DIY snagging your new home

Doing your own snagging.

Personally checking your new home for defects or �snagging� can be a good idea. You will be able to identify and hopefully get remedied, all those little niggles before you move in. Those things that would irritate you but may not necessarily be noticed by others. After all it is your new home and you are going to have to live there. If done properly, it will take you a minimum of around one hour for each bedroom (ie. 4 hours for a four bedroom house); this depending on the build quality and the number of �snags� you may discover.

Ideally you should snag your new home with at least one other person but not more than three should check a property at the same time. No two people will produce the same snag list. The more eyes the better but remember what they point out may not be something that bothers you.

Snagging should not be used as a �stick to beat your house builder� with, or as a means to compensation. It should be viewed as your chance to thoroughly check your new home to ensure that you are generally happy. Anything you are not happy with can then be put right before you live there, keeping the inconvenience of remedial work post occupation, to a minimum.

There are two areas of snagging 1) Functionality - does everything in your new home work as it should and 2) Aesthetic � is the quality of finish to an acceptable standard.

Functionality is easy to assess; it either works or it does not - a door closing for example. Aesthetics are a matter of personal opinion and where most disagreements with the house builder arise. Basically if it looks right - it is right. There should not be any need to check everything with a spirit level or tape measure. Nothing can be that perfect. It should be a question of your own expectations and whether you could live with a particular �defect�. Once you have moved in you may find that many of the smaller imperfections will be much less noticeable.

Things to consider
If you decide that you would like to personally snag your own home there are several things you should bear in mind:

1)	Do not try to snag your home with any member of the house builder�s staff. They will try to rush you through the process and question everything you write down. It is best to check your home at the weekend, when there is little or no building work going on.

2)	Do not take children or pets with you for obvious reasons.

3)	When checking a room stand in the middle � do not put your nose on the wall looking for small imperfections � these can be remedied during re decoration.

4)	Take a view on minor defects that may be very difficult to address and may look worse if attempted. For example a chipped brick can be changed, but the brick and the mortar colour will probably not match the rest of the wall and could look worse.

5)	Try to do the snagging on a sunny day. Many defects will be more noticeable on a fine bright day.

6)	Do not add anything to your list after you have completed your snag. If you did not notice it first time round it is probably not worth noting now and you will be �snagging� your new home forever.

7)	Take a break halfway through. Have a cup of tea with the sales staff. This will stop you subconsciously rushing the remaining rooms just to finish the list.

8)	When you have completed the list get it typed up and fax it to the site manager or sales advisor on site. You can copy it to the house builder�s office but it may not reach the site manager until after you move in.

9)	Request that the site manager personally checks that all the items have been attended to and confirms this in writing, before you instruct your solicitor to complete the purchase of the property.

How to snag your new home.
There is a specific and very necessary way you should note all the defects down on your list. This will help make it clear and easier for particular trades to locate and rectify any defects. You need to describe what the defect is and it�s precise location by room and position. You also need to state what is required to rectify it. Finally it is helpful if you can list the trades required in a column on the right hand side of the item. Always number each defect for easy future reference.

You will need an A4 ruled pad and a clipboard, two pens (one spare) and two HB pencils one taped to a garden cane (3ft long) (for marking ceilings) and the other for walls. You will also need a pencil sharpener. It is also worth taking a pair of binoculars for checking the roof and a torch and step ladder for checking the roof space.

Where you start snagging is a matter of personal preference. The first thing to do is open all the windows (in fine weather on a still day) and turn on/up the heating. As you check each room you can automatically check that the tops of the radiators are warm and check the windows close easily.

Your snag list should look something like this:

Snag list by (your name) on (the date and time started) at (the plot number of your new home.)

Bedroom One

1	M/G to top of s/socket at L/L adj to LHS window fill r/d and re dec

2	RHS rad valve leaking and rad chipped at top LHS

3	Fill hole to wall opp window at H/L RHS r/d and re dec

4	Door sticks at top RHS ease and re dec

5	Sockets LHS window not level.

6	Bump in ceiling at tapped joint (as marked) - re caulk, r/d and r/dec