Introducing a new three-stage inspection for new homes in industry first

Castle Green, with offices at St Asaph and Preston Brook, already has a five-star rating for customer satisfaction. More than 93% of our homeowners said they’d recommend ourselves in the NHBC’s customer satisfaction survey.

From October 2021 to September 2022 more than 100 of our homeowners were surveyed eight weeks after moving into their new property.

We have now partnered with Warrington-based Snagsure who will inspect every home we build.

Castle Green head of customer care Peter Lewis said: “New build homes already benefit from being inspected by warranty providers, but some people who buy a new build house will enlist a snagging company to identify any issues post completion at their own expense. As a forward-thinking homebuilder, we’ve seized the opportunity to work with Snagsure. Their thorough and detailed inspections provide additional focus on the quality of our new homes.

“The benefit to home buyers is that an independent snagging company will be looking at their home at critical stages during the build process. Snagsure inspectors will provide us with detailed reports from their visits so that we can action any issues identified before the home is handed over to the customer, which in turn should reduce potential for aftercare issues.”

The Snagsure team will inspect a new home at three times – the initial inspection is at the pre-paint stage; the second stage coincides with the Council of Mortgage Lenders certificate being issued, when the warranty provider confirms the property has passed its inspection; then before the keys are handed over a third inspection ensures snags have been rectified.

Additionally, drone inspections will be undertaken with a separate report on the condition of the roof before completion.

Snagsure director Steven Griffin said: “We’ve inspected thousands of new build homes in the last five years and up until now this has been at the homeowners’ expense. Castle Green Homes are the first homebuilders to have signed up for our key-stage inspections. They recognise the advantage to their business and their customers in having three rounds of independent inspections of their homes.”

“Our reports are highly detailed and provide clear information to the developer and
contractors on what improvements are required. When the home is handed over,
our report will be given to the customer as part of their welcome pack, it’s important to be transparent as it gives customers reassurance that their home has been thoroughly inspected by an independent snagging company and the issues raised have been rectified.”

As part of our commitment to customer care, our forward-thinking has further developed our multi-award-winning customer portal Willow. Effectively a “digital new home assistant” for homeowners, it now includes the option to report customer care issues including uploading photographs. The fully integrated system allows customers to “chat” with the team who in turn will instruct contractors and technicians to action works as required using the system.

Find out more about us, including where we are building.