What it is called, by market
One concept, four markets. Where a name means something else locally, the card says so rather than leaving you to find out on site.
United Kingdom
Close, not identicalsnagging
also snag list, snags, defects list, de-snagging
Commonly done by the buyer or an independent inspector on a new home, which is why a British snagging list arrives from OUTSIDE the contract rather than from the contractor's own inspection.
Australia
Close, not identicaldefects list
also snag list, practical completion inspection, PCI
The inspection is named for the contract milestone rather than the list, and the PCI is a scheduled event with its own rights attached.
United Statesyours
Close, not identicalpunch list
also punchlist, punch out, deficiency list
Traditionally generated by the architect or owner's representative walking the job at substantial completion, and the list is a contract instrument tied to the release of retainage.
Canada
Close, not identicaldeficiency list
also punch list, deficiencies, takeover inspection
Deficiency is the standard contract word, with punch list understood from American usage.
The governing standard, by market
United Kingdom
JCT contracts / NHBC standards
Practical completion, the rectification period, and the tolerances a new home is judged against.
United States
AIA A201
Substantial completion, the punch list procedure, and the withholding and release of retainage against it.
Calculators for this
Each works in either measurement system, and the terminology on the page follows whichever market you have selected.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a snag list the same as a punch list?
- The stage is the same and the authorship usually is not, which is where cross-market jobs go wrong. An American punch list is traditionally produced BY the design team or the owner's representative at substantial completion, and it is a contract instrument: it defines what remains before final payment and the release of retainage. A British snagging list, particularly on a new home, is frequently produced by the BUYER or an inspector they engaged, and it has no automatic contractual standing at all — the developer's own inspection is the one the contract refers to. So the two documents can describe the same building and carry completely different weight, and a party assuming their own convention will either over-estimate or under-estimate what their list obliges anybody to do.
- What is the difference between a snag and a defect?
- Timing and severity, and the two lead to different remedies. A SNAG is an item outstanding at completion — something not finished, not adjusted, or damaged during the works — and the expectation is that it is put right as part of finishing the job. A DEFECT is something that fails after the job is accepted, during whatever period the contract or the warranty runs, and the remedy usually sits with a different obligation and sometimes a different party: the contractor under a rectification period, or a structural warranty provider for items beyond it. Listing a defect as a snag under-states it; listing a snag as a defect delays it until after completion when the trades have left. On a new home the distinction also decides which body a complaint goes to.
- What actually belongs on the list, and what does not?
- Departures from the specification and from the stated tolerances — not departures from what somebody hoped for. That is the most useful thing to know before writing one, because a list that mixes the two loses its force: the recipient works through the items that are plainly wrong, disputes the ones that are matters of taste, and the whole document becomes negotiable. Standards bodies publish tolerances precisely so this argument has an answer — how far out of plumb a wall may be, how much a floor may deviate over a given length, how visible a plaster blemish may be under normal lighting rather than under a raking lamp. A list that cites the tolerance it says has been exceeded is a different document from one that says a wall looks uneven.