Snagging List

A snagging list is the document that records minor defects, omissions, and unfinished items identified at the end of a construction project, usually at practical completion. Common items include paint touch-ups, sealant gaps, doors that bind, ironmongery alignment, switch plate finishes, and carpet edges. Standard practice is for the contractor to address the listed items within a defined window (often four to eight weeks) before the retention is released. The snagging walkthrough is normally conducted jointly by the contractor and the client, or the client's representative. The term is UK-specific; American English uses punch list. The honest version: a walkthrough conducted at handover does not catch everything. Issues that only daily living reveals (a hinge that loosens, a tap that drips after a fortnight, a finish that shows wear under real use) surface in the weeks after the client moves back in, not in the hour the walkthrough takes. A second walkthrough twelve weeks later catches the items the first walkthrough cannot. Most contractors do one.