What is a pre-completion inspection, and why should you get one?
The one inspection every new-build buyer should know about, what it covers, and why the timing matters more than anything else.
A pre-completion inspection (PCI) is a snagging inspection carried out after the developer says your new home is finished, but before you legally complete. It is the single most useful thing you can do as a new-build buyer, and most people have never heard of it.
Why the timing matters
Before completion, you are a sale that has not closed. The developer has a completion target, a site manager with a bonus riding on it, and every reason to keep you happy. After completion, you are a customer with a snag list, and the customer care department has a lot of those.
A defect raised before completion gets fixed by the trades who are still on site. The same defect raised three months later goes on a list, gets scheduled, gets missed, gets rescheduled. That is not cynicism. It is how site programmes work.
Your right to a PCI
Developers signed up to the New Homes Quality Code must give you the opportunity to arrange a pre-completion inspection by a suitably qualified inspector once the home is complete. The inspection follows a checklist agreed between the New Homes Quality Board and RICS. Most large developers are signed up. If yours is not, ask anyway. Many will allow it.
What gets inspected
- The outside: brickwork, roofline, guttering, drainage, paving, fences
- Every room: walls, ceilings, floors, doors, windows, decoration
- Kitchen and bathrooms: units, worktops, sanitaryware, tiling, seals
- Services: heating, hot water, extractors, electrics, alarms
- Loft and garage
On a typical home we log somewhere between 30 and 80 defects. That sounds a lot. It is normal, and it is exactly why the inspection exists.
What you get
A numbered, photographed report you hand to the site manager. Each item says where it is, what is wrong and what the standard requires. The good ones get fixed before your keys are cut. The rest go on the record for the two-year defects period.
Who should carry it out
Someone independent. The developer will usually offer a list of recommended snagging companies. Think about who sends those companies their next job before you pick one. We wrote more about that here.
If you are completing in the next few weeks, this is the inspection to book.
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