Home buying guides · 18-09-2026 · 7 min read · By Sorrel Buildcon

How to Make a Snag List for Your New Flat

What a snag actually is

A snag is not a complaint about design. It is a gap between what was promised and what was built, or something that simply does not work. Keeping that distinction clear is what makes a snag list effective: a builder will argue about taste and will usually act on a defect.

So a hollow-sounding tile is a snag. A tap that drips is a snag. A missing socket that appears on the drawing is a snag. A wall you would have preferred in a different colour is not, unless the brochure specified a colour. Paint that shows roller marks under torch light is a snag, because finish quality is part of workmanship.

The categories that come up most often in a new flat in NCR: tiling and grout, paint finish, door and window alignment, plumbing leaks and slow drains, electrical points that are missing or dead, kitchen hardware, false ceiling joints, and balcony drainage. Almost all of them are cheap to fix at handover and expensive to fix once you have moved in.

Tools to carry, and why each one earns its place

• Torch. Held flat against a wall, it reveals every undulation in the plaster and every roller mark in the paint. No other tool tells you as much in ten seconds.
• A coin or a small wooden mallet. Tap tiles across the floor and listen. A hollow note means the tile is not fully bedded and will crack under a dropped pan.
• Phone charger and a socket tester. Faster than a multimeter and enough to prove a point is live.
• Small spirit level. Check the kitchen counter, window sills and the top of door frames.
• Measuring tape. Verify room dimensions against the plan and check that a balcony is the depth you were shown.
• A bottle of water. Pour it on the balcony and shower floors and watch which way it runs. This one test finds more drainage snags than anything else.
• Masking tape and a marker. Tape next to each defect and write the number. Your photographs then identify themselves.
• The specification sheet and the unit plan. Half of all snags are discovered by comparison, not observation.

The template you can copy

Keep it as a spreadsheet so you can sort by status. The two columns people leave out — "promised by" and "status" — are the two that get the work done.

How to walk the flat so nothing is missed

Work clockwise from the main door and finish each room entirely before you move on. Within a room, move in the same order every time: floor, then walls, then ceiling, then openings, then fittings, then electrical points, then water points. A fixed order means you stop relying on memory.

Do the water tests first in every wet area, because they need a few minutes to show a result while you carry on with other checks. Then do the torch pass on the walls, which is quick. Then count electrical points against the drawing — this is where missing items hide, since an absent socket is invisible unless you are counting.

Photograph in pairs: one wide shot that shows which room and which wall, one close shot of the defect with the numbered masking tape in frame. Without the wide shot, a close-up of a chipped tile is unusable three weeks later. Do all of this alongside the broader possession handover checklist, which covers the documents and meter readings.

Check against what was actually specified

A snag list is only as good as the promise you are measuring against. Print the specification list and carry it. At Sorrel Heights the list includes premium tile flooring, a designer false ceiling in all rooms, Cera or equivalent fittings with sensor lights in the toilets, a modular kitchen with granite or marble counter, a smart lock on the front door, and concealed wiring with LED lights, switches and sockets — see Sorrel Heights specifications.

Where you find a different brand installed, do not assume it is wrong; note it and ask for written confirmation of equivalence. Sorrel Buildcon names Cera, AKG, Anchor Panasonic, Havells, Johnson Lifts, Tata Steel, Rathi Steel, UltraTech, Ambuja Cement, Birla White and Sakarni among its materials, as set out on construction quality. The way particular items should be checked is covered in the premium tiles guide and the modular kitchen page.

Following up until it is closed

Email the list as a PDF with the photographs attached or embedded, addressed to the customer-care contact with the site engineer copied. Ask for one thing in reply: a date against each numbered item. That single request converts a vague assurance into a schedule.

Then re-inspect. Do not close an item because someone tells you it is done — go and look, and test it the same way you tested it the first time. Water tests especially need repeating, because a re-laid balcony slope can still be wrong.

Keep the thread in one place. If an item stays open for weeks, reply to the same email chain rather than starting a new one, so the history is visible. And remember the five-year window under the RERA Act for structural and workmanship defects — a snag that reappears after repair is still reportable. For Sorrel, the contact route is contact the Sorrel team and the stage-wise responsibilities are on buying process.

Snags people discover too late

• Balcony draining towards the room. Found in the first heavy rain, by which time the door threshold is swollen.
• A missing AC point in the bedroom you intended to cool, discovered in May.
• Hollow tiles in a traffic path, which crack in month four.
• A wardrobe niche two inches shorter than the plan, discovered when the carpenter arrives.
• Slow kitchen drain, which is a laid-slope problem, not a blockage.
• Windows that leak at the sill only in driving rain from one direction.
• No access panel left in the false ceiling where a light driver sits.

Every one of these is found by the water bottle, the tape measure or the drawing count — which is why those three items are on the tools list.

Know the promise before you inspect it

The most effective snag list starts months before handover, when you read the specification carefully. Ask Sorrel Buildcon for the current price list & payment plan sheet and the specification list, compare the room sizes on the floor plans against what you plan to put in them, and book a site visit through contact the Sorrel team — D-161, Sector 3, Greater Noida West, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm — to see the finishing standard while the building is going up.

Most common snags in new flats

1. Paint patches and drips near switches and ceilings.
2. Hollow-sounding floor tiles.
3. Doors that rub against the frame.
4. Slow-draining floor traps.
5. Loose socket plates.
6. Gaps between kitchen counter and wall tiles.
7. Window handles that do not lock fully.

How to write a good snag entry

Be specific: "Bedroom 2, left wall near window, 30 cm crack in plaster" is fixable; "cracks in bedroom" is not. Add a photo with a coin or pen for scale. Number entries and keep the same numbers when you re-check.

Re-inspection

After repairs, walk the list again and mark each item fixed, partly fixed or not fixed. Only then sign off. Good builders expect this; the Sorrel buying process includes inspection before possession.

Facts about Sorrel Heights on this page come from the official brochure and Sorrel Buildcon. General guidance is for information only — confirm rules and rates with the relevant authority before you act.