Most companies are told a number and nothing else. This is the actual sequence, including the two things that decide whether it runs on time: one decision-maker who is genuinely free, and records that start on day one instead of the week before the audit.
Typical for a first certification, one site, one standard. Multi-site adds roughly two to three weeks per site.
Not a committee. Someone who can approve a procedure in two days rather than three weeks. Slow sign-off is the most common cause of a slipped date.
Two hours each, in weeks 2 to 4, with the people who do the job. If those sessions keep being moved, the project moves with them.
The single behaviour that decides your timeline: the day a procedure is agreed, the records start. Companies that wait to “tidy up” restart the clock.
Every new site, service line or shift added mid-project moves the audit and the fee. Decide the boundary at week 1 and hold it.
Auditors are booked, not summoned. Popular bodies run two to four weeks out, so we book the slot as soon as the scope is agreed.
If your site closes for a fortnight, the audit has to move. Tell us the calendar in week 1, not week 8.
The most expensive delay, because it has no end. You are never ready before you start; the system is what makes you ready.
| Situation | Typical elapsed time | Why it is faster |
|---|---|---|
| First certification, one standard | 6–10 weeks | Everything is new, including the habit of keeping records |
| Adding a second standard | 4–6 weeks | The skeleton, the internal audit and the management review already exist |
| Transitioning 2015 → 2026 edition | Runs with your next scheduled audit | Usually handled as a gap review, not a rebuild |
| Recertification, year three | 2–4 weeks of our work | The system is running; we prepare and attend |
Sometimes, and we will tell you honestly when we think it can. It requires your decision-maker to be available immediately, records to start within days, and an audit slot to be free. What cannot be compressed is evidence over time — an auditor wants to see the system running over a period, not assembled overnight.
No. The sessions are booked around your operations, and implementation is designed to run alongside them. If your operations cannot spare two staff for two hours in three weeks, the project will not finish, and it is better to know that now.
Tell us the date in the first call. If it is achievable we will say so. If it is not, we will say that too, and tell you what is achievable in the time — sometimes a partial route is enough for the buyer.
Rare on a properly prepared first audit, and usually limited to minor findings closed with evidence in days. We sit through the audit with you and answer the auditor's questions about how the system was built.
Separately, directly to them, at their own published rates, usually before the audit is booked. We never mark that fee up, and it is shared when you hold more than one standard.
Send the tender deadline or the date your buyer expects the certificate. We will tell you the latest date you can start and still make it — or that you cannot, and what to do instead.