Before you break ground — the four gates
Don't break ground until all four are clear — HIC signed, cooling-off cleared, Milestone 1 funded, site set-up ready (CDM, RAMS, access).
Four gates have to cleared before you can break ground. Don't start before all four are cleared — it's the most common cause of payment problems and contract issues we see.
Gate 1: Home Improvement Contract (HIC) signed
The Home Improvement Contract is signed digitally by both you and the customer. Both signatures have to be in place. The platform shows the signed status.
Gate 2: Cooling-off cleared
The customer has passed the 14-day cooling-off period. Don't start work before this — if you start during the cooling-off and the customer changes their mind, you've done unfunded work.
Gate 3: Milestone 1 funded
The customer has funded Milestone 1 in their Beams Account. The dashboard shows the status as "Milestone 1 funded".
Gate 4: Site set-up ready
The site is ready to be worked on. From your side this means:
- Construction Phase Plan in place. As the Principal Contractor under Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM) 2015.
- Risk Assessments and Method Statements (RAMS) on site.
- Access confirmed. Keys, codes, parking arrangements.
- Materials sequenced to the dates you need them by.
What the platform shows today
The platform clearly shows whether the customer has signed the HIC. The other three gates aren't surfaced as a single readout — you can see funding status on the milestone page, cooling-off dates on the contract page, and site readiness in your own preparation. Treat the four gates as a checklist you work through yourself; it's your job to check everything's in place before you break ground.
Why all four
Each gate protects something — the contract protects the relationship, the cooling-off protects the customer's consumer rights, the funding protects your payment, the site set-up protects safety and the build itself. Skipping any of them undoes one of those protections.