Create a project

Step 1 — pick your role

Choose the card that matches how you're working this job: I'm running this job (CDM role: Principal Contractor), It's just me (or my team) (Only Contractor), or I'm working on someone else's job (Subcontractor). Not sure? Pick the closest — you can change it later from the project overview.

Step 2 — tell us about the job (three ways)

1. 1

   Describe it: click Tell us about the job, type or dictate, then click Extract with AI.

   Plain English is fine — "loft conversion in Leeds, three of us on site, scaffold going up Monday…". The mic button lets you speak it instead of typing. The AI extracts the key details into the project form for you to check.

2. 2

   In the Site Book app: tap Tell us about the job on the new-project screen, type or tap Dictate, then tap Extract with AI.

   Dictate turns into Stop while it is listening — tap it again to finish and the words drop into the box. Anything you typed or picked yourself is kept — the AI will not overwrite a title or address you wrote. Boxes the AI filled are fair game: run Extract with AI again and it may update its own earlier answers, which is how you refine a description and try once more. If you want the AI to have another go at something you typed, clear that box first. Create project, Import from PDF and ← Change role are unavailable while it is listening or extracting, so nothing is saved half-finished. Cancel always works — leaving mid-dictation discards the recording rather than trapping you on the screen.

3. 3

   Or upload the plan: drop your client's PCPP or pre-construction plan PDF on the upload box.

   We read it in the background — you can click Email me when it's ready rather than waiting. Available when you're running the job (not shown for subcontractor-role projects).

4. 4

   Or fill in the form manually and click Get started.

What happens next

You land on the project's Overview. It takes you through five stages in order: project basics, site and safety details, workforce, documents, then sharing and sign-off. Start with the action marked Now — on a new job that normally means adding the client, then filling the 11 site safety details that feed and unlock the core documents. Nothing has been removed: the Overview groups the work so you can finish one site task at a time. A finished stage shrinks to a Done row so the next job stays in view; click that row to expand it and review the available details. Edit links only appear when your role can change the project setup.

During the dashboard preview, some users see a Classic | New · Preview choice beside the project title on a computer, or directly below it on a phone. A new account starts on New. Both views read the same project and open the same forms; switching the view never copies, deletes or changes the job's details. Your choice is remembered for your account, and you can switch back at any time from the Overview. After creating a job, the green Project saved message at the top of the overview appears in both views and carries a button for your first document — Create RAMS if you're working on someone else's job, Create plan (the Construction Phase Plan) if you're running it, or the setup step that unlocks it. Click it to go straight there, or close the message with its X; it stays closed if you refresh the page.

When the setup stages are ready, open Documents to create the Construction Phase Plan and RAMS. Add your crew under Workers so inductions and sign-offs have the right names from day one.

Finishing a job you started before signing in

You can build a job on our website before you have an account. If saving it to your account is then turned away — the account is on Starter and already has its one job, the subscription has been cancelled, or you are on the account as a team member or site supervisor — the job you built is kept, not thrown away.

If you are an account owner or admin, Dashboard shows a Finish saving “…” panel at the very top, naming the job and the date and time it stays saved until. Click it and you go back to the save step, where Claim and continue picks up exactly where you left off. If the wall was your plan, upgrade first and then click the panel — it saves straight through.

If you are a team member, the panel appears too, but it reads “…” is waiting for an owner or admin and there is nothing to click — starting a job is an owner or admin action, so a button would only be turned away again. Ask an owner or admin to sign in on this device and finish it: the job is held in this browser, so that is where they need to be. Upgrading the plan changes nothing, because this is about your role.

Site supervisors have no Dashboard at all, so they never see the panel. The job is still kept — ask an account owner or admin to sign in on this device and set it up.

For everyone else, the panel appears only in the browser you built the job in — that browser is where the unsaved job is held, so it will not follow you to another device, another browser, or a private window. It also disappears the moment the job stops being recoverable. So if the panel is not on your Dashboard, that job has gone and the honest answer is to start a fresh one with New Project — we would rather tell you that than leave you hunting for it.

Finding a project in the list

In the app, the Projects tab has a search box at the top of the list: it matches the project name, site address and your role on the job (not worker names) — tap the ✕ to clear it and see every project again.

New to construction compliance?

The Site Compliance — The Basics primer explains CDM 2015, CPPs, RAMS, subcontractor duties, RIDDOR and F10 in plain English. On the website, click New to site compliance? at the bottom of your Dashboard; in the app, open More → Compliance primer.

Getting around a project on your phone

On a computer, Classic shows the core project sections as a row of tabs. New groups the same available sections into shorter menus: Setup, People, Site work and More, with Overview and Documents kept one click away. Only one group stays open at a time: opening another closes the first. Moving to another project page also closes an open menu, whether you choose a section, use another page action or go back. The groups do not change what your role or plan can open: locked tools stay locked with the same reason, and plan upgrades are still labelled before you enter a tool.

On a phone, that row is replaced by a single Project menu button just under the project title. It shows the section you're currently on. Tap it and a menu slides up from the bottom listing every section — the one you're on has a tick — so tap any section to jump straight to it. The menu closes on its own once you've picked one.

The phone menu is the complete list, in two groups. Sections holds the core set: Overview, Details (owners and admins), Documents, Workers, Methods, Photos, Site Info, Access, Inspections, Site Diary, Incidents and Subcontractors (what you see depends on your role on the job — for example a subcontractor-role project has no Site Info or Subcontractors). The two daily site tools sit right after Inspections so they're the first thing you reach on site, without scrolling. Below them, More in this project holds the rest of the compliance tools: COSHH, Permits, F10 (only when you're running the job — it's the principal or only contractor's notification) and Audit Pack. When your plan includes a tool, Site Diary, Incidents and Permits show as locked until the project has its RAMS — same as their cards on the Documents section — with a note to create the RAMS first. A tool your plan doesn't include shows a PRO pill instead (BUSINESS on Access), and its tab still opens onto a page explaining the feature with an upgrade button — the plan gate always comes before the RAMS note, so you're never told to generate RAMS for a tool your plan doesn't include. Accounts that kept features from before they moved to Pro, and projects set up by our setup service, keep those Pro tools working with no pill — Access is part of the Business plan, so its BUSINESS pill stays either way.

In the mobile app (the separate iOS/Android app, not the website), a project page's row for a Pro feature your plan doesn't include shows a PRO label instead of a count — and tapping it opens a screen explaining the feature, with Open upgrade page and Try again controls, rather than an error. Returning after an upgrade refreshes access; Try again checks the feature immediately. Those four features — COSHH register, Site diary, Incidents and Permits — need the Pro plan: upgrade from More → Account & plan → Manage on web, which opens our website in your browser (subscriptions are managed there, not in the app).

Switch back to the app once you've upgraded and the features you've just paid for start working on their own — you don't need to sign out, and you don't need to force-quit and reopen the app. Save any unsaved changes before upgrading or changing your account access. A plan or access update can reload an open edit screen; if that happens, reopen it and use the refreshed details. It works the other way round too: if the plan drops, the app clears what it had already loaded for the tools that are no longer included, rather than leaving the last thing you looked at on screen. While it does that the app covers the screen with a brief loading spinner — usually a moment. It has no buttons, because there is nothing to decide: it clears itself as soon as the check finishes. A drop can reload an edit screen you had open from scratch, so save anything you've typed before you change your plan.

The same menu also holds the project Actions at the bottom: Export audit pack, and (if you're an account owner or admin) Archive project and Delete project. Clone project and Save as template appear there too for owners and admins on the Pro plan or higher (or with grandfathered cloning access) — on Starter neither action is shown. On a computer those same actions live behind the ⋮ button next to the project title instead — the menu and the button offer exactly the same set.

Reusing a project on your next job (Pro plan and above)

Most repeat work is the same job at a different address, so you shouldn't be retyping the generic half of it. There are two ways to carry it over, both for account owners and admins on the Pro plan or higher — on Starter neither is shown.

Clone project makes a one-off copy of a specific job. Open the project, click the ⋮ button next to the project title (on a phone, the Project menu button under the title), then Clone project. You land on the copy straight away, named "… (Copy)". It carries the scope, CDM roles and contacts, site rules, welfare, fire strategy, access and delivery arrangements, key risks, training requirements, emergency procedures and first aid — plus your selected hazards, your full method statements, and your COSHH substances including their site assessments. It does not carry the end date, the project reference, workers, photos or the generated documents. The start date does come across from the original job — check it, because a date that's silently wrong is easy to miss. Change the title, address and start date, then generate.

Three safety details are deliberately left blank on a clone, because they describe the place rather than the work: the nearest A&E, the fire assembly point and the utility isolation points. Since most clones are the same job at a new address, carrying them over would quietly print the old site's muster point and hospital on your emergency documents. Site Safety Setup asks for all three (it can look the A&E up from the address for you), and your core documents unlock once they're filled in. If you're cloning for the *same* address, confirm that they still match the site.

Save as template is for the wording you want on *every* job of that type. From the same ⋮ or Project menu, choose Save as template. A Save as template box opens with a suggested Template name already filled in — type over it if you want, then click Save template. The name can't be blank: clear it and click Save template and the field is outlined in red with a note underneath, while the box stays open so nothing you've typed is lost — start typing and both clear. A template keeps the same generic content as a clone, but deliberately drops the things that belong to one site: the per-site COSHH assessment (quantities, location, persons exposed, controls and residual risk), the site address, and the nearest A&E. Those are re-established for each new job, so a template never makes one site's assessment — or one site's hospital — look correct on another.

In the app, Save as template is a row in the project's Actions section — open the project and scroll to the bottom. It asks for the same Template name and does not move you off the project.

To use one, go to Projects → New project, pick your role, and you'll see a Start from a template panel at the top of the details step. Choose the template, type the new project's title and the site address for this job, then click Create from template — you land on the new project with the template's content already in place.

In the app, the same Start from a template card sits above the new-project form once you've picked your role. Tap Choose a template, then fill in the new project's title and site address and tap Create from template. If the job is at one of your saved sites, tap Use a saved site first — that fills the address and keeps the job linked to the site, so anyone assigned to that site sees it. Editing the address afterwards removes the link.

The same three safety details are left for you to set on the new job, for the same reason: the fire assembly point, the utility isolation points and the nearest A&E. The project's Site Safety Setup asks for them — the A&E is looked up from the address you entered — and your core documents (CPP, RAMS, Site Induction, Emergency Plan) unlock once they're filled in.

The site address is always entered fresh rather than copied from the template. That's deliberate: your nearest A&E is worked out from the site address and printed on your emergency documents, so carrying the last job's address over would put the wrong hospital in front of your crew. Enter this job's address and the right one is found for you.

Your saved templates are listed under Saved Data → Templates, where you can delete any you no longer want. Deleting a template never affects the projects you already made from it. In the app they're under Settings → Project templates, with a Delete button beside each one; the Choose a template list on New project has the same Delete button. The Settings screen is there whatever your plan — if templates aren't included on yours it says so, and you can still delete ones you saved earlier.

Templates only appear once you've saved at least one — if you've never saved one, the Start from a template panel isn't shown. For the generic content that should apply to *every* project automatically (your standard training, fire, asbestos, waste, welfare and PPE statements, your saved sites and contacts, your reusable hazards and method statements, and your regular workers), see Saved sites and contacts and Set up your company details instead — those need no template at all.

If the PDF import fails

Occasionally we can't read the details out of an uploaded plan (a scanned or protected PDF, or a hiccup on our side). If that happens, the project still gets created — you'll see a We couldn't import your PDF notice at the top of the project's Overview page instead of the import spinner, and our team is notified automatically.

Click Fill in project details on the notice to add the site, client and team details yourself; everything else (documents, workers, sign-offs) works exactly the same. On a Business or Site Control team, only account owners and admins can edit project details, so team members should ask an owner or admin to fill them in.

If the account becomes read-only while a PDF is being analysed, the import pauses before saving extracted project details. A PDF already saved on the project stays there. On the Overview page you will see PDF import paused with Review billing; the account owner can resolve payment under Settings → Billing, then return to the project to retry. A paused import is different from a PDF we could not read, so it does not ask you to fill in details while edits are blocked.

Once you've read the notice, dismiss it with the X in its corner — it won't come back for that project.

Rather we set it up for you?

On Starter, Pro and Business, the Dashboard shows a Want us to set it up for you? card. Type your phone number into it and click Request a call back — we'll ring you back, usually the same working day, and set the job up with you. On a free account that means walking you through the app and building your first RAMS together; on a paid plan it means getting your next project properly set up. The call is free, with no obligation. (Site Control has its own guided onboarding, so the card is not shown there.)

In the mobile app the same card is on the Home tab, just below the greeting and any alerts. Type your number, tap Request a call back, and it reaches us exactly as it does on the web. It is hidden while the account is read-only, so if the subscription has lapsed you will not see it: open the More tab, tap Account & plan, and on Your plan tap Manage subscription on web — subscriptions are managed on the web app, so that opens the billing page in your browser. Once the account is active again the card comes back. You can always reach us from Help instead.

Have the job's details handy for the call: the site address, what you're doing, and who's on site. If you'd rather not see the offer right now, dismiss the card with the X in its corner — it goes away for a week on that device, and dismissing it a second time hides it for good. Once you've requested a call back, it stops asking. The web and the app remember that separately, so dismissing it on your phone does not hide it on your computer.

If you've bought our setup service, the Dashboard may show a Send us your business details card in place of the offer, or — once you've sent them — a short green line confirming we're on it. Either way you're already in the queue, so we don't ask for your number as well. Dismiss the details card with its Dismiss button, or the confirmation line with the X in its corner, and the Want us to set it up for you? card takes its place — unless you've already dismissed or answered that card on this device, in which case it stays hidden as you left it. You can always reach us from Help instead.