Can I Build My Extension Without Scaffolding Or By Using My Own Boards?

When To Use Scaffolding

If you need scaffolding, then hire a professional company to come in and install it. This has several advantages over attempting to build and secure scaffolding for yourself.

House Scaffolding

Many houses are built every day without any scaffolding. Why? Because the exterior framing can be crafted and raised into place without having much height off the ground. The same is basically true for building an addition or an extension on a house.

Though, consider the potential inefficiencies and pitfalls of not having scaffolding in place for the window installation, the roofing and the siding. Without scaffolding, 1. it risks life and limb of workers, and 2. makes the work take a lot longer.

What happens, by comparison, when contractors are set to work on the outside of a home without scaffolding is the use of ladders. Every time they complete one sliver of the siding, the contractors have to climb back down the ladder, move the ladder, and grab more materials.

With scaffolding they simply walk to the next spot, where they can grab the materials that are right next to them. It’s more efficient. For the purposes of constructing a building, the same efficiency is built into having scaffolding. Though, the contractors are only efficient as long as they are kept safe.

That means that the scaffolding, which must be secured properly and safely. Otherwise, do not bother. They would be safer using ladders and their own power than having someone who is on a do it yourself tear trying to roll the dice on their lives building scaffolding for the first time.

Hire Professionals

There are other reasons to hire professionals to build scaffolding. While you are paying good money to have them get it right, they are liable if something goes wrong. They carry insurance against their own potential mistakes that could cost lives, limb, and property damage to your building.

Better Efficiency
In a sense, when you are having an extension on a building constructed, you are automatically to assume a type of management role. While it may sound alluring to try the work yourself to cut costs, it’s actually inefficient and costs more money in the long run.

The reason is that you are not going to have the advantage of perspective, and can no longer see the forest for the trees. The danger in that is that you are not going to see when potential issues arise and handle them. You will be too busy building scaffolding. Hire professionals instead like a company i have used before Yorkshire Scaffolding Hire.

Avoiding Construction Injuries

The construction industry is well known for having the highest risk of sustaining an injury at work. The Health And Safety Executive (HSE), have brought in stringent guidelines and regulations to reduce the number of injuries and especially fatalities from workplace injuries. If someone is injured in their workplace then the HSE will investigate and take the company to court if they have been found to be not abiding by the regulations, as noted in these 3 cases this year.

Construction company fined after worker fell 6 meters ( Nov 2016)

A worker was repairing a fibreboard roof of a barn and using two homemade crawling boards when he fell 6meters on to the floor below, sustaining serious injuries to his head, hip, and lungs.

Construction firm fined after hoarding falls on passer-by (Oct 2016)

A construction company from Cambridge has been fined after temporary hoarding from one of their sites fell onto a member of public walking along the high street.

Council fined after employee was injured from fall (Oct 2016)

A Yorkshire council has been fined after an employee was injured when he fell from a ladder.

The above reports can be found on the Health And Safety Executive website

In all of the cases above the management teams had failed in their roles to ensure that the employees were adhering to the HSE regulations for the job they were undertaking.

Apart from the danger building sites, whether new builds or even just maintenance work on an existing house, are just the same any other workplace in the UK. Management expect the employees to work as quickly, efficiently, as is possible, and of course producing faultless work to a high standard.  But to reach these ideals we need to ensure that firstly our employees are kept up to date with the latest regulations and training for their skill set. A lot of companies do not like spending money on training as they look on it as an expense and not an investment. Those that do tend to find that they lose less man days due to their employees not taking as many sick days through injury

The second point is to ensure that all of the equipment that our employees are going to be using meets all regulations and that it is being utilised in the way the manufacturer designed it to be.

These are just two points, but they will go along way to helping your employees be more productive and also ensuring you are not the company being taken to court by the HSE for failing in your duties to your employees.