Guarantees?

You may have noticed that building companies come in all forms of sizes, from the one man band, to multinational companies with international reputations. Some of the larger companies do have small works or maintenance divisions, and do show interest in smaller value projects. You may find that due to large overheads that they may be more expensive than some of the smaller local builders, but all companies have both good and bad points.

Be wary of any company that offers a guarantee for works, without actually understanding who backs the guarantee. Reputable builders will be a member of an industry standard scheme.

Only 2 examples being:

Chartered Institute of Building (www.ciob.org.uk )

Federation of Master Builders (www.fmb.org.uk)

 

If we take an example of The Federation of Master Builders, their members have the facility to join Master Bond, which can be described in layman’s terms as being similar to what ABTA is to travel agents when you book your holiday. It provides the paying client with a bond that should anything go wrong during the works, or on completion, that they will provide and independent arbitration service to investigate and where necessary call upon the bond to make good.

Note

Formal guarantees come in writing and are backed by a third party, and if you are considering 2 similar prices for building works, and one has a longer guarantee than the other, please do investigate further prior to securing your final choice.

 

New Build property

For new build dwellings reputable companies such as NHBC and Zurich provide well laid out 10 year guarantees, but normally within the first 2 years the guarantees are through the builder / developer. For more information on the inspection of new build houses visit www.houseinspections.org.uk