Property snagging

Property snagging, snagging inspection or a snagging survey may be unfamiliar terminologies to new home buyers however the word snagging (as well as been used in the fishing world) is widely utilised across the building and construction industry.

A snagging inspector may or may not be welcomed onto a new build but, for certain, the site snagging list will be already forming rapidly even before the first coat of paint is applied, or a mastic bead is run along an edge of a tile, or cut in to a window frame.

So, in layman's terms, property snagging is the inspection of a property for finish defects, flaws and poor workmanship such as: scratches, chips, holes, paint splashes, cracks, rough and untidy finishes and faulty mechanisms; door frames, architraves, reveals and walls that are not square: handles, window sills, and flooring that are not level: cupboards, sockets and switches that are not level or in alignment, and uneven finishes such as walls and ceilings.

We have found various degrees of snagging defects across new build sites and developments but have, more than often, found that the developments with poor snagging and de-snagging processes in place have numerous defects re-occurring from apartment to apartment and subsequently from site to site. With the more forward thinking developers, that we have worked with directly, we have noted a significant decrease of snagging issues and defects and an increase in the quality of finish prior to the handover or completion.