Snagging - pros/cons?

nik_k

We're due to complete on our new build on 7 Feb, and are considering having a professional snagging company come and survey the house at the earliest opportunity. However, I'm keen to hear others' experiences, and also wondering how developers have reacted to these snagging surveys.

From a quick search earlier, I'm estimating that a survey will cost us in the region of £300. Whilst not an insignificant amount of money, I believe that this could be very much worth considering, as neither of us are particularly clued-up on what to look out for in the early days post-completion, and we're looking to get any snags dealt with as quickly as possible, whilst we still have the chance to raise these with the developer.

One thing that is nagging in my mind though is how the developers commonly react to buyers bringing in professional snagging companies? I understand there is often a reluctance for the developer to allow the snagging companies into the property pre-completion, which I somewhat see the reasoning behind. However, post-completion the property will be ours, and therefore we'll be free to do whatever we want. Whilst the developers have gone through the theoretical snagging process with us, this has only been from the standpoint of us identifying snags ourselves. How do developers react to buyers bringing in professionals with the sole purpose of identifying snags? Throughout the buying process we have built up lots of goodwill with the sales office/developers, and it would be a shame to do anything to affect this (even though obviously we'd be well within our rights to highlight, by any means, any snags which exist)

Any thoughts/advice would be very gratefully received!

Jonbvn

We bought a new build in 2006. We had a professional snagging inspection done. Our developer was unhappy with this at first, but we insisted and threatened to pull out if they did not agree. They relented and the inspection was carried out identifying around a 100 snags.

IMHO, buying a house is far too important a transaction to worry about issues like goodwill with the sales office/developer. You must treat this purely as a business transaction and undertake relevant due diligence.

Check out this website for much more info on snagging.
https://www.snagging.org/

nik_k

Jonbvn wrote: »

We bought a new build in 2006. We had a professional snagging inspection done. Our developer was unhappy with this at first, but we insisted and threatened to pull out if they did not agree. They relented and the inspection was carried out identifying around a 100 snags.

IMHO, buying a house is far too important a transaction to worry about issues like goodwill with the sales office/developer. You must treat this purely as a business transaction and undertake relevant due diligence.

Check out this website for much more info on snagging.
https://www.snagging.org/

Thanks - yes, this is a massive purchase, relative to any other which we've experienced, and therefore I agree that pulling out all the stops is highly appropriate!

I'll take a look at the link you've kindly provided.

AdrianC

nik_k wrote: »

One thing that is nagging in my mind though is how the developers commonly react to buyers bringing in professional snagging companies?

It really shouldn't make any difference who flags the issues. What's important is whether they're real issues or not...

RelievedSheff

I would certainly recommend getting in a snagging company.

We moved into our new build in April last year and didn't get a snagging survey done. In hindsight we wish we had as we have found plenty of snags ourselves but feel that a snagger would probably have found many more.

Thankfully the developers have been pretty good at dealing with the problems we have found so far but I do think that a professional report would have held more weight.

nik_k

AdrianC wrote: »

It really shouldn't make any difference who flags the issues. What's important is whether they're real issues or not...

I'm sure this is correct, and I feel that a professional company are more likely to spot any snags than we would be. Particularly the major snags which need rectifying. Any minor snags can then be dealt with on an ad-hoc basis.

nik_k

RelievedSheff wrote: »

I would certainly recommend getting in a snagging company.

We moved into our new build in April last year and didn't get a snagging survey done. In hindsight we wish we had as we have found plenty of snags ourselves but feel that a snagger would probably have found many more.

Thankfully the developers have been pretty good at dealing with the problems we have found so far but I do think that a professional report would have held more weight.

Thanks - it's exactly this kind of account of previous experience that I'm looking for! I'm gonna do some more research into it, contact a few companies, and see what's what.

Viki2410

We moved into our New Build in July last year and had a professional snagging company in. It was the best £400 we spent. As FTB's we were not sure on everything to look out for.

We had a list of 3 pages worth of snags, things that we would not necessarily have picked up on. One biggie for us was that they pointed out that the back garden would not drain properly as the topsoil used was unsuitable and the ground below was full of clay, so additional drainage was needed. The developer argued but we pushed to get it rectified and they ended up removing all the turf, putting in land drains and buying better top soil and relaying fresh turf. When we had all the bad weather last year, our neighbours gardens were like swamps, where as ours handled it great. The neighbours are now having to wait until later this year to have their gardens rectified, but this is going to be so much harder as there are now other houses built at the back of us.

They also picked up on things like plug sockets not being put on straight, the banister not being level going down the wall etc. Trivial things, but things that when you notice them would drive you mad.

The developer didn't like that we were having a professional snagger in. We did it before completion on our "pre completion walk round check" and they tried to tell us we couldn't, but we argued that it didn't matter if it was us that snagged it there or someone else, they relented as they knew they had no leg to stand on. Worst case scenario, we had a month to report our snags, so you could always get someone in on completion.

Good luck!

nik_k

Viki2410 wrote: »

We moved into our New Build in July last year and had a professional snagging company in. It was the best £400 we spent. As FTB's we were not sure on everything to look out for.

We had a list of 3 pages worth of snags, things that we would not necessarily have picked up on. One biggie for us was that they pointed out that the back garden would not drain properly as the topsoil used was unsuitable and the ground below was full of clay, so additional drainage was needed. The developer argued but we pushed to get it rectified and they ended up removing all the turf, putting in land drains and buying better top soil and relaying fresh turf. When we had all the bad weather last year, our neighbours gardens were like swamps, where as ours handled it great. The neighbours are now having to wait until later this year to have their gardens rectified, but this is going to be so much harder as there are now other houses built at the back of us.

They also picked up on things like plug sockets not being put on straight, the banister not being level going down the wall etc. Trivial things, but things that when you notice them would drive you mad.

The developer didn't like that we were having a professional snagger in. We did it before completion on our "pre completion walk round check" and they tried to tell us we couldn't, but we argued that it didn't matter if it was us that snagged it there or someone else, they relented as they knew they had no leg to stand on. Worst case scenario, we had a month to report our snags, so you could always get someone in on completion.

Good luck!

Thanks, this is really helpful, and I'm glad that using a snagging company has resulted in such a favourable outcome for you!

Our 'home preview' is approx 2 weeks pre-completion, and then we have 7 days post-completion to report any snags. I'm planning on getting a snagger in possibly the day after completion (amazed they work weekends!)

The more I think about it, and the more reports I read of others' experiences, the more inclined I am to get a snagging survey done, as this isn't just some day-to-day purchase!

SmashedAvacado

Developers ought not to mind because a typical development structure involve the developer holding some of the contractors money until the defects liability period ends. So unless the developer is doing their contracting they should actually be happy with you pushing the contractor to make good (this is called a retention - and its therefore not the developer's money / time / effort )

If agreeing to get a snagging inspection then you also need to agree with the snagging person that they will reinspect as part of their scope of work once the work has been fixed as otherwise you will not know whether to trust the developer / contractor when its done. That might increase the cost a bit but would probably be worth it.

nik_k

SmashedAvacado wrote: »

Developers ought not to mind because a typical development structure involve the developer holding some of the contractors money until the defects liability period ends. So unless the developer is doing their contracting they should actually be happy with you pushing the contractor to make good (this is called a retention - and its therefore not the developer's money / time / effort )

If agreeing to get a snagging inspection then you also need to agree with the snagging person that they will reinspect as part of their scope of work once the work has been fixed as otherwise you will not know whether to trust the developer / contractor when its done. That might increase the cost a bit but would probably be worth it.

Thanks - this is a very useful point about re-inspections! I've seen that some include as part of their service, and others charge extra. Makes sense to get them back in to re-inspect once works have (supposedly) been done, so I'll aim for a company who include this re-inspections as part of their initial quote.