Process
How the BC 2-5-10 Warranty Works After You Move In
The keys are yours and the warranty clock has started. Here is what each coverage window protects, how to make a claim, and what your builder handles versus the warranty provider.
A homeowner called us in the second winter of their house about a faint mark on a ceiling. They were worried they had missed some deadline and lost their coverage. They had not. But the call surfaced the question most owners carry quietly after they move in: how does the warranty actually work now that I live here, and who do I call for what.
The BC 2-5-10 warranty is not something your builder decides to give you. It is mandatory on every home built by a licensed residential builder in the province. Once you get the keys, the clock starts, and it runs on three separate windows, each covering different parts of the house, each with its own deadline to report a problem.
This piece is the plain, after-move-in view: what each window protects, how to file a claim so it counts, and the difference between a call to your builder and a formal claim to the insurer. For the full background on how the warranty is structured and how to verify your builder holds it, read what the 2-5-10 actually covers in a Burnaby build.
The three windows, and what each one protects
The name is the coverage. Two, five, ten. Each number is a window that starts the day the home is enrolled, usually at occupancy.
Two years: materials and labour. This is the broadest window you will ever have on the house. It covers defects in workmanship and materials across the whole build. Inside it sits a deeper sub-layer that runs to twenty-four months for specific systems: the electrical, plumbing, heating, and ventilation delivery and distribution, and the exterior cladding, caulking, windows, and doors where a defect could let them fail or let water in. This is the window where finishing and workmanship problems surface, because a full year of living in the house puts everything through its first real test.
Five years: the building envelope. This window covers the outer shell of the house, the walls, roof, windows, and doors, against unintended water penetration that causes damage. In a wet coastal climate this is the window that carries the most practical weight. The rainscreen, the flashing details, and the below-grade waterproofing all sit inside it. We explain why in the building envelope and rainscreen on a Burnaby custom home.
Ten years: the structure. This window covers structural defects in the load-bearing parts of the home and the overall structure, including defects that make the home unfit to live in. Foundation problems, structural framing failures, and slab issues beyond the cosmetic fall here. These are rare on well-designed homes and expensive when they happen, which is why the geotechnical and structural work at the start of a build is not the place to save money.
The full coverage rules, including the exact system sub-categories, are published by BC Housing. The policy you receive at handover is the actual contract, so it is worth reading the day you get it, not the day you need it.
The first year is the busiest, on purpose
Most of what an owner reports over the life of the house happens in the first twelve months. That is not a sign of a problem. A new house dries out and settles through its first heating season, and that shows up as hairline cracks at door and window corners, the odd nail pop, doors that need a hinge tweak, and grout and caulk that seasons and sets. None of that is a defect.
The skill in year one is telling normal settling apart from a real warranty item, and keeping a record so the genuine items get submitted before the window closes. We wrote the full year-one routine, what is normal, what is a claim, and how to keep the paperwork tight, in the first-year maintenance and warranty playbook.
The reference that warranty providers actually judge against is the BC Housing Residential Construction Performance Guide. It sets out, item by item, what counts as a coverable defect versus normal performance. "I do not like it" and "it fails the Guide" are two different claims, and the Guide is what decides which one you have.
How to make a claim so it actually counts
A warranty claim is a written, dated submission. It is not the conversation in the driveway, and it is not a text you sent and forgot. If you want a problem protected, put it in writing before the window closes.
The steps are simple:
- Report in writing to both your builder and the warranty provider. Include the date, the exact location in the home, a clear description, and a photo. Send it in a way that leaves a record, email is ideal.
- Do it before the relevant window closes. The two-year window is the one owners let slip most often, because minor items feel too small to bother with until suddenly the deadline has passed.
- Keep a copy of everything. Your dated submissions are your proof that you reported on time and in the right form.
- Report urgent items immediately. A leak, a failed appliance, anything with a safety edge, does not wait for the year-end list. It goes in the day you see it.
For everything that is not urgent, the practical move is to keep one running list through the year, a note on your phone works fine, and submit the non-urgent items together before the deadline. That way nothing gets lost and nothing gets chased four times before the house has finished settling.
A warranty claim is the written, dated submission, not the conversation. If it is not on paper before the window closes, it did not happen.
Icon Projects Team
Who you actually call: builder or provider
This is the part that confuses owners most, and it is simpler than it looks.
Your builder is the first call, and handles most of it. Especially in the first two years, the builder is the one who comes back and fixes the everyday items: the sticking door, the settlement crack, the bit of caulk that pulled, the cabinet hinge that needs adjusting after the wood settled through the heating season. Most of what gets reported in year one never becomes a formal warranty claim at all, because the builder simply handles it. That is how the relationship is supposed to work. A good builder is still your builder in month eleven.
The warranty provider is the backstop. The provider is the insurer standing behind the coverage. It steps in when the builder cannot or will not address a covered defect, or when a claim needs a formal decision. The provider's adjusters investigate, decide whether the problem falls within coverage, and either authorize the repair or resolve it under the policy. There is also a dispute pathway if the owner and the provider disagree, and it is laid out in the policy itself.
So the order is: builder first for almost everything, provider as the formal channel and the safety net. This is exactly why you report to both in writing. The builder is who fixes it; the provider is who guarantees it gets fixed even if something goes wrong with the builder.
Keep your paperwork, and keep up your maintenance
Two habits protect your coverage more than anything else.
The first is keeping the handover package together: the warranty certificate, the appliance manuals and registrations, the commissioning reports, and the finish and paint schedules. Claims are far easier when the paper exists, and some coverage depends on being able to show the home was set up as designed.
The second is maintaining the home the way the warranty requires. Regular gutter cleaning, periodic envelope checks, and servicing the mechanical systems on schedule are reasonable requirements, and they are usually conditions of the coverage. A failure caused by a maintenance lapse may not be covered. This is the honest trade: the warranty protects you against defects in the build, and you protect the warranty by looking after the house.
Frequently asked questions
What does each window of the BC 2-5-10 warranty cover after move-in? The warranty has three coverage windows. The two-year window covers defects in materials and labour, with a deeper sub-layer that runs to twenty-four months for the electrical, plumbing, heating, and ventilation systems and for exterior cladding, caulking, windows, and doors. The five-year window covers the building envelope, including unintended water penetration that causes damage. The ten-year window covers structural defects in the load-bearing parts of the home. We carry this warranty on every home, because it is mandatory under BC law, not optional coverage.
How do I make a warranty claim on my new BC home? Report the problem in writing to both your builder and the warranty provider, with the date, the location in the home, and a photo. Do this before the relevant coverage window closes, because a claim is the written, dated submission, not a phone conversation. Keep a copy of everything you send. At Icon Projects we tell owners to hold a running list through the year and submit non-urgent items together, but to report anything urgent, like a leak or a safety issue, right away.
What does the builder handle versus the warranty provider? The builder is your first call and handles most everyday items directly, especially in the first two years: door adjustments, settlement cracks, caulk and grout touch-ups, and genuine defects the builder repairs without the warranty being formally exercised. The warranty provider is the insurer that steps in if the builder cannot or will not address a covered defect, or if a claim needs a formal decision. With Icon Projects, most first-year items are resolved by us directly, and the provider is the backstop, not the first stop.
The warranty is the legal floor under the house, and after you move in it works best when you treat it as a system: report in writing, report on time, keep your paperwork, maintain the home, and call your builder first. Do those things and the coverage does exactly what it was built to do.
Related on the Journal
