Crane and Lift Day Planning Checklist

Ask who is planning the lifting operation, who will be in charge on the day, and write both down along with how to reach them.

Knowing who holds the operation means every question afterwards goes to the right person the first time.

A lifting operation is planned and carried out by qualified people. Nothing here plans any part of it.

Ask directly what is expected of you before the day, and write the list down rather than assembling it from several conversations.

Owner tasks for a lift are usually mentioned in passing and then assumed to be understood.

Ask what is being lifted, roughly how many separate lifts are expected, and over what part of the day the operation would run.

Owners plan their own day around this, and a single lift and a full day of lifts are quite different events.

Ask whether other work continues during the lift or whether the site stops, and whether access to the property is affected while it runs.

A lift day is often a day when nothing else happens and nobody can get in or out, which owners need to know beforehand.

Write down explicitly the things you are not deciding, such as where the machine stands or whether conditions are workable.

Setting that boundary in writing protects an owner from being treated later as having approved something they simply observed.

Ask how far in advance the date is confirmed, and how you would be told if it moved, and record the answer.

Lift dates move frequently, and knowing the notification route beforehand saves a run of missed messages.

Ask where the machine is expected to stand, mark it on a sketch of the property, and photograph that area from several directions.

A marked sketch turns a verbal description into something everyone involved can look at and disagree with early.

Record what that area is surfaced with, such as block paving, tarmac, gravel, grass or bare ground, and note where the surface changes.

The surface is the first thing anyone planning the operation will ask about and the easiest thing for an owner to record accurately.

Mark every drainage cover, inspection chamber, gully and service box within and around the standing area, and photograph each one in place.

Covers set into a drive are routinely stood on without anyone having asked what is underneath them.

Ask a qualified professional what has to be established about any cover or chamber before a machine stands on or near it.

Write down anything you know or suspect lies beneath that area, such as a soakaway, a former tank, a cellar, a lightwell or a filled-in excavation.

Owners hold knowledge about their own plot that appears on no drawing, and it is only useful once written down.

Note any overhead line, cable or wire above or near the standing area and the load path, and photograph it from ground level only.

Overhead lines are a matter for the relevant service provider and are the constraint most often missed when looking at a plan.

Never approach or work near an overhead line. Tell the people planning the lift what you have observed and leave it entirely to them.

Note whether that ground stays soft after rain and where water stands, and say so even if the area looks firm when you are asked.

Ground that is firm in dry conditions is the commonest reason a standing position has to change at short notice.

Ask roughly what path the load would take from the machine to its final position, and mark that path on your sketch of the property.

Seeing the path drawn is what prompts the questions about what sits beneath it.

List everything sitting beneath that path, including roofs, conservatories, rooflights, glazing, a garage, a shed, mature planting and parked vehicles.

Owners can see all of this and nobody else can, particularly on a plot with outbuildings and mature planting.

Note every place the path would cross over a boundary, over a neighbour's garden or over a shared area, and mark each on the sketch.

A load passing over somebody else's land is a distinct matter and needs to be identified rather than noticed on the day.

Whether anything may pass over land you do not own is a question for suitably qualified advisers, not something to settle at the fence.

Ask neighbours beneath or near the path whether they have anything they would want moved or covered, and record what they say.

Asking rather than assuming turns a potentially resented event into one the neighbour has had a say in.

Note which neighbouring gardens have pets, children's play areas or people who work from home facing the path, and pass that on.

These are facts only a resident knows, and they shape how the day is arranged around the households nearby.

Photograph the condition of every roof, structure and surface beneath the path beforehand, including a neighbour's where they agree.

A dated record made beforehand is the only way a later question about damage gets settled without either party relying on memory.

Ask whether the operation would occupy any part of the road, pavement or verge, and for how long on the day.

Occupation of public space is arranged by the people running the work, but the owner is the one the street will ask.

What applies to occupying a road or pavement is controlled by the relevant local authority. Confirm it with them directly.

Ask who is arranging any permission needed for the day, whether it has been applied for, and by when it is expected.

Owners sometimes discover on the morning that a permission everybody assumed somebody else had arranged does not exist.

Walk the street and note which households would lose parking or access on the day, including anyone with a vehicle they need early.

Losing a parking space without warning is the single most reliable way to make a neighbour hostile to a project.

Tell the affected neighbours in writing well before the day, saying what will happen, roughly when, and how to reach you during it.

A short written note in advance does more for neighbour relations than any amount of explanation afterwards.

Note any neighbour who would be particularly affected, such as someone who needs vehicle access for care or works nights, and pass that on.

These are facts the people running the work cannot possibly know and would generally accommodate if told.

Write down the expected start time, the expected duration and the arrangement for finishing, and keep that note to hand on the day.

Having the times written down is what lets an owner answer the street's questions without calling somebody each time.

Ask what has to be cleared from the standing area and the load path, then list each item and where it will actually go.

The second half of that sentence is what gets missed, and things end up moved to somewhere equally in the way.

Arrange where household vehicles will be on the day, and confirm that somewhere is not itself inside the area being used.

A car that cannot be moved once the machine is set up will stay where it is until the end of the day.

Move anything portable and valuable out of the area, and ask what is proposed for anything that cannot be moved.

Deciding in advance what is expendable is far easier than discovering afterwards that something you valued was damaged.

Note which planting, edging and lighting sits close enough to the standing area or the path that it would probably not survive the day.

Naming this beforehand converts a later grievance into an accepted consequence agreed in advance.

Decide where pets and household members will be during the operation, and arrange it properly rather than intending to manage on the day.

An active lift is a poor time to be improvising arrangements at home, and a plan made beforehand is easy to follow.

Confirm the day before that everything asked for has actually been cleared, and photograph the area once it is.

A short confirmation the day before prevents the operation starting with an argument about what was supposed to have moved.

Ask what conditions or circumstances would stop the operation going ahead, and who makes that call on the morning.

Understanding that the decision belongs entirely to the people running it stops an owner from applying pressure to proceed.

Whether conditions are workable on the day is a judgement for the people carrying out the lift. Never press for a lift to go ahead.

Ask how you would be told if the day were called off, how early that decision is typically made, and who else would need telling.

Owners are usually the ones who have to tell the neighbours and the street, and they need the message promptly.

Ask what a cancelled day would mean for the rest of the work, and whether anything else is waiting on this lift being done.

A lift frequently unlocks several following activities, and knowing that shapes how a delay is handled.

Ask what happens if what is being lifted arrives late, and whether the operation would still go ahead that day.

A late delivery and bad weather have the same effect on the day, and only one of them is usually discussed in advance.

Agree where you will be during the operation, how you would be contacted, and that you will stay clear of the working area.

Owners watching from the wrong place is a real problem on the day, and agreeing a position in advance removes it.

Agree who a neighbour should speak to during the day if something concerns them, and make sure the neighbours have been told.

Without an agreed contact, concerns arrive at whoever is nearest, which is usually the person least able to answer.

Photograph the standing area, the route and every surface beneath the load path once the machine has gone, and date the images.

Comparing paired images is what makes a damage question answerable rather than a matter of recollection.

Where anything passed over a neighbour's land, walk their side with them afterwards if they are willing, and note what you both observed.

Doing this together and promptly prevents an issue growing quietly for weeks before it is mentioned.

Note anything that ended up different from what was described beforehand, such as a different standing position or a different path.

Sensible changes happen on the day, but they only become part of the record if somebody writes them down.

Report anything that appears damaged promptly and in writing to whoever is running the work, with the dated photographs attached to the message.

Promptness and writing are what separate a resolved matter from a disputed one.

Look at the covers, surfaces and edges within the standing area afterwards and note anything that appears different from your earlier photographs.

An owner noticing a changed cover or a cracked surface early is exactly what the earlier record was made for.

Do not open, lift or investigate any cover or chamber. Report what you observed to a qualified professional.

Keep the sketch, the paired photographs and the notes together, since this is a single self-contained event in the project record.

A lift is easy to document completely because it happened on a single occasion, which is unusual in a construction project.