Finishing
The last ten per cent
Snagging is where good projects turn sour, because it is the only stage where both sides want opposite things at the same moment.
June 2026 · 8 min read · The Construction Clinic
For five months the interests of homeowner and builder are broadly aligned: both want progress. In the last three weeks they diverge completely. The builder wants to finish and be paid so the next job can start. The homeowner wants everything right before the leverage disappears.
That divergence is normal and it is not a sign of bad faith. What determines whether it ends well is whether the rules for the ending were agreed at the beginning.
“Final payment is the last piece of influence you will ever hold. Spend it deliberately, not out of politeness.”
Snag properly, once
A snagging list produced in a hurry on the final day is worth very little. Walk the job in daylight, room by room, with the drawings and the specification in hand, and write down what is incomplete, what is defective and what does not match what was specified. Photograph each item and number it.
Distinguish between snags — small defects and unfinished items — and incomplete work, which is a different matter altogether. Incomplete work is not a snag; it is the contract unfulfilled, and it should not be treated as a tidy-up list.
Before you make the final payment
- Building control completion certificate
- Electrical certification and gas safety documentation where relevant
- Structural engineer's sign-off if the design required inspection
- Warranties, guarantees and manufacturer documentation
- As-built information for anything buried or concealed
- A written agreement on outstanding snags and dates for their completion
Retention and the defects period
Holding a modest retention — commonly around five per cent, released after a defects period of six to twelve months — is standard practice and reasonable to ask for. It should be agreed in the contract, not proposed for the first time when the final invoice arrives.
The defects period matters because some faults only appear with time and weather: movement cracking, a flat roof under sustained rain, a heating system through a first winter. A project signed off on the day the scaffold comes down has not been tested.
Ending well is part of the job
The most successful handovers we see share one habit: the homeowner told the builder, weeks in advance, exactly how the ending would work. When the snag list would be produced, how long the builder had to close it, what would be held and when it would be released.
Nobody was ambushed, so nobody became defensive. The work finished, the money was paid, and the two parties still speak — which matters more than people expect on the day something leaks.
The last word
Four weeks before completion, send one email setting out the handover process and the documents you will need before the final payment.
It is the least confrontational way to make the last ten per cent behave like the first ninety.