Spotlight on Warranty Inspection

Industry Insights 2025: Premier Guarantee shares latest data and guidance on identifying and resolving defects

Earlier this year, Premier Guarantee, one of the home warranty providers supporting the Consumer Code for Home Builders, issued its Industry Insights Report for 2025. The report looks at trends in defects in new build homes based on homes built to Premier Guarantee’s warranty standards.  

The report notes a declining trend in defects identified at most stages of construction, with under 4% of inspections at ‘ground floor stage’ or earlier (where an issue could be extremely serious) raising a potential defect in 2024.

However, the report also shows a notably higher percentage of defects being observed later in the construction process, particularly at pre-handover stage.

The latest version of the Consumer Code for Home Builders Code Scheme incorporates a requirement for builders to offer a pre-completion inspection to enable home buyers (with support from professional advisers where needed) to identify defects and agree a process for resolving them prior to legal completion.

We caught up with Keith Evans, Executive Director of Surveying Operations at Premier Guarantee, to understand the inspection process, what home builders can do to reduce the risk of problems over the lifecycle of their build, and how buyers can make best use of their pre-completion inspection.

Can you explain how your technical inspection regime works?

We inspect at the key stages of construction: foundations, superstructure, pre-plaster, pre-handover but also add in bespoke inspections if complex details are identified during our Site Risk Assessment e.g. basements, flat roofs, parapets, to name a few.

How important is it to spot and rectify defects early-on?

Nobody wants a defect to rear its head – they can be costly, time consuming and delay the construction plan, so identifying them before they are built in really helps to improve the process and demonstrates good collaboration with the industry.

Our surveyors take a proactive approach when it comes to identifying potential defects during their inspections. They also provide future guidance, letting the site team know what they will be looking for on the next inspection.

We do not sign off the stage until the defect is resolved, and we ask to physically see the fix before agreeing to move on.

Your report shows an overall decline in the number of defects identified at every stage apart from pre-handover, which is often when home buyers first get to inspect their homes. What do you believe are the main reasons for this?

We did see that the pre-handover stage bucked the positive trend we saw elsewhere.

It is understandable that site teams are under pressure to complete properties at this stage but with increasing scrutiny on the finish of properties it is vital the industry addresses concerns over quality at the pre-handover stage.

What action can builders take to help reduce late-stage defects and minimise impact on home buyers?

First, speak to your warranty provider. Warranty surveyors are first and foremost there to help builders and developers avoid any defects – late stage or otherwise.

Communication and collaboration are key for any team to succeed. We absolutely see warranty providers such as ourselves working as part of the site teams to collectively deliver quality homes that meet technical standards as well as buyers’ expectations.

I would also point builders to the technical requirements issued by their warranty provider. Our Technical Manual, for example, is a comprehensive guide to our warranty standards written by industry experts with decades of knowledge. Simply put: follow the Technical Manual, avoid defects.

As you know, the Code requires builders to offer buyers their own pre-completion inspection. What advice would you give to home buyers and their professional advisors to help catch and resolve snags prior to completion?

For any home buyers who are moving into a home covered by a Premier Guarantee warranty, we provide a handy snag list in our Homeowners Handbook brochure. This is readily available for anyone living in a home covered by us.

The Handbook also provides advice on who to contact should a problem arise, handy tips for home maintenance as well as links to the Code itself.

Most warranty providers provide similar tools to aid snagging – find out more in the Code’s snagging guidance blog or take a look at our ‘what to expect from your new home’ guide.