Many of the homes we buy in the United Kingdom are new build properties. Developers make more money from building a home from scratch as opposed to renovating an existing property and putting it up for sale.

Some years ago, the government gave councils and developers the green light to go ahead and build around a million new homes. It was an attempt to get the housing market rebooted and hopefully pull the country out of the credit crunch recession.

Developers and builders were delighted and there was a sudden boom in the building industry. All the major home builders worked overtime to complete new homes at a record pace. Some were thrown up so quickly that buyers who moved in to these properties, often found defects. These “snags” or building errors became common place and were often unnoticed until several weeks after a new occupant had moved in.

Developers and builders had long gone by the time these snags were noticed. Unfortunately, a new build comes with a reputation that the building is going to be flawless. However, many several incoming occupants have found this is simply not the case.

A snagging report is a list of these defects. It is a detailed survey carried out by experts and professional identifiers identifying these very snags. A home can have so many snags within the property and new homeowners will find the snagging report is several pages long.

The report will also include many images. There are heat images of the home and areas are identified where poorly fitted double glazing exists. It will look into the loft area and check for the insulation quality.

A typical two-bedroom home will have as many as 80 images on average imbedded with the snagging report. Whereas a five-bedroom new build would often show as much as 190 images.

As well as the internal defects and snags found within a new home, the report will also look to the exterior of the home. It will identify issues with the patio, pathways and fencing. The outside walls and gates are also closely inspected for snags; all accompanied by high quality photographs.

Developers and builders see snagging reports as a nit-picking exercise. But potential homeowners and families have a right and a need to know what problems exist within the place where they will be spending much of their lives.