Premier Guarantee investigates what to consider when making material substitutions in design and specifications
Plans often change quickly in construction, with little warning. Many in the industry will have had to consider making material substitutions in the middle of a project for reasons ranging from shortage of desired materials to value engineering.
Substitute materials can be an issue as they often are:
- Of an inferior quality, performance or durability
- Lacking the appropriate third-party product conformity approval certificate, or are being used out of scope from the approval
- Featuring individual components from an accredited system that have been replaced.
Please note: the system outlined in any third party product conformity approval certificate must be exactly the same as what is being constructed on site. Any deviation would invalidate the third party product conformity approval certificate.
Premier Guarantee’s Technical Manual offers guidance on material substitutions
Where materials are substituted, it is important they still meet the functional requirements of Appendix C of our Technical Manual. The guidance in Appendix C also states that all products must:
- Meet the requirements of British Standards, Codes of Practice or equivalent European Standards current at the time of application, and/or
- Hold full third party product conformity approval from an independent approval body which is accepted by the Warranty provider. This would either be a UKAS or European equivalent product conformity accredited organisation, which looks at the product/system as whole and reports on its suitability and scope of accepted use.
- Where a corresponding Euro Standard exists, bear CE marking in accordance with the Construction Products Directive. This shall be supported by evidence of testing carried out on the product – CE marking is acceptable until 30th June 2025 for construction products to the GB market.
The best preparation for material substitution is good information
Where materials are substituted it is important they are carefully chosen to ensure they meet the functional requirements of our Technical Manual, in particular ‘Appendix C’. The developer should alert the warranty surveyor of any material substitutions as early as possible.
