Renegotiating or walking away
Should you renegotiate a new-build price from a snagging list the way you would a rating 3?
Not in the same way. A snagging list is unfinished or damaged items in a new home. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product, with a two-year builder period and then insurance for defects in specific parts. A snag is for the builder under that cover where it applies. It is not automatically a reason to reopen the price, and a reservation agreement may already constrain you.
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 RICS survey on a new plot is still useful because a warranty is not a survey. It may find something the snagging list missed, including drainage and structure. Use the contract and the warranty for how defects are put right. Your solicitor reads the reservation. Do not assume you can walk away the way you might before exchange on a private treaty house.
Other warranties are not Buildmark. Do not assume a two-year and eight-year split if the policy is a different brand. Read that policy. This page states no snagging-company fee and no typical retention for new builds. A snagging list is not a set of RICS condition ratings, and a show-home finish is not the plot you are buying.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Are you describing snags, or a defect that questions the structure?
- Is this plot the one in the contract?
- Are you expecting the warranty to skip the roof? It should not.
What are the typical next steps?
- Put snags in the process the contract and the warranty describe.
- Use a price discussion only where the solicitor says the contract allows it.
- Do not paste a private-house rating 3 letter onto a reserved plot.
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
Does a show-home defect count?
Only if it is on your plot. The show home is not the house you buy.
Is year 8 of a warranty a full repair service?
NHBC’s later years cover defects in specific parts set out in the policy, not every snag. Read the policy.