For a construction company that receives a sustainability questionnaire from a client, a contractor higher up in the supply chain or the bank, the first question is always the same: does this topic fall within what I need to provide, or does it go beyond the voluntary standard for SMEs? The VSME standard describes in broad terms what information a company subject to reporting requirements may expect from a smaller supplier or subcontractor. For construction, this amounts to basic data on energy consumption, fuel use of own equipment and vehicles, and employment. Material use and transport to the construction site do not automatically fall within this — it depends on how the question is formulated.
The VSME does not ask about the environmental impact of each material used or each truck journey. The standard asks for figures that a company with limited resources can reasonably provide from documents it already has: an energy bill, fuel receipts, an overview of the vehicle fleet. A question such as "how much CO2 does your equipment emit on the construction site" fits within this, because that can be derived from fuel receipts or a fuel card. A question such as "provide the environmental impact per cubic metre of concrete used or per type of insulation material" goes a step further, because it asks for a level of detail that the standard does not require.
Material use: where is the line drawn
Construction companies work with a large diversity of materials, and clients with their own sustainability goals often want to know more about this than the standard requires. The VSME asks for general information about company operations, not for a material inventory per project with origin, recycling percentage and embodied carbon per supplier. The latter is more in line with the more extensive reporting obligations that apply to larger, listed companies, which they cannot simply pass on to a smaller supplier.
This does not mean that a question about material use can automatically be refused. If a client asks whether there is a policy for the use of certified wood or recycled material, this may fall within the standard if it is a general, qualitative question. Once the question asks for quantitative data per material stream, per project or per supplier, it is a good time to check whether that question still fits within the VSME. examined per topic what is and isn't included provides a starting point for this, specifically tailored to the company's situation.
Transport to the construction site
Transport is a recurring point of discussion for construction companies. Own transport — the technician's van, the truck with equipment — falls under scope 1 and can be substantiated with fuel receipts; this is part of what the VSME asks for. Transport carried out by a third party, such as the delivery of building materials by a supplier, is different. For the construction company itself, this is often no more than a purchase line on an invoice, without the underlying route, vehicle type or fuel consumption of the carrier.
A request to deliver those supply chain figures exactly goes beyond what a supplier with limited resources can reasonably provide, and beyond what the standard prescribes for this size of company. The fact that a client would like that information for their own report does not change what may be required of the supplier. The distinction between what concerns the company itself and what happens further down the supply chain is precisely the point at which many questionnaires go beyond what they should.
What clients often may ask
In construction, questions about employment, safety, and workforce composition regularly come up alongside energy and fuel — topics that fall within the VSME because they can be derived from payroll records or a personnel overview. A general question about the energy consumption of the company's premises or workshop also falls into this category. The difference between this category and material use or supply chain transport lies in the source of the figures: is the answer already in records that the company keeps itself, or must data be requested from a third party that is not obliged to provide it?
This assessment is not unambiguous in every situation, and the wording of a question often makes the difference between what does and does not fall within the standard. For companies that are uncertain whether a specific question about material or transport falls within the VSME, get a first indication from a few questions is a way to quickly see where the boundary roughly lies, without having to consult the standard itself.
Setting it down for next time
Once a construction company has worked out which figures can be extracted from the energy bill, fuel receipts, and payroll records, it does not have to repeat that work each time. Those who want to see how this approach works in practice will find it at the page showing where the information comes from. This way, with the next questionnaire, attention remains focused on what remains after the capcheck, rather than on re-establishing the boundary.
Whether a specific question about material use or supply chain transport falls within the VSME standard in a particular case is ultimately an assessment that belongs to the standard and applicable regulations themselves, and in case of doubt to a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority. Those who want to start with their own assessment can submit the questionnaire free of charge to the capcheck or first review the topics by situation to see how the boundary is applied in comparable cases.