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New builds and warranties

How should a buyer separate a scratched sill, a new-build snag list and structure the scratch list is not when all three are mentioned together?

Keep the scratch on the finish list, and keep structure off it. A scratched sill is damage to a finish, the window board or the outer sill, and a new-build snag list is where that sort of item is written. Structure is the frame, the walls and the roof, which a scratch list is not. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product. Noting a scratch does not open a claim, and this survey has not opened one. The report has not treated the mark as a structural defect. It has left structure as a separate question.

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?

Snagging walks the finished surfaces: chips, scratches, gaps at architraves, a sill marked in transit. Those items can matter to you and still say nothing about whether a lintel, a wall tie or a foundation is sound. The survey has not used the scratch as a proxy for structure. Buildmark cover, where it exists, is a warranty and insurance product described by NHBC as lasting 10 years. The survey does not start that claim by listing a marked sill. Cosmetic and structural stay in different conversations.

List the scratched sill with the snagging items for the developer or the warranty process, and tell the solicitor the survey has not opened a Buildmark claim. If a separate structural concern exists, instruct it on its own facts, not on the scratch. Do not let a site manager close a structural question by polishing the sill. NHBC's product is a 10-year warranty and insurance product. This report has not presented the mark as structure, and nobody else should.

What should you ask your surveyor?

  • Is the scratched sill recorded as a finish, not as a structural crack?
  • Has this survey opened a Buildmark claim, or only listed a snag?
  • What structural questions, if any, are still outside the scratch list?

What are the typical next steps?

  1. Put the scratched sill on the snag list only.
  2. Tell the solicitor no Buildmark claim was opened by the survey.
  3. Do not treat the scratch as evidence about the structure.

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 several sills are scratched, has the frame moved?

Not from the scratches. A group of marked sills can still be transit or fitting damage, which is snagging, not structure. The survey has not read the marks as movement. NHBC Buildmark is a 10-year warranty and insurance product, and this visit has not opened a claim. Structure remains a separate question from the finish list.

Does Buildmark cover a scratch automatically?

The survey does not say, and it does not open the claim. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product. A scratched sill is a snag-list item. Whether cover responds is for the warranty process, not for this report to decide. Keep the scratch out of any structural conclusion.

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