The Demo Is the Dress Rehearsal

A builder handing over a new house spends the last days walking the rooms with the buyer and a list, and that list says more about the builder than the show house ever did.

The walk is detailed work. Taps get run, cupboard doors are opened and closed, tiles are tapped for hollow spots, and gutters are followed down to see whether they actually meet the downpipes. Every fault goes onto a snag list that both sides sign.

What happens to the list next is the useful part. A careful builder treats it as the real test and comes back with every item closed. A careless one fixes whatever can be seen from the front door and waits to see whether the rest gets forgotten.

A new home should be enrolled with the NHBRC, which brings its own cover for major structural defects. The ordinary problems of the first few years, a sticking door or a shower that leaks into the passage, still depend on whether the builder answers the phone. The snag list is a fair preview of that.