Self-Build Zone Reviews 28

William Handy was absolutely brilliant in helping me resolve an important issue, and not only was he efficient, and quick to respond to emails, Will has a fantastic and empathetic manner, which was invaluable when I thought I might lose the plot! so well done Will. 5 stars!

Very unhelpful portal and payment process. Not clear to follow and involving too much complication. Put it down to using very legacy software and needs updating to modern online standards

A quick efficient service and really helpful customer service to take you through the process. I'd recommend the process to those looking for site insurance.

BEWARE - PLACE NO RELIANCE ON THIS INSURANCE.

The BuildZone 10 year warranty is not worth the paper it is written on. The Insurer employs loss adjustors (Charles Taylor in my case, utterly hopeless and clueless about the building technology) and 99.9% of their effort was put into finding ways to wilfully misinterpret the policy to avoid liability and where that does not work forcing the policy holder to invest £1000s in professional fees to prove causality between damage and defect. Great for the developer who can wave it at the buyer - but it is not an insurance policy you can remotely rely in if you have a claim.

We had cover with Self Build Zone for our new build house and I can absolutely recommend them 100%. Service and communication were excellent, especially when we had a small claim which was settled without any delay. We would certainly use them again should the need arise.

I took out a building insurance for a renovation build at the end of last year for a 6 month policy.
In Feb of this year, the building was damaged by storm Asha. I immediately informed the above via Titan Insurance, and they sent a loss adjuster out ( Charles Taylor Adjusting). So far, so good. The loss adjuster attended and when asked directly if the claim of which he had a copy was acceptable and if I could commence the repairs. He stated that it was a straightforward claim and that I could commence the repairs immediately as it was obviously storm damage.
When they eventually got back to me, they offered me less than 0.16 % of what the main claim was. I challenged this, as it was not what I had been led to believe by the loss adjuster. More than six weeks later, they agreed to pay me 31% of the original claim. That still took another two weeks to pay out. What a joke!
This whole mess has not only delayed my build but cost me far more money than I was expecting, taking into account that I thought I was insured by a reputable company.
If you need insurance go elsewhere!

After a positive meeting with the company at the building and renovating show I called to arrange site insurance.
I was told to do everything online and they were not interested in dealing with me directly.
Very poor service I wouldn't recommend

Out of the three quotes, not only were Self Build the cheapest, communications were immediate and all documents/statements of fact accurate and clear plus being underwritten by a well recognised underwriter in the insurance industry.

A very personal approach. Everyone had the time to listen to my needs and explain what they could offer. They were very efficient and the whole process from first contact to arranging cover took 72hrs.

Buildzone warranty isn't worth the paper it is written on. Sloppey shoulders and a money maker scheme that doesn't want to help homeowners.

My new build house 2018 has structural faults as well as unresolved snags. There has been no action from Build-Zone, despite around 300 emails. Their solution after 4 years into my 10 year Warranty, and 2 years into the structural insurance period, which Build-Zone is liable for, is that they have contacted the Developer to ask what he is going to do!!!!!!
Would rate this company minus 4 stars if website would allow.

I had an issue getting access to my building site, and contacted a solicitor. His first question was ‘do I have insurance?’, and so I contacted self build zone to ask. They referred me to their legal team, but it took two weeks of back and fro emails to even get an appropriate claim form.
I submitted the claim a month ago and haven’t even had an acknowledgment. The trainee insurance technician at SBZ wrote ‘ As we don’t get involved with legal claims Its best that you call them up on 01384 377000 to discuss this further and hopefully this fixes your query.’

So there you have it: Self Build Zone don’t get involved with legal claims even though it is a product they offer. They farm it out to others who just don’t care!

In my view their insurance is worthless. I paid £1500, which is about £1350 more than regular buildings insurance, and for that I received; ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! What a total waste of my money.

My case is unresolved and has now been referred to the ombudsman.

Good service. Alex in sales very helpful. Very comprehensive documentation.

Had an issue with damp water ingress on our timber frame home that I raised almost a year ago. We were wrongly advised to seek out our own damp specialist to carry out a survey which we did at our cost and to get a quote from some builders which we also did. Build-Zone subsequently passed our case onto Charles Taylor Loss Adjusters who in late January sent out their own surveyor who completely disagreed with the original surveyor's findings. We were then in July, six months later, finally sent out a fund release form that had several errors on it, namely my wife's name and the exclusion of VAT. We have now been waiting for a month for the loss adjusters to get back to us regarding these amendments. Build-Zone and Charles Taylor loss adjusters are almost impossible to contact and when we manage to get through are told that it is in the underwriters hands. The builders who we got our quote with are rightly angry as the job has had to be postponed several times and are now justifiably threatening us with rescheduling costs. Our policy is not, was not and cannot be with the underwriters, it is clearly with Build-Zone and we should not be expected to do their admin work in constantly chasing their chosen loss adjusters. I would avoid this company like the plague, it feels like a scam and today I will be starting a claim with the small claims court to get our home repaired before it falls down. The nature of the construction flaw and the design of our house means that our home has been threatened by the ineptitude of this company to act in a timely manner.

The service was slow and they needed to be chased all the time to get the certificate

Had break in on new build house in January. They agree to pay me in March
. I am still awaiting payment . Rubbish service .

Excellent service and support.

Despite several requests for amendments, Jake was extremely quick and efficient to respond to the changes requested. I recommend Self Build Zone without hesitaton.

I have been using this companies insurance for my renovate - to - sell business for over ten years now (20 plus policies) - several years ago i was unlucky to have an unscrupulous tradesman "injure" himself whilst he was working on my site. The service afforded to me by the insurance company and their loss adjuster was brilliant - they dealt with all solicitors correspondence to the point where i had little to do at all..... The stress that i`d have gone through had it not been for them would`ve been intense as he made story after story up about the accident itself...
I recommend this policy to every other builder that I encounter - you never really know how good an "insurance" policy is until you have to claim on it - this really is invaluable..........

Not worth the paper it’s written on. I had a list of about 8 issues, all but one was declined as not covered, if you read the small print pretty much everything is not covered !!

Even though there is Clear evidence of tiles cracking due to floor slab not supporting them they were unwilling to accept this, even though there is clear visual evidence of water entering the render as rust has appeared on hidden nails (not rustproof so a defect in materiel or workmanship) there is clear visual evidence of water that has entered the double glaze units but this has not been agreed, also having such a large excess on the policy of £1000 discourages small issues being reported As it would not be cost effective.