Intermediate

Trades on site: who does what and when

06/04/2026 10 min read

In partial self-build, you are the conductor: you coordinate the trades with each other and with your own work. An electrician arriving before the dry liner has finished, a tiler waiting three weeks for a screed, a plumber drilling through an already-insulated wall… Every sequencing mistake costs time and money. Here is the precise order in which each trade should arrive on site, and how to coordinate them in your Gantt chart.

The order of trades: the golden rule

The sequence of trades follows an immutable logic: work from structural to finish, from outside to inside, from floor to ceiling.

Phase 1: Groundworks and foundations

Order	Trade	What they do	Duration
1	Land surveyor	Set out the building on the plot	1 day
2	Groundworker	Excavation, trenches, utilities	2–5 days
3	Bricklayer / Blocklayer	Strip foundations, substructure, slab	2–4 weeks

Tip — The groundworker and the bricklayer must coordinate closely: the groundworker digs the trenches, the bricklayer checks the bottom of the excavation and pours the concrete promptly. If the bottom of the trench is left open too long (rain, collapse), it will need to be dug out again.

Phase 2: Structural shell

Order	Trade	What they do	Duration
4	Bricklayer / Blocklayer	Load-bearing walls, ring beams, lintels	4–8 weeks
5	Carpenter / Roofer	Roof structure (cut roof or trusses)	1–2 weeks
6	Roofer	Tiles, slates, leadwork → watertight	1–2 weeks
7	Joiner (1st fix ext.)	Windows, front door, external doors → weathertight	1 week

Warning — The carpenter cannot start until the bricklayer has finished the ring beam at wall-plate level. And the roofer cannot tile without a breathable roofing membrane. Each trade depends on the previous one — a 3-day delay from the bricklayer pushes the carpenter, who pushes the roofer, who pushes the entire second-fix programme.

Phase 3: Second fix — the critical sequence

This is the phase where sequencing is most delicate. Here is the exact order:

Order	Trade	What they do	Depends on
8	Electrician (1st fix)	Conduit, back boxes, temporary consumer unit	Weathertight
9	Plumber (1st fix)	Supply and waste pipes in walls	Weathertight
10	Heating engineer	Heating circuit (underfloor heating: before screed)	Weathertight
11	Insulation contractor	Insulation to walls, roof, floor	After elec + plumbing 1st fix
12	Dry liner / Plasterer	Stud walls, wall linings, tape and joint	After insulation
13	Screeder	Traditional or liquid screed	After plasterboard
14	(Screed drying: 3 weeks)	—	—
15	Waterproofer / Tanker	Wet room tanking (bathroom, kitchen)	After dry screed
16	Tiler	Floor and wall tiles	After tanking
17	Decorator	Walls and ceilings	After dry plasterboard + tape
18	Electrician (2nd fix)	Sockets, switches, light fittings	After decorating
19	Plumber (2nd fix)	Taps, WC, sanitaryware	After tiling
20	Joiner / Carpenter (2nd fix)	Doors, skirtings, fitted wardrobes	After decorating

Question

Best practice — The electrician and plumber doing 1st fix work in parallel (steps 8 and 9). This is one of the rare moments when two trades can work simultaneously without getting in each other’s way — provided they coordinate on penetrations through shared stud walls.

Tasks you can do yourself

In partial self-build, here is what most self-builders typically take on:

Task	DIY difficulty	Prerequisites
Insulating walls and roof space	Easy	After 1st fix
Plasterboard + tape and joint	Medium	Training or video tutorial
Floor tiling	Medium	Dry screed + tanking
Decorating	Easy	After dry tape and joint
Hanging internal doors	Easy	After decorating
Fitting kitchen	Medium	After tiling + 2nd fix
External landscaping	Variable	Last of all

Tip — Slot your own work between the tradespeople’s visits. For example: the plumber finishes 1st fix on Friday → you insulate the walls over the weekend → the dry liner starts on Monday. This is the key to saving time without creating dead time.

Coordination pitfalls

1. The trade who doesn’t show up

This is the number one problem. A trade who slips by a week blocks the entire chain.

Solutions:

Confirm every visit 1 week and 48 hours in advance.
Have a backup contact for every critical trade.
Build in 1 week of float between each subcontracted package in your Gantt chart.

2. The previous trade’s work not finished

The dry liner arrives but the insulation isn’t done. The tiler arrives but the screed isn’t dry. Result: they leave and you lose your slot in their diary.

Solution: Check yourself that each package is 100% complete and compliant before calling the next trade.

3. Forgotten service routes

The electrician forgot to run a conduit through a wall? The plumber didn’t allow for the washing machine waste? You find out after the plasterboard is up — and have to cut it all open again.

Solution: Hold a technical walk-round with each trade before 1st fix. Confirm that all service routes (socket positions, water supplies, wastes) are signed off on the drawings.

Advice

4. Trades getting in each other’s way

Two trades in the same room at the same time means conflict, errors, and damage.

Rule: One trade per zone at a time. If your house is large enough, the electrician can work downstairs while the dry liner is upstairs. Otherwise, keep to a strict sequence.

The site meeting: your coordination tool

flowchart TD A[Weekly site meeting] --> B[Progress update per package] B --> C[Problems encountered this week] C --> D[Programme for next week] D --> E[Materials to order] E --> F[Written site minutes] style A fill:#0F4C81,stroke:#0F4C81,color:#fff style B fill:#FDFCF9,stroke:#C67A3C,color:#0F4C81 style C fill:#FDFCF9,stroke:#C67A3C,color:#0F4C81 style D fill:#FDFCF9,stroke:#C67A3C,color:#0F4C81 style E fill:#FDFCF9,stroke:#C67A3C,color:#0F4C81 style F fill:#56C6A9,stroke:#56C6A9,color:#fff

Even in self-build, hold a weekly site meeting — even if it’s just you and one trade over a coffee. The agenda:

Review progress on each package.
Identify problems before they become blockers.
Confirm the programme for the following week.
List materials to order.
Write up brief minutes (even five lines by email).

Best practice — Keep a site diary: a photo and three lines every day (what was done, what is causing concern, what is planned tomorrow). It is your best defence in the event of a dispute with a trade, for your self-build insurance, and for keeping the programme on track.

Do you need a project manager?

In partial self-build, you are your own project manager / site manager. You:

Plan the programme
Coordinate the trades
Check the quality of the work
Sign off each package on completion

If you do not feel confident managing this coordination — especially during second fix when four or five trades follow in quick succession — you can bring in an independent project manager:

Service	Cost	What they do
Ad hoc site visits	£100–200 per visit	Quality checks + advice
Partial project management	3–5% of build cost	Trades coordination + oversight
Full project management	8–12%	Everything from design to handover

Warning — A project manager is not an architect. They do not need an architect’s qualification to coordinate building works. Check their professional indemnity insurance and ask for references from similar projects.

Key takeaways

Sequencing the trades is the critical skill in partial self-build. A single trade placed at the wrong point in the sequence can bring the whole site to a standstill. Master the order (structural to finish, outside to inside), exploit parallel tasks (electrician + plumber 1st fix), and coordinate with a weekly site meeting. Your Gantt chart is your management tool — update it every week.