Adrian Aston, an AI specialist working as a senior consultant for Orbis Offsets, offers advice to tiling contractors on navigating carbon measurement to prepare for tenders and improve business productivity.
When a principal contractor asks your tiling business for carbon information, where do you start? You may already hold environmental information about the tiles and adhesives you install. However, the customer may be asking about your company’s own emissions and the steps you are taking to reduce them.
For tiling contractors preparing bids or completing supplier questionnaires, understanding that distinction can save time and avoid supplying the wrong documents.
Understand the request
Check whether the customer wants an emissions inventory, a Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP), an environmental policy or information about a specific project. Each serves a different purpose.
A manufacturer’s Environmental Product Declaration describes a product’s environmental impacts. Your company’s emissions inventory covers the activities within your business’s reporting boundary. These may include company vehicles, premises energy, business travel and relevant waste or supply-chain activities. Product information supports material choices, but it does not replace your company’s carbon evidence.
Some public procurements require a CRP under defined rules. PPN 006 applies to relevant major central government contracts, rather than every public-sector job. Always check the buyer’s actual requirements before deciding what to prepare.
Gather the underlying records
For a tiling contractor, a practical starting file could include:
- Business details: the company, reporting period, premises and activities covered.
- Fuel records: fuel-card statements and purchase records for company vans and relevant equipment.
- Energy bills: electricity and gas consumption for offices, stores or workshops.
- Travel and waste: business mileage, other relevant travel and available waste records relating to your activities.
- Supporting notes: missing information, estimates and assumptions that need to be explained.
This is a starting point. The complete data requirements depend on the reporting method and the customer’s request. Agree who will gather each record, particularly where information sits with an accountant, fleet provider or site team.
Use AI with specialist support
Orbis Offsets is primarily an artificial intelligence-based company, using state-of-the-art AI to help businesses navigate carbon measurement, reporting and reduction planning.
AI helps us gather and prepare information efficiently, supporting the work needed to turn business records into usable carbon documentation. People review the calculations, assumptions and client-facing documents before they are issued.
For a contractor, the aim is a more manageable process: understand the request, assemble the evidence, resolve gaps and prepare a clear response. Accurate source records remain essential throughout.
Keep the evidence useful
Once the figures are established, identify practical reduction measures. For a tiling business, these could include better journey planning, reduced vehicle idling, improved workshop energy efficiency and less avoidable material waste. Assign responsibility and realistic timescales.
Continue collecting records so future tenders and annual updates are easier to handle. Where a CRP is required under PPN 006, the guidance calls for updates at least annually.
Preparing early gives your business time to resolve missing information and present consistent evidence when a customer asks.
Orbis Offsets helps businesses measure emissions, prepare Carbon Reduction Plans and maintain carbon documentation for bids and supplier questionnaires. To discuss your requirements, visit orbisoffsets.com.
