One for the commercial guys (CHAS etc)

[matt1458]

Appreciate commercial is not everyone’s cup of tea, but as one side of our business we’ve done and continue to do quite well with it and id like to start pushing it even harder.

Wondering if anyone that focusses on commercial work has any of the SSIP accreditations (CHAS, Constructionline, SafeContractor etc) and if so, whether any one of them is more useful than the other.. I’d like to get us accredited by one but I’m not hugely up for doing 2 straight off the bat if there’s no need

 

[Part Timer]

We're Safe Contractor registered and have had 2 enquiries, that came to nothing, in two and a half years. Constantly getting emails off them trying to sell their services. Would tell them where to go but my big contract stipulates you have to be approved by them.

 

[Cghwindowcleaning]

I have Safecontractor.It can help when filling out tenders but the accreditation itself doesn’t bring any work in.

The cost also keeps going up.I’m considering drop it to be honest.

chas is easier to get and more construction based I believ.

 

[Pjj]

We do quite a bit of commercial work both for management companies and direct with some companies, I have never been asked for any accreditation at all , most haven’t evan asked to see insurance details , one firm we deal with are very hot on it but most arnt . Generally they want RAMS if they ask for anything else I say I have IOSH and NEBOSH , and that’s been it . we dont bother with tendering for local authority work anymore as it’s always very poorly paid and the hoops they want you to jump through it’s just not worth the effort you can earn more doing estate houses .

 

[Neil.. Lancashire]

I've had Chas for the last 8 years, goes up every year without fail. Would love to get rid but it's a must for some clients. Think it was £325.00 this time. Thats basic!

 

[Dave B]

We do quite a bit of commercial work both for management companies and direct with some companies, I have never been asked for any accreditation at all , most haven’t evan asked to see insurance details , one firm we deal with are very hot on it but most arnt . Generally they want RAMS if they ask for anything else I say I have IOSH and NEBOSH , and that’s been it . we dont bother with tendering for local authority work anymore as it’s always very poorly paid and the hoops they want you to jump through it’s just not worth the effort you can earn more doing estate houses .

I did nebosh years ago
Did you have to watch about the Bradford city fire?
Bloody horrible to see

 

[Part Timer]

I've had Chas for the last 8 years, goes up every year without fail. Would love to get rid but it's a must for some clients. Think it was £325.00 this time. Thats basic!

That's half the cost of Safe Contractor

 

[Pjj]

I did nebosh years ago
Did you have to watch about the Bradford city fire?
Bloody horrible to see

Yes and kings cross fire , I did mine through the fire service so was loads of stuff like that in the syllabus as it was slanted towards fire safety

 

[Neil.. Lancashire]

That's half the cost of Safe Contractor

Alway's wondered what the cost of Safe Contractor was, just checked it was actually £382.80 Chas this year. I feel like it's a bargain after you letting me know what the cost of Safe contractors is. They have got us by the you know what, money for nothing springs to mind.

 

[Part Timer]

Alway's wondered what the cost of Safe Contractor was, just checked it was actually £382.80 Chas this year. I feel like it's a bargain after you letting me know what the cost of Safe contractors is. They have got us by the you know what, money for nothing springs to mind.

Safe Contractor costs us £610.80 in August, that's for the slowest approval package you can get. I supplied them all the info they required on October 14th and it's still awaiting audit. To get approved quicker you have to pay them about £100 more.

 

[Neil.. Lancashire]

Safe Contractor costs us £610.80 in August, that's for the slowest approval package you can get. I supplied them all the info they required on October 14th and it's still awaiting audit. To get approved quicker you have to pay them about £100 more.

I did notice that Chas is offering a priority service for about £100.00. There are a number of other up selling services too, could they make it more obvious that it's driven by pure greed!

 

[Pjj]

I did notice that Chas is offering a priority service for about £100.00. There are a number of other up selling services too, could they make it more obvious that it's driven by pure greed!

This is part of why I will not do any of this type of affiliation, I think it’s a total rip off and doesn’t mean that the company are good at there job just beacause they have a sticker on their vans and headed paper

 

[ched999uk]

This is part of why I will not do any of this type of affiliation, I think it’s a total rip off and doesn’t mean that the company are good at there job just beacause they have a sticker on their vans and headed paper

Agreed. I was interviewed as part of ISO9000 accreditation and the way the questions were phrased the company couldn't fail to pass the test! It made me realise what a con it was!

 

[Dave B]

Exactly

Agreed. I was interviewed as part of ISO9000 accreditation and the way the questions were phrased the company couldn't fail to pass the test! It made me realise what a con it was!

I did my adr licence on a 2 day course and we all did the multiple choice exam in pencil in case we made mistakes lol
Nobody failed it

 

[Part Timer]

This is part of why I will not do any of this type of affiliation, I think it’s a total rip off and doesn’t mean that the company are good at there job just beacause they have a sticker on their vans and headed paper

You would if there was a very well paid £80k a year contract linked to accreditation

 

[Pjj]

You would if there was a very well paid £80k a year contract linked to accreditation

Yes I know what you mean , but I just hate the whole ethos of having to pay a subscription to someone to say you are competent to do a job you have been doing for many years , we have a few high value contracts ( not 80k though ) with management companies and a couple that we deal with directly and none have ever asked for anything like it , just as well as I would walk away from the job as ime to long in the tooth to start jumping through hoops at my time in life ??? , to be honest we only have to show insurance etc to one large company we do work for none of the others have asked for any proof of anything, I was quite shocked some we have been doing work for 18+ years

 

[Jango]

I am with safecontractor only because the company I have cleaned for 30 years requires it from 2017.
Never brought any work in. Mine has gone up 25% this year. Ridiculous ?

 

[Part Timer]

Yes I know what you mean , but I just hate the whole ethos of having to pay a subscription to someone to say you are competent to do a job you have been doing for many years , we have a few high value contracts ( not 80k though ) with management companies and a couple that we deal with directly and none have ever asked for anything like it , just as well as I would walk away from the job as ime to long in the tooth to start jumping through hoops at my time in life ??? , to be honest we only have to show insurance etc to one large company we do work for none of the others have asked for any proof of anything, I was quite shocked some we have been doing work for 18+ years

Safe Contractor asked me for any courses or safety qualifications covering Gutter Vaccing. When I replied there isn't a recognised training course they accepted my 9 years of experience with no accidents. Don't know how I would've proved it if they asked me to do so.
The daft thing is on quite a few of the questions we just say Under 5, employees, and it's suddenly not applicable, yet can give them what they require if we wanted too.

 

[Pjj]

Safe Contractor asked me for any courses or safety qualifications covering Gutter Vaccing. When I replied there isn't a recognised training course they accepted my 9 years of experience with no accidents. Don't know how I would've proved it if they asked me to do so.
The daft thing is on quite a few of the questions we just say Under 5, employees, and it's suddenly not applicable, yet can give them what they require if we wanted too.

Our industry is a lot like that no recognised courses for a lot of what we do , this is again why I feel things like Chas ,safe contractor etc are a waist of time and it’s just a paper trail that’s worthless , just glad I have never needed it ????

 

[matt1458]

Thanks all for the replies. If anything it’s reaffirmed my suspicion that client 1 demands Chas yet Client 2 demands SafeContractor. I wonder if now they all issue you a “SSIP” that it might become a bit more interchangeable.

As @Pjj mentions we’ve never been directly asked for either, and I’m not expecting anything to come my way from their member directories.. they both seem highly unlikely they’ll generate any work themselves.

My thinking is as some of this work comes as us being a subbie to a subbie, but now we’re sending proposals direct to the end client for multiple services, one of these accreditations might add a little more credibility to the proposal.. and I guess following the expected processes wouldn’t hurt us to learn from.

Looking at the prices being quoted above Chas at £339 (plus the vat) seems like it’s more cost effective than SafeContractor. Constructionline almost swayed me because they have now have facilitiesline, which in theory FM buyers are more in our field.

Either way ultimately you’re still buying a logo ?

 

[Part Timer]

Thanks all for the replies. If anything it’s reaffirmed my suspicion that client 1 demands Chas yet Client 2 demands SafeContractor. I wonder if now they all issue you a “SSIP” that it might become a bit more interchangeable.

As @Pjj mentions we’ve never been directly asked for either, and I’m not expecting anything to come my way from their member directories.. they both seem highly unlikely they’ll generate any work themselves.

My thinking is as some of this work comes as us being a subbie to a subbie, but now we’re sending proposals direct to the end client for multiple services, one of these accreditations might add a little more credibility to the proposal.. and I guess following the expected processes wouldn’t hurt us to learn from.

Looking at the prices being quoted above Chas at £339 (plus the vat) seems like it’s more cost effective than SafeContractor. Constructionline almost swayed me because they have now have facilitiesline, which in theory FM buyers are more in our field.

Either way ultimately you’re still buying a logo ?

The problem is that each company will require you to be registered to their preferred H&S company they are affiliated to.
Just stay the way you are until someone stipulates who they have Bailey out to.al