New Build Snagging - any advice?

badmoon

Hi there,

I'm not a million miles off my new build being ready. They expect the certificate to be signed off in late June/early July and so the inspection of the property won't be too long away.

Has anyone any advice for how to do the snagging yourself? Any things I should look out for? My solicitor told me I should just try everything, and try it again, and once more for luck just to make sure it all works (she stressed this in particular in the bathrooms etc.,).

Does anyone have any more pointers? I've considered whether to go with a professional snagging company but not sure how well that'd go down with the developers and also if it's really worth the extra money. Has anyone any thoughts on this too?

Thanks for your help.

x

Wee_Willy_Harris

Hows your knowledge of building regs?

badmoon

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Hows your knowledge of building regs?

Thanks for your reply.

Not the best though know a tiny bit, is this required for when you're going round a new build doing the snagging? Sorry if that's a daft question.

If so, will look at using a company to do it.

Wee_Willy_Harris

Well, at the risk of sounding flippant, and assuming you aren't a mechanic, do you do the MOT on your own car?

badmoon

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Well, at the risk of sounding flippant, and assuming you aren't a mechanic, do you do the MOT on your own car?

Err, of course not, but friends I've asked who've bought new builds and didn't use a snagging company, they tested everything themselves and reported back errors which got sorted.

So I thought it might be an expense that was unnecessary, more than willing to pay for it though hence the questions and I hope my first sentence explains why i asked the question in the first place a bit more.

Thanks for the help.

Milliewilly

badmoon wrote: »

Err, of course not, but friends I've asked who've bought new builds and didn't use a snagging company, they tested everything themselves and reported back errors which got sorted.

So I thought it might be an expense that was unnecessary, more than willing to pay for it though hence the questions and I hope my first sentence explains why i asked the question in the first place a bit more.

Thanks for the help.

Have a look at this - a quick browse through the forums show people get a faster result using a professional snagging company before completion.
http://www.snagging.org/

badmoon

Milliewilly wrote: »

Have a look at this - a quick browse through the forums show people get a faster result using a professional snagging company before completion.
http://www.snagging.org/

Fantastic, thank you.

I'll start having a look round tonight, do I have to notify the developers well in advance that it's my intention to get a company in to do this?

Thanks again to you and Wee Willy Harris for your help.

Milliewilly

badmoon wrote: »

Fantastic, thank you.

I'll start having a look round tonight, do I have to notify the developers well in advance that it's my intention to get a company in to do this?

Thanks again to you and Wee Willy Harris for your help.

I would then they are more likely to get their !!!!!s into gear finishing off the remainder to an acceptable standard if they know you are going to delay completion until the house is to an acceptable level of finish.

badmoon

Milliewilly wrote: »

I would then they are more likely to get their !!!!!s into gear finishing off the remainder to an acceptable standard if they know you are going to delay completion until the house is to an acceptable level of finish.

Haha, true.

Just sent the email. They've nothing to fear or be defensive about if they've done the job well after all.

Kyrae

We bought a Barratt house couple months ago and so far have had no problems. We snagged ourselves and had 1 initial problem when we moved in, then spotted another 3 over the next month. All have been solved within a couple of weeks of when they were reported, and the customer service team have been phoning up with updates on when people will be in to fix them etc, haven't had to chase them up at all. That said, it might be because the builders are still working on site building other houses.

In some ways it's probably good to get professionals in, eg they might have spotted all 4 of our snags immediately, rather than us spotting them later, plus we might have missed some snags that we'll find in the future. But on the negative side, it might be money wasted if you could have done the snagging yourself.

I think what it comes down to is the builders, if they're good and will fix things quickly without nagging them you probably don't need professional snagging done. But if the builders are lazy and can't be bothered to fix things, then a snagging company will be experienced in getting things put right and probably do a much better job of nagging the builders to fix the snags!

Also depends on how picky you are about the finish of a house, and I don't mean that in a bad way, just can't think of another way to phrase it! We were only bothered that everything worked correctly, not about minor scratches and dents to wall surface etc, as we'll fill them in ourselves when we decorate in a few months time... and besides, we added plenty of them ourselves when we moved in oops! If you're picky about the finish and those sort of things will bug you if the builders don't fix them, then a snagging company is probably a good idea as they'll spot a lot of minor stuff most people would miss

Hope that helps!

delmar39

We've just bought a new house off a small local builder and the finish is high. We did have a snagging list and still have the odd thing to report, but all in all they've been back to put things right. Give yourself a few weeks and build up your snag list as you go along rather than doing it peace meal. List everything, give it to the builder and keep a copy for yourself. Obviously report urgent things straightaway. Our boiler pressure was dropping which meant no hot water, so obviously they came out to this immendiately. Check for plaster finish, draughty windows etc. You may notice a crack appear down the side of the staircase - this is normal due to you walking up and down the stairs and will need filling at some point once the stairs settle down. You'll know what's right and what's wrong regardless of experience and you have two years worth of cover so can report things anytime over the two year period!