The HBF Star Rating Scheme awards builders stars for customer satisfaction.  The number of stars awarded is based on the homeowner feedback in an independent National New Homes Survey of customer satisfaction .  The survey is designed to provide home buyers with information about home builders to help guide their purchasing decision, and to encourage excellent levels of service to be delivered by home builders. The survey year covers the period from October 1st to September 30th.

Star ratings last for one year and are based on the results of the National New Homes Survey of home owners who have bought a new or newly converted home during the previous 12 months survey period.  New star ratings are announced in Spring each year, so a logo with the year ‘2019’ is current until March 2020.

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) is the principal representative body of the home building industry in England and Wales. The HBF’s member firms account for some 80% of all new homes built in England and Wales in any one year, and include companies of all sizes, ranging from multi-national, household names through regionally based businesses to small local companies: www.hbf.co.uk

Yes  HBF Star Ratings are based on results of the National New Homes Survey, an independent industry survey.  The survey is operated by NHBC, is entirely independent of any builder or builder group and is independently validated by Reading University.

The maximum a builder can be awarded is five stars.

Star ratings are awarded based on the results of one question asked in the National New Homes Survey: Would you recommend your builder to a friend?  

The criteria for other star ratings are as follows:

5 star

90% or more of homeowners* must be prepared to recommend their builder to a friend.

4 star

80% or more of homeowners* must be prepared to recommend their builder to a friend.

3 star

70% or more of homeowners* must be prepared to recommend their builder to a friend

2 star

60% or more of homeowners* must be prepared to recommend their builder to a friend

1 star

50% or more of homeowners* must be prepared to recommend their builder to a friend

*The percentage is based on the number of valid responses received.

Star ratings are awarded based on a survey that is sent by NHBC to all of a builder’s customers. Where the company is a national company, their result will reflect their average results achieved for the whole of the UK.

Star ratings for all participating builders are available on the HBF website here. There is also a rolling quarterly summary started in the last quarter of 2019 available here.

Star ratings for all participating builders are available on the HBF website here.

The HBF Star Rating Scheme is open to all HBF members.  It is a voluntary scheme so only those builders who opt to participate will be star rated.

Your builder’s star rating is based entirely on the results of a survey that was sent to all their customers.  Star Ratings are only awarded when there are sufficient responses to make the results statistically robust.

If you feel you’ve had a bad experience with your builder please take the matter up with them and give them the opportunity to put it right.  If they do not and the problem is covered by your new home warranty, contact the warranty provider.

Please ensure that you contribute to your builders next star rating by completing the survey questionnaire when you receive it.

A builder’s current star rating can be checked by clicking here.  If the builder is displaying the wrong star rating then you should inform HBF.  It would be helpful if you could have a note of the

1. the builders name, 
2. the address, and 
3. details of the star rating and how it is being displayed (for example on a site flag or in sales literature). 

Then email us at info@hbf.co.uk with all the above information and HBF will take the appropriate action.

You can find out more about the HBF Star Rating Scheme here.