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DDA Structural Inspection Dubai
A snag list isn't just a record for you, it's a working document someone else has to act on without needing to ask follow-up questions. If a developer's maintenance team can't figure out exactly where an issue is from reading your list, they either guess, which sometimes means checking the wrong spot, or they come back to you for clarification, which adds days to a process that's already slow enough.
The three-line list
Someone sent us a snag list last month that was literally a numbered note on their phone: "1. Bathroom tile cracked. 2. Kitchen tap loose. 3. Bedroom door sticks." Three lines, no photos, no location beyond the room name. The developer's team came back asking which bathroom, since the apartment had two, and which corner of which door was sticking. That back-and-forth alone cost him a week.
How to Structure the Full List
- Break it down by room, then by item within each room.
- Number every entry so it's easy to reference in follow-up conversations.
- Keep a running status column so open items don't get lost.
- Note roughly when each defect was first noticed, versus your handover date.
That last point is easy to skip but genuinely useful. If a crack shows up eight months in rather than on day one, that timing matters for whether it's still a construction fault or general wear, and developers will sometimes push back on defects reported without any sense of when they actually appeared.
Where This Connects to a Full Snagging Report
A snag list, even a well-formatted one, is really just one piece of a full professional snagging report. The report adds the systematic check across every part of the property, electrical, plumbing, structural, alongside the location-by-location list, which is why booking an inspection tends to catch far more than filling out a template yourself.
If you're doing your own walkthrough first, or want something to hand your inspector to cross-check against, a structured template is a solid starting point. Cover the areas that civil inspection services in Dubai would also look at: walls, ceilings, floors and structural joints.
The tiles that looked perfect
A buyer once walked us through his living room, proudly pointing out how the tiles "all matched perfectly." They did, visually. Tapping across the floor told a different story: three tiles near the balcony door sounding distinctly hollow underneath. Once mapped and marked on the report, the developer's contractor lifted and relaid all three inside a morning. Had that gone unnoticed, those same tiles would likely have cracked within a year or two of normal foot traffic.
Want it documented properly from the start?
book an inspectionWhat It Costs to Get This Done Properly
If you'd rather skip building your own template and have someone document everything to this standard from the start, our snagging report cost breakdown covers what that actually costs depending on unit size and property type.
Cracking, Chipping, and Edge Damage
Hairline cracks and chipped corners are among the easier defects to spot, but they're also easy to write off individually rather than tracked across the full floor. A single chipped tile near a doorway might look like normal wear-and-tear from moving furniture in, but the same pattern repeated across several tiles in the same room usually points to a batch quality issue or a subfloor problem rather than one-off damage. This is why a proper check goes tile by tile rather than sampling a handful and assuming the rest match.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do developers actually require a specific format for snag lists?
Most don't mandate one formally, but the clearer and more structured yours is, the faster it tends to get actioned. A messy list often just gets deprioritised behind clearer ones from other buyers.
How many photos should each entry have?
At least two: a close-up of the defect and a wider shot that shows where it is in the room. If the defect is hard to see, add a third photo with something for scale, such as a coin or a tape measure. Name or number each photo to match its entry so nothing gets mixed up.
Can I use a spreadsheet instead of a formal report?
Yes, a spreadsheet works well for your own list. Use one row per defect with columns for number, room, exact location, description, photo, severity, status and date noticed. What a spreadsheet cannot do is check the parts you cannot see or measure, such as hidden moisture, airflow or electrical safety, which is where a professional report adds the most.
Does Dubshy provide the report in a format I can send straight to my developer?
Yes. Dubshy's snagging report lists every finding by exact location, with photos and a severity rating, so the developer's team can act on it directly. Reports are delivered within 24 hours of the inspection, and you can forward them to the developer as they are.
Ready to Start?
A snag list that actually gets acted on quickly is one that leaves nothing for the developer to guess at: exact location, clear description, a photo, a severity level, and a status. If you'd rather have that done properly from the start, you can request your snagging report and skip the back-and-forth entirely.
Every Fault We Miss, You Pay for Later
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