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

   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).

3. 3

   Or fill in the form manually and click Get started.

What happens next

You land on the project, ready to generate documents from the Documents section — start with the Construction Phase Plan, then RAMS. Add your crew on the Workers section so inductions and sign-offs have the right names from day one.

Getting around a project on your phone

On a computer, the core project sections (Overview, Documents, Workers, Methods, and so on) sit in a row of tabs across the top of the project — click a tab to switch. Site Diary and Incidents are tabs too, next to Inspections. The remaining compliance tools (COSHH assessment, Permits to Work, F10 and the Audit Pack — all Pro plan and above) are opened from their cards on the Documents section.

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.

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, it's a few seconds' work to confirm them.

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.

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.

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.

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 — it takes a couple of minutes and 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.

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