Snagging inspection or survey: which one do you need?

Buyers ask us this a lot, usually because a solicitor or a mortgage lender has used the word “survey” and they want to know if a snagging inspection counts. It does not, and it is not meant to. They do different jobs.

A survey

Carried out by a chartered surveyor, usually RICS. It assesses the condition and, at some levels, the value of a property, with a focus on structure, movement, damp, timber and the big things that affect whether you should buy at all. On a new build, a survey is rarely required by the lender because the warranty covers structural failure.

A snagging inspection

Carried out by a snagging inspector, ideally one with a trade background. It checks the quality of the finish, workmanship and installation against the standards the developer has signed up to. Hundreds of individual checks, room by room, on things a surveyor would not list: an unsealed bath panel, a socket out of level, a blocked weep hole, a door that catches.

Which one for a new build?

Almost always the snagging inspection. Structural problems on a new build are rare and covered by the warranty. Workmanship problems are common, the developer’s obligation to fix them lasts two years, and nobody is going to list them for you unless you pay someone independent to do it.

If a snagging inspection turns up something that looks structural, such as cracking that is more than shrinkage or floors that are visibly out of level, we will tell you to get a surveyor or an engineer in. That is one of the things we are honest about: we are not surveyors, and we say so on every report.

More on what our inspection does and does not cover on the scope page.