Self Build Lenders & NHBC Builders

[soapstar]

Hello Folks,

 

Getting round to pricing up our build at the moment and would love some clarification on something.

 

Priced up from a main contractor (relatively large company) and was over our budget, now looking at still keeping with a main contractor however a smaller or independent builder. There is no doubt this will work out cheaper for us however I wasn't sure how it works with your lender if the builder is not registered (NHBC for example), I vaguely remember reading somewhere this was a requirement of many lenders. But then I asked myself how do self build DIYers manage to get funding given they are not registered?

 

I would ask build store but they take so long to get back so figured it would be quicker here!! ?

 

Thanks for the help guys

 

[Mr Punter]

NHBC provide structural warranties, which are required by most lenders. There are other structural warranties available from other providers that are aimed at self builders, so you do not need to be NHBC, just signed up with a warranty. LABC have one, but shop around.

[lizzie]

You, as a self builder, buy a warranty.  We used Premier Guarantee but they have now withdrawn from the self build market. There are several other providers in the market.

[soapstar]

Thanks guys, so to clarify if we went with a local independent builder who was NOT registered this isn't an issue? I assume they deal with the warranty being the main contractor? Or is this still a cost for the client (me) - guess it depends?

 

Thanks!

[lizzie]

I would have it in your name....it will be your cost whichever way you do it.

[Mr Punter]

https://www.labcwarranty.co.uk/self-build/ but there are several who offer this

[Andrew]

They will come and inspect as the build goes. I'd suggest looking at one that does building control in tandem as in theory they should be able to co-ordinate inspections for both functions. I've just got some pretty competitive quotes from Protek for combined warranty and building control - http://www.protekselfbuild.co.uk.

[lizzie]

We chose to have separate inspections - building control and premier guarantee independent of each other.  We could have got Prem Gtee to do it all but we wanted the extra pair of eyes as we are not experienced builders and we wanted independent checks on what the contractors were doing. 

[Temp]

It took us several days to compare and correct three quite different quotes because they had made different assumptions or ignored things. If after that exercise you still get wildly different quotes consider getting a Quantity Surveyor to work out what he thinks it would cost to build. It's not cheap but then you know which of the quotes is the most realistic or which has under priced the job and might not hang around to finish it.