Customer Charter

The Spitfire Customer Charter sets out the process of purchasing a property from Spitfire Homes. Our pledge to you is to provide a professional, efficient and helpful experience.

On this page, you will find details of the buying experience you can expect to receive from Spitfire, with the following stages outlining our commitment to you as a customer.

RESERVATION

Once you have completed the reservation process, your property will be reserved for a period of 28 days. During this period the price will be fixed and we will not enter into a new reservation agreement with another customer on the same property.

Any extension to this time must be agreed by Spitfire Homes to prevent the property being remarketed.

 

AN ONGOING RELATIONSHIP

When you reserve a Spitfire home you will have a dedicated point of contact who will assist you from reservation through to home demonstration. This person will guide you through any specification choices and premium upgrades and keep you regularly informed on the progress of your new home.

They will also accompany you on site visits. The first, before your new home is plastered and the second, while it is being decorated.

SPECIFICATION & PERSONALISATION

The signature specification for your home is set out within the specification section of the sales brochure. Subject to the build stage there will be the opportunity for you to personalise your new home with choices from our specification range. Alternative upgrade packages will be made available to further enhance your property.

EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS

Prior to your exchange of contracts, we will complete a checklist with you to ensure that we have provided you with the required and relevant information about your new home. To avoid any misunderstandings, you should ensure that before you exchange contracts your legal representative confirms in writing any spoken statements that you are relying upon in the purchase of your new property.

Your solicitor will require funds equivalent to 10% of the purchase price of the property in order to exchange contracts, along with evidence that any mortgage funds required are confirmed.

ESTIMATED COMPLETION

Weather and other matters beyond our reasonable control make the time needed to construct your home difficult to accurately predict. You will be given an estimated completion date at reservation, contract exchange and thereafter if the estimated date moves by more than one calendar month.

The Consumer Code requires a realistic time frame to be provided at exchange of contracts; between the build stages of foundation to weatherproof, a calendar quarter, and between the build stages of weatherproof to decoration, one calendar month.

HEALTH & SAFETY

Access to areas of construction is prohibited without prior authorisation, you are required to be accompanied by Spitfire personnel and wear suitable protection.

Compliance with all Health & Safety policy is the responsibility of the individual.

SPITFIRE QUALITY ASSURANCE

Your property will be inspected by a senior build manager to ensure that it adheres to the Spitfire quality benchmark.

Only once your home meets our quality expectations will we proceed to schedule your home demonstration and completion.

NOTICE TO LEGALLY COMPLETE

Once your property has achieved the Spitfire quality benchmark, our legal team will contact your solicitor and serve notice for completion. Completion will happen ten working days after notice is served.

Please be aware that any completion dates discussed prior to this will be provisional.

HOME DEMONSTRATION

Once your home meets the standards of the Spitfire quality benchmark , you will be invited to a demonstration of your property.

This will include a complete walk around and a demonstration of the appliances, heating and hot water systems. You will also be given the chance to inspect cosmetic finishes including kitchens, work surfaces, sanitaryware, glass and flooring.

MOVING IN

We will meet you at your new home on the day of completion.

Once our solicitors are in receipt of the completion funds a member of the Spitfire team, together with the Site Manager, will meet you at your new home and hand you your keys.

ONE WEEK LATER

Within a week of moving in, the Site Manager will visit you at your property to ensure that you are settling into your new home. This is an opportunity for you to raise any immediate concerns you may have, or ask any questions regarding your property.

THE FIRST 28 DAYS

Following the initial visit and within the first 28 days after moving in, a member of our Construction team will arrange to visit your property. This is an opportunity to notify us of any minor defects that you have identified within your home in line with our Inclusions & Exceptions Guide.

We will always defer to the NHBC Standards for tolerances and finishes.

LIVING GUIDE

On the day of completion, you will be given access to your Living Guide – a comprehensive homeowner’s manual containing instruction manuals and warranties together with a description of the systems and services installed in your home.

PEACE OF MIND

All Spitfire customers have access to a 24-hour helpline, should you experience an urgent issue with your new home.

In the event of an emergency issue relating to your property, please contact our Customer Care team on 0345 307 3617. Outside of office hours, your call will be forwarded directly to our out-of-house service provider, npa24:7, who will be able to help.

You may also report any issues via our website. If your issue is not an emergency, a member of our Customer Care team will aim to acknowledge the item within two working days and provide a resolution within 28 days.

WARRANTY PERIOD

Your new property benefits from a two-year Homeowner Warranty and a 10-year structural warranty.

For the first two years of the warranty, Spitfire will attend to any issues in line with our Inclusions & Exceptions Guide.

Find out more about your warranty.

FEEDBACK

Delivering quality customer service providing a professional experience is paramount to Spitfire and is a key performance indicator for all employees.

In order to monitor performance and continually enhance the service we deliver, we will regularly contact you with requests for feedback throughout the buying process. These email-based survey requests will take less than a minute to complete and ask you to rate each stage of your journey on a 0-10 scale.

Around 8 weeks after moving into your new home, you will also be issued with a third-party survey from the NHBC providing you with an opportunity to provide detailed feedback on your buying experience with Spitfire Homes.

If, at any point, you are dissatisfied with the service you have received from Spitfire Homes, you may wish to raise a formal complaint in line with our complaints process. Read about our complaints process.

MANAGEMENT COMPANIES

Very often there will be a Resident Management Company that owns and manages common areas. This will have been explained to you in detail by your solicitor.

Further information will be made available within your Living Guide.

THE NEW HOMES QUALITY CODE

As a member of the New Homes Quality Board, customers of Spitfire Homes are covered by the New Homes Quality Code.

The code sets out a number of principles and expectations designed to offer customers reassurance and confidence when purchasing a new home. Details of the code will be communicated to you by your Sales Consultant at the point of reservation.