be two payments though.
My main client is member of both and they are reviewed every year, I do the work for them to get their membership renewed. Questions are different every time and occasionally requiring new assessments to be written. They always ask for proof of documents i.e. H&S advisor's CV and invoices, PAT tests, ladder checks, RA/MS and more.
Some of their clients require membership of other Competence organisations and may not recognises CHAS and/or safecontractor. If you are working for a Principal Contractor on a project you may be able to get taken under their wing to use their accreditation. A small client of mine employs a gardening contractor and he asked me to competence check them which I did. I'm not aware if they are checked by other clients but if they were CHAS/safecontractor scheme I would simply ask to see their up to date certificate and accept that.
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Under SSIP’s, if you already have a full valid approval for one of their scheme members i.e CHAS then, under their Deem to Satisfy Agreement, you already fulfill the requirements needed to join other memberships in their scheme if you wish to. You have to pay in full for each membership you take up. Edited by user 05 May 2019 18:05:46(UTC)
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Rank: Super forum user
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Originally Posted by: AndyMcCluskey  Under SSIP’s, if you already have a full valid approval for one of their scheme members i.e CHAS then, under their Deem to Satisfy Agreement, you already fulfill the requirements needed to join other memberships in their scheme if you wish to. You have to pay in full for each membership you take up.
That doesn't work when a new Client Requires their own preferred competence company.
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Hi firesafety 101 Not quite with you - could you elaborate or give an example? Cheers Andy
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Which bit Andy? The Client i.e. local authority has required a different competence check company to the ones already used by the contractor thererfore they have to go through the competence check process again. That is an actual real example.
It does not always follow that a Client will accept what you already have.
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I update these for 1 of my clients, they have SafeContractor, EXOR and another for BABCOCK, who stipulate that you use a specific company. They all cost a small fortune and to be fair I don't think they are worth that much. I spend days getting all the evidence together, uploading it to wait the 6 weeks for verification. As soon as you submit, I always get an email asking if I want an expidited response but it comes at a cost. My client won't pay for this. But if I wasn't so diligent with my work, apart from the insurances, I could sit at my desk and fabricate all the evidence and submit that. In the 6yrs I've been completing these applications, I've never been externaly audited. I don't even think there is an audit process. It relies on the applicant being 100% honest. To prove the fact, my client was maoning at me a couple of years ago about the time taken to submit. So we sat down at our respective desks and I trawled the company server for the correct ewvidence, he sat there and wrote it all out. He was way quicker than me. I had to find specific evidence covering all the relevant criteria where as he just wrote what was needed.
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Originally Posted by: Mark-W They all cost a small fortune and to be fair I don't think they are worth that much. I spend days getting all the evidence together, uploading it to wait the 6 weeks for verification. As soon as you submit, I always get an email asking if I want an expidited response but it comes at a cost. My client won't pay for this.
Looking at it from the other side, I introduced SafeContractor in order to save the engineering supervisors time in chasing proofs of insurance etc. A lot of the smaller companies that were on our list found that being on the Safe Contractor scheme opened doors to other new clients and soon recouped the costs of membership. Other regular contractors added a samllpremium to each job and covered the costs that way.
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Originally Posted by: Robert I Originally Posted by: Mark-W They all cost a small fortune and to be fair I don't think they are worth that much. I spend days getting all the evidence together, uploading it to wait the 6 weeks for verification. As soon as you submit, I always get an email asking if I want an expidited response but it comes at a cost. My client won't pay for this.
Looking at it from the other side, I introduced SafeContractor in order to save the engineering supervisors time in chasing proofs of insurance etc. A lot of the smaller companies that were on our list found that being on the Safe Contractor scheme opened doors to other new clients and soon recouped the costs of membership. Other regular contractors added a samllpremium to each job and covered the costs that way.
I suppose, looking at it from that perspective it makes sense but the fact you pay over £1K for it and there is no audit proces smacks of a money making scheme. There is no way nI can be sure that any of our subbies have been 100% honest with their acreditation. Just because you pay to be a member doesn't make it a credible system
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Originally Posted by: Jonsey1983HGL Afternoon all,
Was wondering if somone can advise. I work for a garden/landscaping services contractor in Kent and wanted to get some opinions on whether CHAS or Safe Contractor membership would be beneficial for our business? We have a lot of domestic customers currently but would like to take on more commerical customers but we are finding it hard to find information to help us decide which organisation would be better for us.Any information would be much appreciated!Kind regards
Trevor
CHAS appears to be the leader, but different engineering/construction/civils have their own preferences. For you, CHAS will be fine. They also act quickly with no sales pitch i.e ‘your application will be looked at on 20 days. If you want it done in 4 days then pay x or if you want it tomorrow, pay Y’.
Where these schemes (CHAS SafeClntractor, etc) are registered under SSIP, if you join one, you will be accepted by another under the Deem to Satisfy agreement.
You will still pay but the amount you pay will be discounted. All schemes have a different discount.
You will still have to answer further questions. The amount and depth differs per Scheme.
If you do join one scheme and apply to join another, it is absolutely imperative that you ask for Deem to Satisfy under SSIP.
I don’t work for CHAS btw!! Mail me if you want help.
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 1 user thanked Learoyd45361 for this useful post.
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Rank: New forum user
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Originally Posted by: Mark-W Originally Posted by: Robert I Originally Posted by: Mark-W They all cost a small fortune and to be fair I don't think they are worth that much. I spend days getting all the evidence together, uploading it to wait the 6 weeks for verification. As soon as you submit, I always get an email asking if I want an expidited response but it comes at a cost. My client won't pay for this.
Looking at it from the other side, I introduced SafeContractor in order to save the engineering supervisors time in chasing proofs of insurance etc. A lot of the smaller companies that were on our list found that being on the Safe Contractor scheme opened doors to other new clients and soon recouped the costs of membership. Other regular contractors added a samllpremium to each job and covered the costs that way.
I suppose, looking at it from that perspective it makes sense but the fact you pay over £1K for it and there is no audit proces smacks of a money making scheme. There is no way nI can be sure that any of our subbies have been 100% honest with their acreditation. Just because you pay to be a member doesn't make it a credible system
Why do some firms accept Safecontractor and others CHAS when effectively joining either one gives equal standing with the other?
Although the SSIP provides a means to circumnavigate the duplicity of H&S questionnaires, without an audit, it doesn't assure a healthy safety culture within a company and I really cannot see the necessity of a contractor needing approval from a multiple of SSIP providers other than to boost the providers coffers.
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