What a scaffold survey involves

A scaffold survey is our surveyor on site with a tape, looking at what a photo cannot show. This is what they look at, what to have ready, and what comes back.

Why a survey and not a quote from a photo

A photo shows an elevation. It does not show the drain under the sole board line, the conservatory that needs bridging or the neighbour's fence a boot's width from the flank. The HSE's scaffold guidance warns about voids such as drains and patches of soft ground that could collapse when loaded. A figure from a photo alone leaves the ground, the ties and the access unmeasured, so it usually comes with extras or a change once the crew arrives. Ours is one figure from what was measured, priced by the person who measured it. The stages after the survey are on how it works.

The building, the trade and the lifts

Our surveyor measures each elevation and sets the lift heights for the trade using it. A roofer wants a working lift at the eaves with edge protection. A renderer wants lifts set to work the full face, with ties kept out of the finish. HSE guidance is that you should assume a scaffold is general purpose, maximum load 2 kN per square metre, unless your scaffold provider informs you otherwise, and that if you intend to load out the platforms you must inform whoever is providing the scaffold, because a bespoke design will likely be required. A heavy duty scaffold, suitable for heavy duty masonry and cladding, takes 3.0 kN per square metre. So the survey asks what is going on the platform and how many people at once.

Ties and the wall they go into

HSE guidance is that a scaffold is braced and tied into the permanent structure, that ties go in as the scaffold goes up and come out only in stages as it comes down, and that where one is removed to let work proceed an equivalent tie goes in nearby. So the survey looks at the wall: brick, render, timber frame, cladding. Drilled anchor ties need the owner's agreement to drill and make good, and a renderer does not want one in the face they are finishing, so tie positions are agreed around the openings.

Ground

Base plates sit on sole boards, and sole boards need something solid under them. Our surveyor walks the line the standards will stand on: slabs on sand, decking, a sloping drive, inspection covers, a soakaway. Where the ground is poor the base is spread or the standards moved.

Access and where materials come off

Where the lorry can stop and how far the tubes and boards are carried. On a terrace with no side access the rear scaffold goes through the house on boards, down a shared side path, or up and over from the front. Decided here, not on the morning.

Loading bays, bridges, fans and temporary roofs

• Loading bay. Where steels, blocks or pallets land. HSE guidance says loading bays need fall protection, preferably gates, and that platforms are not designed for heavy loads unless the scaffolder is told.
• Bridging. A beamed bridge over a conservatory, porch or bay that is staying. Some bridges are within the standard configurations in TG20:21; others need a bespoke design by a competent person.
• Fan. Over a footway or entrance where the licence or the site needs it.
• Temporary roof. A tin hat when the whole roof is coming off. HSE lists temporary roofs among the structures that normally need a bespoke design.

Pavement, neighbours' land and overhead cables

If any standard sits on the footway, the scaffold needs a written licence from the highway authority under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 before it goes up. We say at survey whether one is needed and advise on the application. A standard on a neighbour's land needs their agreement, so the survey identifies it early. Overhead cables and the service drop to the eaves are noted so the scaffold and lorry keep clear.

Netting, sheeting, duration and adaptations

Debris netting goes on where the scaffold sits over a garden or footway; sheeting where the render or the weather needs it. HSE guidance is that a scaffold should never be sheeted or netted without the people who designed and erected it being told, because of the wind load, so it is decided here. The hire period comes from the trade's programme, and the planned adaptations are listed with it.

The inspection regime is agreed at the same time. Under the Work at Height Regulations 2005, regulation 12, a working platform used for construction work from which a person could fall two metres or more must be inspected after assembly before it is used, and must not be used unless it has been inspected within the previous seven days. It is inspected again after any substantial alteration and after anything liable to affect its strength or stability, such as high winds. The inspector writes a report with the particulars in Schedule 7 to the Regulations: the name and address of the person for whom the inspection was carried out, the location of the work equipment inspected, a description of it, the date and time of the inspection, details of any matter identified that could give rise to a risk to the health or safety of any person, details of any action taken as a result, details of any further action considered necessary, and the name and position of the person making the report. It goes to the person it was done for within 24 hours, is kept on site until the work is finished, and is then kept at the employer's office for three months (regulation 12(7) and 12(8)). The HSE puts the duty to see this happens on the scaffold user. Our handover inspection covers the erect, and every adaptation we make.

What to have ready

• The job and who is going on the scaffold: roofer, loft firm, bricklayer, renderer.
• The start date, how long you need it, and any steel or materials delivery dates.
• What is landing on the platforms and roughly how heavy.
• Drawings if you have them, or the builder's number so the survey is done to their method statement.
• Anything you know about access: a conservatory, a shared drive, a narrow street, a neighbour's land.

If the builder told you to sort the scaffold, the builder's number is the most useful thing on that list. See domestic scaffolding.

What comes back

One figure, covering the erect, the agreed hire period, the planned adaptations and the dismantle. A drawing where the scaffold needs one: a bridge, a temporary roof, anything outside a standard configuration. The erect date and the expected strike date. A note on whether a pavement licence is needed and who applies. Book it at request a survey. Most of ours are a short drive from Southend-on-Sea.