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The National house building Council BuildMark scheme (NHBC), Premier guarantee, Zurich municipal guarantee or another warranty provider will Provide cover for newly built home that are younger than 10 years old. These warranties will protect the owner from structural defects for a period of 10 years, it also in meant as a guarantee for the property’s’ build quality. |
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All contractors involved in the construction of these properties should be registered with one of the warranty providers mentioned earlier, during construction warranty provider should carried out scheduled inspections of the build quality during construction. The warranty provided belongs to the property and not the owner in the situation where ownership is transferred the warranty would still be valid as long as it remains within the ten year period. Although a property may still be under warranty and there is a transfer of ownership it is always a sensible decision especially within a few years of that warranty to obtain a structural survey, its best to know of any defects that are current in a property before parting with any monies. |
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If a defect has been detected your first port of call would be the current owners then they should forward the structural survey to the building contractors, this is so any defect that has been detected can be rectified before any completion date or an adjustment made in the asking price. The warranty is guaranteed for any structural defects that may appear as long as the property is still within the 10 year period, if after the purchase of a new build property or property within its 10 year warranty period a defect appears you should then contact the building contract and if they are not forthcoming or you are not satisfied contact the warranty provider. |
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A new build property or one within its 10 year warranty period can have distinct advantages over an older property as it will already have met the minimum energy efficiency standards, on the other hand a newly built property will take a period of time before it settles and fully dried out, usually the contract should revisit the property after a year to check for cracking plaster, general shrinkage and to check that the property has settled. Upon finding any problems with the property the building contractor is obliged to make good or rectified these points at no charge to the owner. |
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Snagging
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Snagging is a term used to identify all the faults, the build quality and the finishing within the building process, usually the identifying of these problems would be the domain of the building inspector, for it is easier for the building inspector to liaise with the contractors and obtaining a positive outcome. Some people do try to take on this role themselves, which is not a bad idea if you know how to converse with a building contractor without upsetting or disrupting the build progress. if you take on this process yourself you must make sure you know how to identify all the problems that may occur during the life span of the construction of the property and have the ability to communicate this to the contractor in a way that brings about a positive outcome. |
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| You must remember that some problems will not come to light until some time after the completion of the build; it will then be the responsibility of the contractor. During the build the contractor would be on a tight schedule so it may be difficult for them to find time to go back and do minor repairs so this must be negotiated, that is why a qualified building inspector can be of great value when it comes to snagging they can draw up a comprehensive list of works and will know how to communicate the list to the contractor. |  |
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| Building inspector will visit their construction site at specific time intervals, as opposed to the owner who may be on site every day, constantly pointing out snags sometimes could be misconstrued as nagging. If this is the role you intend to take you must strong minded, know what you want, have the ability to communicate and most importantly know your subject, do your research, research and research again. | |||
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Around 90% of new build homes experience snagging so you should be mindful of this, it not a impossible job as resent times show more and more people are turning there hand to it. |
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If on the other hand you decide to use a professional building inspector you should contact the warranty providers mentioned earlier in this article, they should be in a good position to give you advice and steer you in the right direction. |
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NewBuild warranty
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A NewBuild warranty is essentially an insurance policy against a new build property, the insurance policy would have been taken out by the contractors who built the property, this policy will help to protect the builder and any owner (within the ten year period of the policy) against any problems that may occur, the builder would cover the cost of any problems that occur within the first two years of the property's life, from then on and before the end of the insurance policy (eight years) the insurer usually the NHBC will cover any structural defect that may occur, this in effect would mean that the owner would have to identify any other major defects that may occur within the first two years of the property's life. And report it to the contractor. |
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