What it means to be a "5 star" construction company. Who are the best and who are worst?

At HomeSnag, we are passionate about customers getting the most out of their new build house. After all, it is likely to be the biggest investment you will ever make. And yet building companies notoriously are defensive when customers request us around prior to completion.
We often get asked "who is the best / worst builder". The answer is that we could go to one large 5 star builder one day and it could be a fantastic finish, the next day on a different site by the same company and the quality is horrendous. Similarly we can go to an independent builder with only 5 houses on the site (so typically you'd think the attention to detail would be improved according to quality not quantity) but they fail to meet building regs and tolerances throughout. The quality of finish to your new build house ultimately depends on three factors:-

- The time of year
- The quality of tradesman
- The eye for detail from the site's snagging process, if carried out at all

The time of year is important because construction companies have financial deadlines they have to meet. Typically this is June and December. It is no coincidence that these months are our busiest months as a professional snagging company! They often push customers into a substandard home to reach their bonus. We went to one house last week and the customers were forced into completion, only to find no flooring laid. They had paid extras in the region of £10k and walked in to a shell.

The rating [large volume] construction companies have are according the the HBF survey. This reaches out to customers 2 months after their completion and they need customers to say they'd recommend them to a friend. Notoriously Bovis have gone down to a 2 star building rating due to most of their customers answering "NO" to this question! 
So, conversely does this mean that the quality of a 5 star builder is better? Well, this is not always the case. All of the below photographs are taken from the past few months and are all 5 star builders.

In conclusion, we believe the more adamant the builders are to not allow us in before completion, the more important it is to enforce it. It also highlights the importance to get us around as soon as possible, certainly within the 2 month timeframe the builders look to get a positive HBF survey score from you.

Snagging Pictures demonstrate: Smashed toilet, missing insulation, smashed window, damaged dormer beyond repair and isolator switches for the kitchen located in the dining room