After careful searching, you’ve finally found vacant land on which to build a dream home for your family. You’ve worked hard to reach this stage – with the money you’ve saved and the right home loan to help, you can start building a whole new lifestyle for your loved ones. But how do you know you have the right builder for this project – can you trust them to do a professional job and not cut corners? Who will make sure that your builder doesn’t leave structural defects that could endanger your family or the value of your home?

The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC), that’s who.

Building standards set and maintained by the NHBRC

There’s a good reason that banks insist you get a builder who is registered with the NHBRC when you apply for a building loan. The NHBRC is a statutory body that regulates the building of homes in South Africa according to the Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act, to ensure best building practice and protection of consumers from unscrupulous builders.

New homes with structural defects such as leaking roofs or cracking foundations do not meet NHBRC standards – all homes built in South Africa now need to follow universal, strict building guidelines stipulated by the NHBRC in its Home Building Manual. Builders are bound by the Council’s code of conduct, guaranteeing a level of reliability that you don’t always get from unregistered builders.

The benefits of registering your build with the NHBRC

As a watchdog, the NHBRC intervenes to resolve any challenges in the best interest of all parties, especially consumers. To get protection from the Council, your builder needs to register your home with the NHBRC before any building starts, and you will have to pay a fee that is a percentage of the value of your home. This fee buys a 5-year warranty against any potential construction defects – once you have moved into the new house, and discover any structural defects within those 5 years, you can claim against the warranty to have the home repaired.

By doing this, you’re assured of an accredited builder whose skills and credentials have been evaluated. NHBRC protection doesn’t end here. During construction, an inspector accredited by the Council must make at least 4 visits to the construction site to check on the workmanship of the project and resolve any problems promptly.

Using only NHBRC-accredited builders who register your new home with the Council makes perfect sense in terms of consumer protection. Even if this wasn’t a requirement when applying for a building loan, it would be the smart move anyway.

For more information, go to www.nhbrc.org.za