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.