New builds and warranties
Can you paste a snagging list into the condition-rating boxes of a Level 2?
No. A snagging list is a list of items for the builder to finish or correct. RICS ratings are a different language: rating 1 no repair now, rating 2 repair that is not serious or urgent, rating 3 serious and/or urgent. Pasting a snag into a rating box invents a survey you did not commission. If you have both documents, keep them in separate columns.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
A missing screw cover and a leaning wall are not the same kind of sentence. The builder’s list is how you notify finishing items under the contract. The survey, if you booked one, is an opinion on condition. NHBC Buildmark, where it applies, has its own sections and is a third column again. None of the three is a price reduction by default.
When you write to the builder, use the snagging list. When you write to a lender who asked for a survey, use the survey. Mixing the headings is how a scuffed door gets described as urgent, or a real structural crack gets left on a decorating list.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which of your comments are condition, and which are unfinished builder’s work?
- Are you issuing ratings on this instruction?
- What should go to the builder rather than into a price negotiation?
What are the typical next steps?
- Send the builder the snagging list in the form the contract asks for.
- If you also have a survey, do not retitle its ratings as snags, or the snags as ratings.
- Read the warranty section that applies before you assume either document is a claim.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
Is a snag the same as a Buildmark defect?
Not automatically. NHBC describes defects as breaches of its requirements, within the policy. A snag may be unfinished work. The policy wording decides a claim.
Can a surveyor refuse to use ratings?
If the instruction is a snagging visit and not a RICS home survey, ratings were never part of it. Read the quote.