Building Safety Act: Are Small Trades Dutyholders?

If you carry out or manage building work that falls under the Building Regulations, you are a dutyholder — and that includes a sole trader fitting a bathroom. The Building Safety Act is widely assumed to be about high-rise towers. The higher-risk building regime is. The dutyholder and competence duties that came with it are not, and they reach ordinary domestic work.

What the Act actually did

The Building Safety Act 2022 was the legislative response to Grenfell. It created a new regulator for higher-risk buildings, a stricter approvals regime for those buildings, and — separately — a set of duties that sit across all building work covered by the Building Regulations.

That second part is the one small firms keep missing. Amendments to the Building Regulations introduced dutyholder roles and a competence requirement that apply generally, not only to tall buildings.

The higher-risk building regime — gateways, the Building Safety Regulator, the golden thread of information — applies to buildings of a defined height and use. A domestic extension in Reading is not in that regime.

But the general dutyholder and competence duties do apply to that extension, and to a rewire, a bathroom, a boiler swap and a loft conversion.

The dutyholder roles, in plain English

There are four roles under the general regime, and on a small job one person can hold more than one.

The client. The person for whom the work is carried out. On domestic work, this is the homeowner — but in practice much of the client duty passes to the contractor in charge, because homeowners are not expected to understand the regulations.

The principal designer. Responsible for planning, managing and monitoring the design work where more than one contractor is involved, and for making sure the design complies with the Building Regulations.

The principal contractor. Responsible for planning, managing and monitoring the building work where more than one contractor is involved, and for cooperation between them.

Designers and contractors. Everyone else doing design or building work.

If you are the only contractor on the job, you are simply “the contractor” — there is no principal contractor role to fill. The moment a second contractor is involved, the principal roles have to be appointed in writing.

What this means for a sole trader

Most of it comes down to three things you probably do already, done more deliberately.

Only take on work you are competent to do. The Act made this an explicit legal duty rather than an implied one. Competence means the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours for the specific work, and for a business it also means the organisational capability to deliver it.

Comply with the Building Regulations. Not “get it signed off” — actually comply, and be able to show how.

Keep evidence. If you cannot demonstrate competence and compliance, you are in a weak position whether the challenge comes from building control, an insurer or a solicitor.

There is no register to join and no certificate that makes you a compliant dutyholder. It is about what you can evidence.

What “competence” means in practice

Competence is not a single qualification. The framework the industry works to breaks it into skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours.

For a working trade, evidence of competence usually looks like:

Relevant qualifications for the trade — NVQs, apprenticeship completion, trade-specific certification.

Current scheme membership where one exists: Gas Safe Register for gas work, NICEIC or NAPIT for electrical, MCS for renewables.

Up-to-date knowledge of the standards you work to, such as BS 7671 for electrical installation.

A record of comparable work completed.

Continuing professional development — courses, manufacturer training, regulation updates.

References and completed job records.

Where it gets interesting is scope. Being a competent domestic electrician does not make you competent to design an installation in a care home. The duty is competence for the work you are taking on, which means being willing to say no to work outside your experience. That is the single most practical implication of the Act for a small firm.

Appointing and being appointed

Where there is more than one contractor, the client must appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing. On domestic work, if the homeowner does not make the appointment, the duty defaults — usually to the contractor in control of the work.

If you are the main contractor on a domestic extension with a plumber, a sparky and a plasterer under you, assume you are the principal contractor and act accordingly. That means:

Planning, managing and monitoring the work.

Coordinating the other contractors so the whole thing complies.

Making sure everyone you engage is competent for their part.

Keeping the client informed of their duties.

Get the appointment in writing, even if it is a paragraph in your contract. “Nobody appointed anybody” is not a good position to be in when something goes wrong.

The records worth keeping on every job

None of this is onerous if you build it into how you already work. On every job of any size, keep:

The scope and specification you agreed, in writing.

Building control involvement — the application, the inspections, the completion certificate. Or the competent person scheme notification, where you self-certify.

Certificates issued — electrical installation certificates, gas safety records, commissioning documents.

Photographs of concealed work before it is covered. Insulation, membranes, fire stopping, cable routes, pipework. This is the single highest-value habit in the list.

Product information for anything performance-related: fire doors, insulation, cavity barriers, boilers.

Who did what. If you subcontracted, record who and what qualifications they held.

Variations. What changed, who asked for it, and what you told them about the consequences.

Store it digitally, per job, and keep it for years rather than months. Limitation periods for building work are long, and a folder of photographs is a far better answer to a claim than a memory.

Fire safety and the things that get missed

Two areas trip up small firms repeatedly.

Fire stopping and compartmentation. Every hole through a fire-rated wall or ceiling — for a cable, a pipe, a downlight — has to be made good to maintain the rating. Trades cut holes all day and do not always close them properly. Photograph the making-good.

Structural alterations. Removing a wall, cutting joists for a bathroom, altering a roof. If it is structural, it needs designing by someone competent to design it, and it needs building control involvement.

Where to get a definitive answer

Your local authority building control team or an approved inspector will tell you whether a specific job is notifiable and what they need. Your competent person scheme will tell you what you can self-certify. For anything structural, an engineer or architect.

The general position is straightforward: if the work touches the Building Regulations, you have duties, and evidence is what discharges them.

Doing this well is a selling point

Firms that can show competence, keep records and hand over a proper pack at the end are increasingly the ones winning better work. Homeowners have become far more aware of building safety, and “here is the certificate and the photographs of what is behind the plaster” lands well.

Trade Pilot is free to join and charges only when a real local job lands in your inbox, with each lead sold to no more than three trades in an area. Fewer trades chasing the same job means more time to have the conversation about competence and paperwork that wins it.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Building Safety Act apply to domestic work?

The higher-risk building regime does not, but the dutyholder and competence duties introduced into the Building Regulations do. If the work falls under the Building Regulations, you have duties.

Am I a dutyholder as a sole trader?

Yes, as a contractor. If you are the only contractor, there is no principal contractor role, but you still carry the contractor and competence duties.

What counts as a higher-risk building?

Buildings meeting the defined height and use criteria — broadly tall residential buildings, hospitals and care homes at height. Confirm the current criteria with the Building Safety Regulator or building control if a job might be in scope.

Do I need a specific qualification to prove competence?

There is no single mandatory qualification across the trades. Competence is evidenced through qualifications, scheme registration, experience and CPD, appropriate to the work you are doing.

What happens if I take on work outside my competence?

You breach a legal duty, and you make any resulting claim or enforcement action considerably worse. Declining work outside your experience is the correct response.

How long should I keep job records?

Years, not months. Claims relating to building work can surface long after completion, and photographs of concealed work are often the only evidence that survives.

Related reading: building regulations for trades · working at height regulations · UK trade compliance handbook · which CSCS card you need