Is Snagging Anything but Costly and Frustrating?

With E-SAFE 100 you can carry out snagging inspections including photographic evidence and send reports back to your contractors within seconds.

Costs of Snagging

Snagging represents a significant resource burden to the construction industry and is a multi-million pound activity. This cost of quality is significant and much of it avoidable. According to estimates made by the BRE (Building Research Establishment) the cost levels are similar to the average industry profit levels.

Currently snags (or defect levels) are on the rise in the housing industry and according to a review in the Building Magazine rose by over 50% last year.

As the snagging audit typically takes place on project completion, issues must then be chased and checked with a multitude of contractors who have typically moved on to other jobs.

The resulting administrative and time burden negatively impacts both costs and goodwill.

The Solution to Snagging

By using E-SAFE 100 firms can integrate snagging into day-to-day construction inspections and so develop a culture of continuous improvement and quality.

Bespoke snagging lists are downloaded to PDAs and snags noted and automatically passed to the responsible contractor for action. Inspectors can set timescales for remedial work to be completed and escalate issues to management via a series of email and SMS alerts. Photographic evidence can even be recorded if necessary. Familiar checklists combined with pictures greatly improves the communication of the issues and the necessary rectification.

For better business intelligence, snags are recorded in a central database. This gives managers real-time insight into how individual projects and contractors are performing and overcomes the information fragmentation that is associated within a mobile, decentralised industry.

Construction firms can begin to benchmark contractors, identify trends and manage snags before they become a customer issue. This re-alignment of the snagging model boosts reputation and demonstrates to potential customers that you can deliver a better service than competitors.

Testimonial

"Using Knowledge Online's E-SAFE 100 snagging module at a major Pettifer Construction build, it has been estimated that a 1% margin improvement could be delivered"

Chris Collison, Operations Director, Pettifer Construction Ltd.

Benefits

For the Client

• Improves build quality which leads to lower lifetime cost;
• Earlier delivery;
• Better informed contractor selection process.

For the Contractor

• Higher client satisfaction leading to higher likelihood of repeat business or strong testimonial;
• Earlier release of retention money
  Reduces the cost of snagging;
• Develops a culture of continuous improvement;
• Identifies poor-performing contractors;
• Enhances customer service.

Snagging Definition

Snagging is the production of a list of quality defects (including incomplete work) at the end of a build process/phase/stage.  Typically each defect will carry a description of the issue, who is responsible and a target date for rectification.

Looking for more information on snagging?

View our in-depth report.

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