Site Access Route Record Checklist

Note exactly where a vehicle would leave the public road for your property, and whether that turn is made from a main route, a side street or a shared lane.

The turn off the public road is where most access problems begin, and it is the first thing anyone arranging a delivery will ask about.

Walk the approach and write down whether it is a made road, an unmade track, a shared drive or a footpath, and note who else uses it regularly.

The character of the approach affects what can be brought in and who else has to be considered while it is occupied.

Note where vehicles habitually park along the approach, and at which times of day the route is most constricted by them.

A route that looks open in the middle of the day can be effectively blocked at exactly the times work would be starting or finishing.

Record the condition of the crossing between road and property, including whether the kerb is dropped, cracked, sinking or shared with a neighbouring entrance.

The crossing is frequently in different ownership from the drive behind it, and damage there turns into a dispute very quickly.

Ask the relevant local authority what applies to the crossing serving your property before any change to it is planned or assumed.

Stand at the entrance and note what a reversing driver could and could not see, including a wall, hedge, bend or habitually parked vehicle in the way.

Sightlines at the entrance often decide whether a vehicle can be reversed in at all or has to be manoeuvred somewhere else entirely.

Photograph the approach from the road towards the property and from the property back towards the road, and keep both sets of images dated.

Two directions of view answer most of the questions a professional would otherwise have to make a visit to resolve.

Walk the route and identify the single narrowest point, then describe what forms it on each side, such as a gatepost, a wall, a bay window or a planter.

The narrowest point governs everything that can reach the work, and describing what forms it is far more useful than a figure taken loosely.

Record every gate on the route, which way each leaf swings, whether it can be lifted off its hinges, and whether the posts are set into the ground.

Gates that can be taken off temporarily change the route entirely, and this is almost always discovered later than it should be.

Note where a vehicle could turn and where it would have to reverse the whole way, and mark the nearest place it could pull in to let something pass.

Whether a vehicle can turn shapes which arrangements are workable at all, and a long reverse is a constraint people need to hear about in advance.

Record every archway, barrier, low branch, canopy or overhanging structure a vehicle would have to pass beneath, and photograph each of them.

Overhead restrictions are the constraint owners forget, because they are effectively invisible when the route is walked on foot.

Ask the supplier and whoever runs the work what clearance their vehicles and loads need at each of these points; do not estimate it yourself.

Note every corner where a long load would have to swing, including anywhere it would pass over a neighbouring verge, planting bed or parked vehicle.

Corners are where damage to other people's property happens, and naming them lets the risk be discussed before anything arrives.

Note every step, ramp, kerb and change of level between the entrance and the work area, and whether any of them could be temporarily bridged.

Level changes decide whether material can be wheeled or has to be carried, which changes how much of it can arrive at once.

Record what the route is surfaced with along each stretch, such as block paving, gravel, grass, a resin surface or bare ground, and note where it changes.

Different surfaces behave very differently under repeated loading, and the point where one surface meets another is often where damage starts.

Mark on a sketch every drainage cover, inspection chamber, gully and service box the route passes over, and photograph each one where it sits.

Covers set into a drive are routinely driven over by everyone without anyone ever having asked what sits underneath them.

Ask a qualified professional what should be established about any cover or chamber before heavy loads pass over or stand on it.

Note where the ground stays soft after rain, where water stands, and where a vehicle would leave ruts if it strayed off the made surface.

Ground that is perfectly firm in dry conditions frequently becomes the main access problem once the work is actually under way.

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

Owners often hold knowledge about a plot that appears on no drawing at all, and that knowledge is only useful once it is written down.

Raise anything you suspect lies beneath the route with a qualified professional before any vehicle or load is planned across it.

Note any overhead line, cable or wire crossing the route or the area where a vehicle would stand, and photograph it from ground level only.

Overhead lines crossing a drive or garden are commonplace, and they are a matter for the service provider rather than for the owner.

Never approach, move or work near an overhead line. Ask the relevant service provider and a qualified professional what applies at your property.

Note which planting, edging, lighting or garden features sit close enough to the route that they would probably not survive repeated use.

Deciding in advance what is expendable is far easier than discovering afterwards that something you valued was flattened by a delivery.

Walk from the entrance to the work area carrying something long and rigid, and note every point where you have to tilt it, turn it or set it down.

Physically walking the route with an awkward object finds constraints that no plan drawing will ever show you.

Record every stair turn, half-landing and low ceiling on the internal route, and note where a handrail, newel or radiator narrows the passage.

Stair geometry often decides whether a large item can reach an upper floor at all, and is a common reason a plan has to change.

Note which doorways on the route have leaves that can be lifted off, and which sit in frames or openings that form part of the structure.

Taking a door leaf off is straightforward; altering an opening is an entirely different matter, and the difference needs establishing early.

Ask a qualified professional before assuming any opening on the carry route could be temporarily enlarged or taken out.

Record what the floors along the internal route are finished with, and note which of those finishes are staying and would therefore need protecting.

A finish that is being replaced anyway can be treated very differently from one you intend to live with afterwards.

Note whether there is any alternative way into the work area, such as a rear door, a window opening, a garden gate or an external stair.

An alternative entrance often avoids the internal route entirely, and it is worth identifying before any arrangements are settled.

In a shared building, record the lift, stair and corridor the route uses, and note any restriction the managing party places on their use.

Communal routes usually carry rules about times, protection and who may use them, and those rules are made by other people.

Confirm with the managing party or freeholder what applies to moving materials through communal areas before anything is arranged.

Mark on a sketch the point where the route leaves land you own, and note who you believe owns or maintains each stretch beyond that point.

Assumed access over a shared drive or a rear lane is one of the most common late surprises in a domestic project.

Ask a qualified adviser to establish what access rights exist over any stretch you do not own before arrangements come to depend on it.

Read any title or lease document you hold for wording about access, rights of way, shared drives and maintenance, and note exactly what you find.

Owners rarely read these documents until a disagreement starts, although the wording usually existed long before anyone needed it.

Note which other households, businesses or services rely on the same stretch of route, and how obstructing it would affect each of them.

Knowing who else needs the route makes it possible to arrange work around them rather than in front of them.

Photograph the condition of every shared surface, verge, kerb and boundary along the route before any vehicle uses it, and keep the images dated.

A dated record made beforehand is the simplest way to settle a later question about who caused damage on a surface nobody owns alone.

If part of the work could only be reached across a neighbour's land, write that down as an open question rather than an assumption, and raise it early.

A request to cross a neighbour's land lands far better raised early than when a working team is already waiting at the boundary.

Crossing someone else's ground is not something a working team can agree for you. Take it to a qualified adviser before the route depends on it.

Where the route would occupy a pavement, verge or roadway, note that clearly and confirm locally what applies before anything depends on it.

Rules for occupying public space vary considerably between localities and are not something any checklist can state on your behalf.

Occupation of a pavement or road is controlled by the relevant local authority. Confirm what applies to your street with them directly.

List the items you expect to be most awkward to bring in, such as glazing units, beams, a bath, sheet materials or fitted cabinetry, and note which are rigid.

Rigid items that cannot be tilted, split or reassembled are the ones the whole route has to be considered against.

Ask whoever is arranging materials what kind of vehicle each delivery normally arrives on, and record the answers alongside your route notes.

Suppliers often have more than one vehicle option, but only offer it when the constraint is known before the arrangement is made.

Note anything that may have to be lifted over a building, wall or fence rather than carried through, and mark where a lifting vehicle could stand.

Identifying this possibility early changes where material is stored and how the rest of the route is planned around it.

Any lifting operation is a matter for qualified professionals. Record the constraint and leave the method entirely to them.

Ask which items could be delivered in parts and assembled at the property, and record which of them cannot be split under any circumstances.

Whether something can be split is often the whole difference between a workable route and an impossible one.

Note where material could be set down between the vehicle and the work area if it cannot be carried the whole way in a single movement.

An intermediate setting-down point is frequently what makes an otherwise awkward route usable in practice.

Ask whoever is planning the work what your route rules out, and write the answer down as a constraint rather than treating it as a passing remark.

Turning the route into an explicit list of constraints stops the same conversation being repeated with every new person involved.

Draw a simple sketch of the route from the road to the work area, marking gates, corners, covers, level changes and the narrowest point.

A rough sketch communicates a route far better than any written description, and it takes very little effort to produce.

Label each photograph against a position on the sketch, so anyone reading it can tell where the image was taken from and which way it faces.

Unlabelled photographs of a route are close to useless to someone who has never stood in those positions.

Note when the record was made and what the weather and ground conditions were like, since both change what the route looks like considerably.

A route photographed in dry conditions can mislead badly if the work will actually happen while the ground is wet.

Write down which parts of the route you could not reach, see beneath or open up, and flag those as gaps rather than leaving them blank.

Flagged gaps get investigated by somebody; blank spaces get quietly assumed to be fine.

Send the route record to anyone being asked about the work before they visit, and ask what else they would want recorded while you are there.

Professionals asked in advance will usually name one or two things you would never have thought to photograph.

Update the record whenever something on the route changes, such as a gate being removed, a surface breaking up or a new restriction appearing.

A route record that is out of date is worse than none at all, because people go on relying on it without checking.