Homeowners across the UK are now benefitting from the online, integrated Home User Guide (HUG) which has been introduced by NHBC for every new Buildmark policyholder.
NHBC, the leading warranty and insurance provider for new homes in the UK, worked with builders and homeowners to develop the HUG, which provides information about the home’s Buildmark policy.
Manuals for white goods can also be stored on the HUG, so that if a homeowner wants to check how to programme the cooker, they don’t need to call the builder’s sales team, they can easily get to the information they need on their phone, tablet or computer.
Builders can pre-populate the HUG with information about the items that come with a home, and homeowners can add and replace manuals and details of the fixtures and finishes in their home as they personalise their home.
Explaining the benefits of the HUG, NHBC Operations Manager Toby Phillips said: “The HUG system has been designed to be simple and intuitive for homeowners to use, and it’s also easy for builders to add information that’s helpful to homeowners.
“HUGs also contain practical, easy-to-understand guides to the operation and maintenance of the new home, including things like ventilation systems, solar energy systems, heat pumps and heating controls, so that homeowners know what to do to keep systems operating efficiently and providing the most benefit.
“Additionally, HUG offers a lot of benefits for builders, not least of which is massively reducing the administration time and hard cost that goes into creating homeowner welcome packs.”
Pre-populating HUGs with extra information is now business as usual for Keepmoat Homes. Mark Knight, Regional Managing Director of Keepmoat Homes Yorkshire, said: “Having the online HUG provides us with another really great communication channel to engage with our customers.
“Keeping them up-to-date with everything that they need to know via a single portal developed and supported by NHBC both simplifies the processes for us and allows us to be much more dynamic with our communications.”
