Most renovations end with a slow trail of small things. The light switch that's an inch too high. The grout line that's slightly off. The skirting board that doesn't quite meet the architrave. Snagging is the process of finding these things and putting them right before the job is signed off.
It's also the part of the job most often skipped, rushed, or done badly. When that happens, the small things turn into a long-term frustration that the homeowner ends up living with.
What snagging actually means
A snag list is a written list of every minor defect found at the end of a project. Not structural problems — those should never have got past first or second fix. Snags are the small finishing issues: paint touch-ups, minor tile cuts, doors that need easing, sealant lines that need redoing, items that are damaged or missing.
On a typical bathroom or kitchen, expect 15–30 items on the snag list. On a full house refurbishment, 80–150. The number isn't a sign of bad work — it's a sign that you're looking properly. A snag list with 5 items on a six-month renovation is a sign that nobody looked.
Who should make the list?
Three people, ideally. The builder, who walks the project and self-snags before handover. The homeowner, who walks the project and identifies anything they want changed. And — for larger jobs — an independent snagger, who is a professional inspector engaged separately to find everything else.
We do our own first pass at snagging before we ever invite a homeowner to walk the job. By the time you're walking round, the list should already be short.
What good snagging covers
Paint and decoration: brush marks, drips, missed spots, cracks in fillers, sloppy edges around switches and sockets.
Tiling: grout lines that aren't straight, broken or chipped tiles, sealant beads that aren't even, cuts that don't sit flush.
Joinery: doors that catch, drawers that don't close properly, hinges that need adjusting, gaps where boards meet skirtings.
Plumbing and electrics: taps that drip, sockets that aren't quite straight, lights that flicker, sanitary fittings that aren't perfectly level.
Floors: scratches in finish, gaps between boards, parquet pieces that have been laid the wrong way round, transitions between rooms that aren't flush.
What good snagging doesn't cover
Snagging is for defects, not for changes of mind. If you decide at handover that you want a different colour wall, that's a variation, not a snag — and it'll be priced and scheduled separately.
Snagging is also not the same as defects liability. A defect is a problem that emerges in the months after handover — a leak, a settlement crack, a tile that pops. Defects are covered separately, usually for 12 months from completion.
How long should snagging take?
On a single bathroom: a day or two of work, maybe a week of calendar time. On a whole house: typically a week or two of work, spread across two or three weeks of calendar time. The work itself is fast — it's the access and the drying time on paint and sealant that stretch it out.
If your builder tells you they need a month or more to snag a single bathroom, something is wrong. The list shouldn't be that long.
How we handle it
We do our first internal snag walk a week before scheduled handover. Anything found goes on a list and gets fixed before you arrive.
When you walk the project, we walk it with you. Anything you spot goes on the list. We agree the list together, agree a target date for resolution, and crack on. Final payment is held back until the snag list is signed off as complete.
After that, the defects period kicks in for 12 months — anything that emerges in normal use, we come back and fix.