If you smell gas and suspect a leak:

- Put out all naked flames and extinguish any cigarettes.

- Do not use any electrical switches, the smallest spark could cause an explosion.

- Turn off gas supply at the mains.

- Open doors and windows in an effort to disperse the gas.

- Call the Gas Board on the local emergency number, you will not be charged for their visit.

Your Miller Home will have either:

- A central heating systems with a boiler, thermostatically controlled, supplying radiators and hot water. Most systems will have a selector for both the heating and hot water allowing you to control both in line with the needs of your family.

Or

- Night storage heaters.


If the boiler or controls show any signs of leaks or corrosion have them checked by an expert.

Controls are electrically supplied and if a problem occurs please use an approved electrician to deal with remedial works.

When re-decorating your radiators do not paint over the small valves, these are the bleed valves which allow you to release any air trapped in the radiators.

Your new home will be covered by NHBC Buildmark. It is therefore very important that you familiarise yourself with Buildmark and what it covers. Your Sales Representative will give you a copy of the NHBC's brochure "Buildmark Cover for New and Newly Converted Homes". This provides an explanation of the NHBC and what Buildmark covers.


Pages 4 and 5 of the NHBC's booklet - "Guide to your new home" also provide an overview of Buildmark.

Complete details of Buildmark will be found in the NHBC's Buildmark booklet. Your solicitor will provide this document. Please ensure that your solicitor passes it to you. If you would like to read a specimen Buildmark Cover booklet there is a form you can use in the brochure "Buildmark Cover for New and Newly Converted Homes".

As a Miller Homes customer buying a brand new property you should pay particular attention to the differences between the first two years of cover and the cover from years three to ten.

You must read the NHBC's documentation for a full explanation.

Most new homes now have water meters situated in the service strip close to the property. The cold water supply enters your home via the mains stopcock and is then stored in the cold water storage tank. Some homes may not have a cold water storage tank dependent on the design of the hot and cold water services, water pressure and heating system. Listed below are useful hints to ensure a trouble free plumbing system in your home:


Winter Rules :

- To avoid frozen pipes try to leave some background heating on all the time.

- Although your pipework is well insulated, if you think the pipes may be frozen do not turn on hot water taps as this will empty the hot water tank.

- If you have to go away during the winter you should drain down the water system, heating system and boiler. If you are unsure of how to carry this out call an approved plumber. Alternatively, put the heating on for an hour or so each day and ask a friend or neighbour to check the home.

- Make sure the stopcock to any outside taps are shut off during frosty weather.



Normal Conditions :

- Always close the main stopcock before beginning work to any part of the plumbing system.

- If the system has been drained down, do not light the boiler or switch on the immersion heater until you are sure the system has been refilled.

- Do not let water overflow from storage tanks or cisterns.

- Take care when fixing down carpets, find out where the pipes run to avoid nailing through them.

- If you are unsure how to carry out plumbing works then call an approved plumber.

New homes require time to settle. Some settling issues are covered by our warranty and some are not. Please refer to your NHBC documentation. During the first few months in particular a settling problem can occur more than once. The first time you report such a problem we may ask you to wait a short while before having the remedial work undertaken. It is better to wait until all the settling has occurred then we can do all the remedial work in one go thus minimising any inconvenience to you.

Our systems will not allow us to forget when you have agreed to defer work. They will constantly remind us that work is outstanding on a customer's property. We will also send you a letter to confirm what we have agreed to do and when we are expected to contact you again or to undertake the work.


Fix now or inspect? :
Sometime we cannot be sure of the best course of action until a problem has been thoroughly inspected. For this reason we may arrange for an initial inspection of a defect to be undertaken in your home to ensure that the correct diagnosis is made and that the correct trades are deployed to fix it. Where such a defect is covered by our warranty we will either arrange deployment and completion within our normal procedures or we may ask you to defer. If an inspection is necessary, this may extend the overall time it takes for us to finally complete the job, however, we will do our utmost to meet the stated service criteria.

Condensation is a common problem to new homes because of the amount of moisture absorbed in their construction. It is also caused by steam and water vapour turning to water when it touches cold surfaces (i.e. glass and tiles) and condenses. To minimise condensation we suggest the following guidelines:

- Please keep your new home warm and ventilated. This will avoid in extreme cases condensation which could lead to mould growth in restricted areas.

- Close bathroom and kitchen doors while in use and ventilate these rooms by turning on ventilation fans or opening windows a little.

- When drying clothes indoors keep a window open. This applies especially if you are using a tumble dryer that is not vented to the outside.

- Do not let kettles boil longer than necessary.

At Miller Homes we understand that the ultimate judge of our product and service is our customer.

For this reason we post a short questionnaire to every customer around 6-8 weeks after their move in day. This questionnaire will take only a few minutes to complete yet it provides us with a lot of valuable information that is used to further improve our products and processes.

We do indeed take action based upon the feedback received.

We do hope that you will be able to take the time to complete your questionnaire - your feedback really matters.

When you call you may be asked to describe your problems in detail - this will help us to ensure that we provide you with the right level of service. You will also be asked to provide as many contact telephone numbers as possible.

If you report an emergency you should expect the following service:

- A telephone call within 20 minutes if additional information is required from you.

- Someone in your home within four hours to put an end to the emergency situation.

- Contact the next working day to establish if further work is required. Further work will normally be classified as Standard (see below).


If you report a Standard job (a standard job is anything which is NOT an emergency) you should expect the following service:

A telephone call within 24 working hours. (Working hours are Monday to Friday. Therefore if you call at 16.30 hours on Friday you will be contacted by 16.30 on Monday).

- Where the job requires labour only we expect to complete it within 10 working days.

- Where replacement parts are required we expect to complete the job within 20 working days. In rare cases where parts deliveries are held up by our suppliers then we may exceed the 20 days limit, we will contact you if this is the case.

- A letter from us explaining the jobs we have agreed to undertake and when we expect to complete them.

We recommend that if you have any minor problems during the first month of occupation that are not serious you should wait until you receive the courtesy calls from the Customer Service Department before reporting them.

The role of the Miller Homes Customer Service Department is to attend to and solve any problems or warranty issues you may have with your new home. So, after moving into your new home, please direct your questions to this department rather than to the Sales Representative or Site Manager. The Customer Service Department has systems and procedures in place to ensure that all problems or questions can be dealt with as quickly as possible.

The hours of operation of the Customer Service Department are 9.00am to 4.30pm Mon-Fri.

Your Miller home has been constructed with fuel economy in mind and is already very well insulated, but by following the guidelines below you should be able to conserve energy.
It is not normally necessary to heat a room to a temperature higher than 17C (65F) unless it is extremely cold. However, small children and elderly people need more warmth. 20C (70F) is the recommended temperature for a small child's room

Your heating system has been fitted with a timing device so use this to its optimum effect. Most homes do not need to be heated throughout the night.

Gas boilers will heat water more cheaply than an immersion heater used at peak times.

The hot water tank in your new home is well insulated so you will not need to heat water constantly.

We build our homes with care and we hope that nothing will go wrong. However it's good to know that Miller Homes has a comprehensive service network on stand-by should anything go wrong.


No need to write in :
Your NHBC Buildmark cover requests that all complaints should be put in writing to the builder. With Miller Homes you do not need to do this, just pick up the phone and let our sophisticated customer service systems do the rest.

For our joint peace of mind after your call we will write to you with details of every problem that you tell us about. If you do not agree with the contents of this letter or you do not receive anything within three working days then please call customer service right away. If we hear nothing we will always assume that our letter to you is an accurate description of the problems reported.


Sometimes it's better to wait :
Having remedial work carried out on a new home can be different to other types of remedial work that you may have experienced. Sometimes it is better NOT to have the problems fixed straight away.

Please help us to meet our service standards by noting the following:

- We can only work in your home if we are allowed access to it.

- If an appointment has been made to visit your home and you find that you cannot keep to the date or time please call the customer service department immediately.

Your loft is insulated to help keep your home warm. Please adhere to the following:


- Do not obstruct the ventilation provided as this may cause condensation.

- Do not store anything in the loft that can be damaged by the cold conditions.

- Do not leave loft access open in cold spells this will allow heat loss to your home and condensation to form.

- Do not store heavy objects in the loft as it is not designed to carry such loads. 

In the event of an emergency in your new home, all problems should be reported to the Miller Homes Customer Service Department NOT to your site manager or sales representative.

If you have an emergency out of normal office hours, or on weekends, bank holidays and over the Christmas period please call the emergency number 0121 206 2864.

Is it an emergency?

The following situations count as emergencies:

- Complete failure of the heating or hot water systems*

- A water leak that can't be stopped

- Complete failure of the electrics*

- Flooding caused by blocked drain threatening to enter the home

- Lock failure on an external door or ground floor window causing a loss of security

- Failure of the alarm system

- Gas leak. Where you suspect there is a gas leak you should contact your National Gas Emergency Service

- Roof leaks. If this is caused by a serious storm, you should call your buildings insurance company in the first instance. Please note though, that health and safety regulations prevent work from being done on the roof during bad weather

*Before reporting these emergencies, please make sure they're not caused by a general supply failure in your area

Roofs and gutters:
If you should need to carry out any works on the roof of your home you should always use a roof ladder to protect the tiles or slates, and for your own safety.

Gutters and any gullies should be regularly checked and if necessary cleaned of leaves and other debris. Take care not to lean ladders against plastic guttering.

When using ladders make sure the foot is on level ground and an adult is holding the base.


Damp Proof Courses and Air Bricks:
Please ensure that no garden material or soil covers the damp proof course and airbricks. Soil and any paving or patio areas should be kept 150mm (6 inches) below the damp proof course.

Your new home may have built-in appliances provided and these will have a manufacturers guarantee.

Should you have any problems with your appliances contact the manufacturers.

New woodwork absorbs a lot of paint or stain and the initial decoration may not give as good a finish as future re-decorations.

The exterior of the home should be regularly re-painted using a good quality paint or stain.

Emulsion paints are normally used on interior walls. Further coats of emulsion and oil-based paints or wallpaper can be used for later re-decorations after a drying out period (normally 9 to 12 months).

When re-decorating never paint on wet wood. External paintwork is best done in the summer or early autumn. Interior cracks on walls and woodwork can be made good with filler.

When re-decorating artex ceilings or other similar plastic compound finishes, these should never be sanded or washed with water as this could spoil the texture. Lightly brush these surfaces before applying one or two coats of emulsion.

When you require fixings to walls (i.e. curtains, pictures etc) and you are not certain how your walls are constructed, please call the Customer Service Department.

We suggest you buy a pipe/cable locator before fixing items to walls.

Fixing to a dry-lined wall is done in much the same way as fixing to a solid wall, but the fixing device must cross the small cavity behind the plasterboard and penetrate well into the solid wall behind. Suitable propriety fixings are available from most D.I.Y. stores.

With other partitions where no solid masonry walls are available you must use one of the wide range of fixtures which are on sale at most D.I.Y. stores. For medium weights use a toggle bolt fixing.

Ceilings are of a similar construction. If possible locate the joists and fix to them, if not use toggle bolts. Again if in doubt ask at your local D.I.Y. store.

Miller Homes use their own landscape architects to design development landscaping acceptable to the Local Authority and to ensure the continued beauty of the environment.

Rear gardens are a very personal thing like decorating and are left so that you may design as you choose.

Turfing and planting may be provided on the front garden to enhance the development.

We include a few points to bear in mind when planning your new garden:

- Trees and hedges take moisture out of the soil. If this is clay then new planting may cause it to shrink, while removing existing trees and hedges may make it swell. Excessive shrinkage or swelling could damage foundations, much depends on the type and size if the trees and type of clay. Obtain advice from an expert before planting new trees.

- Remember that recently planted trees and shrubs may need to be watered copiously during their early months if they are to get away to a good start.

- Your new lawn should be watered regularly during dry spells. When established it will need constant attention (i.e. feeding, weeding, cutting and raking).

- The drainage in gardens can take a while to settle. Don't worry if there seems to be some surface water after the rain. With time, your garden's drainage will improve.

Within the first week following your legal completion date you should expect a call from the Customer Service Department who will introduce themselves formally to you. They will also ask you if you have any problems or issues you need to have addressed.

You will also receive a call around one month after your legal completion and again you will be asked if you have any problems or issues you need to have addressed.