New builds and warranties
The developer talks about two years of snagging and NHBC describes a ten-year product. Why must you not collapse those into one promise the survey enforces?
Because they are two different sentences, and the survey enforces neither. The developer is talking about two years of snagging. That is the developer's sentence. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product. Do not collapse the two years and the ten-year product into one promise. Do not tell a buyer the survey will make the developer honour a blend of both. Read each source for what it actually says.
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?
The developer's two years are whatever the developer meant by snagging, in their conversation or their contract. NHBC's description is of its own product, a 10-year warranty and insurance. Putting the developer's period inside NHBC's description, or stretching NHBC's product into a snagging list the survey polices, merges authors who did not write one sentence. The survey is a third author again. It reports condition. It does not run the developer's period or the policy.
When you explain the house to a lender or a solicitor, keep the lines apart. Say the developer spoke of two years of snagging, if that is what they said. Say NHBC describes a 10-year warranty and insurance product, if the policy is Buildmark. Say the survey found what it found. If the policy is not Buildmark, do not use NHBC's description at all. None of those lines becomes true because you joined them.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which findings are condition only, with no warranty period attached?
- Are you relying on the developer's two-year remark?
- What should I not merge into NHBC's description of Buildmark?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the developer's two-year sentence separate from NHBC's 10-year product.
- Do not tell anyone the survey enforces a combined promise.
- Check the policy name before you use NHBC's description.
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 both numbers appear in one email from the agent, is that the policy?
No. An agent's combined sentence is not NHBC's description and not the contract. Unpick it. The survey still does not enforce the blend.
Does the survey stop mattering after two years?
No. The survey is about condition on the day it was done. The developer's period and NHBC's product run on their own terms, which the inspection does not set.