Guides
Guides for building services firms
How to deliver and record the work: CIS, planned maintenance, pumps and water services. Written for owners and office teams and checked against the official sources.
Subcontractors and CIS
- Tool CIS calculator: work out the deduction, tax month and due dates Work out the CIS deduction on a subcontractor invoice: VAT and materials out, 20%, 30% or 0%, plus the tax month and the 19th and 22nd deadlines.
- Guide CIS for building services contractors: deductions, statements and the 19th Which heating, plumbing and water services work is inside CIS, how to work out the deduction, the 19th and 22nd deadlines, reverse charge VAT and records.
- Guide Subcontractor documents to check: insurance, Gas Safe, CSCS and F-gas The documents to check before a building services subcontractor starts: Gas Safe, F-gas, employers' liability, CSCS and CIS, and when each expires.
- Guide How to verify a subcontractor for CIS, step by step Verify a CIS subcontractor with HMRC step by step: when you must, the details needed, 0%, 20% or 30% results, verification numbers and what to record.
Pumps and water services
- Template Pump service checklist for booster sets, sump pumps and lifting stations Free pump service checklist for booster sets, single pumps, sump pumps and sewage lifting stations, with each check sourced to Grundfos, Wilo and HSE.
- Guide Booster set servicing: checks, intervals and records How to service a cold water booster set: seals, non-return valves, pressure settings and vessel precharge, with Grundfos and Wilo intervals and HSG274.
- Guide Sump and sewage pumping station maintenance: what to check and how often How often to service sump pumps and sewage lifting stations, what to check, confined space and sewage safety, and what to record, from Approved Document H.
Planned maintenance
- Guide PPM schedule for commercial plumbing and heating: what to include What a PPM schedule for commercial plumbing and heating should include: assets, tasks, frequencies and their sources (HSG274, PSSR, gas), roles, records.
- Template PPM schedule template for building services Free PPM schedule template for building services: plant, tasks, frequency in months, next due, source and record, with HSG274 water rows. Opens in Excel.
- Guide Pressure systems in plant rooms: what PSSR 2000 asks of maintenance firms What PSSR 2000 asks in a plant room: which systems are in scope, written schemes, examinations, the 250 bar-litre rule and the maintenance firm's duties.
- Tool F-gas leak check calculator: CO2 equivalent and how often to check Work out tonnes CO2e from charge and GWP, and the GB leak check interval: 12, 6 or 3 months at 5, 50 and 500 tonnes, doubled with leak detection.
Running a maintenance business
- Guide Pricing a PPM contract: visits, travel and margin How to price a planned maintenance contract: visit hours, travel, mileage, overheads and margin, with a worked example and a test for visits that run long.
- Guide What a job sheet should show a commercial customer What a job sheet for a commercial customer should show: order number, times, asset, work, readings, faults with urgency, certificates and sign-off.
- Guide Building Safety Act and maintenance contractors: what changes for records What the Building Safety Act 2022 changes for maintenance contractors in England: competence duties, higher-risk buildings and golden thread records.
- Guide Winning planned maintenance contracts: what clients ask for in a tender What clients ask for in a planned maintenance tender: Procurement Act 2023 basics, Find a Tender, thresholds, conditions of participation and PQQ schemes.
VAT for building services
Water hygiene
- Guide Legionella checks for hot and cold water systems: monthly, quarterly and yearly The hot and cold water checks in HSE's HSG274 Part 2, Table 2.1, with temperatures and frequencies, and how a contractor turns them into a visit plan.
- Template Legionella monthly temperature log template (sentinel outlets) Free monthly Legionella temperature log for sentinel outlets, as a table and CSV, with HSG274 Part 2 targets: 60 °C flow, 50 °C return, cold under 20 °C.
- Guide Legionella risk assessment review: how often and what triggers one How often to review a Legionella risk assessment: no fixed legal interval, the six triggers in HSE's L8 para 47, who reviews it and what to record.
- Guide Shower head descaling and Legionella: what quarterly means What HSE's HSG274 means by descaling shower heads quarterly: which parts, when to go more often, emergency showers, who does it and what to record.
- Guide Flushing little-used outlets: the weekly rule and who does it HSE's weekly flushing rule for outlets unused for seven days or more: how to flush, healthcare and empty buildings, who does it and what to log.
- Guide Expansion vessels in water systems: Legionella checks HSE's HSG274 Part 2 on expansion vessels: flush and purge monthly to six-monthly as the risk assessment says, bladders, BS 6920, installation and records.
- Guide Calorifier maintenance: temperatures, inspections and pressure-vessel duties Calorifier checks from HSG274 Table 2.1: 60 °C flow, 50 °C return, yearly inspection and clean, and when PSSR 2000 and a written scheme apply.
- Guide Unvented hot water cylinders: annual service and the G3 rules Unvented hot water cylinders: what Building Regulations G3 and Approved Document G require, discharge pipe checks, and the annual service makers ask for.
- Guide Thermostatic mixing valves (TMVs): servicing and testing How to test and service thermostatic mixing valves: HSG274 frequencies, type 2 and type 3 valves, set temperatures, the fail-safe test and records.
Commercial gas
- Guide Gas safety in commercial premises: what the law requires and what to record What GSIUR regulation 35 asks of employers, where the landlord's regulation 36 duty stops, who may do the work and what a commercial gas record shows.
- Tool Gas safety check due date calculator: the 12-month deadline and the 2-month rule Work out when the next landlord gas safety check is due under GSIUR reg 36 and the 2-month rule in reg 36A, with the window that keeps the anniversary.
- Guide Commercial boiler annual service: what to check and record What an annual commercial gas boiler service covers: GSIUR regs 26(9), 34 and 35, the manufacturer's schedule (Ideal Evomax example) and what to record.
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