What is a snag list?
A snag list is a written record of defects, incomplete work and non-conformances found during an inspection of a building, usually shortly before it changes hands. Each entry says what is wrong, where it is, and — if the list is doing its job — enough detail that the person fixing it does not have to come and ask.
It is one of the last pieces of quality control before a building is accepted, and one of the most commonly botched. A vague list produces arguments; a precise one produces repairs.
When a snag list happens
Most snagging happens at practical completion — the point where the building is finished enough to be used, but before final accounts are settled. That timing is deliberate: it is the last moment where the contractor is still on site with the equipment, access and incentive to put things right.
Snag lists also get produced at other points:
- Sectional handover — one floor, block or unit at a time on a phased project.
- Pre-completion inspection — a buyer's own inspection before they complete on a new-build purchase.
- End of defects liability — typically twelve months after handover, before the final retention is released.
- Subcontractor handover — one trade signing off before the next starts work over the top of it.
What actually belongs on one
A snag is workmanship or completeness — something that was supposed to be done, and either was not done or was not done properly. Common examples:
- Paint runs, missed patches, poor cutting-in at edges
- Doors that bind, do not latch, or have uneven margins
- Chipped tiles, lipping between tiles, grout gaps at junctions
- Silicone missing or poorly applied at sanitaryware and worktops
- Sockets and switches not level, or not aligned with each other
- Scratched glass, damaged trickle vents, missing window restrictors
- Skirting with open mitres or visible gaps to the floor
- Radiators not level, exposed pipework not clipped
What does not belong: design decisions you disagree with, changes outside the contract, or damage caused after handover. Those are variations, disputes or insurance matters, and mixing them into a snag list is the quickest way to have the whole list treated as unreasonable.
What makes an entry usable
The test is simple: could someone who was not present find the defect and understand what "fixed" looks like? That normally needs four things.
- Location precise enough to walk to. "Bedroom 2, wall behind the door" beats "upstairs". A pin on the floor plan beats both, because it removes the ambiguity entirely.
- A photograph. One photo settles more disagreements than three paragraphs. Mark it up if the defect is not obvious in frame.
- The defect, not the remedy. "Hairline crack to plaster, 300 mm above skirting" is a fact. "Re-skim the wall" is your opinion about the fix, and invites an argument about method rather than the problem.
- Status and ownership. Open or closed, and whose trade it is. A list with no status is a snapshot; a list with status is a tool.
Who writes it
Depending on the project, snag lists are produced by the main contractor's site manager, the architect or contract administrator, a building surveyor, an independent snagging inspector, or the buyer themselves. On larger jobs several of these run in parallel — which is exactly why a shared format and consistent numbering matter more than they appear to.
Why lists fail
Most snag lists fail for unglamorous reasons. They are written on paper and retyped later, losing detail. Photos live on a phone, disconnected from the item they belong to. Numbering restarts every inspection, so nobody can tell whether item 14 is the old item 14 or a new one. And there is no record of what was closed and when, so the same defect gets raised three times.
The fix is not more diligence. It is capturing the item, its location, its photo and its status in one place at the moment you see it — not reconstructing it at a desk that evening.
Snag lists in Snagger
Snagger was built around this specific workflow. You import the floor plan, drop a pin exactly where the defect is, attach photos, and set priority and status. The report is generated as a PDF on the spot — with the plan, the pins and the photos in one document — so it can be issued before you leave site. It works with no signal, because sites rarely have any.