Many people make the decision to buy a home in a new project because they don't want to fix or repair anything when they move in. As a home buyer, you might have seen one of the new projects by DAMAC, and are excited about buying it. The price is right, and it fits perfectly into the kind of house you've always dreamed of.
But before you pay that money, let the professionals do a snagging survey for you.
What is a snag survey?
Dubai real estate agencies, when helping their clients purchase properties, advise their clients to get professionals to survey the buildings for defects or improper fittings in the building.
For many buyers who are ignorant of this practice, snag survey feels like an unnecessary process that can be scrapped. "The house is a new one," they'll say, "there can't be any problems. This house is one of the new luxury apartments for sale in Business Bay, Dubai; there can't be issues."
Well, there can be, and many times there have been problems.
Snag surveys discover, on average, 150 defects in newly built properties.
A snag is a defect in a home that the builders may or may not be aware of. Most times, snags are results of the lousy craft by artisans and builders. A snag survey is therefore an inspection that a person carries out in a home to check for these defects. The defects may be minor ones like a scratch on a window; door hinges not appropriately fixed, a leaking tap, a faulty faucet, and the likes. They could be significant defects like cracks on the wall or bad plumbing work.
When a snagging survey is carried out, the defects can be detected, and the home builder fixes it.
Home buyers are advised to use the services of professional companies to run a snagging survey on a property before they pay for the building.
Doing a snagging survey helps home buyers save money in the long term. If these defects are not spotted early, they will worsen, and this would cost the homeowner more money to fix it.
A snagging survey would inspect the inside and outside of a property. A snagging survey examines things like Brickworks, paintworks, garages, driveways, gardens, fences, and a host of other things. The survey checks for everything in the home.
The best time to conduct a snagging survey is after the building is completed. If the study is carried out after the new owner has moved in, the home builder may be lax in effecting the necessary repairs. There is, however, a two-year warranty after the completion of a building for a home builder to repair a defect.
When you want to choose a company to run the survey, do due diligence to check their website and see the reviews from past clients. Also, there should be images of the defects they detected and the advice they gave their clients on how to fix it.