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Honest comparison

Site Control vs Causeway Donseed (2026)

Causeway Donseed is a biometric time-and-attendance tool that feeds build-up-to-gross payroll, with GPS geofencing and offline capture — ideal when eliminating time theft and paying workers accurately is the priority. The Site Book Site Control is UK-CDM-first: it generates RAMS, CPP and COSHH, runs RFIs, version-specific document-review evidence and contractor self-onboarding behind a no-hardware entrance QR, with multi-company isolation and transparent pricing.

Donseed wins biometric payroll accuracy and offline GPS capture; Site Control wins UK-CDM document generation, RFIs and fast no-hardware per-site access.

Reviewed · next review

Nicola Dobbie, Founder of The Site Book
Nicola Dobbie·Founder, The Site Book

Donseed features and quote-only pricing taken from Causeway's public product pages (causeway.com/products/donseed and causeway.com/workforce/time-and-attendance), fetched 2026-06-06. Site Control figures from The Site Book's own pricing and feature set.

At-a-glance comparison

Pricing, fit, and feature coverage side by side.

FeatureThe Site Book Site ControlCauseway Donseed (CausewayOne Attendance)
PricingFrom £675/site per month plus £5,000 one-off setup; volume tiers as sites scaleQuote-only — no public pricing; contact Causeway for a tailored quote based on site count, hardware and worker volume.
Team sizePer active site with unlimited workers (~75+ typical); multiple contractor companies per siteMid-size to large contractors and labour-heavy operations with payroll accuracy as the primary driver.
Best forPrincipal contractors and builders running live sites with subcontractors who need UK CDM documents generated plus on-site contractor access, attendance, RFIs and audit-ready evidence in one per-site tool.Construction contractors who want to eliminate time theft and buddy-punching with biometric attendance feeding accurate build-up-to-gross payroll.
Not ideal forNo biometric turnstiles or physical access control, so it cannot secure a Tier-1 perimeter the way hardware-led platforms like MSite can.Quote-only pricing with biometric hardware capex makes budgeting slower and entry costs higher than a no-hardware QR deployment.
RAMS / CPP / COSHH generationGenerates UK RAMS, CPP, COSHH and method statements from the project brief — unique in this category.
Permits to work
Site inductionsDigital induction blocks check-in until acknowledged - readable in 9 worker languages.Ensures workers complete safety training and site inductions before site access — induction gating is explicitly advertised.
Multilingual inductions (9 languages)Workers read and acknowledge key H&S details in 9 languages at the entrance QR; the language used is recorded in the audit trail and translations are site-team reviewable.
RAMS sign-off (per worker)Per-worker RAMS acknowledgement can block check-in until the current version is signed; captured in the audit pack.
Worker cert trackingCSCS upload, internal review and expiry notifications.Tracks training and qualifications/competency records as part of the digital worker ID; supports verified audit trails.
Right to workRecords Home Office share-code checks with outcome, expiry and an evidence file (manual verification, not a live API).Tracks Right-to-Work records as part of compliance audit trail; stronger formal RtW than Site Control's CSCS-review-only approach.
Contractor self-onboardingContractor self-join via the entrance QR with CSCS upload and approval.Worker enrolment is supported via the mobile app and biometric capture, but onboarding is generally enrolment-led rather than contractor-company self pre-enrolment.
QR / mobile sign-inPermanent entrance QR for guest sign-in/out and contractor self-join.Primary check-in is biometric readers plus a GPS mobile app for remote workers; not positioned as a no-hardware QR sign-in like Site Control's entrance QR.
GPS clock-inGPS mobile app with 'virtual GPS ring fencing' geofences sites even before physical boundaries exist — a genuine win over Site Control.
Biometric accessCore differentiator: fingerprint and facial-recognition devices verify identity to the minute and eliminate buddy-punching. Site Control has no biometric.
Physical access controlBiometric readers/tablets gate logging at site points; can integrate with hardware, but it is not primarily a turnstile/gate access-control platform.
Site attendanceCheck-in/out, history and a live people-on-site view.Captures hours worked to the minute via biometrics with automated overtime — the product's central T&A capability.
CIS payrollBuilds up to gross pay with automated overtime and expense claims feeding payroll; a clear win over Site Control, which has no payroll.
Live people-on-siteTriggered evacuation + muster roll-call: snapshot who is on site, mark each person safe, export a roll-call PDF.Real-time monitoring across multiple locations shows who is on site; supports labour tracking and audit trails.
Multi-company isolationEach contractor company sees only its own workforce — test-verified.Built for contractors managing their own and subcontractor labour, but multi-contractor-company data isolation is not advertised or test-verified as it is in Site Control.
RFIsCreate, attach, comment, answer and close — unique in this category.
Document-review evidenceVersion-specific read/acknowledge audit chain.Records induction and training completion with audit trails, but not version-specific document-review acknowledgement chains like Site Control.
Handover sign-offPer-plot, per-trade hand-over sign-off signed in person on one phone; certified PDF emailed to developer and contractor; per-plot progress board. Unique in this category.
Toolbox talksHealth & safety and training tracking is supported; broadcast-and-acknowledge toolbox talks are not specifically advertised as a discrete feature.
Site inspections
Incident logIncludes H&S and fatigue management with audit trails, but a structured incident log is not an advertised standalone feature.
Plant / asset management
Workforce schedulingProvides labour tracking and fatigue management; full dispatch/rostering scheduling is not a headline Donseed feature. Site Control has no scheduling either.
Multi-site dashboard & exportsAttendance CSV, monthly H&S CSV/PDF and project audit-log exports.Real-time monitoring across multiple locations with project insights for commercial, operations and H&S, plus payroll/timesheet reporting.
Mobile appNative mobile app (iOS/Android) with GPS clock-in for remote workers, alongside fixed biometric readers/tablets on site.
Offline modeOnline and offline modes explicitly advertised to remove reliance on signal coverage — a confirmed win over Site Control's partial/unknown offline.
Single sign-on (SSO)SAML single sign-on with Okta or Microsoft Entra; can be required across your company email domain.
Public APIRead-only REST API with scoped account keys, rate limiting and an OpenAPI 3.1 spec (projects, documents, workers, certifications, attendance).
Outbound webhooksSigned real-time webhooks — documents generated/signed, certificates expiring, workers checking in — with retries and a delivery log.

Who each tool is for

At-a-glance fit per product - pulled from the same data that drives the snapshot table.

The Site Book Site Control

Best for
Principal contractors and builders running live sites with subcontractors who need UK CDM documents generated plus on-site contractor access, attendance, RFIs and audit-ready evidence in one per-site tool.
Not ideal for
No biometric turnstiles or physical access control, so it cannot secure a Tier-1 perimeter the way hardware-led platforms like MSite can.
Team size
Per active site with unlimited workers (~75+ typical); multiple contractor companies per site

Causeway Donseed (CausewayOne Attendance)

Best for
Construction contractors who want to eliminate time theft and buddy-punching with biometric attendance feeding accurate build-up-to-gross payroll.
Not ideal for
Quote-only pricing with biometric hardware capex makes budgeting slower and entry costs higher than a no-hardware QR deployment.
Team size
Mid-size to large contractors and labour-heavy operations with payroll accuracy as the primary driver.

The bottom line

Pick the option that matches how your team actually works.

Payroll-accuracy-led contractors

If your core problem is time theft and accurate build-up-to-gross pay across a large labour force, Donseed's biometric verification and payroll integration are the stronger fit; Site Control has no payroll or biometric and would not replace it.

Compliance- and access-led builders

If you need to generate RAMS/CPP/COSHH, run RFIs and prove version-specific document review with a fast no-hardware QR rollout, Site Control fits better; just note it has no biometric, CIS payroll or geofenced GPS.

Mixed-trade open sites

For sites with many contractor companies needing isolated data and self-onboarding, Site Control's test-verified multi-company isolation and transparent per-site pricing suit better; choose Donseed if biometric payroll accuracy outweighs those needs.

Full breakdown per product

Strengths, weaknesses, fit, and the sources every claim came from.

From £675/site per month plus £5,000 one-off setup; volume tiers as sites scale

Best for
Principal contractors and builders running live sites with subcontractors who need UK CDM documents generated plus on-site contractor access, attendance, RFIs and audit-ready evidence in one per-site tool.
Team size
Per active site with unlimited workers (~75+ typical); multiple contractor companies per site
Sweet spot
A principal contractor running one or more active sites who must generate the CDM pack, control who is inducted and on site, run RFIs, and produce audit-ready attendance and H&S exports without hardware.

Strengths

  • Generates the full UK CDM pack — RAMS, CPP, COSHH and method statements — and captures sign-off on site; no direct competitor in this category generates UK compliance documents.
  • Per-site pricing with unlimited workers (~75+) and test-verified multi-contractor-company data isolation, instead of per-seat or per-turnstile economics.
  • No hardware: a permanent entrance QR plus browser sign-in on the worker's phone means a new site goes live in days with no turnstile capex or install.
  • Combines RFIs, document-review evidence, CSCS and induction gating, attendance and audit-grade exports in one tool — plus SSO (Okta / Microsoft Entra), a scoped REST API and signed webhooks for enterprise IT.
  • Plot-by-plot hand-over sign-off: capture every trade signed off on every plot in person, with a certified PDF and a live progress board — no other tool in this category does per-plot trade sign-off.
  • Provable safety, not assumed: per-worker RAMS sign-off (which can block check-in until the current method statement is signed), right-to-work evidence records with expiry, and a triggered evacuation muster roll-call with a roll-call PDF — all rolled into one Audit Pack export.

Weaknesses

  • No biometric turnstiles or physical access control, so it cannot secure a Tier-1 perimeter the way hardware-led platforms like MSite can.
  • No CIS payroll or GPS-geofenced clock-in, so payroll-accuracy-led buyers may prefer Chime or Donseed.
  • No plant/asset management or workforce scheduling — adjacent operations tools cover those.
  • New plan on a recently launched product, with a shorter track record than established incumbents.

Source basis

  • pricing - https://thesitebook.co.uk/pricing (fetched 2026-06-06) · Site Control: from £675/site per month plus £5,000 one-off setup; volume tiers; unlimited workers per site.
  • features - https://thesitebook.co.uk/features/site-management (fetched 2026-06-06) · Per-site contractor access: QR sign-in, CSCS, induction gating, attendance, RFIs, document-review evidence, audit exports.
  • features - https://thesitebook.co.uk/site-control (fetched 2026-06-17) · Handover sign-off: per-plot, per-trade sign-off signed in person, certified PDF emailed to developer and contractor, per-plot progress board.
  • features - https://thesitebook.co.uk/features/site-management (fetched 2026-07-01) · June 2026 additions: per-worker RAMS sign-off, right-to-work evidence records, triggered evacuation/muster roll-call, and Audit Pack v2 evidence export.
  • features - https://thesitebook.co.uk/docs/api (fetched 2026-07-05) · July 2026 (#994): SAML SSO (Okta/Entra) with enforce-SSO, public REST API v1 with scoped keys + OpenAPI spec, signed outbound webhooks — Site Control tier.

Quote-only — no public pricing; contact Causeway for a tailored quote based on site count, hardware and worker volume.

Best for
Construction contractors who want to eliminate time theft and buddy-punching with biometric attendance feeding accurate build-up-to-gross payroll.
Team size
Mid-size to large contractors and labour-heavy operations with payroll accuracy as the primary driver.
Sweet spot
Labour-intensive sites where shaving minutes of inaccurate paid time and proving exact hours-to-the-minute justifies biometric hardware and per-quote cost.

Strengths

  • Biometric fingerprint and facial verification captures hours to the minute and eliminates buddy-punching and time theft.
  • Build-up-to-gross payroll with automated overtime and expense claims links attendance directly to accurate pay.
  • GPS mobile app with virtual ring-fencing geofences sites even before physical boundaries are built.
  • Explicit online and offline modes keep capture working without reliable signal coverage.
  • Backed by Causeway Technologies, a large established UK construction-software vendor with a broad workforce suite.

Weaknesses

  • Quote-only pricing with biometric hardware capex makes budgeting slower and entry costs higher than a no-hardware QR deployment.
  • No document generation — it stores and distributes H&S records but does not produce UK RAMS, CPP or COSHH packs.
  • No RFI workflow or version-specific document-review acknowledgement chain for site coordination and compliance evidence.
  • Multi-contractor-company data isolation is not advertised or test-verified, so it is less suited to mixed-trade open-site access.

Source basis

  • Donseed (now CausewayOne Attendance) is construction-specific biometric time and attendance software using fingerprint and facial-recognition devices to reduce time theft and fraud. - https://www.causeway.com/workforce/time-and-attendance (fetched 2026-06-06) · Vendor product page confirming biometric verification.
  • GPS mobile app with 'virtual GPS ring fencing' tracks remote workers and geofences sites before physical boundaries exist; online and offline modes remove reliance on signal coverage. - https://www.causeway.com/workforce/time-and-attendance (fetched 2026-06-06) · Confirms GPS clock-in and explicit offline mode.
  • System ensures workers complete safety training before site access, tracks Right-to-Work records and site inductions, and provides verified audit trails. - https://www.causeway.com/workforce/time-and-attendance (fetched 2026-06-06) · Confirms induction gating and Right-to-Work tracking.
  • Enables contractors to build up to gross pay with automated overtime rates and expense claims, covering payroll, expenses, inductions, H&S, training and qualifications, labour tracking and fatigue management. - https://www.causeway.com/workforce (fetched 2026-06-06) · Confirms build-up-to-gross payroll and the broader compliance feature set.
  • No public pricing is published on the Donseed/CausewayOne Attendance pages; prospects are directed to contact Causeway for a quote. - https://www.causeway.com/products/donseed (fetched 2026-06-06) · Confirms quote-only pricing model.

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Frequently asked questions

Short, straight answers - the same questions real builders ask.

What is the main difference between Causeway Donseed and The Site Book Site Control?

Donseed is a biometric time-and-attendance product that captures hours to the minute and feeds build-up-to-gross payroll, with GPS geofencing and offline capture. Site Control is UK-CDM-first per-site contractor access: it generates RAMS, CPP and COSHH documents, runs RFIs and version-specific document-review evidence, and uses a no-hardware entrance QR. One solves payroll accuracy; the other solves compliance and site access.

Does Causeway Donseed generate RAMS or CPP documents?

No. Donseed stores, distributes and tracks completion of health-and-safety documents, inductions and qualifications, but it does not generate UK RAMS, CPP or COSHH method statements. The Site Book Site Control creates the full CDM document pack from your project details. If document generation is a requirement, Donseed would need a separate authoring tool alongside it, whereas Site Control produces those documents itself.

Does Site Control offer biometric verification or CIS payroll like Donseed?

No, and we are honest about that. Site Control has no biometric fingerprint or facial verification, no geofenced GPS clock-in, and no CIS build-up-to-gross payroll. Those are genuine Donseed strengths. Site Control verifies identity through CSCS upload and a permanent entrance QR, and focuses on compliance, inductions, RFIs and document evidence rather than feeding a payroll engine to gross pay.

How does pricing compare between the two?

Donseed is quote-only: there is no published price, and biometric readers and tablets add hardware capex, so budgeting requires a sales conversation. Site Control publishes its pricing — from £675 per active site per month plus a one-off setup, with volume tiers — and needs no hardware because it runs on a permanent entrance QR and browser sign-in from the worker's phone. That makes Site Control faster to budget and quicker to deploy.

Which is better for sites with multiple contractor companies?

Site Control is purpose-built for it, with test-verified data isolation so each contractor company sees only its own people and documents, plus contractor self-onboarding and CSCS upload. Donseed centres on one contractor managing its own and subcontracted labour for attendance and pay; multi-contractor-company isolation is not advertised. For open, mixed-trade sites needing strict data separation, Site Control is the safer fit.

Does Donseed work offline, and does Site Control?

Donseed explicitly advertises online and offline modes so capture keeps working without signal coverage — a clear strength on remote or early-stage sites. Site Control's offline behaviour is partial and not a headline feature, so connectivity matters more for its QR check-in and app. If reliable signal is a real concern on your sites, Donseed has the edge on resilience here today.

Can Site Control feed attendance and compliance data into our own systems?

Yes. Site Control includes a read-only REST API with scoped account keys and an OpenAPI 3.1 spec covering projects, documents, workers, certifications and site attendance, plus signed real-time webhooks — worker checked in, certificate expiring, document generated or signed — with retries and a delivery log. It also supports SAML single sign-on with Okta or Microsoft Entra, including an option to require SSO across your company email domain.

How we built this comparison

Donseed features and quote-only pricing taken from Causeway's public product pages (causeway.com/products/donseed and causeway.com/workforce/time-and-attendance), fetched 2026-06-06. Site Control figures from The Site Book's own pricing and feature set.

Every pricing, feature, and fit claim in this comparison is checked against public vendor documentation and, where relevant, independent sources. The “source basis” footer on each product card lists the exact URLs and the date we fetched them. The internal freshness dashboard flags source evidence after 45 days; priority pricing is scheduled for monthly review and feature or ownership claims for quarterly review. Last reviewed on .

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