Home Q&A: How does a snag list differ from a property survey?
A survey and a snag list are distinct processes. Snagging is generally reserved for new builds, extensions and serious renovations. When pre-purchasing a secondhand house, a survey is standard. File pictures
When buying or improving, the first thing to get out of the way is snagging versus surveys — what’s the difference? Surveys are generally conducted on second-hand homes once you are “sale agreed”. These pre-purchase home surveys are commonly regarded as a structural health check. They cover the whole house, inside and out and any outbuildings.
Conducted by a dedicated, professional engineer, they reveal problems in the build (big and banal) including any failures to meet planning permission and or building regulation standards that applied at the time the property was constructed or altered. It will give you a good read on the building’s general condition.
There are three grades of survey depending on the age and condition of the property recognised by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI). Types one and two are generally accepted by mortgage lenders, with type three being the most expensive and thorough, so keep this in mind when shopping for a professional.
Following the survey, the surveyor may tee up further issues, things that the solicitor conducting the conveyancing should explore further like environmental hazards or say a boundary question. Cash buyers can of course, and sometimes do buy without a survey or ignore the worrying results of surveys. This is crazy as a fox.
A survey is a small spend for peace of mind, expertise, and gathering important information that could strike at a huge investment in your future. Don’t write off the surveyor's findings as sheer moaning to validate their fees.
A standard pre-purchase survey, rather like a BER assessment usually covers what the surveyor can see or readily access, measure or meter.
In most cases, he or she will not be touring an unfinished attic on their knees or tearing up the floorboards. For most newer homes in reasonable condition, a type one or two non-intrusive inspection will suffice, but for an older or larger complex building a deeper, fuller type-three survey may be required to unearth any defects that could cause ongoing costs in the future.
Prices for a survey start in the area of €450, rising to €1,000 and beyond for a great big, elderly prospect.
You cannot actually “fail” the survey, but you or your lender might be influenced by its results. This could be a catastrophe for you and the vendor or lead to re-negotiation of the price you’re happy to pay given the potential costs for repair and revisions. Registered, insured, experienced local surveyors are easily found through your estate agent, solicitor or through online searches.
Snagging is a process carried out either close to or on the completion of a new build, extensive renovation, or extension (essentially a newly built leg on the house). You might have seen this on TV self-build shows, when a project manager, architect or engineer tours a completed project, snapping out pieces of blue painter’s tape to mark minor defects that need attention from the developer.
It’s standard stuff.
Snags might be purely cosmetic — a ding or ripple in plaster-work, a curiously cut floor-board, or it may be something more serious where the floor plan or a structural detail has wandered from the architect’s or engineer’s plans. In both cases, the property has not reached the agreed standard and expectations.
Snagging is nothing to worry about, and in most cases a reputable builder will jump into communications based on the snag list, eager to put things right.
Depending on their severity and the opinion of the project manager, some snags accepted by all parties may not be cost-optimal to correct, with a negotiation satisfactory to all sides resulting in a deduction from payment to the developer or contractor. Issues of safety and the essential functionality of the house should be prioritised above all.
Certain structural warranties on the property give you extra protection. Even after you move in, you can document, and report snags associated with the original build to the developer up to two years down the road. The sooner you do this, the better.
If you have reason to engage someone yourself to do it, a snagging list on a new home under 200sq m acceptable to major financial institutions range from €200-€450, and you should receive a detailed PDF document with accompanying photographs before you pay for your report.
There may be a surcharge for a follow-up inspection to ensure remedial work has been done. Some agencies cover surveyors all over the country including the independent resource gethousesurvey.ie or newhomesurveys.ie if you have no one in mind.
Now, it’s as easy as the birds flying from the trees for a professional person managing a self-build or about to close on a new house, to bring any noticeable failings to the attention of the overseeing contractor. It’s not personal, they are calloused by experience and keen judgement, and everyone on-site knows where they stand.
The snag list is done, the developer fixes the problems and with contracts complete, the owners can move in. However, as many of us know, with a self-managed project, snagging can be a mortifying, toe-in-the-sand experience for the lay homeowner who dreads any form of confrontation with a relative stranger.
Together with new builds, any substantial project including an extension should be snagged before the final payment is released to the controlling contractor or subcontracted trade. This is the moment when you’ll thank God for having a skilled intermediary.
With some individuals, there’s no way to couch an observation without being branded as fussy and uninformed, even when you and they can see the issue. I lost my marbles and cheerfully elected myself my own contractor for a self-build in 2000.
Frankly, I flicked out the final cheque and let those dented vans skim away down the driveway knowing things were not as they should be in several small respects.
Our own Kieran McCarthy, building engineer, of KMC Homes, and columnist for the , offers this advice regarding snagging: “In my opinion a snag-list is best complied by an engineer. If you haven’t one appointed, a freelance engineer can offer this as a standalone service.
"As a project manager/engineer, I find this snag list is a collaborative process between me, the consulting engineer (for compliance) and our client. I manage the snag list execution and check to ensure all is completed satisfactorily.
"In the absence of a project manager, a third-party engineer can compile the snag list with the client and, given that it is issued by the engineer on his/her headed paper, the client can then deal with the contractors and trades with more authority.”
Engaging a qualified project manager to control those final payments, or at least bringing an engineer to snag my adventures in self-building would have saved me handfuls of Valium due to cut corners and dodgy finishes. If you hire a qualified, appropriate individual to itemise defects for you, that interpersonal burden is off your plate.
