Waste transfer notes for demolition and groundworks contractors
If you are moving mixed demolition waste, muck away or hardcore off a site, every load needs a waste transfer note carrying the same handful of details, and most of those loads leave from somewhere with poor signal. Skiplog is built to record that note on a phone or tablet at the loading point in under two minutes, and a note written in a form you already have open saves to the device first, so a
How a demolition or groundworks job does transfer notes today
Demolition and groundworks produce waste in bursts. A slab comes up, grab lorries queue on the haul road, and six loads of mixed muck leave in an afternoon. Every one of them needs a transfer note carrying the same handful of details: a description of the waste, its EWC code, the quantity, the carrier and their registration number, and the site it went to.
Most crews still do that in a duplicate book kept in the cab or the site hut, or on a pad of generic notes printed years ago. It holds up until the job gets busy. The book gets rained on in a dig. The weighbridge ticket comes back with the driver at four o'clock and the weight is copied across two days later from memory. A sub-contracted haulier turns up and nobody writes down the CBDU number. Then the main contractor, the client or an inspector asks for the records for one particular week, and somebody spends an evening with a ring binder working out which load was which.
The decision in front of you
It is not really paper against software. It is where the record gets made. Either it is made at the loading point while the lorry is still in front of you and the ticket is in your hand, or it is reconstructed later at a desk from tickets, texts and recollection. Reconstructed records are the ones that go thin: a blank quantity, a description that does not match the code, a carrier named but not numbered.
The reason site crews stay on paper is usually signal, not stubbornness. A basement dig, a compound behind steel hoarding, a rural groundworks plot with one bar: a form that needs a connection to save is useless there. Skiplog is built around that, in a specific and limited way. With the note form already open on the phone or tablet, the note saves to the device before it tries the network, so the signal dropping while you are standing at the lorry does not lose the load. Opening Skiplog cold in a black spot is a different matter: with no connection at all you get the browser's own offline page rather than the form, so the working habit is to have the form up before you walk down the ramp.
Recording a load as it leaves the site
- Open a new note at the loading point
On the phone in your pocket or the tablet in the cab, and open it while you still have signal. Skiplog is made to be filled in standing next to the lorry, not typed up afterwards from a photo of a ticket.
- Describe the waste and put the EWC code on it
Mixed construction and demolition, soil and stones, hardcore, timber. The code travels with the description, so the note and the register agree about what moved.
- Take the quantity off the weighbridge ticket
The weight goes in while the ticket is still in your hand, which is the one number that reliably goes missing when a note is written up days later.
- Name the carrier and the destination site
Carrier details including the registration number, and the site the load is going to. These are two of the key fields Skiplog captures, and the two a sub-contracted haulier makes easiest to get wrong.
- Save, and watch the status, not the signal bars
The note saves locally first and carries a visible status: queued, syncing, synced. A queued note is recorded on that device, so the load is not riding on your memory while you walk back to the hut.
- Let it go up on its own when the signal returns
When connectivity comes back, queued notes sync automatically and the status changes to synced. Nobody has to remember to press anything at the end of the shift.
What matters when the paperwork is written on a site, not in an office
Under two minutes a load
A whole transfer note, with the key fields Skiplog captures, is built to be completable in under two minutes on a mobile or a tablet. That is short enough to do between grab lorries rather than after them.
A bar dropping out mid-note does not lose it
A note written in a form that is already open saves to the device before any network call, and syncs by itself when the signal returns. Starting Skiplog fresh with no connection is the case to plan around, so get the form up before the tablet goes into the dig.
You can see what is still on the tablet
Every note shows queued, syncing or synced, so the person doing the paperwork knows whether a load is still sitting on a device or is in with the rest.
The same key fields every time
Waste type, EWC code, quantity, carrier details and destination, on every note, in the same order. Those are the fields Skiplog captures rather than the whole of what duty of care asks for, and the sibling page on what a transfer note must contain walks through the rest.
Tonnage by waste type where you can see it
A site dashboard shows the notes logged, tonnage by waste type and a compliance status overview, which is the view you want before anyone asks what left the job.
Carrier registrations tracked with a countdown
Carrier, broker and dealer registrations are tracked with their expiry dates, and anything inside 30 days is flagged on the dashboard with the days left showing. Email reminders are on the plan; we will not describe them as delivered until that path is proven live.
Which record a demolition load travels on
| What is moving | The record it needs | Where Skiplog sits |
|---|---|---|
| Mixed construction and demolition waste in a skip or grab lorry | A waste transfer note for the movement, or a season ticket where repeat collections of the same waste allow one | Recorded in Skiplog with waste description, EWC code, quantity, carrier details and destination |
| Soil and stones going muck away | A waste transfer note with the EWC code that matches the material | The same note, the same key fields, written at the loading point on a phone or tablet |
| Hazardous waste, bonded asbestos included | A hazardous waste consignment note, which is a different form with different duties | Skiplog does not produce consignment notes, so that paperwork stays as you handle it now |
| A skip exchange back to the receiving yard | A transfer note held by the site that takes the waste in | Recorded by whoever holds that site's Skiplog account, on the same key fields |
What Skiplog does not do, so you can rule it out quickly
Skiplog was built first for the receiving end of the chain, the UK skip yards and transfer stations that have to keep a register and export a return. A demolition or groundworks contractor who keeps their own transfer notes is doing the same job with the same fields, which is why the capture side fits. The rest of the product is honest about its edges.
- One site per plan. Both plans cover a single site, with unlimited transfer notes and unlimited registrations tracked on it. If you need records held separately for several compounds, say so on the waitlist form rather than assuming.
- No consignment notes. Hazardous loads are a different form and Skiplog does not produce it. Our glossary page on the consignment note explains the difference.
- Offline has a shape to it. The device save protects a note in a form you already have open. It is not a promise that the app opens from cold in a basement with no signal, and we would rather you plan the shift around that than find out on site.
- It is not a skip hire or job costing system. No quoting, no routing, no invoicing, no plant hire. It records waste movements and the paperwork that follows them.
- Submission stays with you. The quarterly return comes out as a one-click CSV export in the Environment Agency's column layout. Read the file before you send it: it carries Skiplog's own record status column, which you take out by hand, and Skiplog does not file the return on your behalf.
- It helps you meet the requirements; it does not guarantee an outcome. Compliance rests on what gets typed in and on rules that change. Skiplog is built to make the record easy to make and easy to find, and to keep it while your account is open.
If you want the argument for leaving the duplicate book behind set out in full, the sibling page on swapping the duplicate book for a digital record covers it, and the page on what information a transfer note must contain goes field by field.
What it costs when the doors open
Annual, £1,188 a year
The same product for £99 a month, billed once a year, for yards and sites that plan a season ahead. One site, unlimited transfer notes, unlimited registrations tracked. Starts with a 60-day free trial.
Monthly, £129 a month
The same product paid month by month, cancel whenever you like. One site, unlimited transfer notes, unlimited registrations tracked. Also starts with a 60-day free trial. Card payments run through Stripe.
Questions
What happens when the signal drops behind hoarding or down in a dig?
If the note form is already open, the note saves to the device before any network call, shows a visible status of queued, syncing or synced, and syncs by itself when connectivity returns. Opening Skiplog cold with no connection at all gives you the browser's offline page rather than the form, so the practical habit is to open a new note while you still have a bar, and to keep the weighbridge ticket until the note reads synced.
Is Skiplog for the contractor sending the waste or the yard receiving it?
It was built first for UK skip yard and transfer station operators, the receiving end. The transfer note capture is the same set of key fields either way, so a demolition or groundworks contractor keeping their own register uses the same form and the same device save.
Can I record an asbestos load on it?
No. Hazardous waste, bonded asbestos included, travels on a hazardous waste consignment note, which is a different document with different duties, and Skiplog does not produce it. Our page on the hazardous waste consignment note sets out what that form involves.
How long does one note actually take?
A transfer note with the key fields Skiplog captures, waste type, EWC code, quantity, carrier details and destination, is built to be completable in under two minutes on a mobile or a tablet. In practice the limiting factor is reading the weighbridge ticket.
Does Skiplog send anything to the Environment Agency for me?
No. It generates the quarterly return as a one-click CSV export in the Environment Agency's column layout. Check the file over before you submit it: it includes Skiplog's own record status column, which you delete by hand, and submitting the return stays with you.
What happens to the records when a job finishes?
Records stay while the account is open, because waste records have to span quarters and inspections. A note you remove comes off your register and your returns but stays on file for the two years the regulations require, and a lapsed trial does not lock records away: they stay readable and exportable.
Can one account cover several compounds or jobs at once?
Both plans cover one site, with unlimited transfer notes and unlimited registrations on it. If your work runs across several sites that need separate registers, put that on the waitlist form so we can tell you honestly whether Skiplog fits yet.