The snagging walk-through: your last real leverage
Before the final payment, walk the job like an inspector: room by room, everything tested, every defect in writing with a date. Builders fix snags that come with money attached; this page is how you keep the money attached.
The checklist
- Walk every room separately, in daylight, with the quote next to you: is everything on the quote actually done?
- Test everything that moves or flows: taps, drains (let them run full), doors and windows, heating, every socket and switch, the extraction.
- Get close to the finish: sealant lines, plaster, paintwork, tile grout, skirting; a torch held flat against the wall (raking light) shows what daylight hides.
- Photograph every defect with a date; small ones too, because what is not recorded does not exist later.
- Put every item on a snagging list with a fix-by date per item.
- Both of you sign it; that signed list plus the retention is what actually gets snags fixed.
Plan the walk-through in daylight and give it a full hour; a handover rushed at the front door means signing for defects you never saw.
The money side
A healthy payment schedule keeps leverage for this moment: stage payments during the build (see the budget planner) and a retention agreed in the contract, released only when the snagging list is done. The JCT standard is 5 percent, half at completion and half after the rectification period of three to six months. If the builder will not return, escalate in writing with a reasonable deadline before anything else; a paper trail wins disputes, raised voices do not.
Quotes still coming in for the next project? The quote check includes the six questions that prevent most snagging fights before they start, payment schedule included.
Frequently asked questions
What is a snagging list?
A written list of every defect you find at handover: what, where, and the date the builder will fix it by. Signed by both of you, it turns "you never mentioned that" into a document. It does not need legal language; a dated list with two signatures does the job.
How does retention work on a renovation?
A retention holds back a slice of each payment (the JCT standard is 5 percent) until the work is proven good: typically half is released at practical completion and the other half after the rectification period, usually three to six months later. Agree it in the contract up front; you cannot invent it at the final invoice.
Can I withhold payment for defects?
Proportionately, yes: hold back an amount that reasonably matches the defects, in writing, until they are fixed. Withholding everything for a scratched socket cover weakens your position; withholding nothing removes the builder's reason to return.
What about defects I find months later?
Report them in writing as soon as you find them, with photos. Defects within the agreed rectification period are the builder's to fix; latent defects that no reasonable inspection could have caught do not disappear with your sign-off. Silence is the only thing that weakens the claim.