When should you book a snagging survey?
Last reviewed
Book a snagging survey once the house is finished but before you legally complete. At that point your developer still needs your signature to finish the sale, so a photographed defect list carries real weight. If you have already completed, book it anyway and do it early: new homes are generally covered by a warranty under which the developer remains responsible for defects in the early period, and a dated written record is what makes that stick.
Why before completion is the strongest position
There is a short window between the house being physically finished and you signing for it. In that window, the outstanding thing in the transaction is your signature. Anything you raise is something your developer needs to resolve to get the sale over the line.
After completion the same list becomes an aftercare request. It usually still gets done, but on their schedule rather than yours, and you are the one making the phone calls and taking the days off work to let someone in.
The practical problem: dates move
New build completion dates slip, often more than once, and usually at short notice. That is the single biggest reason people end up skipping the inspection altogether: they book one, the date moves, and it gets lost in the noise of moving house.
The way round it is to get on an inspector’s radar early and treat the date as provisional. Ask whoever you book with what happens if your completion moves, and get the answer before you pay anything.
If you have already moved in
Do it anyway, and do it sooner rather than later. Two things change once you are living in the property: some defects get harder to attribute to the build rather than to you, and the clock is running on the period in which your developer carries responsibility.
A report at this stage is still the most effective tool you have, because it turns a series of phone calls into one itemised, photographed document with a date on it.
What the two year point actually means
Most new homes are sold with a ten year warranty, and the two halves of it work very differently. For the first two years the developer is responsible for putting right work that falls short of the warranty provider’s technical standards. That is the period covering the ordinary business of a new build: finishes, fittings, things that do not work properly (NHBC Buildmark, 2026).
From year three to year ten the cover narrows sharply. It becomes insurance against physical damage caused by defects in specified structural elements, typically foundations, load-bearing walls and the roof structure. Cosmetic issues, wear and tear and routine maintenance are not covered at any point.
Providers differ and policies change, so read your own insurance certificate rather than relying on a summary. The practical point is simpler than the small print though: the earlier something is recorded, the easier it is to get resolved, and waiting until month twenty-three is the worst version of this.
Sources
We link our sources because a guide that states figures without them is asking you to take our word for it. Where we could not verify something, we have left it out rather than rounding it up.