Trusted Home Inspectors in Altrincham

A snagging survey is the methodical process of inspecting a property for snags. This would normally be completed by a snagging inspector on behalf of the property owners. Once completed a snagging report is then shared with the home owners and site manager. The building developer would then need to address the issues found in the report. Done properly it should take between 3-4 hours to inspect the average UK home. However, this would depend on the quality of finish in the property and the care taken during construction.

Snagging can still be done after completion. In fact UK guidelines stipulate that new build home owners have up to two years from completion to snag their property (LINK). However, it is best to have your snagging survey done before completion. This is to avoid any unnecessary conflict between home owner and property developer. Once a property has been moved into it can be tricky to establish what damage or defects occurred during construction or during the day to day use of a lived in property.

A property developer should pay for the costs of fixing all snags in a new build property. Due to the speed and volume new build properties are built at, over 100 snags are often found by a snagging company. If these snags are missed and not included in a snagging report it is often the case that the cost of fixing these snags then falls the home owner. This is because most developers will only allow homeowners to submit one list, with no changes once the list has been submitted. However, for major faults your home will be covered under new build warranties.

Ideally, you should have your property inspected prior to moving in, once all tradesmen have finished their work. However, most developers will not grant access to professional snaggers pre completion. Conseqently, our advise would be to book as soon after completion as possible. Don't forget you can have an inspection carried out at any time within in the first two years of your warranty. You can submit your first snagging list at any time during this period.

This will depend on the size of the property and the quality of construction and decoration. Even with the same developer, the standard of finish on different sites can be significantly different. For a typical four bed house, we find around 150 snags. However, we have in the past found as few as 50 and as many as 400+.