Can I do my own snagging inspection?
Yes, anyone buying a new home can do their own snagging inspection and write their own snag list. For many buyers that is the most practical route to making sure their home meets the expected standard.
This page outlines who can inspect a new build, what you can reasonably check yourself, what a professional inspection costs and when it is worth paying for, and the UK New Homes Quality Code's guidance for inspecting your own home.
The content in this article applies to any new build home in the UK, whether you inspect before you complete (pre-completion) or after you move in (post-completion).
Who can inspect a new build home?
You, the home buyer, or anyone you choose to bring with you or appoint to act on your behalf.
There are three primary routes. These are not exclusive of one another, many buyers choose to use two or more routes for the same home, depending on what they find.
| Route | Who does the inspecting | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Yourself | You, with a phone, a notepad or an app | A snag list in your own words, with your own photos, at no cost beyond your time |
| Yourself with help | You and a partner, friend or family member | One person tests while the other records and photographs, which is faster and catches more |
| A professional inspector | A snagging surveyor you pay to inspect on your behalf | A report written against the technical standards, from someone who inspects new builds for a living |
Where the New Homes Quality Code applies to your home, the housing developer must give you the opportunity to inspect it yourself before completion, or for you to appoint an inspector to do so. The Code outlines criteria for a professional inspector acting on your behalf, which includes requiring the inspector to be a member of a recognised professional association for residential surveying. You need no qualification to inspect your own home. The one condition is that you follow the health and safety precautions the developer tells you about on site, and they can refuse access to anyone who does not.
Each route covers different things, and it is worth being clear about what each one gives you before you rely on it.
How the routes compare:
| Question | Yourself | Yourself, with a snagging app | A professional inspector |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it costs | Your time | Your time, plus the price of the app | A paid service, typically £350 to £600 |
| What it covers | Visible finish and fit: paint, sealant, doors, windows, taps, sockets | The same, with a room-by-room checklist so fewer checks are missed | The same, plus issues that need training or specialist equipment to assess |
| What it usually misses | Hidden, structural and system issues, and the technical standards behind each check | Hidden, structural and system issues | Issues that appear after the visit, unless you book a second inspection |
| Example | A dripping bath tap, recorded with a photo | The same tap, prompted by the bathroom checklist | The same tap, plus a moisture reading behind the bath panel, where the inspector offers one |
Do you need any qualifications or equipment?
No qualifications, and very little equipment.
Everything a buyer-led inspection relies on can be found in most people's pockets or at home.
What to bring:
- A fully charged phone, with enough free storage for a photo of every snag
- A ruler or tape measure, so a crack or a gap is recorded with its size where possible
- A coin or a bank card, for scale in close-up photos where you have no ruler to hand
- A way to record what you find as you go, whether that is a notepad, a notes app or a snagging app
A torch is useful for cupboards and the hard-to-reach areas, and is built into most smartphones. For simple electric testing, an electronic device charger plugged into a socket can confirm if your sockets are live. However, some buyers may choose to use a plug-in socket tester as this can provide more detail on socket health and performance. Neither a charger nor a tester confirms a socket is safe: any suspected electrical fault is for an electrician to investigate.
Two people working together can help speed up the process, and make individual snags less likely to be missed. If support is available to you, you may find it helpful to have one person conduct the test (run a tap, open a window or flick a switch), while the other watches, writes down the test, and captures photos for evidence.
What can you realistically check yourself?
Most UK-recognised snags are issues you can check and identify yourself, without specialist equipment.
A buyer inspection is a visual and functional check of the finished home. The majority of snags relate to the finish and fit of your property which can cover paint, plaster, sealant, tiling, doors and windows that stick or do not lock, sockets that do not work, taps that drip, and fittings that are loose or damaged, among other issues. The cost of fixing these issues yourself quickly adds up, and can often be avoided by checking your home carefully, and clearly recording and reporting what you observe.
| You can check | Needs a professional or specialist equipment |
|---|---|
| The finish of every surface: paint, plaster, sealant, grout, flooring | Anything hidden inside walls, floors or the roof structure |
| Every door and window: opens, closes, locks, seals, no draughts | Whether the heating, hot water and ventilation systems were set up and commissioned correctly |
| Every socket, switch and light, with a charger or a tester | Any electrical test beyond confirming a socket is live |
| Every tap, waste, toilet and shower, by running it | Drainage below ground |
| Fitted kitchen and bathroom units, worktops, appliances | Structural movement, as opposed to the cracks that might suggest it |
| The outside from ground level: brickwork, pointing, guttering, paving, fences | Anything you would need a ladder, a meter or specialist training to assess |
The UK Code for new build buyers provides a pre-completion checklist for recognised snags. The code notes that the standard pre-completion checklist was written for professional inspectors. As a result, it's important you take steps to familiarise yourself with what the common issues are, and how to check them to ensure your review is comprehensive.
This does not mean you need to hire somebody to complete the inspection on your behalf. Instead, we recommend you prepare in advance, follow a room-by-room method where possible, and record what you observe, rather than what you think may have caused any issue you find.
Where your inspection identifies a sign of a snag included in the right-hand column, record your observation clearly, photograph the issue, and state in your list that it requires further investigation. Diagnosis of the cause and the repair is for a specialist, usually under the direction of your developer or housing provider. Completing an inspection yourself can help you to know where a specialist may be required. It can also help ensure most checks are completed without the call-out fees associated with hiring a specialist where they may not be required.
Is a professional snagging inspection still worth it?
For some homes, yes, and completing your own inspection does not prevent you from being able to escalate to a specialist where you feel it may be required.
Professional inspectors are familiar with the technical standards a new home is built to, and often have access to specialist equipment that can be used to identify structural and other issues that are not visible during a walkthrough.
A professional inspection is a paid service. A professional snagging inspection is typically £350 to £600, depending on the size of the home, where it is, and what the inspection includes. Larger homes, London and the South East, a second visit and add-ons such as thermal imaging cost more. Get a written quote for your home.
A professional inspection is most worth considering when:
- The home is large or complex, and you do not have the time to inspect it thoroughly yourself
- You have seen signs of structural movement, damp or water ingress that you cannot assess
- Your developer has disputed items on your own list and you want an independent technical opinion
Many buyers choose to do both. Your own walkthrough can catch the visible snags that make up the majority of snag list issues, while a professional inspection can assess items you cannot judge, or access during a walkthrough.
For some buyers, professional inspections are treated as an escalation route. A large number of visible snags identified during their own walkthrough may be interpreted as a sign there may be additional, potentially more serious, issues that require professional inspection.
If you do appoint an inspector under the Code, their inspection is recorded on the standard checklist, and you can still choose to submit your own list alongside it.
How much does a professional snagging inspection cost?
The price depends mainly on the size of the home, where it is, and what the inspection includes.
The typical range quoted on this page is based on the prices three UK snagging firms advertise for a single inspection visit. It is advertised pricing, not a UK average, because we have not found a published UK average from a regulator or statistical body.
The three firms behind the typical range:
- New Build Inspections, Home snagging inspection costs
- HomeSnag, Survey cost
- New Home Quality Control, Home inspections
We always recommend getting a written quote for your home, and checking what it includes: a second visit, thermal imaging and the format of the report vary between companies.
Do builders have to fix snags?
Yes, where the snag falls below the standard the home was built to, and you report it.
Where the New Homes Quality Code applies to your home, section 3.1 of the Code says your developer is responsible for resolving issues, including snags and defects, that arise in the first two years after completion, and asks you to report them as soon as possible.
Section 2.8 of the Code says issues found at a pre-completion inspection that breach the warranty technical standards should be resolved before legal completion where possible, and otherwise within 30 days.
Where the Code does not apply, your reservation paperwork and your warranty name who is responsible for your snags, and for how long.
This applies whether you found the snag yourself, or a professional inspector found it on your behalf. Not every item on a buyer's list will fall below the standard the home was built to. A clear, photographed snag list is significantly harder to dispute, and it is what your developer or housing provider acts on. Our page How to describe a snag so it's harder to dispute covers how to write one.
What does the New Homes Quality Code say about inspecting your own home?
The Code states that the developer must give you the opportunity to inspect the home yourself before completion, or to appoint a suitably qualified inspector to inspect it for you. The Code sets this out in section 2.8 of Version 2, which applies to homes reserved on or after 2 March 2026.
This Code applies to you if:
- Your developer is registered with the New Homes Quality Board
- You have reserved your home on or after the date your developer's registration was activated.
You can check whether a developer is registered on the NHQB register of developers. Your reservation paperwork should also name the code that applies to your purchase.
Where the Code applies, the developer directs you to use the NHQB Pre-Completion Inspection Checklist, which is published on the NHQB website and lists recognised issues.
The full detail, including when the inspection happens, changes applied in March 2026, and what to do if you are refused access to the property, is outlined on our page Your right to inspect your own new build.
Where the Code does not apply, you can still ask to inspect the property before completion. After completion, the property is yours, and you can inspect your home as you choose.
How do you do it well?
Inspect your property thoroughly, room by room, in daylight, recording and photographing what you see.
Best practice guidance:
- Work through one room at a time
- For each snag, write what you can see, where it is located, and the size, in one or two plain sentences
- Take at least three photos per snag: one from a step back, one of the whole problem, one close-up to show detail
- Grade each snag honestly, so serious items are not lost among the cosmetic issues
- Note anything you could not check, with the reason, rather than guessing the outcome
If you have completed a pre-completion inspection, we always recommend inspecting again after you move in, and again as the home dries out over its first months.
A new build settles, weather changes, and some issues only appear once the heating has run or the first heavy rain has fallen. A dated list with dated photos from each inspection is significantly harder to dispute if you identify issues that were not raised in a previous submission. We recommend that you keep your snag list open and do not confirm in writing that you are happy with the condition of the property, until you have completed these follow-up checks.
Two of our other pages cover the parts buyers most often get wrong: How to describe a snag so it's harder to dispute and What photo evidence you need for a snag.
Sources
sendingsnags is independent. We're not part of, or endorsed by, the New Homes Quality Board or the New Homes Ombudsman Service.
Checked on 18 October 2026:
- New Homes Quality Code V2, Part 2 (section 2.8) and New Homes Quality Code V2, Part 3 (section 3.1), pre-completion inspection, self-inspection, the suitably qualified inspector criteria, and after-sales responsibility in the first two years
- NHQB Pre-Completion Inspection Checklist, house, V2 March 2026 (PDF)
- Professional snagging inspection prices, as advertised for a single visit by New Build Inspections, HomeSnag and New Home Quality Control, checked on 12 September 2026 and again on 12 October 2026
How we can help
sendingsnags is an app that turns your own walkthrough of a new build home into a clear, photographed snag report you can send to your developer or housing provider. It guides you through every room with a checklist of what to look for, and each check carries a plain explanation of what good looks like and an example drawing of the fault, so you are less likely to miss the things the Code says a buyer might miss.
Each snag you log can carry photos, your own description and a grade, and the app offers a suggested grade and clearer wording alongside what you typed to make it harder to dispute.
You can start your report at sendingsnags.com. We hope you find it useful.