ELQF – Verification and Occupation

Gavin Allsopp

Principal Geo-environmental Engineer

National House Building Council

ELQF – Verification and Occupation

Contents

• Who are NHBC?

• NHBC warranty.

• NHBC Standards and Land Quality.

• Verification requirements

• Inspection process.

• Finalling Process and occupation.

Who is NHBC?

The National House-Building Council

- established 1936.

UK's leading independent standard-

setting body.

Non-profit distributing company.

Unique “stakeholder” company

structure.

Who is NHBC?

10 year Warranty introduced in 1968

Insurance Company.

1.6million homes under cover.

80% market share.

Approved Inspector licence granted in

1985 (England and Wales).

NHBC Warranty

Why do you need a warranty?

Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) initiative

/Revised finalling process.

The CML initiative was first introduce in 2001 and

revised in 2003.

Requires a warranty to be in place before

mortgage funds released.

So No Warranty = No mortgage and that = no

sale.

NHBC Warranty

Why do you need a warranty?

NHBC will not release our warranty if:

issues remain that would result in a claim.

major issues exists that may affect the

health and safety of the occupants.

Outstanding issues remain that during

rectification would cause significant

disruption to the homeowner.

Who is NHBC? Buildmark Warranty

A 10 year Buildmark Warranty for new home

owners.

Insurance for structural damage to certain parts of

the home in years 3 to 10.

Protection for certain breaches of Building

Regulations - if NHBC is appointed for building

control

Cover for contamination of the land on which the

home is built

Who is NHBC? Buildmark Warranty

Valid Claims -

Financial limits -

If substance/s within the site curtilage result, or

could reasonably be expected to result in a

Statutory Notice being served.

The maximum claim relating to a Home under

Section 5 is the Original Purchase Price, up to a

maximum of:

£1 million for a newly built Home;

or

£500,000 for a converted Home

Contaminated Land Cover included under section 5 of

warranty

NHBC Standards

Contains the Technical

Requirements,

performance standards

and guidance for the

design and construction of

homes acceptable to

NHBC

Accessible on our website

NHBC Standards

Surveyors, Engineers,

Geoenvironmental

Engineer assess technical

submissions

Building Inspectors

inspect on site

NHBC Standards

Land Quality - Managing Ground Conditions

Warranty - Chapter 4.1

provides framework &

expectations for managing ground

conditions

Building Control – Where

NHBC acting as the Building

Control Body, we also assess

contamination aspects under Part

C of the Building Regulations

NHBC Standards

Land Quality - Managing Ground Conditions

Chapter 4.1 –

Framework

NHBC Standards

Land Quality - Managing Ground Conditions

Technical submissions are reviewed by a team of

Geo-Environmental Engineers to ensure compliance

with Standards and Bregs.

Any issues then set conditions for further information

– site investigation reports, remediation strategies,

gas protection measures, verification reports.

Conditions set block finalling for Buildmark Warranty

and BC.

NHBC Standards

Land Quality - Managing Ground Conditions

Documentation and verification – 4.1.9

‘Documentation and verification shall be provided to

the satisfaction of NHBC to demonstrate that the site

is suitable for the proposed development’

‘All relevant information, designs, specifications and

reports shall be produced in clearly understandable

format and distributed to the appropriate personnel’

NHBC Standards

Land Quality - Managing Ground Conditions

Documentation and verification – 4.1.9

Still seeing a varying quality of verification

reports for cover systems.

NHBC requirements for Cover Systems – Refer

to technical extra article 8 Nov 2012. http://www.nhbc.co.uk/Builders/ProductsandServices/

TechZone/NHBCStandards/TechnicalExtra/

NHBC Standards

Land Quality - Managing Ground Conditions

Documentation and verification – 4.1.9

At builder half years and year ends leads to massive

spike in verification reports received.

10-20 submissions a day.

Short lead in time to review – shortest time 2 mins.

Inspection Process

Propose of inspection.

Approx 360 building inspectors

Builders have primary responsibility for ensuring

that the buildings under construction are compliant

with NHBC standards.

The purpose of inspection is to raise quality and

reduce the number of defects and/or non

compliances present in new homes.

Apply RI’s – reportable items.

Inspection Process

Purpose of Inspection

Frequency visits – max 30 days but risk based.

Inspection Process

Propose of inspection.

We do not:

Supervise site work

Snag new homes on behalf of purchasers.

Inspect every element of construction.

Guarantee that homes are defect free or fully

compliant with the standards.

Finalling Process and occupation

Building Inspector called to site to do pre handover

inspection.

All outstanding issues will be subjected to the

following test to determine if a warranty cover note

can be issued:

Will there be a risk to health and safety?

Will the item be likely to result in a claim?

Will rectification involve significant disruption to the

occupier?

If yes then the warranty cover note cannot be issued.

Pre-handover

Inspection

No Items or

Green Items

Buildmark

Cover Note

Red Items

Finalling Process and occupation

If no issues then cover note issued to the

builder.

Warranty released = mortgage provided = sale

= property can be occupied.

Happy Builder and Homeowner.

Verification and occupation

Thank you for listening!

Any Questions?