Chas or construction line?

[beechhunter]

Just been looking into getting chas accredited but construction line stuff keeps popping up. Which one do you think is the most cost affective/best for achieving more work. Thanks 

[Arborowen]

Realise this is a little old now with no replies. I'm just getting back into Arbtalk after starting my own business. 

 

I have experience managing accreditations for a large commercial tree surgery in Sussex. During this time they were neither Chas nor Construction line. Bearing in mind this was around 5years back things may have changed. Chas was a bigger deal for us. 

 

CHAS is an SSIP, (Safety Scheme in Procurement) Construction line is more of an paid index which carries out similar checks to an SSIP. What you may find is that if you were to gain an SSIP, (CHAS or SMAS) this may cut out some of the paper work to becoming a member of Construction Line. 

 

Back when I worked for the un-named large Tree surgery. I realised I might be able to just Pay for CHAS if i was already SMAS. As we were already operating SMAS which was an SSIP as well, after some communication with CHAS we just paid up and they granted us membership of the back of our other SSIP membership.

 

Worth getting in touch with the people at Construction Line to discuss this. It's my understanding that all three schemes operate a directory service so it difficult to say which is more popular.

 

Depending on time and budget, my advice would be to check with Construction line to see if there are any shortcuts for companies with existing SSIP accreditations then get either SMAS or CHAS (or both) then approach construction line. The annual costs for all these sites are geared toward company size so it may not be financially worth while for you to take this approach. 

 

It is my intention to gain SMAS, (SSIP) and then approach Construction Line. As a self employed arboricultural consultant the annual costs are low and requirements from each scheme is relatively easy to address. I think the cheapest option from my perspective as a consultant with only myself as a 'member of staff' is to go for construction line directly. This approach is also likely to yield less paper work although Im not sure precisely what checks they make or what the forms are like.

 

Hopefully this is of some help although I appreciate it doesn't exactly answer your question. 

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2018 by Arborowen

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Don't forget 'your' industry specific SSiP accreditation option with ARB Approval - means you can then access CHAS / SMAS / Safe-contractor etc. without further assessment. Constructionline is a little different, but accepts ARB Approval for the H&S compliance (as an SSiP Registered Scheme) and many ArbACs are also Constructionline registered - a client driven requirement (that said, FC SW Region have just tendered a tree surgery contract where ARB Approval is required...'or equivalent.')

 

ARB Approval also offers access to Trustmark, a government backed consumer focused scheme, and is the only 'Tree Surgery' trade option.

 

To find out more try to get to one of the FREE ArbAC Prep. Workshop events see   https://www.trees.org.uk/Training-And-Events for more info.

 

Cheers, n sorry to hijack the post

Paul

  

[Arborowen]

No you are right, I did mean to mention AA however was at risk of rambling. 

 

It is my ultimate goal to be an AA Approved Consultant Paul. Perhaps we can speak about this at some point if your still involved in that end of things. Cost is a big factor for me currently with the annual cost of something like SMAS being around £200 its a first step.

 

Regarding OP, construction line itself is NOT an SSIP as I guessed above. They promote their own SSIP scheme as part of the application process for an additional fee so its worth thinking what you hope to gain. I would question wether its better to go down that route or start with CHAS? bit of a mine field for the un-initiated.

 

O

 

 

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Hi Owen, I hope you're well.

 

Regarding the AA 'Registered Consultant Scheme' it's worth considering this course https://www.trees.org.uk/Training-And-Events/Course-Detail?id=4983005B-4F2E-40F9-944B-EA1DD642EAC9

 

I do have some involvement so by all means ask away and/or give me a call.

 

Best regards,

Paul

 

[Marula]

I cannot see any benefit to the AA, 90 percent of customers think its where you go to sober up and the other 10 percent think it’s like signing up to checkatrade.

[Arborowen]

I think it depends of the scale of your company, the client base and probably a whole host of other factors as to how much can be gained from being a member.

Audits aren't fun and Its not for everybody. Being involved in audits with SSIPs and industry bodies shows a level of transparency and discipline. Both factors useful in tendering for larger contracts.

Its down to the individual to decide how useful it is for their own business. Generally speaking, having previously worked for an AAAC and managing the audit process for the AA and ISO schemes it's always been another string to the bow when tendering, quite a serious one at that.