Please ensure homes are complete before requesting inspections. If in doubt, please discuss this with your NHBC Building Inspector at the earliest opportunity.
Pre-handover inspections may be aborted for the following reasons:
1. The pre-handover inspection is cancelled by the site team once the Building Inspector arrives on site.
2. The site team request more than one pre-handover and decide to cancel others after a failed pre-handover inspection. All cancelled pre-handovers will be recorded as aborted.
3. If the Building Inspector arrives at the plot and the external works are not complete the inspection will be aborted. The internal of the plots will not be inspected.
4. If the Building Inspector enters the plot and finds it is not complete the inspection will be aborted.
At time of pre-handover inspection the home is fit for its intended use and ready to be occupied; although there may be non-compliances (Builder Responsible Items) identified that pass the logic test (Please refer to the “right first time at handover” page within the site record book for details of the logic test).
Our Building Inspectors can only issue Buildmark cover notes on homes that are complete.
Aborted inspections will not be recorded if the inspection is cancelled before the Building Inspector arrives on site. Please call your Building Inspector’s mobile phone number to cancel inspections (contact details are provided in the NHBC Site Record Book). Inspections cancelled after the Building Inspector arrives on site will be recorded as aborted inspections.
We have an established waiver letter process for temporary services (sewage, gas, and electric). If followed and discussed with our Building Inspectors at the earliest opportunity, this will not result in aborted pre-handover inspections.
A fee of £150 (+VAT) will be applied for each aborted pre-handover plot inspection.
We will benchmark your first pre-handover inspection on each site and issue a Quality Benchmark Report to provide feedback on good practice and any non-compliances or incomplete work. We won’t record Reportable Items or aborted inspections when benchmarking, as this is intended to help you build right first time at subsequent pre-handover inspections.
We will be introducing a charge for any pre-handover inspection aborted due to the home not being complete. An aborted pre-handover inspection will also attract a Quality Common Score of 1.
Aborted inspections are disruptive to the industry, homeowners, and Building Inspectors who plan their day around your requests for inspections. By requesting a pre-handover inspection, you are confirming that the home has been checked and is complete. Aborted inspections restrict our ability to deliver added-value services like Quality Benchmark Reports and risk-based inspections and limit our availability to service demand at peak times, which impacts all customers who require finalling.
No. Non-compliances will be recorded as they are currently. This process is for homes that are clearly not complete as defined above.