New builds and warranties
A snagging list from the site manager sits beside the home survey. Why are those not the same document?
They are not the same document because they are different jobs. A snagging list from the site manager is the builder's own list of finish items. A home survey is an independent inspection with its own limits. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product. The survey does not open a claim under it, and the snagging list does not either. Side by side, the papers stay separate. The survey has not adopted the site manager's list as its findings.
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?
Snagging is the builder walking the new home and noting chips, incomplete finishes and items the site still intends to close. That list follows the builder's programme and the builder's wording. A home survey is instructed by the buyer or the owner and reports what the surveyor could see, with limitations where something was covered or untested. One can mention a defect the other misses. Neither document rewrites the other, and neither is a claim form.
If you think a Buildmark claim might exist, that is a matter for the warranty route and for your solicitor, not a box the surveyor ticks. Do not invent stages of cover from the survey text. Ask the solicitor which items on the snagging list are outstanding, and keep the home survey as the independent comment. Tell a lender the two papers answer different questions. The survey has not confirmed that the builder's list is complete.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Does the report keep the snagging list separate from its own findings?
- Has the survey opened any warranty claim?
- Which snagging items does the solicitor still show as outstanding?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the snagging list as the builder's paper, not the survey.
- Keep Buildmark questions with the solicitor and the warranty route.
- Do not treat the site manager's list as the survey findings.
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
Can the same chip appear in only one of the papers?
Yes. The site manager and the surveyor were not doing the same inspection. A chip may be on the snagging list and absent from the survey, or the other way round, because access and purpose differed. Neither omission rewrites the other document. Use each paper for the job it was written to do.
Does owning both papers mean the new home has been passed?
No. A snagging list is not a pass, and a home survey is not a builder's completion certificate. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product, and this survey does not open a claim. Having the two documents together does not mean every finish item is closed.