New Regulations Affecting Building Developments with a Commercial Nature

If you are planning building or renovation works that have a commercial nature – and that includes developing or refurbishing property that you intend to let, or constructing an outbuilding for use as an office or commercial workshop for example – then you should read on.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM) became ‘CDM 2015’ on 6^th April 2015. The updated regulations see the introduction of numerous changes, most of them centred on health and safety.

In a nutshell, if you are planning renovations to a residential property that you intend to let to tenants or with a view to re-selling for financial gain, this will come under the banner of commercial development. And if you are planning the construction of an outbuilding in your garden to use as a home-based office, a workshop or a treatment room, this will also be considered commercial. In all these cases, the CDM regulations will apply to you.

The New Regulations Explained

Responsibility is the key change with the new regulations. Now, on all projects, the ‘client’ – the person ordering the works - will be responsible for everything, including the overseeing of health, safety and welfare. It is therefore vital that adequate competency checks are carried out ahead of hiring contractors, because you will be completely responsible for their work.

You will also have a number of other responsibilities. These are:

• The written appointment of a Principal Designer (PD). The PD will oversee the project design and planning and take care of all the health and safety procedures, including setting up and maintaining a health and safety file.
• The appointment of a Principal Contractor (PC). The PC will carry out the construction or renovation works and / or manage the onsite works.
• Ensuring health and safety is a featured part of the job and that there is adequate budget available to cover it.
• Supplying the PD with all the information required to oversee the PC in his task of writing a Construction Phase Health and Safety Plan.
• Reviewing and approving the Construction Phase Health and Safety Plan.
• Ensuring both PD and PC have adequate competence to carry out their respective roles.

If no PD or PC is appointed, you will assume responsibility for all their duties by default. As you can imagine, this would be a major task and you would be better advised seeking the right contractors who have suitable qualifications, experience, accreditations and references for the job in hand.

If you are planning construction or renovation works of a commercial nature and are not sure where to start with sourcing the right people or meeting your obligations under CDM 2015, you could start with a call to your bookkeepers who will point you in the right direction and help you get the ball rolling.

How to Avoid Late Payment and Prevent Cashflow Problems

Late payment is a much talked about subject and research published in 2014 proves what an increasing issues it is with 57 per cent of small businesses waiting more than 90 days for payment and 72 per cent waiting over 60 days.

Whilst late payment can lead to detrimental cashflow issues, a lot of companies take the decision to not pursue debtors too strongly, concerned about losing their business. But the thing is, staying in control of outstanding accounts with regular reminders is a good way to do business, and most customers will realise that you are simply doing what is necessary to keep afloat.

Chasing debts though should be considered a secondary measure. In fact, it is something that could be avoided for the most part by putting certain processes in place. Here are five such processes that could make all the difference to your business.

1. Get invoices out on time

Issuing invoices punctually, getting them to the right person and indicating any purchase order number or reference will help boost the processing time for your payment. Make sure your payment terms are clearly stated and that the goods or services provided are listed together with the name of the person who placed the order, so that there is no question over what was supplied, for whom, and what is owed.

2. Make written terms & conditions the rule

Make it a rule that you never start a project or supply goods without first obtaining written agreement to your terms and conditions, and to your pricing. Make sure the terms clearly state what is being supplied, the costs involved, and when payment is due. Don’t leave it till you send your invoice to provide terms: it’s too late by then.

3.   Be firm about credit checks

Unless you are demanding payment upfront, don’t do business with any new customer until you have carried out a credit check. Depending on the size of the job, you may wish to order paid-for credit searches, ask for bank or trade references or, at the very least, run a check on Companies House to see if there are any registered charges.

4. Look for Evidence of the Prompt Payment Code

The Prompt Payment Code is a voluntary code developed by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. It sets out a statement of commitment between a business and its suppliers concerning prompt payment. You may wish to maintain a policy that you only do business with customers who have signed up to this code.

If you are having difficulties with late payments, or would like assistance in putting measures in place in order to avoid them, your bookkeepers will prove a very useful resource.

Getting Your Business Ready for Summer

Summer is generally one of those times in the business calendar when requests for leave escalate. It can be a challenging time for any business owner and one for which planning ahead is essential so that you can be sure your operation continues as normal.

Currently, full time employees are entitled to 28 days of paid leave per year. Many of these employees will expect to be able to take their leave during the key holiday seasons – namely summer and Christmas – and in order to maintain high levels of staff morale, many business owners try to make provision to allow as many requests as possible to be honoured, often by shouldering the burden themselves.

However, this is not always going to be practical. It is therefore essential to plan ahead and develop policies on when leave can be taken that are fair to staff and at the same time maintain customer relations and turnover. Avoiding last minute emergencies is a key objective and the following advice should prove helpful in doing just that.

Identify Peaks and Troughs

The first thing to do is be clear on when your business tends to experience its busiest periods, and when it is generally quieter. Once you have identified your peaks and troughs you can set your leave policies around them. It may be that you have a policy that leave cannot be taken at certain times, unless there are extenuating circumstances. You may also wish to introduce a shutdown period during any particularly quiet interludes.

Plan for Seasonal Fluctuations

If your business experiences high demand during certain periods of the year, you may find it works better for you to employ a small core of staff on a permanent basis, and then take on short-term temporary workers to help you cope during the higher demand periods. Don’t forget though that agency workers are entitled to certain rights, including equal pay that falls in line with permanent employees, once they’ve been with you for 12 weeks or more.

Cross Train to be Ready for the Unexpected

There is nothing like being prepared, and having multi-skilled staff on your team is an excellent way to be ready to tackle any ‘emergency’ situation. Say for example your business experiences an unexpected boom period, and this coincides with a time when you have agreed to a number of leave requests. If you have cross-trained and cross-skilled your workforce, then anyone will be able to step in to help as required.

If you are thinking about how you will cope this summer as the many requests start to come in for leave, why not speak to your bookkeepers? They’ll be able to help you plan ahead based on historical peaks and troughs, and will also assist with cashflow forecasts so you can work out how taking on any additional temporary labour will affect your bottom line.