New builds and warranties
The show home has a heat pump and the plot you are buying has the pipe tails only. Has Buildmark or the survey confirmed your plot's machine?
Neither Buildmark nor the survey has confirmed the machine on your plot. The show home has a heat pump. The plot you are buying has pipe tails only, so the unit was not there to inspect. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product. The survey does not open a claim and does not turn a show-home appliance into the appliance for your plot. What was seen is tails. Efficiency was not measured, because there was no machine on this plot to run.
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?
Show homes are fitted to sell a type of house. Your plot is the one in the contract, and on the day it had pipes waiting, not an outdoor unit, an indoor unit or a working circuit. Tails show an intention to connect something later. They do not identify the model or the installation quality. Buildmark cover, if it applies to this new home, is a warranty and insurance product the survey does not administer. A brochure photograph of the show home is not an inspection of your machine.
Ask the solicitor for the specification that names the heat pump for this plot, and for how appliances are covered under the warranty the developer is actually offering. Do not invent year-by-year stages of cover. The survey cannot open a Buildmark claim and cannot confirm equipment that was not installed. Tell a lender the plot had tails only. When the machine is fitted, a separate check would be needed if you want the installed unit inspected. The show home does not stand in for that check.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Was a heat pump present on the plot, or only pipe tails?
- Has the survey treated the show-home unit as your machine?
- Does this report open a Buildmark claim for the missing unit?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the plot as tails only, not as a confirmed heat pump.
- Ask the solicitor for the specification that names your plot's machine.
- Do not rely on the show home as an inspection of your unit.
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
Can pipe tails be used to measure a pump's efficiency?
No. Efficiency is about a machine that is installed and running. Pipe tails are open connections with no unit attached on this plot. There was nothing to meter and no flow to read. The survey did not measure efficiency. The show-home pump, even if it runs, is not this plot's machine and was not used as a test of yours.
Does the show-home appliance transfer to your plot by the brochure?
No. A brochure and a dressed show home describe a marketing example. Your plot had tails only, which the survey recorded. Transfer of a particular machine happens, if it happens, under the specification and the contract the solicitor reads. Buildmark does not confirm that transfer inside this report. The survey does not open a claim and does not adopt the show home as your installation.