The short answer
A householder who pays for roof work is a domestic client under CDM 2015. The client's legal duties move to the contractor on a single-contractor job, and to the principal contractor where several firms are involved. Each project needs a construction phase plan, and written appointments follow as soon as a second contractor joins.
CDM sounds like a rule for building sites, but it reaches a roof job on your own house. Most of the paperwork lands on the contractor, not on you.
Who counts as a domestic client
CDM is the shorthand for a set of rules from 2015, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations. HSE describes a domestic client as a private individual paying for construction work at their house, or at a family member's house, where no business is involved. A homeowner paying for a re-roof, a chimney repair or new guttering is exactly that.
Does a landlord count as a domestic client?
No, not for a rented property let as a business. The test is a family home with no business angle, so a landlord or a shop owner counts as an ordinary client carrying the full set of duties. If that is you, ask the contractor to explain what applies before work starts.
For a household, the point of the domestic client rules is that the weight of the duties shifts away from you. You are not expected to know how to plan scaffold, protect people below the work or manage waste. The Regulations hand those jobs to the people doing the work, and HSE's page for domestic clients sets out how.
Where your duties go
Regulation 7 moves the domestic client's duties onto someone else. One contractor on site means that contractor does the job. Several means the principal contractor does. In practice this means that for a single roofer re-roofing your house, the roofer holds the duties that a commercial client would hold.
What does that include?
Planning how the work is done safely, from the first ladder to the last bag of waste, making sure the people on site are competent, providing toilet and washing arrangements for the crew, and keeping the site safe for the household and neighbours. Scaffold, edge protection, and the route materials take across your drive are all part of that planning, and they are the contractor's to organise, not yours.
Your own part stays small and practical. Give honest information about the house, such as an old asbestos cement garage roof or an unstable chimney. Agree where the skips and the ladders may go, and tell the roofer about anything that could affect safety, including a neighbour's shared access or a nesting site you have noticed. Our answer on asbestos in roofs explains why the first of those matters.
The construction phase plan
No project goes without a construction phase plan. Regulation 15(5) requires the sole contractor to draw one up, and where there are several, regulation 12(1) gives the same task to the principal contractor. The plan is a short document setting out how health and safety will be managed on this job, and for a domestic roof it can be brief.
Is a plan needed for a small repair?
The Regulations do not carve out small jobs. What changes with size is how much detail the plan needs, so a ridge repair needs a few lines on access, falls from height and who is on site, and a full re-roof needs more. Ask to see it, or have it explained, before the work begins.
You do not have to write the plan or sign it off. You can ask when it will be ready and where it will be kept on site. A contractor who has thought about the job should be able to say what the plan covers in a minute or two, and that conversation often shows how organised the rest of the job will be.
More than one contractor
The extra duties depend on how many contractors there are, and the size of the job does not enter into it. Look at regulation 5(1). If two or more contractors are on the project, or are reasonably expected, the client names two roles in writing, the principal designer and the principal contractor.
When does that apply to a roof job?
If one roofer does the work, usually it does not. If a roofer, a separate scaffolder, a plasterer for the ceiling and an electrician for a new roof light are all engaged by you, it probably does. For a domestic client, those appointments would normally pass to the contractor under regulation 7, so ask who is taking on the role and get it in writing.
Building Regulations add a separate layer. On its application forms Somerset Building Control wants three names, the client, the principal designer and the principal contractor, and if you name no principal designer or agent, it treats you as the principal designer. To avoid that surprise, ask whoever prepares the application to name those roles. The building control page shows how to reach the team, and Taunton Prestige Roofing can talk through a plan for your own roof.
More on CDM and homeowners
Do I need to notify HSE about a roof repair?
Extra duties under CDM depend on how many contractors work on the job, and notifying anyone does not change that. A domestic roof job with a single roofer still needs a construction phase plan from that contractor. If you are unsure how the Regulations apply to your project, HSE's guidance for domestic clients is the place to check.
What if my builder hires a scaffolder separately?
That puts two contractors on the project, so regulation 5(1) calls for a principal designer and principal contractor appointed in writing. For a domestic client, regulation 7 passes those duties to the contractor. Ask your builder to confirm in writing who holds the principal contractor role.
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