Warwick Snagging Survey

A snagging inspection goes past the paintwork. In Warwick, that matters because the newest plots at Warwick Gates, St Mary's Gate and The Asps are built differently from the old sandstone and red-brick homes near the town centre. Our inspectors check for cosmetic marks, then move on to doors, windows, sockets, kitchens and bathrooms, because the rough edges often sit behind a neat show-home finish.

Cosmetic defects are the obvious ones: scuffed walls, uneven plaster, missed paint at architraves, chips to skirting, and sealant that has shrunk before it should. Functional issues are more irritating, like a bedroom door at CV34 6DA that will not latch properly, a trickle vent that sticks, or a window on Gallows Hill that does not close flush. A buyer's solicitor will not walk the plot with a spirit level, but our inspectors do.

The more serious defects need a separate line. We look for uneven floors, badly fitted kitchens, drainage falls that send water the wrong way, fire stopping that is incomplete, and ventilation that looks undersized for the room. Warwick's clay-rich Mercia Mudstone and the River Avon floodplain make drainage and ground movement worth checking on plots near Myton Brook and the lower edges of the town, even where the house itself is brand new.

• Paint and plaster defects
• Doors, windows and latches that do not work properly
• Kitchens, skirting and flooring that are out of line
• Fire stopping, ventilation and drainage issues

Warwick is not all one housing type. The town centre and the Conservation Area hold over 500 listed buildings, with local sandstone and older red brick setting a very different backdrop to the newer plots on Warwick Gates and Europa Way. That matters because modern homes here are usually red brick with render or cladding, plus slate or clay tiled roofs, so our inspectors look closely at finish quality, joints, sealant and roof lines as well as the obvious cosmetic marks.

The ground conditions deserve attention too. Warwick sits on the Mercia Mudstone Group, which is linked with clay-rich soils and a shrink-swell risk, and the River Avon brings flood exposure to parts of the town, with Myton Brook and other low-lying edges also carrying surface water risk. On a new-build in CV34, that means drainage falls, external levels, soakaway work and garden gradients are not small details, they are part of whether the plot will perform well through winter rain.

Local demand also comes from the wider employment base. Warwick Castle, National Grid, the University of Warwick nearby, Jaguar Land Rover at Gaydon and Whitley, and the town's retail and education employers all feed movement into the area, so schemes at The Pavilions, St Mary's Gate and The Asps keep coming through the market. That steady activity does not stop build defects appearing. We still see poorly finished plasterwork, gaps in skirting, kitchen units that sit out of square, and external works left short of the plan, even on homes that have only just been handed over.

On the newer phases built by Taylor Wimpey at Warwick Gates, David Wilson Homes at St Mary's Gate and Miller Homes at The Asps, we keep a close eye on finishes that site teams often hand over late, such as driveway levels, boundary fences, patio slabs and garden turf. These items are easy to wave away on a sunny viewing day off Gallows Hill. They are also the bits that become obvious once the rain starts.