Template
Snagging list template
A defect register with the columns that make a list work and none of the ones that make it a chore — severity and priority kept apart, and a two-stage close so an item is never signed off by the trade that fixed it.
Most snagging lists are written to prove something was found. The useful ones are written to get it put right — once, by the right trade, without anybody ringing you to ask what you meant.
The template
Four example rows, so the format is obvious. Delete them and start.
| Ref | Date raised | Block / level | Unit | Room / element | Defect | Severity | Priority | Trade | Target date | Status | Photo | Fixed by | Date fixed | Closed by | Date closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNG-001 | 23/09/2026 | Block B · L02 | Flat 12 | Kitchen | Worktop join at the sink run is open and unsealed | Moderate | Medium | Ridgeway Joinery | 07/10/2026 | Open | Yes | ||||
| SNG-002 | 23/09/2026 | Block B · L02 | Flat 12 | Hallway | Architrave mitre open at the head of the door, about 3 mm | Minor | Low | Ridgeway Joinery | 07/10/2026 | In progress | Yes | ||||
| SNG-003 | 23/09/2026 | Block B · L02 | Corridor | Emergency lighting | Emergency light at the lobby end does not illuminate on key test | Significant | High | Ridgeway M&E | 26/09/2026 | Open | Yes | ||||
| SNG-004 | 22/09/2026 | Block B · L01 | Flat 09 | Bathroom | Silicone to the bath edge cracked along the full run | Moderate | Medium | Prime Finishes | 06/10/2026 | Fixed – to check | Yes | T. Nowak | 23/09/2026 |
What each column is for
| Column | Why it earns its place |
|---|---|
| Ref | A number that never changes and never gets reused. It is how the item is referred to in an email six weeks later. |
| Block / level, Unit, Room | Three separate columns, so the list can be filtered by any of them. “Second floor” on its own sends somebody hunting. |
| Defect | What is wrong, where on the element, and how much of it. Describe the defect, never the fix. |
| Severity | How bad it is: cosmetic, minor, moderate, significant. |
| Priority | How soon it must be dealt with. Driven by the programme and by what is about to be covered up — not by severity. |
| Trade | A named subcontractor. Unassigned items do not get fixed, they get discussed. |
| Target date | Without one, everything is equally urgent, which is the same as nothing being urgent. |
| Status | Open, in progress, fixed – to check, closed, rejected. Five is enough; ten is a taxonomy nobody follows. |
| Fixed by / Closed by | Two separate pairs of columns, deliberately. See below. |
Severity and priority are not the same thing
Severity is how bad the defect is. Priority is how soon it has to be dealt with. A cosmetic scratch on a panel that is about to be boxed in is low severity and high priority, and a list with only one of these columns cannot express that — which is why the panel gets boxed in.
The two-stage close
This is the single change that does most for a list, and it is the reason the template has four columns at the end rather than two.
- The trade puts the defect right and marks the item fixed – to check, with their name and the date.
- Somebody from your side looks at it on site and marks it closed, with their name and the date.
An item is never closed by the party that fixed it. Without that rule, “closed” means “somebody said so” and the list stops being evidence. With it, every closed item carries two names and two dates, and a dispute is a five-second lookup instead of an afternoon.
How to describe a defect
“Bad plaster in bedroom.”
Better“Plaster to the bedroom window reveal is hollow over about 400 mm at low level and cracked at the corner bead.”
Write what you can see, where it is, and what is wrong with it — in that order, in one sentence a trade can act on without ringing you.
Issuing it
Send each trade only their own items, as one document, with the photographs in it. A spreadsheet of the whole job filtered by a column heading gets ignored, reasonably, because it asks the reader to do your filing for you. In Excel that means a filter and a save-as per trade, every time the list moves.
What a spreadsheet cannot do
Hold the photographs with the items. Tell you what is overdue without you sorting it. Stop two people overwriting each other on the same row. Pin an item to a spot on the drawing so nobody has to go looking. Issue one document per trade in a tap. Those five things are the whole argument for a register that is not a spreadsheet.
Related
How to write a snagging list that gets fixed
The longer version of this page, with worked examples.
Read the guide →Snagging in the app
The same list, pinned on your own drawings, photographs on the items.
See how it works →Non-conformance report template
For when it is worse than a snag and needs a disposition.
Get the template →Stop rebuilding the list by hand
Pin it, photograph it, assign it, date it — and let the register work out what is overdue and issue one PDF per trade.