Most Common Snagging Issues Found in Irish New Builds

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After hundreds of inspections across Dublin, Meath and Louth, the same defects appear over and over. These are the most common snagging issues we find in Irish new builds — ranked by how often they show up.

1. Paint and Finish Defects

Roller marks, drips, missed cut-ins around skirting, paint overspray on hinges and switches. Found on virtually every inspection. Individually trivial, collectively significant.

2. Sealant Gaps

Around bath aprons, shower trays, basins, kitchen sinks, window reveals. Sealant failures are the single most common cause of avoidable water damage in new homes.

3. Internal Door Alignment

Doors that don't latch cleanly, scrape the frame, or sit unevenly. Often seen on multiple doors per property as the structure dries and settles.

Tape measure showing an oversized clearance gap under a 1st-floor bedroom door, exceeding fire-regulation tolerances — **Real example:** 1st-floor bedroom door — under-door clearance measured too large to meet fire-regulation seal. Caught with a tape measure on a routine SnagSafe inspection.

4. Sockets, Switches and Alarms

Faulty or loose sockets, switches that don't function, smoke and CO alarms not commissioned, consumer unit circuits unlabelled.

External electrical socket on the rear elevation of a new build, flagged for incorrect position — **Back elevation:** external socket position to be checked and confirmed by the electrician before handover.

5. Insulation Gaps in the Attic

Insulation displaced near hatches, water tanks and pipework. Usually invisible without going up there — and one of the issues with the largest long-term energy cost.

Cold-water tank in attic with no insulation underneath, photographed during a snagging inspection in Ireland — **Attic:** no insulation under the cold-water tank — common cause of heat loss and frozen pipes.

Daylight visible through a gap between brickwork and a timber beam at the front-left of an attic in a new Irish home — **Attic, front-left of house:** gap between brickwork and timber beam — daylight visible through the structure.

6. Render and External Finishes

Hairline cracks at openings, lipping at brick / dash junctions, gutter alignment causing drips. More frequent on exposed sites.

Uninsulated copper pipework running from an air-to-water heat pump in the back garden of a new build — **Back garden:** air-to-water heat-pump pipework still needs insulation and groundwork — another item often left incomplete on handover day.

7. Drainage Falls

Driveways and paths sloping toward the house, gully positions causing pooling, shower trays draining slowly.

All of the above appear in our top-25 Dublin defects list with more granular detail.

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