Stuck with your builder? Who can actually help.

There’s almost always a route. The trick is knowing which one is yours.

If your builder is dragging their feet or has stopped responding, you’re not powerless — but the right place to escalate depends mainly on whether your builder signed up to the New Homes Quality Code. Here are the routes, and a simple way to work out which is yours.

The honest headline

The New Homes Ombudsman is not automatic for every new build. It only covers homes built by developers who’ve joined the New Homes Quality Code. If yours hasn’t, you’re not stuck — you’ll usually have the older Consumer Code for Home Builders and your warranty provider instead. Almost every new home is covered by one of these.

The three routes

Route A

The New Homes Ombudsman

If your builder is registered with the New Homes Quality Board (NHQB) — and you reserved your home on or after the date they joined.

Free, independent and binding if you accept the decision. It can direct the builder to put things right and award compensation (up to £50,000, including for distress and inconvenience, for homes reserved from January 2024). You can refer your case once you’ve complained to the builder and either had their final response or waited 56 days. It applies in your first 2 years after legal completion.

Route B

The Consumer Code for Home Builders

If your builder is NOT in the NHQB scheme, but your home is covered by one of the main warranties — NHBC, LABC Warranty, Premier Guarantee or Checkmate (Lockton).

This older code covers most new builds that aren’t under the New Homes Quality Code, and it has its own free Independent Dispute Resolution (adjudication) scheme. Your warranty provider gives you the application form and the scheme rules so you can make a claim about a breach of the Code.

Route C

Your warranty provider

For defects the builder is responsible for in your first 2 years, and major structural problems for up to 10 years.

Your warranty (e.g. NHBC Buildmark) has its own claims and resolution process. In the first 2 years it can step in where the builder won’t; after that, cover narrows to major structural issues. Check your policy documents for exactly what’s covered and how to claim.

How to work out which is yours

1Complain to the builder first — always. In writing, with dates and photos. Every route below expects you to have given the builder a fair chance to fix it first. Keep a clean, dated record of what you reported and how they responded.
2Check the NHQB Register of Developers. If your builder is listed (with active status) on the New Homes Quality Board register, and you reserved on or after they joined, you’re on the Ombudsman route (A).
3If they’re not, check your warranty. Your reservation paperwork and warranty provider (NHBC, LABC, Premier Guarantee, Checkmate) will tell you which consumer code applies — that points you to the Consumer Code adjudication (B) and/or a warranty claim (C).
4Match the problem to the route. Service and snagging disputes → the Ombudsman or Consumer Code. Major structural defects → your warranty provider. When in doubt, ask your warranty provider which code covers your home.
5Last resort: legal advice. If none of the above resolves it, a solicitor can advise on breach of contract or the Defective Premises Act. This is rare, and the routes above are free.

The thread that runs through all of them: evidence. Every route — the Ombudsman, the Consumer Code adjudication, a warranty claim, or a solicitor — is decided on a clear, dated record of what you reported, when, and how the builder responded. That record is the single most valuable thing you can build, and it’s the hardest to reconstruct from memory later.

How Snag Scout helps

As you review your experience — what happened, when, and how the builder responded — Snag Scout keeps a dated record for you. If you escalate, that record is useful supporting context alongside your own paperwork, for whichever route is yours: the New Homes Ombudsman, a Consumer Code adjudication, your warranty provider, or your own solicitor.

Start building your record now.

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General information, not legal advice, and it doesn’t override your warranty terms or contract. Which code and route covers your home depends on your builder’s registration and your warranty — check your own paperwork, and the New Homes Quality Board register, or take professional advice if in doubt. Rules and schemes can change.