New builds and warranties

Several tiles are chipped where the scaffold stood. Is that automatically an insurance defect for years three to ten?

No. Chipped tiles where the scaffold stood are not automatically an insurance defect for years three to ten. Those years insure damage from defects in specific parts only, not every snag. Scaffold chips can be finishing damage from the build, which is a different conversation from a later insurance claim. The survey can note the chips. It does not open a claim or name a minimum sum.

Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.

What is the fuller explanation?

Scaffold strikes, trolley damage and a clumsy hoist leave chips, cracked nibs and slipped tiles along the line where the scaffold stood. In the builder period that is a list for the builder, and where Buildmark applies NHBC says the builder is liable in the first two years and guarantees that obligation. Once you are in the following eight years, the cover narrows. It is insurance for damage caused by defects in specific parts, not a promise to replace every marked tile because the elevation looks untidy. This page will not invent which parts those are, and it will not invent a minimum pounds claim that would make chips eligible or ineligible.

Photograph the elevation with the scaffold line still obvious if you can, and notify in the period you are actually in. Ask the surveyor to describe location and extent without writing the words insured defect. If the chips sit above a gutter that is discharging into the wall, say that separately, because a drainage defect and a cosmetic chip are not the same sentence. If the policy in the drawer is not NHBC, stop using years three to ten as a label. Another provider is not Buildmark, and its claims section is its own.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Where are the chips relative to the old scaffold line?
Are you describing them without calling them an insured defect?
Will you avoid stating a minimum claim value?

What are the typical next steps?

Photograph the chipped tiles and note where the scaffold stood.
Notify the builder or the insurer under the section that matches the year you are in.
Do not assume years three to ten pay for every chip.

Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.

Also asked about this

If water is getting in at a chip, is that the same as a surface chip?

It may be more serious, and the survey should say what it can see. It is still not automatically an insurance acceptance.

Does a snagging photo from handover bind the later insurance?

No. A handover photo is not a claim, and the later years do not insure every snag.