New builds and warranties
What should you ask about snagging if you are buying before the builder finishes the plot?
Ask when you will be allowed in, what a snagging visit will be able to see, and how defects must be notified under the contract and the warranty. A snagging list is not a RICS survey. A RICS survey is not a reservation. Neither one can inspect rooms that are not yet built.
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?
NHBC’s two-year builder period, where Buildmark applies, starts at legal completion and is about defects that breach NHBC requirements. Items you never looked at can still be notified in that period if the policy covers them, but it is harder to prove a finish was already damaged if you did not record it. A survey timed before completion can catch structure and weathertightness. It can miss decorating that happens the week after.
Agree the timing in writing with the builder. Ask your solicitor whether the contract lets you delay completion for snagging, because many new-build contracts do not. Do not assume a private-sale habit of “subject to survey” exists in the reservation. If the survey of an unfinished plot is thin, say so. You may need a later visit. That later visit is often a new fee. Ask.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What can you inspect now, and what is not built or not accessible?
- Which findings should be notified to the builder before completion?
- Would a later visit be a new instruction?
What are the typical next steps?
- Write the access date into the arrangements before you pay for an inspection that cannot happen.
- Keep snagging photos. They are the record the memory of a viewing is not.
- Ask the solicitor whether completion is conditional on snagging. Do not guess.
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 defect under Buildmark?
Not always. A snag can be cosmetic. Buildmark defines defects as breaches of NHBC requirements. Use the policy’s words in a claim.
Can you withhold the whole price until every snag is done?
Only if the contract says so. Ask the solicitor. The survey does not create a retention by itself.