NHBC - New home warranty

The NHBC - The National House Building Council

The NHBC is the leading new home warranty and insurance provider. Established over 75 years ago as an independent, non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee, its primary purpose is to raise standards in the new home building industry and provide consumer protection for new home buyers.  

The NHBC Standards

The NHBC has around 11,000 registered builders, who undertake to adhere to strict NHBC technical standards. Around 80% of all new homes built are registered with the NHBC for Buildmark warranty. The NHBC provides warranty cover to 1.6million homes. In 2010, of the 3,959 complaints investigated by the NHBC under their resolution service, 67% were found in favour of the homeowner. The NHBC has reserves of £1,500million and paid out £119.1million in claims to fix 10,848 defective new homes in the year to 31 March 2019.*

 Be aware, not all claims to the NHBC warranty are successful!

The NHBC helps raise standards by-

• registering builders who agree to comply with NHBC Rules and Standards.
• setting and maintaining construction standards for new homes
• inspecting at key stages of construction
• providing "Buildmark" warranty and insurance cover.
• offering Building Control services in England and Wales.
• providing a range of services, including technical information, training, health, & safety
• engineering and energy rating services for new homes and housing related sectors.
• The 350 NHBC inspectors made 1 million inspections of the 149,123 new homes completed last year*. These are made at critical stages of construction before the next stage is started. The NHBC Inspectors found 446,071 'reportable items'  requiring the house builders' attention.

(*Source NHBC Annual Review 2018/19)

The inspection stages are:

• Foundations - once excavated (before concrete)
• Drainage - (if NHBC is also carrying out Building Control services)
• Superstructure - the brickwork, blockwork, floors and roof
• First fix - before plastering or drylining
• Pre-handover  - final (CML) inspection for Building Regulation compliance

  (Source NHBC Annual Reviews 2010/11 & 2014/15)

Pride in the Job Awards

NHBC Pride in the Job, is the only national competition organised to recognise and reward site managers who achieve the highest standards in house building. The NHBC claim the competition "has been instrumental in driving up the quality of new homes for 37 years."

A Pride in the Job award is said to be the highest industry accolade a site manager can attain. An award acknowledges the extra effort the site manager, his team and associated trades have made in building their new homes to the highest possible standards and best practice.

Most importantly, homeowners who buy a new home on a Pride in the Job award-winning development, should benefit from a high quality product.

Every site manager, irrespective of whether they work for a large or small company has an equal opportunity to win an award. All new homes are eligible including, refurbishment and housing association sites.

The NHBC take steps to ensure that their Pride in the Job competition is fair, transparent and consistent. Their judges, including an independent panel, all use the same comprehensive marking checklist, scoring site managers against 37 pre-set criteria. Download the Pride in the Job Checklist here

The same judging rules apply to all categories and at all stages of the competition, and with processes for checking and verification of scoring, clarity and equality is ensured for every site manager taking part.

Quality Awards are selected by NHBC Building Inspectors and their Inspection Managers. The Seals of Excellence are chosen by NHBC Regional Directors. The Regional Awards are decided by the Regional Directors and an independent panel.  NHBC Pride in the Job league table.

The NHBC has NHBC, NHBC House, Davy Avenue, Knowlhill, Milton Keynes
Buckinghamshire. MK5 8FP

Contact via telephone  through the switchboard number: 0844 633 1000.

For more about NHBC Warranty and how and when to make a claim click

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