TL;DR: Book the snagging inspection before your fit-out contractor prices the job, not after. Every defect the developer still owes you is a line you delete from your own budget. In Dubai the inspection runs roughly AED 1,500 to 4,000 and takes three to eight hours, and the report routinely moves a renovation quote by five figures.
Why the inspection belongs before the renovation, not after it
We price fit-out work on handover units most weeks. Two versions of the same apartment turn up. In the first, the owner has a dated snag report, a ticket number with the developer's customer care team, and a clear idea of which items are already being fixed for free. In the second, the owner has keys and an opinion.
The second version costs money in a specific way. The contractor walks the flat, sees a floor that is out of level and a damp patch at the balcony threshold, and prices both. Nobody is cheating anyone here. The contractor is quoting what is in front of him, and half of that list was a warranty claim that expired quietly while quotes were being compared.
There is also an evidence problem. Once demolition starts, the developer has a reasonable argument that your works caused the defect. A snag list produced after the first wall comes down is worth very little in a dispute, however detailed it is.
Who carries the defect, and when it stops being the developer's problem
At handover the defect is the developer's. During the defects liability period it stays the developer's, on two conditions: you reported it, and nobody has interfered with the element since. The moment your contractor touches that element, the position gets contested, and in practice you lose.
Balcony waterproofing is the clearest case. If the membrane was already failing at handover and you logged it, the developer lifts the tiles and redoes it. If you screed and tile over it first, and the leak shows up in the flat below in August, the developer will point at your works and stop answering. You then pay for the membrane and for the tiles you have to lift a second time.
Keep the record boring and dated. Photographs with a scale in frame, moisture readings, the reference number from the developer's portal, and the email that logged the item. That file decides who pays, not the conversation you had with the handover agent.
What a snagging inspection costs in Dubai
Market pricing sits at roughly AED 0.50 to 1.50 per square foot, and most firms convert that into flat rates by unit size. The bands that circulate across Dubai inspection companies:
- Studio or 1BR apartment: AED 1,500 to 2,500
- 2 to 3BR apartment: AED 2,000 to 3,500
- Villa: AED 2,500 to 4,000 and upwards with size
Those are market bands rather than a DOMECO price list. A site visit takes three to eight hours depending on unit size, and the written report usually lands within one or two working days. Re-inspection after the developer's rectification is normally a separate charge, often around half of the first visit.
We run inspections ourselves, with an engineer and instruments, and issue the formal snag report with photographs for the developer. Where a renovation is planned anyway, we combine the inspection with the measured survey and price the fit-out off the same visit, which saves you a second appointment and puts the defect list and the budget on one desk.
One number to ignore: the defect count. Published figures for average defects per unit in Dubai range from under twenty to several hundred, depending on who is selling the article. The spread is too wide to mean anything. What matters is which defects, in which elements, and whether they sit inside a warranty.
The defect liability period: what the developer owes and for how long
Two clocks run at the same time.
The first is the contractual defects liability period written into your sale and purchase agreement. Twelve months from handover is the Dubai standard, and it covers mechanical and electrical installations, finishes, ironmongery, sanitaryware and general workmanship.
The second is statutory and much longer. Decennial liability gives ten years of cover for total or partial collapse and for defects that threaten the stability or safety of the building. Since 1 June 2026 that regime sits in Articles 821 to 824 of the new UAE Civil Code (Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025), which replaced Articles 880 to 883 of the 1985 code. It is strict liability, so you do not have to prove anybody was negligent, and a contract cannot sign it away. It sits with the developer and the building's original contractor and engineer, not with whoever does your interior fit-out; your renovation work is covered only by whatever defects period your fit-out contract sets separately. Anything specific to your building is a question for a lawyer rather than for a fit-out contractor.
Check the start date before you plan anything. Some agreements run the twelve months from the Completion Certificate, others from the date you collected keys. An off-plan buyer who took handover three months after the building was certified has three months less cover than he thinks, and nobody volunteers that information.
The defects we see most often, and what each one does to a renovation budget
Floors out of level
The workmanship benchmark most specifications use is 3 mm under a 2 metre straightedge. Some handover specs are written looser, closer to 5 mm over 3 metres, so check which one your agreement references before you argue. Outside tolerance, large-format porcelain lips at every joint and engineered timber telegraphs each dip.
The fix is a self-levelling compound over the affected area, quoted across the market at roughly AED 40 to 90 per square metre before your finish goes down. On 120 square metres that is AED 5,000 to 11,000, plus a day of programme and a few millimetres of extra height your door undercuts have to absorb. Out of tolerance at handover, it is a snag. Skip the inspection and it becomes a line in your flooring budget.
Balcony and wet area waterproofing
Balconies and bathrooms fail first in Dubai buildings, because the membrane detail at the threshold and around the floor drain gets rushed under programme pressure. A cement-based system runs about AED 60 to 80 per square metre, polyurethane about AED 160 to 220, and the tiling on top is a second cost. The failure modes and the pricing are set out in detail in why bathroom waterproofing fails in Dubai.
Sequencing matters more than the rate. Get the membrane tested during the DLP, by flood test where the developer allows it, and get the rectification signed off before your tiler is anywhere near the room.
Missing or unlabelled protective devices
An ELCB or RCCB missing from wet-area circuits, or a distribution board where nothing is labelled, is trivial for the developer to correct and expensive to inherit. It also decides what your electrician can do. A board with spare ways and correct protection lets him extend circuits for a new kitchen. A board without them means full replacement, which sits in the AED 2,500 to 6,000 band across the market including testing and certification.
HVAC that was never balanced
Fan coil airflow set wrong, condensate falling the wrong way, a thermostat wired to the neighbouring zone. In July this reads as a bedroom that never gets below 26 degrees, and owners tend to blame the equipment rather than the commissioning. Close it as a snag while the ceiling is still the developer's responsibility. Once you move a wall or relocate a diffuser, the air balance becomes yours, and so does the cost of putting it right.
Cracks
Hairline plaster cracking is cosmetic and disappears into your skim and paint scope. Nobody should be charging a separate line for it. Cracks wider than about 0.3 mm want a closer look, particularly if they run diagonally from door and window corners or reopen after filling. Those belong to the ten-year conversation rather than the twelve-month one, and they are worth an engineer's opinion before you commit to a design.
Splitting the snag list into two columns
Every item on the report goes into one of two columns, and the test is simple. Does it fail the specification you bought, or does it only fail your taste?
Fails the spec, it goes in the developer's column and costs you nothing. Meets the spec but you want better, it goes in your column and belongs in the fit-out budget. A scratched builder-grade worktop is the developer's problem. A builder-grade worktop you want replaced with stone is yours.
Grey items are the ones you plan to demolish anyway. Log them regardless. The list is leverage while the developer still has an open ticket, and if your plans change you have not thrown away a valid claim.
Practically this is one spreadsheet: item, room, photograph, specification reference, column, status. When drawings go out for pricing, send only your column. Handing a full snag report to a fit-out contractor is the most common way owners in Dubai pay twice for the same work.
Scope, price and dates get fixed in the contract before anyone mobilises, which is why the split has to happen first. How we structure that side is set out in our services.
Working during the DLP without losing the cover
Cosmetic work is low risk. Paint, wallpaper, curtains, loose furniture, freestanding joinery and light fittings swapped on existing points rarely give a developer grounds to refuse a claim on anything else.
Higher risk work touches the elements that carry the warranty: relocating sockets and switches, replacing the distribution board, altering duct runs or fan coil positions, cutting into a balcony or bathroom membrane, changing sanitaryware and the pipework behind it, and anything structural. The general rule is that interfering with an element ends the developer's responsibility for that element rather than for the whole apartment. Get that confirmed in writing by customer care wherever the developer will put it in writing.
A building-management layer sits on top. Most towers require an NOC before a contractor mobilises, along with the trade licence, insurance and worker details. Emaar-managed buildings commonly turn an NOC around in 7 to 14 working days. Nakheel communities and anything on Palm Jumeirah run slower, particularly where Trakhees is involved. Apply while the developer is still rectifying, so the two waits overlap instead of stacking.
How the report rewrites the programme
MEP defects set the order of everything else. Anything that will be hidden by gypsum, screed or joinery has to be closed before it gets covered, because reopening a boarded ceiling to chase a duct costs a week and a repaint. The developer's rectification window commonly runs 30 to 90 days from the ticket depending on the item, followed by a re-inspection, so a serious snag list adds roughly three weeks to a few months before mobilisation.
That sits in front of the site programme, not inside it. On a 150 square metre apartment we plan two to six months of works depending on depth of scope, and the snagging cycle is separate from that. Owners who assume the two overlap are the ones who end up paying a contractor to stand still.
Hold 10 to 15 per cent of the budget for what no report can see. Inspections read surfaces, not the inside of walls, the underside of a screed or the state of a riser. A good report cuts the surprises down without removing them. The rest of the cost picture is broken down in our apartment renovation cost guide.
One honest note that costs us work. If the unit is going straight into the rental market, close the snag list, do a cosmetic refresh from around AED 1,500 per square metre, and leave the capital job alone. Tenants at market rent do not pay a premium for a moved wall, and a capital renovation from AED 3,000 per square metre rarely returns the difference inside a first lease. Bring the heavy scope when you are living in the unit or repositioning the asset.
If you want to see the fit-out side of this before you commit numbers, our project portfolio shows finished handover units, and if you already have a snag report, send it over.
FAQ
Is snagging worth it if I'm gutting the apartment anyway?
Yes, for the elements you are not touching. Structure, facade, balcony membrane, risers, the metering set and the building's services stay the developer's problem regardless of what you do inside. Those are also the expensive items, and they carry the longest cover.
How long after handover can I still claim a defect?
Twelve months from handover for finishes, workmanship and MEP under a standard Dubai sale and purchase agreement, and ten years for structural defects and anything affecting the safety or stability of the building. Confirm which date starts your twelve months, because agreements differ between the Completion Certificate and the day you collected keys.
Can my fit-out contractor do the snagging instead?
A walk-through opinion and a formal inspection are different products. We do both: an engineer with instruments produces the snag report with photographs that goes to the developer, and the same visit gives us the measurements to price your fit-out. Where the two must stay apart is the developer's column of the list. Anything you intend to claim from the developer should be documented on its own merits, with readings and photographs, so the claim stands up whoever ends up doing the renovation work afterwards.
Will renovating during the DLP void the developer's warranty?
Not the whole of it. Interfering with a specific element normally ends cover for that element, so rewiring a room puts that circuit on you while the balcony membrane and the structure stay covered. Report and close the defects you already know about before you start, and keep the sign-offs.
How much should I hold back for defects found after work starts?
10 to 15 per cent of the contract sum is the working figure for hidden conditions in Dubai apartments. That is a client-side contingency for the unknown, and it sits separately from the contract price. Our scope and dates are fixed at signature, so the contingency covers discoveries rather than scope drift.