What does Buildmark Cover?

Deposit protection, 2 years warranty and a further 8 years insurance

What is Buildmark?

Buying a home is typically the largest investment people make and Buildmark provides warranty and insurance protection to newly built or converted homes. Cover starts from exchange of contracts and lasts up to a maximum period of 10 years after the legal completion date.

How Buildmark works - a quick overview

Pre-completion - From exchange of contracts to legal completion

Insurance protection

Buildmark provides insurance protection if you lost your deposit as a result of your builder becoming insolvent, leaving them unable to complete your home. The most we will pay is 10% of the original purchase price or £100,000, whichever is lower. If your deposit was greater than this, you may not be fully protected.

Years 0-2 - For the first two years after legal completion

Builder warranty

This is the builder warranty period. Your builder provides this initial warranty and agrees to repair defects that are not general wear and tear or maintenance issues.

Resolution service

We provide an independent resolution service and guarantee should the builder not do this.

Years 3-10 - After the builder warranty ends, a further 8 years insurance up to a maximum of 10 years from the completion date

Builder warranty

We provide insurance protection if there is damage to your home because the builder failed to build certain parts of your home to the NHBC standards.

Contaminated land cover

We also provide insurance cover for contaminated land if you receive a statutory notice for your land or a statutory notice could be issued because of the condition of your land.

Building Regulations cover

Additional cover for failing to comply with Building Regulations applies to some policies.

The builder warranty in the first 2 years

The first two years after legal completion of the first purchase of the home is the builder warranty period. If you tell the builder during this period that they have failed to meet the NHBC requirements, they must put this right within a reasonable time. This includes:

Damage repair

Repairing physical damage to your home resulting from their failure.

Removal of contaminated land

Taking action to treat, isolate or remove contamination from the land in line with any statutory notice that applies, or improve the condition of the land to prevent a statutory notice from being issued.

Your costs covered

Paying for the reasonable cost of removing and storing your possessions and alternative accommodation, if necessary, while work is being done.

Support from us

If, after you contact the builder, they do not put things right, please contact us. We offer a resolution service to help and, in certain circumstances, the NHBC guarantee to cover the work the builder should have done.

Please note that we can only help with disputes about the builder’s failure to build your home to meet the NHBC requirements. We cannot help with other matters such as disputes over boundaries, planning, contractual and financial matters.

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Which part of the home are covered 3-10 years?

During the insurance period after the initial builder warranty period has expired, Buildmark is designed to protect your home from damage caused where the property has not been built to NHBC requirements. The parts of the home that are typically covered:

  • Roofs

  • Flues and chimneys

  • Walls (External cladding, external render and external vertical tile hanging)

  • Stairs (Stairs, floor decking and screeds that fail to support normal loads)

  • Ceilings (Ceilings, balconies and load-bearing parts of floors)

  • Glazing (Double or triple glazing panes to outside windows and doors)

  • Foundations (Foundations and below ground drainage for which you are responsible)

  • Access (Access steps to the home)

NOTE: There are certain conditions, limits and exclusions that apply, which you will find explained in the full policy document.

What Are NHBC Requirements?

These are contained in the NHBC Standards which include the technical requirements, performance standards and guidance for the design and construction of new homes that all NHBC registered builders and developers are required to build to.

VIEW THE NHBC STANDARDS

Current Buildmark policy document & summary of cover

You can read a more complete summary of the current Buildmark policy in the Insurance Policy Information Document here and access the full policy document here. The current policy document applies to newly built or converted homes registered with us from 1 October 2019. 

Checking your own policy

Please make sure to check your own policy documents for the specific cover, conditions and exclusions that apply to your home. Homes registered prior to 1 October 2019 may benefit from insurance protection for certain breaches of Building Regulations if NHBC Building Control Services Limited is appointed for and carries out building control for the property. If we have provided this cover, it will be clearly shown on the Buildmark insurance certificate, and a description of the cover included in the policy booklet. 

FIND YOUR POLICY BOOKLET

Welcome to NHBC warranty and insurance booklet

Take a look at this booklet for an overview of what and what is not covered by Buildmark for homes registered with NHBC from 1 April 2018, as well as the details of the Consumer Code for Housebuilders. Please note that different terms and conditions may apply to your home, depending on the date of its registration with us.

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Download the NHBC warranty and insurance booklet

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What’s not included and the minimum claim value

Like all insurance policies there are some exclusions you need to be aware of. Also, Buildmark does not have an excess applicable to the policy because we operate a minimum claim value instead.

Exclusions

The following aren’t covered by Buildmark:

  • Storms, fire or flood (your normal buildings and contents insurance should cover these).
  • Replacement of solar tiles or panels solely because they do not generate heat or electricity
  • Cracking, spalling or mortar erosion which does not impair the structural stability or protection from the weather.
  • Any additional work done to the property after the completion date that is not as a result of the responsibilities of the builder
  • Wear and tear, neglect and failure to do proper maintenance.
  • Damage to roof covering, unless the damage results in entry of water into the home.
  • Changes in colour, texture or staining of external finishes.

If you are not the first owner of your home, the limits may already have been partly or fully used up by claims from earlier owners.

You should always check your own policy documents for the specific cover, conditions and exclusions that apply to your home. For a full list of exclusions in the current policy document, please see here.

Minimum claim value (MCV) after the builder warranty has expired

We don’t apply a policy excess to Buildmark so you don’t have to pay the first part of any claim to NHBC. Instead, we operate a minimum claim value (MCV) which means that if the cost of your valid claim exceeds the MCV we will do the work or pay the cost in full and you will not have to make any contribution.

However, if the cost of your claim does not exceed the MCV we will not do any work or pay any costs. The precise MCV applicable to your home will depend on how old your policy is but for policies starting on or after 1 April 2019, the MCV is £1,750 (increasing by £50 on 1 April in each subsequent year).

Got a problem with your home?

Our expert customer service and claims teams are here to support you. Have a look at our Problem with your home page to see how we can help or read some Frequently Asked Questions for more information.