Hear from Paul Cribbens

My NHBC career began in Inspection as an assistant building inspector. I soon moved to a role in Claims working as a claims inspector, before moving over to the Standards and Technical Team (now SIR). I moved back to Claims in April 2020 and am now the Head of Technical Claims. 

NHBC has offered me the opportunity to have a varied and fulfilling career. It has given me a deeper understanding of the built environment and building technology than I would have achieved from my previous career path. The main reason I stay at NHBC is that I strongly believe we are driven to do the right thing, and in doing so we are improving the quality of new homes. We should not underestimate the positive difference our business makes. Knowing that drives me to achieve more.

I always remember the interactions I had with NHBC in previous roles within the house-building industry. The authoritative yet friendly conversations I had with building inspectors gave the impression of an organisation that strived to work with builders to achieve a shared goal. Although conversations have become more complex, and with more at stake, that underlying principle remains.

In my 16 years at NHBC, we have become a vastly different organisation. We have had to adapt and change to meet the challenges of today. We may have been slow to do that in the past, but the business is now moving at pace. Projects such a Phoenix and TRM are mapping out the future of our organisation, which makes it an exciting time to be at NHBC.

Our department must make difficult decisions where we put the consumer first, but also consider our builder customers. This reflects in the day-to-day activities of individual staff members. The Claims department has worked hard to become a more supportive environment where our aim is to work collaboratively to achieve the best outcome. This approach transcends throughout the department to the leadership group and makes me feel part of a well-supported and effective team.

Often these decisions cut across different departments, but I always find there’s someone on the other end of a Teams call to offer a steer on the right course of action. We have become much better at collaboration.

It may sound corny, but I love the teams I work with and the people in them. We have a great culture in the Claims department where we encourage open and honest discussions without drawing unwarranted criticism. This helps to develop a sense of shared purpose, where we all strive to look for new and better ways of doing things.