Accreditations and credentials
The difference between a decorator and a contractor a managing agent can hand a building to is documented, not claimed. SFS Group London Ltd holds CHAS Elite, and is independently assessed against the standards the industry uses to vet firms it lets on site in London and Essex. Every credential below is current and held in our own name. Here is what each one means for you.
The marks
CHAS Elite
What it is
CHAS is the construction industry's longest established health and safety assessment scheme. CHAS describes Elite as its highest tier. It is one accreditation carrying both SSIP and the Common Assessment Standard, assessed against a wider set of criteria than health and safety alone.
What it means for you
CHAS Elite meets the Common Assessment Standard and carries SSIP, which covers the safety part of most pre-qualification questionnaires. It is the credential that lets us onto frameworks and tenders that exclude unaccredited firms. It also means our paperwork, insurances and safety systems have been examined by an independent body rather than asserted on a website. Member 175795, certificate valid to 4 June 2027.
Common Assessment Standard
What it is
A certification developed by Build UK and the industry that goes past health and safety to cover financial standing, insurances, environmental management, quality and equality. It exists so a contractor answers one common set of questions once, and the rest of the industry accepts that answer. That replaces a different pre-qualification questionnaire for every client.
What it means for you
Assurance that an assessor looked at the whole business, not only at how we run a site. It is the standard increasingly written into procurement on larger and public-sector work, and we hold it through CHAS Elite.
SSIP
What it is
Safety Schemes in Procurement is the umbrella body bringing the recognised health and safety assessment schemes under one roof, so that membership of one is accepted by the others. Our SSIP recognition comes through CHAS Elite, and our listing is public on the SSIP portal.
What it means for you
Other schemes accept our health and safety competence, which removes a common procurement hurdle. You can check us yourself: search SFS Group London Ltd on the SSIP portal and you will find us listed to 4 June 2027.
Painting and Decorating Association
What it is
The PDA is the trade body for professional painters and decorators in the UK. Membership carries the craft standards and the code of conduct of the trade, on top of the construction-wide schemes above.
What it means for you
The finish matters to us as much as the compliance. The schemes above cover how we run a job; the PDA covers how well it is painted.
Scope we are assessed for
Principal Contractor (CDM)
Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 the principal contractor is the firm responsible for the construction phase. That means planning it, writing the construction phase plan, setting the site rules and coordinating everyone else on site. We hold both approved scopes on the SSIP register, Contractor and Principal Contractor, to 4 June 2027. We hold the role on our own projects and work under other principal contractors on theirs.
Insurance
Public Liability £5,000,000. Employers' Liability £10,000,000. Professional Indemnity £100,000. Certificates available on request and re-issued in your name when a project requires it.
We require every subcontractor we engage to hold public liability of at least £2,000,000 with an indemnity to principals clause.
Who you are contracting with
SFS Group London Ltd, trading as SFS Interior & Exterior · Registered in England, company no. 12788253 · Registered office: 297a High Street, Epping, Essex CM16 4DA · VAT no. 403 4472 28
The company was incorporated in August 2020. SFS Group London Ltd carries out and invoices all of the work.
Questions procurement asks
Can you send your certificates for a tender or a framework?
Yes. If a pre-qualification needs our CHAS certificate, our insurance schedule or our risk assessments and method statements, ask and we will send them. We would rather answer a procurement question before you shortlist than after, so tell us the format your tender return needs.
Do you hold Constructionline?
Not at present. We hold CHAS Elite, which carries the Common Assessment Standard and SSIP, and that is what our clients' procurement has asked for to date. Where a framework specifically requires Constructionline we will tell you at enquiry rather than at tender.
Who writes your risk assessments and method statements?
Our operations director, issued before we mobilise, alongside COSHH assessments. On an occupied building a resident notification letter goes with them. On a Section 20 scheme that paperwork is part of the evidence file the Tribunal would read, so we write it to be read, not to be filed and forgotten.
Are your subcontractors covered by your accreditations?
Our accreditations are held by SFS Group London Ltd and cover our own work. Every subcontractor we engage holds public liability of at least £2,000,000 with an indemnity to principals clause, and we hold their insurance and CSCS cards on file. The same site rules and method statements apply to them as to our own crew.
Need the paperwork for a tender?
Tell us what your pre-qualification asks for and we will send it.
We reply within one working hour, 7:30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Outside those hours, first thing the next working morning.
Enquiry form
Thank you. Someone from our office will call or email you within the hour if it is a working day, or first thing the next working morning.