Saved £400+ by doing my own new build snagging

newhomedude

Hi all,

Moved into a new build last year and like a lot of people on here, I looked into professional snagging companies. Quotes were coming in between £300-£600 depending on the company, and honestly for a 3-bed it felt steep on top of everything else we'd already spent.

I decided to do it myself but quickly realised the main challenge isn't spotting the snags — most people with a decent checklist and a pair of eyes can find paint drips, scratched worktops and doors that don't close properly. The real problem is proving when you found each issue. Our site manager pushed back on several items saying things like "that wasn't like that at handover" and "are you sure you didn't cause that moving furniture in?"

What made the difference for me was making sure every single photo I took had a verified timestamp and GPS location baked into it — not just sitting in the phone's metadata which can be edited. I actually ended up building a small app to do this (I'm a developer) because I couldn't find anything that did it properly. It generates a PDF report organised by room that looks professional enough that the site manager took it seriously straight away. All 40+ snags resolved within two months.

Anyway, a few tips for anyone about to complete on a new build:

• Don't wait. Do your first walkthrough before you unpack a single box. Ideally before carpets/flooring go in if the developer allows it.
• Photograph EVERYTHING, even things you think are minor. You have 2 years under the NHBC warranty for cosmetic fixes but the longer you leave it, the harder it is to prove the builder caused it.
• A checklist helps massively. The NHBC publish a free basic one but there are more detailed ones online.
• Send your snag list as a proper document, not a rambling email with 30 photos attached. Builders take a professional-looking report much more seriously.
• Check externals too — drainage, pointing, guttering, fencing. People focus on the inside and miss things outside that can be expensive later.
• The developer's "home demonstration" is NOT your only chance to snag. Don't let them pressure you into thinking it is.

whizzywoo

… and did you find the underlying problems that cannot be seen? Like missing insulation in the walls, the fact that underneath the bath there is a slow leak that will not be obvious for some time. Mastic not applied properly to the outside windows upstairs. Insulation clogging up the soffits because the insulation sock was not in place when the insulation was blown into the cavities and will be causing a damp problem. The fact that the ducting from the bathroom extractor fans has not been installed correctly and is allowing moisture to condense and collect in the loft space. The ducting from the hob extractor recirculating the air back into the kitchen, etc etc, I could go on and on …

Do you know all the building regulations that have to be adhered to and have they been?

We paid just short of £300 for our professional snagger and it was worth every penny. Buying a house is one of biggest financial outlays you can make. It makes sense to make sure that it has been built correctly. It's very easy to check for cosmetic snags yourself but very hard to find the unseen structural ones that will cause problems in the years to come.

Herzlos

That sounds like a lot of work and hassle instead of just paying the professional to do it.

And has been mentioned, are you confident that you found everything?

Tabieth

But £300 - £600 is a tiny drop in the ocean when buying a house. I didn’t buy a new build (so I didn’t need this) but I happily paid about the same for a full structural survey. I see that as a wise investment to provide reassurance or highlight an issue I may not be aware of.