NHBC Reviews 497

My 10 year NHBC warranty (for warranty read worthless bit of paper) is about to expire in a couple of months. In that time I have made four claims, the last just a week ago for a roof problem. Claim 1…no, not covered. Claim 2…no, not covered. Claim 3…no, not covered. Claim 4…no, not covered. It would appear the people they employ to come up with a reason why claims are not covered are called “Customer Experience Consultants”. My latest claim was rejected because the repair according to them would be less than £2234 which is a joke as I have had an estimate of just under £6000 (could be more dependent on findings) to
investigate the cause and repair the roof. This organisation is so overtly dishonest as to be laughable. It is no wonder that the letter I received today rejecting my latest claim has a sentence at the bottom “Please note that if you’re threatening or abusive to our staff, we will take appropriate action”. I wonder if they ever stop to consider why they might have that effect on people….it says it all!

Another horrible experience with NHBC.

I discovered that a mechanical ventilation unit had been installed in my property with no way to access or service it by the builder.

The NHBC technical standards make clear a mechanical ventilation unit must be installed in a way to allow access for maintenance and servicing, so the guidelines were clearly breached. NHBC do not care and closed my claim down without even so much as speaking to me.

Imagine my (non surprise because the NHBC is basically a scam) when NHBC informed me that they DO NOT cover breaches of their technical standards outside of the first two years of the policy, despite it being marketed as a 10 year buildmark policy and the technical standards being created by NHBC as a set of rules the builders should construct and install to.

Honestly, truly, please do not get suckered into buying a property covered by this organisation. It is nothing more than a marketing logo. The actual wording of their policies means barely anything is covered and relies on you finding the defect before their arbitrary 2 year time limit expires. God forbid you find a hidden, serious defect with your house after 2 years, you're basically left hung out to dry and the patronising staff take great pleasure in telling you to sod off.

Not worth the paper it’s writing on. Didn’t enter the loft until year 3 of our new build. Decided to get the loft boarded out for additional space. Upon entering with contractors and full light of the loft, noticed one of the rafters was broken. Structure to the roof not sound. NHBC refused to fix although they claim to cover warranty on roof. BS excuses, going into small print.

Headline - NHBC are improving their performance, based on Trustpilot reviews!

Over the last few years the 1 star rating has been around 98% of all postings - it is now 95% - may be they are turning a corner.

If the stories behind the complaints were not so serious it would be a laughing matter, but NHBC are adversely affecting peoples lives. So this transformation is not good enough.

When you are offering a service you need to be able to trust the work being done. How can anyone trust them if 95% think it’s worth 1star or less.

probably the worst company I have ever dealt with just an insurance company who protect there paymasters ( housing builders () complete liars useless don’t know what there doing terrible customer service complete shambles like I say complete liars bought a new build of miller homes protected by the liars nhbc absolutely no back up in building defects please do t be fooled by ten year warranty as it is worthless just an insurance company with no knowledge at all

Please, please do not be fobbed or by the new build sales advisors advising you that your new build is covered by 10 year policy to cover anything that goes wrong- this must be the worst insurance policy out there, the NHBC will do everything they can to avoid paying out on a claim.

I would like to be constructive so I will. Eventually the NHBC paid out but only after 14 months of strife and emotional toil. It would seem that Claims handlers are targeted on ensuring minimum financial leakage (check out their job ads). The eventual building error was found (by our contractor) to be missing and poorly fitted cavity wall trays, lack of adequate weep vents and poorly joined dpm. This took 8 years to reveal itself through a soaked concrete floor slab which had been evaporating into our beds, carpets and furniture causing them to be full of mould spores...the walls had to be continually wiped with bleach solution. The builder told us and the NHBC that it was our lifestyle causing the damp and moisture issues. When we initially reported it to the NHBC they shut us down after doing a desktop assessment from the UK (we are island based). It was only when we complained and wrote a legally worded email that they opened up the claim again. We eventually had to move out of our home - due to the dangerous levels of moisture and damp. 16 months later, we are still not home as the 2 bed bungalow had to be ripped apart to fix the floor; kitchen and bathroom removal. We had to move 9 times in this period as we were unable to give landlords a solid time for how long we would need to rent. Every step of this process has been incredibly hard and we've had to fight tooth and nail to be heard and finally get the claim accepted.
I would not wish this experience on anyone and I genuinely believe that the NHBC is so far removed from why they are there that they have little or no concept of the impact that this process has on its so called customers. This area of building and warrantee scheme provision feels like the wild west at times and without the will to fight, having friends who are lawyers and surveyors we would now have an uninhabitable house on our hands with no monetary means to be able to fix the problem (which had cost circa 30k to fix.
The builders who use these very enticing and 'reassuring' schemes seem to be allowed to carry on making major errors like this with only cash penalties to pay or an increase in premiums (small change to the big builders).
The whole experience has taken a very heavy toll on us and impacted us massively.
The NHBC should be made more accountable and I'm not sure how transparent they are in terms of how they make the process as easy as walking on a burning rope with no shoes on over an erupting volcano. The weight of proof of problems with a building is placed firmly, on the shoulders of the house owner and this puts the customer in a place of disadvantage right from the get go. There seems to be a lot of leverage gained by the NHBC and builders in the fact that most of us don't know how houses are built. We spent months researching basic house building and used the knowledge of friends to put us on a more level playing field. Nobody should have to do this...
Appalling - but what is more appalling is that this is evidently happening to what seems to be the vast majority of home owners who attempt to a genuine and founded claim.
Incredible.

After reading the reviews I had my doubts on whether it would be hard to get my roof looked at when it leaked, however, after a slow start the service was very good. They sent round an investigator Mr Pope who was excellent, he completed a review of the roof and damage, sent me a report and appointed a contractor to complete the works. The roofing company was also very good and completed the works in a few days. My only issue is NHBC wanted me to contact my household insurer first which slightly delayed things but very good overall.

The 5 star reviews look very suspicious and simular!

This NHBC policy is not worth the paper it is written on. Please don't buy a new house thinking you can rely on this cover, should you have problem. We made a claim for our upstairs floors creaking . The noise is horrendous downstairs. We have waited months , just to be told this claim doesn't meet the criteria. According to these reviews , I would like to know what does. So we are left to foot a hefty bill ourselves. Terrible service. Very unhappy.

Their website says "We are recognised and trusted". Doesn't look like it from the state of the reviews on here.

NHBC does excel in one area - their ability to deflect legitimate complaints!

I contacted the NHBC some 2yrs 2months after I moved into my BARRATT home. The brickwork at the side flank wall of my property has been built in the severest of slapdash ways, it is SHOCKING WORKMANSHIP. Some of the bricks have No Cement at all between them and there are holes all over the main wall. NHBC say...THERE IS NO CLAIM. I called to ask them to send out an inspector as 5 photos on a phone is not enough as there is also water ingress along this wall. I have heard NOTHING in nearly 2 weeks. The wall looks as if it was built by a drunk 9 year old. It has been covered up by my partners parked van for 2 years so I hadn't seen it before.

Staff need to be aware of the NHBC guidelines/policy. Misunderstood my issue with mould being due to poorly fitted extractor fans/ductwork. Blamed this down to not having the fans serviced/maintained however no instructions provided by house
Builder crest Nicholson. Currently dealing with complaint - yet to hear back from them.

Policy does not cover serious building faults. My property is only 8 years old so falls within my 10 year build mark warranty.

My 5 month old baby and I have been left homeless as we have had to evacuate our home after a gas leak was detected due to a faulty gas pipe installed on our Persimmons property. It was confirmed after an emergency gas test that the leak was not coming from any internal appliances (i.e. boiler, cooker) but it was certainly from the supply line running into the house which is either stored underneath or between the walls of the house. Clearly this is a fault of the builders which should be covered by a 'building insurance' but NHBC have said they will not cover the gas installation even if it was installed incorrectly. Just another insurance company pretending to provide insurance.

We purchased a new build as a final home under the illusion that it would be a happy time, but were obviously a little naive.
We purchased a new bungalow from Elan Homes, we were restricted the amount of times we could view it due to Health & Safety allegedly.

We were being chased to complete during Dec 2022, the solicitors and the mortgage provider wouldn’t release the money until they received a pre-handover certificate from the NHBC to confirm the property was fit for purpose.
We received the NHBC cert on the 21st Dec, exchanged contracts, then came the nightmare:

Leaks in the ensuite sink waste, cistern, kitchen waste and main bathroom cistern filling arm as parts missing.
We were visited by Elans plumber, who advised the tiler must have done it and it was standard to experience leaks / condensation under the kitchen sink, we were advised to put a towel under the sink and change it every morning.
They forgot to install the integral dishwasher, but in doing so damaged the hand painted unit, and doors and used long screws going through one cupboard and into another.
Kitchen units damaged, hob badly damaged, glass splashback scored at the back and glued in place, the sink dropped in the hole without fixings, unable to use the shower bifold shower screen seized as filled with plaster, loft hatch damaged, concrete floor stopped 30mm short of the French doors, so filled with white silicone, fascia and soffits very badly misaligned and damaged, trims missing allowing birds access to the roof, front door glass has no seal and leaks water, the two sets of UPVC french doors were damaged and over painted with a different colour, which they tried to blend in, garage side door sill, not cemented in place leaving a large gap and a slope down so rains in, garage up and over door not fitted correctly allowing rain water in. Gutters running uphill, holding water in various places and leaking from the joints, no plumbing for the washing machine, internal floors very poorly finished and uneven. Loft hatch is broken and not sitting right. Finial to the front apex very poorly installed with a piece of packing wood and a frame made of pallet wood, outside lights misaligned and very loose, one packed with clear silicone to prevent it hanging off the wall, I could go on for ever……

I complained to the NHBC, as they had signed off the pre-handover certificate to release the money to the builder, they advised me that the NHBC does not look at the quality of the building, they do not advise the builders how to do their job, it is up to the homeowner to take this up with the builder, and the builder has up to 2 years to correct the work, before the NHBC would consider getting involved. I contested this and asked why they bothered carrying out inspections, and to be honest I don’t believe they do, as the sign off on mine, gave the contact details of the surveyor, I phoned him, he was based in Oldham, nothing to do with the West Midlands, never visited the property, he was part of the NHBC, but looks after rendering of buildings.

It is so frustrating that this is the biggest investment in our life and you have no protection.

We have been experiencing damp and mould in our property for over a year. I had the builders out and they painted over it. And of course it came back much worse. So I contacted nhbc my house is only 18 months old if that. So today when I called I was told it wasn't there problem and don't know why I bothered to contact them! It's the builders problem. As I said surely if they won't sort it you will as I have a 10 year warranty! And you signed off the property as fine so surely need to take some accountability for the property. To which I didn't get an answer and I'm sorry you feel that way! This damp is having an effect on my children's health. But I guess who cares about people children!

As everyone else has mentioned, we bought a Redrow home and the ceiling isn’t installed properly in the bedroom. Developed a hole just after 2 years. NHBC - no help.

We are having a nightmare with Northland Developments in Northern Ireland. Poor workmanship along with defects / major cracks. NHBC try and Pam you off and don’t even adhere to their own guidelines even with the additional buildmark policy.

Horrible company! The windows in my home (now just 3 years) all have failed sealant, meaning not only is there mould and drafts in my house, but there is water getting into the cavity... AND THEY WILL NOT COVER THIS? What on earth do they cover? Mediation with the builder i.e. they will help to ensure no one but the homeowner will pay for any issues. Disgraceful

We are in a new build by Taylor Wimpey and have had numerous leaks from our roof. Needless to say they were not interested so we contacted the NHBC and Mr Robert Bate, the claims investigator, made several visits and gave us excellent advice which has now meant that we have a completely new roof, which does not leak!
Many thanks to Mr Bate