Buying a brand-new home in the UK comes with something older homes don't: a builder who is legally on the hook to fix defects, and hard deadlines for reporting them. This guide walks through the whole process — what a snag is, how the buying journey works, the warranty windows that matter, and how to get everything fixed for free. It applies to building work on existing homes too, like extensions and loft conversions.
A snag is any defect or piece of unfinished work in a newly built (or newly worked-on) home — anywhere the finished result falls short of the standard you paid for. Most snags are small and cosmetic, but some point to bigger problems with plumbing, electrics or the structure.
New homes have far more of them than most buyers expect. Industry research puts the typical new build at dozens of defects — sometimes 150 or more — and the Home Builders Federation's own survey found that 93.7% of new-build buyers reported problems to their builder. Finding snags doesn't mean you bought a bad house; it means the house is new. What matters is recording them properly and getting them fixed while someone else has to pay.
Buying a new build works differently from buying an older home — you usually commit before the house is finished, and snagging slots into the final stages.
You pay a reservation fee to take the plot off the market, often while the home is still being built. You'll get a reservation agreement setting out the price and what's included.
Your solicitor exchanges contracts with the developer and you pay your deposit. From this point you're legally committed to the purchase — often before the home is finished.
The builder finishes the home, the warranty provider signs it off, and you're given notice to complete — usually within a couple of weeks. This is when snagging starts to matter.
The money moves, the home is legally yours, and you collect your keys — usually with a handover demonstration from the site team. Your warranty clock starts now.
Almost every new build in the UK comes with a 10-year structural warranty from a provider such as NHBC (Buildmark), Premier Guarantee or LABC Warranty. The cover isn't uniform across those ten years — it works in windows, and each one changes what you can claim and from whom.
Under the New Homes Quality Code, buyers of homes from registered developers can have a pre-completion inspection carried out against an industry-standard checklist, so obvious faults are flagged before you complete. You (or a professional snagging inspector acting for you) walk the finished home and record anything that isn't right.
Cosmetic damage — chips, scratches, dents, cracked glass — is the easiest thing for a builder to blame on your removals company. Many builders and warranty terms expect cosmetic issues to be reported within the first few days of completion (often around 7 days), so walk every room and get them logged before the boxes come in.
For the first two years, your builder is responsible for putting right defects — faults where the home wasn't finished to the required standard. This is part of your structural warranty (NHBC Buildmark and similar schemes) and it costs you nothing. Keep reporting new snags in writing as they appear: settlement cracks, sticking doors and plumbing niggles often only show up after you've lived in the home through a winter.
After year two, the builder's general fixing duty ends. Your 10-year warranty still covers major structural problems — foundations, load-bearing walls, the roof — but claims go to the warranty provider rather than the builder, and cosmetic wear is no longer covered. That's why getting everything reported inside the two-year window matters so much.
Exact terms vary between warranty providers and developers — always check your own warranty documents and reservation agreement for the deadlines that apply to your home.
You're not just relying on the builder's goodwill. Alongside your warranty, most large developers are registered with the New Homes Quality Board (NHQB) and bound by the New Homes Quality Code. Under the Code, developers must run a proper after-sales service for at least two years and are expected to resolve reported snags within around 30 calendar days, unless there's a good reason it takes longer.
If a registered developer doesn't put things right, you can escalate your complaint — for free — to the independent New Homes Ombudsman Service, which can require the developer to act. Homes covered by older schemes (like NHBC's Consumer Code for Home Builders) have their own dispute-resolution routes, and your warranty provider also offers a resolution service for defects the builder won't fix during the two-year period.
The common thread in all of these routes: they run on evidence. A dated, itemised, photographed snag list — reported in writing and tracked over time — is what turns "we'll get round to it" into fixed defects.
Work methodically — one room at a time, ceiling to floor. Check doors, windows, walls, sockets, plumbing and finishes. Do it in daylight, and again after dark when raking light shows up dents and paint flaws.
For each snag, note the room, what's wrong and a clear photo. A dated, photographed list is much harder to dispute than a verbal complaint to the site manager.
Give the builder one clear, itemised document — not a trickle of texts and doorstep chats. Under the New Homes Quality Code, developers are expected to resolve snags within around 30 calendar days unless there's good reason.
Tick off what's been fixed, chase what hasn't, and re-send the outstanding list. If a registered developer doesn't put things right, you can escalate to the New Homes Ombudsman Service, or to your warranty provider's resolution service.
Snagging isn't only for buyers of brand-new homes. If you've had building work done on an existing property — an extension, loft conversion, garage conversion or a major renovation — the same process protects you there too.
When the work reaches practical completion, walk the job with your builder and agree a snag list of everything that's unfinished or not up to standard. Most written building contracts (including the JCT contracts commonly used for home projects) then include a defects liability period — typically 6 to 12 months — during which the contractor must come back and put right any defects that appear, at no cost to you. Contracts often hold back a small retention payment until those defects are cleared, which is your main leverage for getting them done.
Even without a formal contract, builders are legally required to carry out work with reasonable care and skill — and a clear, photographed defect list, reported in writing, is just as persuasive with a local builder as it is with a national developer. Check whether your builder offers an insurance-backed guarantee or is registered with a scheme such as TrustMark or the Federation of Master Builders, which give you extra routes to resolution.
SnagBoss walks you through your home room by room, attaches a photo to every defect, and turns it all into a professional report your builder can't ignore.
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