One contractor for roofing and cladding: what should a turnkey package include?

You ask for one contractor to handle the roof and cladding so you do not have to coordinate several disconnected packages. The proposal comes back described as “turnkey”. What has actually been included?

A turnkey roofing and cladding package should define the complete agreed result and allocate the investigation, design, access, installation, interfaces and handover needed to achieve it. The word does not automatically include every trade, approval or hidden condition in the building.

The useful test is whether each important responsibility has an identified owner, not whether the quotation uses a reassuring label.

Describe the result in plain language

Start with the buildings and areas included, the defects or renewal objectives and the components expected to change. State what remains operational and any client requirements that affect the work.

For an illustrative example, “renew the roof and wall cladding to the warehouse extension, including the identified rooflights and gutter arrangement” gives a starting boundary. “Make the building like new” does not establish whether doors, internal finishes or services are included.

The quotation should refer to a current scope and drawing set that turns that starting description into identifiable quantities and details.

Allocate the whole project, including the gaps between trades

An item can legitimately sit outside the main contractor's package. It should still have an accepted owner and a coordinated timing requirement.

One contract does not remove every client duty

Where relevant, the project needs the appropriate formal appointments and arrangements. In Great Britain, HSE's commercial client guidance explains the client's responsibilities, including principal designer and principal contractor appointments where more than one contractor is involved.

A commercial description such as “turnkey supplier” does not, by itself, establish those appointments or the competence and scope behind them. Ask which role each organisation is accepting and document it appropriately.

TCR's principal contractor service provides a route for discussing coordinated delivery. The actual duties and design responsibilities still need to be agreed for the project rather than inferred from the service title.

Resolve the roof and wall connections

Ask who completes the eaves, gutters, parapets, corners, openings and penetrations. Show where new work meets retained construction and whether other trades are involved at those points.

For example, a roof package might terminate at a gutter supplied by another contractor. The client needs agreement on dimensions, support, weathering and sequence, not two exclusions facing each other across the same junction.

A coordinated package should also identify the point where roofing work ends and services work begins. If equipment must be removed or reinstated, name the responsible trade and include the interface in the programme.

Define what happens when the scope develops

Existing buildings contain conditions that may not be confirmed at quotation stage. Identify those assumptions and the process for investigation and authorised change.

Ask for a change record that explains the finding, proposed work, evidence, cost basis and programme effect. A previously unknown condition and a previously omitted known requirement are different situations and should not be blurred together.

The contract should make the commercial process clear without requiring anyone to pretend that concealed conditions have been fully surveyed. Where significant uncertainty can be reduced before mobilisation, discuss the value of doing so.

Make the client's operating requirements part of the package

Identify working hours, delivery windows, stock, sensitive equipment and any areas that cannot be shut down. Ask how the proposed method accommodates them and what client actions it relies on.

“One contractor” does not mean the client can ignore the floor layout or avoid decisions about access. It should mean those decisions have one coordinated route into the project plan.

Name the client decision maker and deputy, the site lead and the person responsible for commercial changes. Agree how an urgent site issue reaches someone authorised to respond.

Compare complete package prices carefully

Ask whether the price includes investigation, design, access, lifting, specialist work, disposal, relevant testing and completion records. Identify provisional sums and options separately.

A turnkey total should not hide the fact that an important component is still unpriced. Equally, a transparent exclusion is not automatically poor value if the client has deliberately procured that item elsewhere.

Use the same overall brief when comparing proposals. The useful comparison is the cost and responsibility for the agreed completed result, not the length of the inclusions paragraph.

Agree the handover before installation starts

Specify the required drawings, product information, relevant inspection and testing records, completion photographs and warranty documents. Distinguish the installed work from retained areas and any later phase.

Where the project requires a health and safety file or other statutory information, allocate those duties through the appropriate appointments. The agreed completion pack should complement, not replace, that information.

Ask how outstanding items are recorded and how the facilities team receives the information needed to maintain and alter the building safely. The practical value of a coordinated package continues after the installers have left.

Need one coordinated roofing and cladding package? Send TCR the drawings, existing reports and required outcome. Identify other trades already appointed and any client retained responsibilities. We will review the scope, interfaces and delivery arrangements before confirming the proposed turnkey package.