Walk any finished building with an experienced snagging inspector and they will find defects everyone else walked past. The difference is rarely eyesight. It is a checklist. Here are the ten categories every snagging checklist should cover, whether you are inspecting a single house or a hundred-unit development.
1. Walls, ceilings, and plasterwork
Look for cracks at joints, uneven plaster, visible trowel marks, and nail pops. Check walls in raking light, with the light source at a low angle, because flat light hides imperfections that will be obvious once the owner moves in.
2. Paint and decoration
Check for drips, runs, missed patches, overspray on frames and floors, and cutting-in lines that wobble at ceilings and corners. Consistent colour and sheen matter too, especially where touch-ups meet original coats.
3. Doors and frames
Every door should open and close smoothly, latch without force, and sit square in its frame with even gaps. Check handles, hinges, locks, and door stops. A door that swings open or closed on its own usually means the frame is out of plumb.
4. Windows and glazing
Test every opener, lock, and restrictor. Look for scratched glass, damaged seals, and draughts at frames. Scratched glazing is one of the most disputed snags on any project, so photograph it the moment you find it.
5. Floors and tiling
Walk every floor listening for creaks and feeling for movement or hollow spots under tiles. Check grout lines for consistency, lippage between tiles, and cracked or chipped pieces, especially at cuts around edges and fittings.
6. Kitchens and joinery
Open every door and drawer. Check alignment of fronts, soft-close mechanisms, worktop joints and seals, and the fit of end panels and plinths. Run the tap and check the trap underneath for leaks while you are there.
7. Bathrooms and plumbing
Test every tap, shower, flush, and plug. Look for consistent silicone lines, secure fittings, and correct falls to wastes and shower trays. Water staining under sinks is a classic snag that only appears if you actually look.
8. Electrical and lighting
Test every socket and switch. Check that faceplates sit flush, downlights are aligned, and the consumer unit is labeled correctly. A cheap socket tester pays for itself on the first inspection.
9. Heating and ventilation
Run the heating and check every radiator warms evenly. Confirm extract fans actually extract, trickle vents open, and thermostats respond. Poor ventilation is the seed of future mould claims.
10. Externals and drainage
Check pointing, render finish, paving levels, and that rainwater goods are secure and leak-free at joints. Confirm gullies are clear and ground falls away from the building.
Make it repeatable
The biggest gains come when the checklist stops living in one person's head. Turn it into a template your whole team uses on every inspection, and refine it after every project. SnagCore lets you build inspection templates once and reuse them on every project, so nothing on this list gets skipped when the site gets busy. Try it free on your next inspection.
A checklist will not find every defect. But it will make sure the obvious ones never get missed.