Checking an archaeological contractor before you appoint

Archaeological contractor accreditation is not a formality you can settle after the condition is discharged. The local planning authority's archaeological adviser has to approve the written scheme of investigation before fieldwork starts, and an adviser who does not recognise your contractor will scrutinise that document line by line before approving anything.

Appointing the wrong organisation costs programme rather than money. The fee difference between contractors on a medium evaluation is usually modest. The difference between a scheme approved in a fortnight and one argued over for two months is a different order of problem.

Why the county archaeologist cares who you appoint

Most planning permissions handle archaeology through conditions: an evaluation before development, then mitigation proportionate to what is found, then reporting and archive deposition. The authority discharges those conditions on the advice of a county archaeologist or an equivalent in-house adviser.

That adviser is accountable for whether the archaeological record is preserved by record properly. They have seen work from every contractor operating in their area, and they know which reports arrive complete and which ones need three rounds of comment.

Their approval attaches to the written scheme of investigation, which sets out the methodology, the staffing, the specialists, the timetable and the archive arrangements. A scheme written by an organisation with a track record in that county gets read differently from one that arrives from an unfamiliar name with a generic methodology. That is not favouritism. It is risk management by someone who cannot re-excavate a site.

Registered organisations and what registration covers

The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists operates a Registered Organisations scheme. Registration means the organisation has been inspected against the Institute's standards, has a quality management system, employs accredited staff at appropriate grades, and is subject to a complaints process.

Registration is organisational, not individual. It tells you that the company has been assessed, not that the person who will run your site has been. Ask which registered organisation holds the contract and which individuals will be named in the written scheme.

Some advisers require a registered organisation as a matter of policy, others treat it as strong evidence of competence. Either way, an unregistered contractor has to demonstrate equivalence on the paperwork, and that demonstration takes time you may not have.

The Institute publishes Standards and Guidance for each type of work: desk-based assessment, field evaluation, excavation, watching brief and historic building recording. Ask the contractor which document their methodology follows, and check the written scheme actually reflects it.

Individual accreditation grades

Individual accreditation runs in grades, with Member and Associate denoting the levels usually expected to lead and supervise fieldwork and to author reports. Practitioner grade covers those working at a supervised level.

For a field evaluation on a medium site, expect an accredited project manager, a site supervisor with relevant period experience, and named specialists for the finds and environmental material likely to be recovered. For an urban excavation with waterlogged deposits, the specialist list gets longer and the absence of a named conservator becomes a real risk.

Period and regional experience matters more than people expect. A team that has excavated Roman rural settlement in one county will read the same features faster and cost less in delay than a team meeting that landscape for the first time.

Archive deposition capability

This is the question developers forget and the one that causes trouble two years after the ground is closed. Every project generates an archive of finds, records and digital data, and that archive has to go somewhere.

Museum capacity is limited, and some museums are not currently accepting new archaeological archives. A contractor who has not checked deposition with the receiving museum before starting can leave you holding a boxed archive with no destination and a condition that cannot be discharged.

Ask three things before appointment. Which museum will receive the archive. Has the museum confirmed it will accept. What are the museum's transfer of title and deposition charges, which fall to the developer.

Digital archive deposition has its own route, and an OASIS record has to be completed so the investigation appears in the national index and reaches the local Historic Environment Record. A contractor who cannot describe their OASIS and digital archiving process is telling you something about how their projects end.

Post-excavation and specialist reporting capacity

Fieldwork is the visible part and usually the smaller part of the cost on a site with real deposits. Assessment, analysis, specialist reporting, illustration and publication follow, often over a year or more.

A contractor's post-excavation backlog is a legitimate question. Ask how many projects are currently in post-excavation, what their average time from fieldwork to client report is, and whether specialists are in-house or subcontracted.

Where publication is required by the written scheme, ask which journal or series and who pays. Publication costs that were never priced at tender have a habit of surfacing when the condition is finally being discharged, and by then the site is built and occupied.

Where the Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment has already flagged a high potential for complex remains, get the post-excavation approach priced as a provisional sum at the outset rather than as a variation later.

Insurance, programme and the unexpected find

Check professional indemnity and public liability cover, and check that the limits are proportionate to your scheme rather than to the contractor's average job.

Programme risk is the bigger exposure. Build a contingency into the construction programme for the outcome of an evaluation, because a positive result converts a two week trial trenching exercise into a strip, map and sample area with its own lead time and its own approval loop.

Two statutory obligations sit outside the contract and need to be understood before they arise. Finds meeting the definition in the Treasure Act 1996 must be reported to the coroner, and the contractor's protocol for that should be in the written scheme. Human remains require a licence from the Ministry of Justice before exhumation, and obtaining one takes time that belongs in the programme.

Questions to ask before instructing

Put these to every tenderer and compare the answers rather than the prices.

1. Are you a registered organisation, and who will be the accredited project manager named in the written scheme.
2. Which Standards and Guidance documents does your methodology follow.
3. Which museum will take the archive, and have they confirmed acceptance and quoted their charges.
4. How many projects are in post-excavation now, and what is your current fieldwork to report time.
5. Which specialists are in-house and which are subcontracted, and are they named.
6. What is your protocol for treasure, for human remains and for a find that changes the scope.
7. What professional indemnity limit do you carry.

Where the appointment moves from you to the main contractor at a later stage, agree the terms early, because novating a consultant appointment after fieldwork has started tends to leave the reporting obligation stranded between two parties.

You can find reviewers who sign off drafted reports through the PlanScope professional directory once your evidence base is taking shape.

This is general guidance rather than legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority's archaeological adviser or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.