We are NHBC
Established in 1936, we are the UK's leading provider of warranty and insurance for new homes.
Welcome to NHBC
Our purpose is to raise standards in home building by championing high-quality homes and protecting homeowners.
We do this through training and quality services and directly insuring new homes registered with us.
Independent, non-profit distributing
We are a company limited by guarantee, with no shareholders. We are independent of government and the construction industry.
Any profits that we generate are reinvested in the business to support our core purpose: to raise standards in home building.
Active in research and development, including our pioneering NHBC Foundation, we also work with key stakeholders and government to contribute to all aspects of the housing agenda.
Our mission
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
We are committed to promoting and encouraging diversity and inclusion in everything we do, mirroring the wider community to help us to better serve our customers, consumers and colleagues.
Sustainability
We’re committed to supporting the Government’s ambition to achieve net zero carbon by 2050 and are working to deliver positive and lasting change in the industry.
Trusted
Our purpose is to raise standards in home building. As the UK’s leading provider of warranty and insurance for new homes, we are recognised and trusted by homeowners and builders alike.
Buildmark – an industry leading home warranty and insurance product
We first introduced a two-year building warranty in the 1940s, followed by the first 10-year warranty and insurance product in 1965. This was the foundation for our current Buildmark policy which comprises insolvency cover between exchange and completion, a two-year builder warranty period backed by the NHBC resolution service and guarantee and a further eight years' insurance cover against damage caused by defects in certain parts of the property.
Setting the standards
To sell homes covered by Buildmark, our registered builders and developers must comply with the mandatory technical requirements set out in the NHBC Standards.
The NHBC Standards define the mandatory technical requirements and the performance standards for the design and construction of new homes to be covered by Buildmark and provide guidance on how these can be achieved. Through the application of NHBC Standards, homeowners should benefit from a new home build process that is compliant with the relevant building and fire-safety regulations and which incorporates leading practices in the construction industry.
We regularly review and update the NHBC Standards. A full electronic version, with additional explanatory notes and videos is available to our registered builders and developers on this website.
Support for construction excellence
We inspect homes during construction to check that they are built to a standard we are happy to insure. This takes the form of independent inspections, undertaken at key build stages, as identified in the NHBC Standards.
Last year, we conducted around a million inspections, with feedback provided to our registered customers for every new build home covered by our Buildmark warranty and insurance product.
Construction Quality Services is our range of consultancy services focused on raising build quality, including Construction Quality Reviews, Construction Quality Forums, Build Quality Inspections and a complete Quality Assurance Review and Ratings Scheme.
Many of our registered customers also choose to work with us for Building Control, which supports builders and developers in complying with Building Regulations on residential, mixed-use and commercial projects. We also provide additional services such as land quality service and NHBC System Review for innovative construction systems.
Training and qualifications to build skills
We offer a wide range of construction and quality-related training in a variety of formats from face-to-face traditional courses to site-based trade talks to webinars.
We also provide NVQs and a range of construction apprenticeships at different levels. We're supporting our apprenticeships offer with a £100 million investment to train 3,000 new apprentices every year and the creation of new multi skill training hubs across the UK. This is all part of our contribution to helping the industry bridge the significant skills gap.
Find out more about our training services and apprenticeships.
Celebrating best practice with Pride in the Job
Our Pride in the Job Awards are an important part of our drive to promote high standards and safe working practices in new home construction. Pride in the Job recognises the best site managers building new homes in the UK and is seen by many as the house-building 'Oscars'.
Our Communities
Our Communities is the name for corporate social responsibility at NHBC and it is how we support the communities in which we operate and where our colleagues live, working with charity partners who are aligned with our values. We deliver the aims of Our Communities through a combination of activities and events, working with and fundraising for our charity partners and matching funding for money raised by our people for their own local causes and volunteering.
Climate change – we are taking action
We are committed to supporting the Government’s ambition to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. With a proven track record of supporting house builders and developers on sustainability and environmental matters, we are ready to help the industry make the requirements of the Future Homes Standard technically and commercially viable. We are also working to deliver positive and lasting change within our own operations.
Our commitment to workplace safety
We are dedicated to high health and safety standards, adhering to ISO 45001 for effective risk management and safety practices. In 2025, NHBC earned the RoSPA Gold Award recognition for the eighth consecutive year. This accolade highlights our exceptional safety performance and commitment to a safe working environment, underlining our ongoing dedication to maintaining a robust safety culture.
