New builds and warranties
A site inspector's note from the warranty body is in the file and it is shorter than your survey. Why is that note not your condition report?
That note is not your condition report because a warranty inspector and a surveyor are doing different jobs, and length does not merge them. The site note is the warranty body's own visit, written for its process. Your survey is the condition report you instructed, and it is the longer document because it set out to describe the home. A short note in the file has not been adopted as the survey, and the survey has not been shortened to match it. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product. Neither paper, by sitting in the file, opens a claim.
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?
Warranty inspectors look at a plot against the checks their provider uses during construction. Their note can be a few lines about stages they attended. It is not a buyer's description of roofs, walls and services, and it is not written as the survey you commissioned. A shorter page can miss items your surveyor found later, or mention items your surveyor did not. Buildmark, as NHBC describes it, is a 10-year warranty and insurance product. An inspector's note is not that policy, and it is not your report.
Keep the two documents apart when you brief the solicitor. The condition report is the survey. The inspector's note is evidence of what the warranty body wrote down, if the solicitor wants to use it that way. Do not ask the surveyor to replace their findings with the shorter note, and do not tell a lender the inspector's note is the survey. If a claim is made, it follows the policy. The survey has not opened one.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is the warranty inspector's note separate from your condition report?
- Have you left that shorter note unadopted?
- Which findings are yours, rather than the site inspector's?
What are the typical next steps?
- Use your survey as the condition report.
- Treat the warranty inspector's note as that body's paper only.
- Do not open a claim by filing the two documents together.
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 inspector's note mentions the same crack, does it confirm the cause?
Not by itself. Two people can mention a crack and still not share a cause or a recommendation. The survey is your condition report. The inspector's note is the warranty body's. Agreement on a location is not a joint diagnosis, and it is not an opened claim. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product. Read each page for what it actually says.
Should you discard the survey where it is longer than the site note?
No. Length is not a test of which document is the condition report. The survey is longer because it is the inspection you instructed. The site note can stay in the file as the warranty body's record. Cutting the survey to match it would throw away findings the note never contained. The survey still has not opened a claim.