Does anyone have experience of making a claim under the Build-Zone 10 year warranty?
I made a claim in February supported by a surveyor’s report but have made zero progress since then.
They ignored my claim until July when pressure from my surveyor made them send a loss adjuster to inspect the property.
He agreed that there were problems but I have heard no more since then.
My timber frame bungalow was built in late 2016/early 2017 and I completed at the end of July 2017.
The builders K H Developments (aka Highnam Construction) are currently marketing a second site they have developed in Clee Hill, Shropshire, also with a Build-Zone 10-year structural warranty.
I first noticed staircase cracks in the render on both gable ends during the 2-year snagging period and reported it to the builders who were still on site. They sent a contractor to look at it who said they would come back in 2 weeks to fix it but never did. Getting snagging done was always difficult to impossible and the quality of remedial work was poor so I asked a reliable local builder to look at the problem, intending to have him fix it, but he told me there was no quick fix and I needed a surveyor.
The surveyor noticed other problems, mainly heavy white staining from the weep vents and recommended opening up the wall to investigate, which was then done in 4 places. This revealed numerous problems. The cavity was clogged with mortar, the damp proof course only covered half of the brick course and the cavity trays had been fitted wrong so they were allowing water to contact the timber frame. In the surveyor’s opinion the render cracking was caused by insufficient wall ties and the render anyway was unsuitable for an exposed site. He also suspected that the mortar in the brick skin was too weak and could be porous.
I submitted my claim with the surveyor’s report detailing all of this and more to Build-Zone in February but, as stated, no progress has been made in the 9 months since. Has anyone had any success with getting Build-Zone to honour their warranty?