How the new build snagging process works

A snag isn’t only the builder’s mistakes.

Have you ever tried getting a bed, a wardrobe or a sofa up a new staircase without catching the wall? It’s almost impossible.

Anything that’s happened during your move — scuffs, scratches, marks on the walls from moving furniture in — get it on the list too. If it’s there during your snagging window, it’s fair game. Don’t leave it off because you think you caused it.

Your snag list should be collected by the site manager within 7–10 days of you moving in. Once they have it, they’ll arrange for the work to be carried out.

Here’s something most buyers don’t know: a lot of the trades who come back to fix your snags don’t actually work for the housebuilder. They’re subcontractors the site manager organises.

That matters, because it explains why timing and coordination are everything — and why the next point is the most important thing in this whole guide.

This is the one nobody tells you, and it’s the one that will get your snags fixed faster if you get it right.

Submit your list complete — not in halves.

Put yourself in the site manager’s shoes for a second. They take your list and book four separate trades to come and complete it. Then a week later, you send a second batch of snags you missed the first time. Now they have to re-coordinate those same subcontractors all over again.

That’s genuinely difficult to manage, and it causes real delays to your snagging getting finished.

A complete list, handed in once, gets actioned cleanly. A list that dribbles in over weeks gets tangled up in rebooking trades — and you’re the one who waits.

The temptation is to do a quick 30-minute walk round, tick a few boxes and hand it in. Don’t.

A rushed list leaves snags unrecorded — and trying to get customer service to fix something that was present at completion but never made the list is always far, far harder than getting it on the original snagging list in the first place.

This is your window. Give it the time it deserves. Go room by room, slowly, in good light.