Inspection checklist: Property Snagging Inspection Dubai | PROPERTY NINJA

The checklist is the scope of work. It is the list of points an inspector walks through on the day, and it decides what the report can possibly contain: a defect nobody looked for is a defect nobody finds. Reading it before you book is the closest thing to watching the inspection in advance.

Count the points, then read them. A headline number is easy to inflate — “300-point inspection” sounds thorough until the list turns out to count every socket in the flat separately. What matters is how many distinct things are checked, and whether the wording commits to anything.

Look for tests, not glances. “Check bathroom” commits to nothing. “Fill basin, drain, check trap for leaks and confirm fall” commits to a result. The difference between two checklists is usually the difference between those two sentences, repeated a hundred times.

Check the systems that cost the most to fix later. AC temperature split and drainage, waterproofing in wet areas, distribution-board labelling and RCD trip tests, window and door seals, floor level and tile hollowness. These are the items that turn into five-figure problems after the defect liability period ends.

Note what is excluded. A good checklist says what it does not cover — roof access, pools, landscaping, anything behind a permanent finish — so you find out before the inspection rather than after the report lands.

Two companies can quote the same price for very different days of work. The checklist is where that difference is visible.