Snagging list sign-off with a dated record
A snagging list is the agreed record of what is outstanding at the end of a job, and a snag is only closed when the client accepts it in writing. Send the list as a link; the client opens it on their phone, marks anything they disagree with, approves and signs, and the dated record is kept with the job.
What is a snagging list and who signs it off?
Snagging is the systematic identification of every outstanding defect and incomplete item before a job is declared practically complete: the scratched worktop, the door that catches, the missing mastic. On a JCT contract the patent defects at practical completion are often set out on a list appended to the certificate, and the contractor is expected to put them right within a reasonable time.
The client, or their contract administrator, walks the job and adds their own items; they are entitled to. Under most UK residential contracts the client can withhold sign-off until the outstanding list is agreed, and it's a follow-up inspection that lets the contract administrator close the project.
So the list is signed twice in practice: once when it's agreed, and once when the items are accepted as done. Both signatures matter, and the second one is the one that most often never happens.
What should be on the snagging list?
The guidance for the client walk-round is to go room by room and write every item down as you go. A verbal agreement that something is acceptable isn't binding; it goes on the list and is marked accepted, or it doesn't exist.
A photo against each item settles most later arguments about whether it was fixed or whether it was ever raised.
- Each item numbered, with the room or location and a plain description
- A photo of the defect, and later a photo of the fix
- Who raised it and the date it was raised
- The agreed action and, where it matters, the date it will be done by
- The client’s acceptance of each closed item, and the date of acceptance
What happens when the snagging list is never signed off?
The rectification period under JCT, usually twelve months and often twenty-four where housing is involved, runs from practical completion, and practical completion is in practice reached when the snag list is closed. An open list, or one the client won't sign, holds up the certificate, holds up the retention it releases, and keeps the contractor exposed to liquidated damages.
On a domestic job the failure is quieter. The client keeps adding items to a list nobody agreed, the builder keeps going back, and the final payment sits unpaid because there's always one more thing. The problem isn't the snags. It's that there's no signed line under them.
A list signed at the walk-round, and each closure signed as it happens, gives both sides a date to point at. It also gives the builder a record when a defect raised in month eleven turns out to have been on the original list and accepted.
How do I get a snagging list signed off with Portal Worx?
You upload the snagging list, as a PDF or as photos, to the job in Portal Worx and send the client a link by email. They open it on their phone. There's no account, nothing to install and nothing to learn; they see the list and are asked to approve or decline.
They can mark an area of the page and leave a note against an item they disagree with, ask a question, or approve. If you asked for it, they must enter a one-time code emailed to them before signing, which proves whoever signed had control of that inbox at that moment. Then they draw their signature and submit.
When the items are done, send the updated list as a new version. It supersedes the earlier one, the client signs again, and the original agreed list stays on the record. Anyone who hasn't responded is chased from the same screen.
What does the signed record hold?
Each signature is dated and pinned to the exact version of the list the client saw, with its SHA-256 fingerprint. The notes, the marked areas and every version are kept with the job next to the photos and the rest of the handover paperwork.
When something is raised months later, you can show the list as it was agreed, the date it was accepted and by which address. A simple electronic signature is admissible evidence in the UK under the Electronic Communications Act 2000; the court decides its weight on the record around it.
Where doesn't this fit?
The snagging list is a document you produce and send; Portal Worx isn't a snagging app with per-item tickets, and it doesn't generate the list. One person signs one request, so a client and a contract administrator who both need to sign each get their own. The file must be a PDF, an image or plain text.
It doesn't verify identity: the emailed code proves control of an inbox. The page the client opens is on our domain, not yours.
Common questions
- Can the client add items to the list before signing?
- They can mark an area of the page and leave a note, or decline with a note saying what's missing. You update the list and send a new version; both versions stay on the record with their dates.
- Do I need a separate signature when the snags are done?
- Send the closed list as a new version and have it signed again. The first signature records what was agreed, the second records acceptance, and both are kept.
- Can I include photos of each snag?
- Yes. Images are accepted as the thing being approved, or put the photos in the PDF. The client signs against the exact file they saw.
- Is this only for JCT jobs?
- No. It's the same on a domestic extension with no formal contract: a list, a walk-round, and a signature that closes it. The record is what matters, whatever the contract.
- What does it cost per list?
- Nothing per list. Requests and links are unlimited on every plan, from £29 a month.
Related
What else Portal Worx does
This page covers one part of it. Behind every request for sign-off is the job it belongs to: projects holding your documents and site photos, with a folder or a file shareable by link to someone with no account; versions with history and an approval pinned to each; reports built on site and exported as a PDF with your logo; threaded messaging; a year-long activity trail; and AI that catches you up on where a job stands without ever seeing more than you can.
See everything it does, or check the plans. Unlimited users and unlimited requests on all of them.
Draw a signed line under the snags.
Upload the list, send the link, and have it signed on the client’s phone at the walk-round and again when the items are closed. 14 days free, no card, unlimited requests on every plan.