Fees
Principal designer fees: what the fee covers and how it is quoted
Updated
Principal designer fees are usually quoted in two parts: the pre-construction appointment, from £750 plus VAT for one home on the one schedule published in full, and the construction phase through to the health and safety file, which ClearCDM prices from £450 plus VAT for six months or less.
The two parts of the fee
- Pre-construction phase
- Planning, managing and coordinating health and safety while the design is done, and the pre-construction information. Regulation 11 of CDM 2015 sets these duties.
- Construction phase and the health and safety file
- Liaising with the principal contractor while the work is on site and preparing the health and safety file, which regulation 12 requires the principal designer to prepare and hand to the client at the end.
The duties are set in regulations 11 and 12 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.
Source: CDM 2015, regulation 11 (legislation.gov.uk)
Regulation 12 is where the health and safety file duty sits; a quote that stops at the start on site leaves it to be arranged.
Source: CDM 2015, regulation 12 (legislation.gov.uk)
What firms publish
| Firm | What the fee covers | Published fee | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ClearCDM | Appointment to the start on site, single dwelling | from £750 | ClearCDM: fees |
| ClearCDM | Construction phase to the health and safety file handover, six months or less | from £450 | ClearCDM: fees |
| HebHomes | Principal designer service with its planning and building control contract | £2,100 | HebHomes: principal designer and CDM support |
Source: ClearCDM: fees, read 28 October 2026
Only 2 of the 29 CDM firms we read print a fee. The rest quote per project, so the fees above are the published floor of the market, not its average.
Questions to put to every firm
- Is the fee fixed, or a percentage of the contract value?
- Does it cover CDM 2015 only, the Building Regulations role, or both?
- Does it run to the start on site, or through to the health and safety file?
- How many site visits and design reviews are included, and what does an extra one cost?
- Is the person doing the work on a principal designer register? RIBA charges its domestic registrants a £360 plus VAT application fee and £120 plus VAT a year; the ACA register charges £100 a year.
Source: Principal Designer Registers: every row, with its source
Register fees as published by RIBA for 2026.