By registering your plots with NHBC you will benefit from the use of our key stage inspection service.
This has developed in response to the changing needs of the industry and customers' expectations, and fits in with your production programme whilst allowing our inspectors to concentrate on sites that require extra inspections.
Inspection is focused on specified key stages for each plot, so that our inspectors are on site at the times when their independent quality control function can be most effective. Your site manager is responsible for notifying the inspector in advance (normally 24 hours) when the following stages are ready for inspection:
Foundations excavated
Superstructure
First fix (pre-plaster)
Pre-handover
Drains - if you use NHBC Building Control
In addition to key stage inspections, our inspectors make an initial assessment of your site based on criteria including ground conditions, site exposure, the complexity of the design specification, professional input, and the past performance of your company and site manager. We then judge the level of risk the site is likely to pose - in other words, the likelihood of there being any problems as the building work progresses. Those sites with a high level of risk are then targeted with extra inspections. The assessment is adjusted accordingly during construction depending on the standards of work being produced.
You will also be given a site record book providing a clear breakdown of the inspector's findings and a record of the stages which have passed key stage inspection. This will enable you to maintain a good level of communication with your inspector, in turn helping you to achieve your targets and meet your customers' expectations.
Project design reviews by our surveyors are now offered on all projects, whether we undertake the Building Control or not, so that we can provide you with a more detailed assessment of key risks for your project at an early stage and reduce the likelihood of issues being picked up late in construction.
In addition to our key-stage inspection service, we now offer consultative inspections. This new type of inspection is for builders who need our help the most, and is complementary to the key-stage process. Consultative inspections provide the opportunity for detailed discussions to take place between the site team and the building inspector between key stages.
If you have any questions about the system, please contact your inspector or telephone our Inspection Admin department on 0844 633 1000 and say "Inspection Admin".
