Snagging

follyfoot

I am purchasing a new build and was thinking of hiring a snagging company. can anyone recommend one? Do developers have a legal obligation to repair snags before completion?

ckerrd

Only experience I have had is a couple of friends and a relative who had new builds. Both got the builders to do the snagging. The trick appears to be on top of everything all of the time, but if it is a house you are moving into you should be doing that anyway, so I personally, wouldnt rush out to spend money on a service that you can do yourself.
And I am sure there is a minimum legal obligation on the part of the builders/developers

agmoore

Hey,

When we moved into our place 3 years ago, it was a new build. Throughout the visits we noticed various snagging items and noted them down. In fairness, the developers did their best to sort them all out before we moved in, and we allowed them to finish off after.

Following that we had a 6 month snagging which was really for the dry out process, and they came back and finished off any other oddities that we found then.

follyfoot

agmoore wrote:

Hey,

When we moved into our place 3 years ago, it was a new build. Throughout the visits we noticed various snagging items and noted them down. In fairness, the developers did their best to sort them all out before we moved in, and we allowed them to finish off after.

Following that we had a 6 month snagging which was really for the dry out process, and they came back and finished off any other oddities that we found then.

how easy was it for you to find all snagging issues? did you notice any after you had moved in? can you refuse to complete until all issues are resolved?

david29dpo

follyfoot wrote:

how easy was it for you to find all snagging issues? did you notice any after you had moved in? can you refuse to complete until all issues are resolved?

you cannot refuse to complete for "minor" faults. how minor is defined is the tricky bit. but use common sense on this. a loose staircase would not be minor, a sticky door would. bear in mind a lot of faults will not appear for a while.

MEGANJODELLE

I would definately support you doing this yourself. Why pay someone else for something you can do yourself better than anyone? If you are fastidious by nature, just note and report anything you are unhappy with. If the developer is half decent, they will meet your wishes. I've bought two new builds and was a dork on the first one, missing things David Blunkett would have spotted! So second time around, I left no stone unturned. The sales lady even made a wry comment about my high standards. I couldn't have cared less if they thought I was sad, I was paying a huge amount of money for something that should be well made.

If you don't feel confident to "snag" yourself, take a trusted friend or family member to go round with you. Even if they haven't had a new build before, it's a second pair of eyes.

My final piece of advice, is get down on your hands and knees and inspect the base of the toilet and the sink. These items can be chipped or marked and you won't notice until you're in tha bath in your "fabulous" new home!!! Also, get down on your hands and knees in the kitchen to check the tiling under the kitchen cupboards. I thought I'd not missed a thing, until I had a friend over for pizza one night and we ate it sat on the kitchen floor, leaning against the washing machine. Only then did I spot the missing tiles under one cupboard!!!!!!!!!! At least with this I was able to get the builders back to correct it. Where you really are on thin ice is with something that you could have damaged youreself after moving in. It could be very difficult to prove it wasn't you!

Finally, focus on the simple things, you would be amazed how much trouble certain parts of your home can give you. Parts that you would expect to be faultless as the technology is so proven. In my first new build I had a leaking toilet cistern and in my last, I had endless trouble from a simple "up and over" manual garage door.

Sorry, I've probably rambled on too long, hope this helps, good luck!
x

Willapp_2

One question I have about snagging, as we're also in the process of buying a new build - is it a "snagging item" that they should clean the windows before we move in? It might sound stupid, but the windows are filthy at the moment and I don't know whether to mention it to the developers, assume they'll clean them, or if we have to do it all ourselves.

MEGANJODELLE

If it bothers you, mention it certainly. Prior to handing the property over, your developer should give it a thorough clean. This will be laid out in their customer service charter no doubt. But if it worries you, mention the windows and ask them to explain their pre-handover cleaning procedure.

Lady_maverick1979

We're moving into a new build at the end of March, and have also been thinking about using a professional snagging company. We figured what's £500 for a £200,000 purchase.

But in looking for firms that do this, I came across http://www.snagging.org who do offer the service. However, they also sell, for £15, a copy of the snaggin checklist their people use, so you can do it yourself.

I decided to save over £400 by doing it myself, using their checklist, and having bought it and browsed it, I can say it is pretty comprehensive. I goes through each aspect of the house, room by room, and also contains a wee guide to the best way aof getting it all fixed.

HTH,

L_M.xx

Viz_2

I bought a new build home in October 2005 and used a snagging company called Inspector Home.
You can find them at https://www.inspector home.co.uk

I was quite impressed with the finds, mostly small ones, but finds that we may not have spotted.

At the time of ordering the service (before my new home was complete) I asked for a price reduction and I would pay in full there and then, and they did :T

So haggle away if you choose them

wymondham

The thing is, you should not need to have to do this... it's a sad state of affairs when you have to spend money on something that's brand new to prove it's all ok? - we don't do it for cars or other expensive items, so why is it just accepted that we need to do it for houses ?

If you purchased a new washing machine from Comet, would you then immediately pay someone £20 to come out and list the faults for you - I think you'd expect it to work perfectly, and if it did'nt you'd hand it back!

When you spend at least £200k+ on a new house, it should be in perfect condition - no excuses. Builders should hand over the houses 'pre-snagged', or better still build the houses properly using the correct materials and good workmen!

People seem overly forgiving with new houses...