Snag list template: what to include (and why spreadsheets fail)
Most snag list templates are a spreadsheet with a handful of columns. That is enough to start, and it is worth knowing exactly which columns matter before deciding whether a spreadsheet is the right tool at all.
The fields that matter
- Item number — stable, and never reused. If item 14 is closed, nothing else ever becomes item 14.
- Location — specific enough to walk to without asking. Room, then position within the room.
- Description — the defect as observed, not the remedy you have in mind.
- Photo — attached to the item, not stored separately.
- Trade or responsible party — so the list can be split and issued.
- Priority — at minimum, whether it blocks handover.
- Status — open or closed. Anything more elaborate tends to go unmaintained.
- Date raised and date closed — the audit trail that protects you later.
A useful test: if an item has a number, a location, a description and a photo, it can be acted on by someone who was not there. If any of those four is missing, expect a phone call.
A structure you can copy
For a spreadsheet, this column order works well in practice:
No. | Location | Description | Trade | Priority | Status | Raised | Closed | Photo ref
Group rows by room rather than by trade. Inspections happen room by room, so a list ordered that way is far quicker to walk and to verify. Sort by trade only when you issue extracts to individual subcontractors.
Where spreadsheet templates break down
Spreadsheets work perfectly well for twenty items in one flat. They come apart on real projects for four predictable reasons.
- Photos live somewhere else. A "photo ref" column pointing at a folder is a promise that someone will maintain the link. On a busy job nobody does, and within a fortnight half the references are wrong.
- Location is prose. "Second bedroom, left of window" is interpreted differently by the person who wrote it and the person fixing it. A position on a drawing is not.
- Versions multiply. The list is emailed, edited by three people, and emailed back. Which copy is current becomes a genuine question, and the answer often arrives too late.
- Re-inspection restarts. Without stable numbering and status carried forward, the second visit produces a fresh list, and the relationship between old and new items is lost.
What replaces it
The structural fix is to attach the defect to the drawing rather than to a row. Once each item has a fixed position on the plan, location ambiguity disappears, the photo has an obvious home, and re-inspection becomes a matter of changing statuses rather than rewriting the list.
That is the shape Snagger takes: import your plan, pin the defect where it is, attach photos, set priority and status, and produce the PDF report on site. Numbering stays stable across revisions, so the second and third visits close items off rather than starting again.
If you are currently using a spreadsheet and it is working, keep using it — but check it against the eight fields above. Most templates are missing status dates, and that is the one people wish they had when a dispute arrives a year later.