Snagging Survey in Market Harborough

Paint runs and plaster blemishes show up fast on new homes at Wellington Place and Saxon Meadows. So do scuffs, patchy finish work, missed sealant and awkward joins where one trade has handed over to another. Our inspectors photograph every defect so the builder gets a clear list, not a vague complaint.

Door and window faults can be more awkward. A door that will not latch, a window that does not seal, a socket that sits out of square or a kitchen unit with poor alignment all point to work that needs putting right, not a buyer learning to live with it. On schemes like Bramble Green on Northampton Road or Appledown Gate in LE16, those are exactly the kinds of issues a first-time owner can miss on a quick walk-through.

Our reports also pick up construction defects and regulatory defects that a solicitor would not normally flag. Uneven floors, gaps in skirting, badly fitted kitchens, missing fire-stopping, undersized ventilation and poor drainage falls all belong on the snag list. In a new-build home near Kettering Road or Leicester Road, those items can sit behind the nice finishes and stay hidden until a proper inspection gets under the light.

• Paint, plaster and sealant defects
• Doors, windows and joinery faults
• Kitchen fitting, floor levels and external finishes
• Fire stopping, ventilation and drainage issues

Market Harborough sits on clay-rich ground, and that matters for new homes as well as older stock. Shrink-swell soil movement can affect foundations, drainage runs and the way a property settles, so our inspectors pay close attention to cracks, levels and gaps around thresholds. Flood risk is part of the picture too, with the River Welland, River Jordan, Langton Brook and Stanton Brook all feeding into local drainage pressure around Kettering Road, Rectory Lane, Springfield Street and Coventry Road.

Surface water has also caused problems in the town, including around Northampton Road, the leisure centre and the nearby pumping station during heavy weather. That means external levels, garden falls, driveway finishes and soakaway work deserve a proper look, especially where new estates are being built beside existing streets. A handover on Wellington Place or Bramble Green can look finished from the road, then still have drainage, patio or boundary issues once you walk the plot.

The build context is mixed. Red brick sits alongside stone, ironstone and timber-framed fabric in the older parts of town, from the Church of St Dionysius to the Market Harborough Railway Station dating from around 1885 and the Town Hall of 1788, while Little Bowden uses traditional Georgian and Victorian styling on a newer estate edge. That mix means we check brickwork, render junctions, cladding, roof lines and windows with care, because recent builds from William Davis Homes, Charles Church, Redrow, Davidsons and Taylor Wimpey all sit in a town with very different older material standards around them.