New apartment snagging with a civil engineer

What snagging is

Snagging is the inspection of a new apartment before the handover report is signed. Its purpose is to have the defects recorded as objections in the handover report and fixed by the developer, rather than discovered after you move in.

The handover (predare-primire) is the contractual act between the developer and you. It is not the same as the acceptance on completion of the works (recepția la terminarea lucrărilor), the procedure regulated by Government Decision HG no. 273/1994, which takes place between the investor and the contractor and covers the building as a whole. The fact that the block has been accepted says nothing about the flatness of the wall in your bedroom or about the unearthed socket in your kitchen.

When to book the inspection

At least three days before the handover date, not on the same day. Those three days are the time needed to write up the list of objections and send it to the developer, so the handover starts from a document that already exists.

The inspection on site takes between one and three hours for an apartment with two or three rooms, depending on the floor area and on how many installations are working. Ask the developer, in writing, for the handover documents a few days in advance, including your part of the building's technical logbook (carte tehnică), which records what was actually installed.

What we check at handover

The order is technical: we start with what can no longer be repaired cheaply and move towards what is easy to fix. Every value in the report comes with the instrument used to measure it.

1. Walls and ceilings. Flatness, verticality and squareness of the walls, plaster and ceiling finishes, visible cracks, with their position, direction and length. Instruments: 2 m metal straightedge and feeler gauges, laser level, large set square.
2. Floors. Flatness of the screed and the floor finish, ceramic tiles that sound hollow, parquet and skirting. Instruments: 2 m straightedge, laser level, systematic tapping.
3. External windows and the front door. Verticality and twist of the frame, the gap between sash and frame, hardware in every position, seals, perimeter sealing, glazing, sills, the balcony and its railing. Instruments: laser level, laser distance meter.
4. Internal doors and hardware. Adjustment, closing, contact with the threshold or the floor. Instruments: laser level, 2 m straightedge.
5. Electrical installation. Condition of the consumer unit (tablou electric), protective devices, tripping of the residual current device, presence of earthing, every socket and switch, appliances under load, cable routes and junction boxes. Instruments: socket tester with RCD test, multimeter, cable detector.
6. Plumbing and drainage. Hot and cold water supply, pressure at the outlets, drainage, falls to the drains in the bathroom and on the balcony, sanitary fittings, waste stacks, ventilation airflow. Instruments: pressure gauge, endoscope camera, anemometer.
7. Dimensions and floor areas. The actual usable floor area, room by room, compared with the floor plan in the contract. Instrument: laser distance meter.
8. Common parts that affect you directly. The stairwell, the lift, the storage unit, the parking space and the roof terrace, if you are on the top floor. The storage unit and the parking space are also checked in the documents, not only on site.

Thermal imaging, thermal bridge checks and damp detection are not part of the handover package; they are included from the BASIC package upwards.

What you receive

• PDF report within 24 hours, by email and on WhatsApp, or within 3 hours with the urgent option.
• A list of objections ready to attach to the handover report, in which each item has the four elements that make it hard to reject: the measured position, the measured value, the photo evidence and the criterion that was not met.
• Numbered photos, with the number of the item in the list.
• Measured values, each with the instrument used, and a chapter on the limits of the method: what could be measured, what could not and why.
• Advice for dealing with the developer's warranty department.

The report is delivered in Romanian or in English, whichever you choose. You can see the full structure of a report in the sample report. The inspection and the report are done by the same person, the civil engineer described on the about the engineer page. The service is a technical inspection, not a technical expertise (expertiză tehnică): an expertise can only be issued by a technical expert certified by the ministry (MDLPA).

If the developer refuses your objections

Sign the handover report with the note "semnat cu obiecțiuni conform anexei nr. 1" (signed with objections, as per annex no. 1), attach the list and keep a copy signed by both parties. If the annex is refused, do not sign without the note: write the objections on your copy and send the list by email and by written notice with acknowledgement of receipt, on the same day.

How much it costs

The SNAGGING (HANDOVER) package has a fixed price, depending on the type of property and the usable floor area band. The amounts are final: the company is not registered for VAT.

The BASIC package adds a review of the technical documentation, thermal imaging, thermal bridge checks and damp detection, from 1,999 lei for an apartment under 50 m² of usable floor area. In Bucharest and Ilfov, travel is included; elsewhere in Romania, the travel fee is communicated before the inspection is booked. The report within 3 hours costs an extra 700 lei. All packages, with the indicative amount in euro, are on the prices page.