New builds and warranties

The legal pack contains a foundation warranty from a provider other than NHBC. What must you read before you treat that policy as Buildmark?

Read that policy on its own terms. Other brands are not Buildmark, and NHBC’s two-year builder period plus the following eight years of insurance for specific parts belong only to the product NHBC describes. A different foundation or structural warranty must not be given that split. The survey does not convert one policy into the other.

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?

Marketing often says ten-year warranty as if every policy were NHBC Buildmark. Buildmark is the NHBC product: a 10-year warranty and insurance, builder responsible for the first two years with NHBC guaranteeing that, and insurance afterwards for damage from defects in specific parts, not every snag. A foundation warranty, a structural warranty, or a policy from another provider can use different words, different parts and different periods. Copying two-plus-eight onto that document is a guess. Ask for the policy and read the periods it actually prints.

The home survey is still about condition. A warranty, whoever provides it, does not mean the surveyor can skip the roof or treat a crack as someone else’s problem. Nor does the survey decide whether a defect is inside that other policy. Give the solicitor the warranty documents. Do not invent a minimum claim value, and do not invent the day the cover starts. If the papers do not say, the honest note is that the papers do not say.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Which warranty did you see, if any?
Are you assuming an NHBC split on a policy that is not NHBC?
Which defects should be checked against the actual policy rather than against Buildmark?

What are the typical next steps?

Obtain the warranty schedule and read its own periods.
Do not brief a buyer with NHBC’s two-year and eight-year split unless the policy is Buildmark.
Keep the survey even when a warranty exists.

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

Does a building-control certificate prove which warranty you have?

No. Completion paperwork and a warranty are different. One does not identify the other.

If the policy is silent, can the survey fill the gap?

No. The survey describes the building. It does not write the insurer’s terms.