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Agreeing the job · Guide · For homeowners

Who is responsible for what on a building project?

The builder is building. The architect drew the plans. Building Control checks the work. You are paying for it.

That can make the responsibilities sound obvious. They rarely are.

Who books each inspection? Who checks the window dimensions before manufacture? Who chooses the tiles? Who confirms the architect's latest drawing reached the contractor? Who obtains a party wall agreement? Who protects furniture left in the house? Who registers the boiler warranty?

If the answer is “we assumed they were doing it”, the responsibility was never clear enough.

A job title is not a complete service

An architect may be appointed only to prepare planning drawings. Another appointment may include technical design, coordination, site visits and contract administration. Both people can be called the architect, but the services are materially different.

A builder may price construction only, or may also take on design, procurement, applications and coordination. “Main contractor” does not tell you every included duty.

Building Control performs a regulatory function. It does not automatically manage the project, supervise the builder continuously, check every contractual detail or decide whether a stage should be paid.

Four questions that should stay separate

For every important action, ask:

  1. 1Who is responsible for making sure it happens?
  2. 2Who will actually do it?
  3. 3Who has authority to approve or change it?
  4. 4Who needs to see the result?

Those may be different people.

Your builder's estimator may prepare a variation, while the business owner authorises it. A structural engineer may issue the beam design, while the contractor supplies verified dimensions. You may select the kitchen finish, while the contractor confirms whether it is suitable and orders it.

What a useful responsibility looks like

Weak:

Kitchen by customer.

Useful:

Customer approves the final kitchen layout and appliance schedule by 12 March. Contractor confirms service positions within two working days. Customer purchases the listed appliances for delivery by 28 March. Contractor receives and installs them. Damage or delay caused by customer-supplied items is handled under the agreed project process.

The useful version identifies the action, timing, dependency and boundary.

How each side sees it

The customer

Common customer responsibilities

Depending on the project, you may need to:

  • provide access;
  • disclose relevant information and surveys;
  • appoint professionals;
  • make selections by stated dates;
  • fund agreed stages;
  • review proposals and payment requests;
  • provide customer-supplied products;
  • avoid directing subcontractors outside the agreed route;
  • raise concerns promptly;
  • cooperate with statutory and project processes.

This does not make you the technical coordinator of the project. A fair project gives you decisions you can genuinely understand and make.

The builder

Common contractor responsibilities

Depending on the agreement, the contractor may need to:

  • carry out the agreed work with reasonable care and skill;
  • plan and coordinate work under its control;
  • use competent people;
  • manage its subcontractors;
  • raise missing information and conflicts;
  • procure contractor-supplied materials;
  • arrange allocated inspections;
  • record progress and changes;
  • provide certificates and handover information;
  • respond to questions and agreed defects.

Statutory roles need particular care

Principal designer and principal contractor are legal roles, not marketing labels. Building Regulations roles and CDM health-and-safety roles are related but distinct. On some projects the same organisations hold both. That should be confirmed rather than assumed.

The rules also differ between jurisdictions and between domestic and commercial projects. If the dutyholder structure is unclear, obtain appropriate professional advice before work starts.

Before you accept the project

Check:

  • every important customer action has a deadline
  • each professional's service is described
  • inspection and approval responsibilities are allocated
  • design responsibility is divided by element
  • supplier and subcontractor instruction routes are clear
  • evidence and certificates have owners
  • a changed responsibility needs agreement and a visible record
  • nobody has been made responsible for something they cannot control

Assurr keeps the agreed project, responsibilities, evidence and decisions in one shared record. It does not turn a selected role into a legal appointment or decide that a person is competent. The project still needs the correct agreement and appointments.

General guidance, not legal advice
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