Snagging List Template: Free New Build Checklist

A new build comes with a promise: report the defects, and the builder fixes them. What that promise is worth depends entirely on the snagging list — the room-by-room record of everything that isn't right. The checklist below is the full inspection, and it prints blank so you can walk the house with a pen.

How to snag like a professional

Go slowly, room by room, in daylight. Rushed snagging finds the big things and misses the twenty small ones — and the small ones are what you live with. Run every tap until hot, open every window fully, plug a phone charger into every socket, run each appliance through a cycle. Low light across a wall shows plaster defects the ceiling light hides.

Photograph everything, with scale. A coin next to the chip, a hand next to the crack. Date-stamped photos plus your copy of the list are the evidence pack if a snag is disputed later.

Put the list in writing to the builder — email, not a chat with the site manager — and ask for confirmed dates for each fix. Verbal promises evaporate at handover; emails do not.

Your rights: the two-year and ten-year windows

New builds carry a structural warranty — NHBC Buildmark or an equivalent — and it splits in two. For the first two years, the builder must fix defects you report: the snags, the failures, the things that don't work as they should. From years three to ten, the warranty covers major structural problems only. The practical meaning: report early and report everything — a defect logged in year one is the builder's problem; discovered in year three, it may be yours.

A professional snagging inspector (£300–£600 typically) earns their fee on bigger homes or where the builder is resisting — their reports are hard to argue with. Either way, snagging works best before the moving-in chaos buries it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a snagging list?

A written record of every defect in a new build — from paint splashes to doors that don't close to missing sealant — given to the builder to fix. It is the standard mechanism for holding a developer to the finish they sold.

When should I do a snagging inspection?

Ideally between legal completion and moving in, while rooms are empty and access is easy. If you are already in, snag anyway — the two-year defect window is what matters.

Do builders have to fix snags?

Defects reported within the first two years, yes — that obligation sits alongside the ten-year structural warranty. Cosmetic issues are usually expected to be reported early, so log them immediately.

Is a professional snagging survey worth it?

On a bigger purchase, or with a builder dragging their feet, usually yes — inspectors find two to three times what an untrained eye does, and their report carries weight in a dispute.

General information only, not financial or legal advice. Templates are a starting point — adjust them to your situation, and take advice where the stakes justify it.