New builds and warranties
Why should you not treat the show home as the house the survey will see?
The show home is dressed and often upgraded. Your plot is the one in the contract, built to the specification in that contract, and it may still be unfinished when you reserve. A survey or a snagging visit has to be of the plot you are buying. NHBC’s warranty, if that is the warranty, covers the home named in the policy, not the show house next door.
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?
Upgrades in a show home, such as tiling, flooring and lighting, are sales tools unless the reservation lists them. A surveyor walking a different plot cannot certify those extras. If your plot is incomplete, a survey can be timed too early to see the finished surfaces, or timed so late that you have already completed. Ask the surveyor what they can usefully see at the stage the builder will allow access.
Snagging lists and RICS surveys are different products. Neither is a walk round the show home. Book the inspection for the dwelling you will own, and give the surveyor the specification. Defects in the show home are irrelevant unless they reveal a repeated site fault the surveyor can also see on your plot.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Will you be inspecting the plot in the contract, and at what stage of completion?
- What will you not be able to see if the builder has not finished?
- Which items should we check against the specification rather than against the show home?
What are the typical next steps?
- Book any survey or snagging of the actual plot.
- Compare the specification, not the show-home brochure, with what is being handed over.
- If access is refused until completion, ask your solicitor what that does to your ability to snag before you pay.
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 the show home has a crack, is our plot defective?
Not by that fact. It is a reason to look at your plot, not a finding about it.
Can you snag from photographs the builder sends?
Photographs help. They are not an inspection of finishes, drainage or loft timbers. Do not sign them off as if you had been there.