Structural warranty

[Thedreamer]

Just did a quick quote for a structural warranty and the quote was £5,000 (the property is 140sqm and estimated build cost £150,000), that seems mental to me.

 

Just out of interest how many forum members took out warranties when starting their self builds for their own homes, i.e. not expecting to sell for a long time or ever?

 

My plan was to go with a self build mortgage provider and then on completion move onto their own standard residential product.

 

Kerry

[Triassic]

I'm in the "home for life" category, so won't be taking out a warranty, I'm not sure what value they add, if any.

Edited September 16, 2017 by Triassic

[Bitpipe]

i got one (Zurich) from the outset as it's needed if you ever take a mortgage on the property once complete.

 

Was one of of the first things the broker asked for when looking at the market, I'm coming off the ecology self build now that the 2 year redemption period is up.

 

However their value as 'insurance' is questionable - I know NHBC has a terrible reputation for resolving issues.

[Jeremy Harris]

We didn't bother with one, for two reasons. 

 

We bought a new house once, and found that the NHBC warranty wasn't worth the paper it was written on.  The house leaked (flashing around the chimney installed upside down, believe it or not), we paid out for surveys to prove to NHBC that the house had been built incorrectly, yet still they refused to pay out.  In the end our solicitor advised that it would be cheaper for us to just pay to get the remedial work done than try and pursue NHBC through the courts, as his experience was that they always resisted paying out and this ended up costing clients a great deal of money.

 

The second reason is that we didn't need a mortgage on the house and hope not to have to sell it.  Even if we did have to sell it, the cost of a one-off  indemnity insurance policy to cover the years remaining until the house is ten years old would almost certainly be a lot cheaper than the cost of the warranty.

Edited September 16, 2017 by JSHarris
typo

[Badger]

Hi Kerry I to am in the same boat I'm hoping to have enough money to cover the build without having to take on a mortgage but I have looked at the warranties and the cheapest quote I have had is from Protek self build who came in cheaper than other quotes.

[divorcingjack]

We had to have one as we'll need to mortgage the house once finished and after ringing round the mortgage companies, I found that they pretty much all accepted different ones, although there was a core list. We chose CRL in the end as their quote was competitive and they were understanding about the passive slab/MBC frame that we wanted to use. Not all the companies I made contact with were so flexible. You also get assigned an individual person to deal with who must have  red-done our quote at least 5 times throughout the 3 year planning/building control period. He was always available on the phone and was responsive to emails, so that counts for a lot in my book. I finally purchased a few weeks ago, just before our build finally started and we had the first visit from their surveyor last week. He was also helpful and nice, so all good so far

 

We paid £2400 all in for a 10 year structural warranty. House is 240sqm total, 3/4 bedroom, passive slab and MBC timber frame. 

 

I should add that we are on the lucky position of being able to borrow enough short term cash to finish the build initially, but then we need the standard mortgage to pay back the bank of mum and dad. 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2017 by divorcingjack

[ProDave]

Another one not bothering with a structural warranty. Not planning to borrow or sell.

 

The previous house had the nhbc warranty, but the cover from that expired last year so proved pointless in the end, but this time around I found the cost had doubled so making it even more of a waste of money.

 

I also found some ridiculous things like the nhbc inspector was telling us to do the exact opposite of the building control inspector, ended up having to pretend to each we had done it "their" way.

[swisscheese]

On 16/09/2017 at 15:12, Thedreamer said:

Just did a quick quote for a structural warranty and the quote was £5,000 (the property is 140sqm and estimated build cost £150,000), that seems mental to me.

 

Just out of interest how many forum members took out warranties when starting their self builds for their own homes, i.e. not expecting to sell for a long time or ever?

 

My plan was to go with a self build mortgage provider and then on completion move onto their own standard residential product.

 

Kerry

 

Ring around and get the number down, as has been said if you need a mortgage you will need one.  I went with self-build zone in the end for warranty, it's money for old rope, but if you are borrowing it's just another hoop you need to jump through, it's a cost they don't tell you about on GD or BTD tv progs!

 

[ragg987]

I went with self-build zone, £2,300 for 330m2 ICF basement and timberframe above ground. 600k build cost. They were the cheapest I could find. So yes, your figures do seem mental.

[jamiehamy]

We didn't. No plans to sell but  didn't want the hassle of box tickers that add little value if you're doing it right in the first place. 

[PeterW]

See if you can go direct to Sennocke - they are the ones who do ours but we had issues with the broker who really cocked up ...

 

£2200 for warranty and building regs from memory. 

[Oz07]

You don't need one for a mortgage company to lend on. Pcc with arb architect will do for about 70% of lenders

[Thedreamer]

Thanks everybody, it's been useful to hear from others regarding this. Being in Scotland, lenders are pretty limited, but I note that Ecology one lender who offer in Scotland, this on their website.

 

Does Ecology require a particular build warranty on completion of my self-build?

A build warranty is not a mandatory lending requirement of our mortgage and we are happy with a Building Regulation Completion Certificate. However, if you wish to take out a build warranty for the completion of the property then this is acceptable to the Society.

[Weebles]

Has anyone actually gone through the process of getting a warranty certificate issued from either Self Build Zone or Protek?  These are the cheapest quotes we have (both around £2,900 for warranty plus BC, for 330m² £475K build cost, 24 month build).  Just wondering if we should lean in any particular direction - any good or bad experiences out there?

[PeterW]

Self Build Zone have been very good - go direct to Sennocke though and not via a broker as they are much easier to deal with ..!

[Gone West]

We have a Self Build Zone warranty and the only problem has been that they are getting twitchy because the build has taken a long time. A two year build wouldn't be a problem.

[curlewhouse]

We had to for the mortgage unfortunately, and chose the same company as are doing our BC work - they were not the cheapest, but it seemed a good idea to be dealing with one guy (BCO) - which has then turned into a bit of a nightmare with him even querying BBA certified materials every bloody step of the way and making me do pointless things and make embarrassingly simple enquiries with firms (just one example "are SIPS an "approved" method of building", despite the BBA stickers all over them - I kid you not!)   . Its sheer bad luck in the individual we've ended up with though I suspect, not the principle, and if we don't play ball, we get no warranty and I'm not sure what the Building Society would make of that since its a condition. Wasting many hours of my very precious time though. If I had cash to build, no way would I be getting a warranty as we never plan to move from here.

Edited November 5, 2017 by curlewhouse

[Mr Punter]

The warranty providers bring nothing to the party.  If your mortgage firm will accept, try professionalconsultantscertificate.com or any other provider of professional consultants certificate.  For a conversion we did they were a fifth of NHBC.  Probably half for new build.

[Moira Niedzwiecka]

We have taken a warranty with selfbuildzone. Cost £1500. House 147 sq mts

I can't believe how thorough our inspector has been. Wants drawings & calculations for everything.

Came out again yesterday to inspect how the stonework was being done. Checked the cavity for snots & cavity ties.

Discussed how we should close the cavities. Advised on best way to do guttering.

Looked at the new proposal for the low level SVP (thanks again, Jeremy) & passed it.

He said he is there to help & to call him anytime I needed advice.

Agreed window installation pants.

I am really quite chuffed. He is a second pair of eyes.

After all it is in our interest for things to be right.

I am glad now we decided to take a warranty.

Never had any intention to sell but when Henry was diagnosed with cancer in April made us realise that nothing can ever be certain.

 

Through experience I know that NHBC warranty worthless.

When a developer builds a new estate it is only the first couple of houses that are inspected. It is assumed the others will be all be OK.

 

 

 

[mvincentd]

On 23 October 2017 at 21:41, Weebles said:

Has anyone actually gone through the process of getting a warranty certificate issued from either Self Build Zone or Protek?  These are the cheapest quotes we have (both around £2,900 for warranty plus BC, for 330m² £475K build cost, 24 month build).  Just wondering if we should lean in any particular direction - any good or bad experiences out there?

 

I'm using Protec.......they are pleasingly 'undemanding' in that they agreed to let my independent bldg regs inspector also cover their warranty inspections (they weren't previously associated, I just said this is what i want to happen and this is how you get my business), and they have pretty much left it to him to determine what the appropriate stages of inspection are.

I do however question the 'insurance' value of the policy in that so many elements rely on the installers guarantee anyway.

[ragg987]

I used self build zone for combined BC and warranty. The final sign off was quick and easy once they had the documentation. Slight delay as my inspector left them just prior.

 

Only thing I had was they started asking for additional "Warts and all" warranty along the way for roofing and render. I pushed back on the basis that these were not in the agreement and asking at a late stage caused a material change in our procurement. They backed off.

[PeterW]

42 minutes ago, ragg987 said:

Only thing I had was they started asking for additional "Warts and all" warranty along the way for roofing and render. I pushed back on the basis that these were not in the agreement and asking at a late stage caused a material change in our procurement. They backed off.

 

I have exactly the same issue. We have a concrete liner built “traditional” chimney but they want the “flue and stove installation” signed off by a Hetas qualified installer. I’ve questioned this as the chimney is built as part of the wall (and inspected) and they have already said it is a structural warranty so they will not cover the stove or connections ..... so why do they want Hetas* sign off ..??

 

 

 

 

 

(*it will be installed by a Hetas registered installer but after the build is finished just in case anyone is worried ..!) 

[Mikey_1980]

We went with LABC for our MBC timber frame house of around 300m2, 5 bedrooms and used the local council BC for building regs. Both were easy to deal with and LABC picked up a structural issues which are Local BC missed and MBC rectifies quickly. I am pleased we had two different people inspecting it at different times, plus are architect as well who we paid £150 a month to inspect to structural competition so he could issue an architects certificate as well.  They each picked up various things but we had no problems or fights trying to prove anything to them and everything was resolved easily and quickly. Are architecht was onsite most days as he only lived round the corner and had never seen the MBC build method before but no recommends it highly to people. 

[Barney12]

LABC wouldn’t insure our MBC build as they wouldn’t insure the passive slab foundation.

Like others I went with selfbuildzone direct.

[Mikey_1980]

@Barney12, that’s strange as they had no issues at all with our passive slab. They were actually very impressed with it that another person from LABC came out to see it, out of interest. We took our policy out in November 2015.