“What exactly do you inspect?” It is the question most buyers ask before entrusting us with the handover of their villa. Here is the answer, in the order the work is done.
The principle: we do not look, we make things work
A handover inspection is not a careful walk-through. It is a load test. A tap opened for three seconds reveals nothing; the same tap opened for two minutes while another outlet runs upstairs reveals insufficient pressure. An air conditioner blowing cold at a given moment says nothing about how well it is balanced between rooms.
That is why a 12,000 sqft villa takes one to two days, not a morning.
Structure and envelope
We start outside, because that is where the most expensive defects are — and the least visible from the living room.
- Façades: flatness, spalling, expansion joints, cladding fixings, signs of efflorescence.
- Waterproofing: flat roofs, upstands, drains, door and window thresholds. It is the number-one source of leaks in Dubai, where rain is rare but violent.
- External joinery: alignment, hardware, seals, frame drainage, operation of large sliding doors under load.
- Balustrades and terraces: heights, fixings, infill panels, drainage falls.
- External areas: levelling of terraces and paths, irrigation, outdoor lighting, soil levels against the walls.
Interior and finishes
This is the part buyers see — which is exactly why it has to be looked at differently.
- Marble and stone: layout, vein alignment, joint width and consistency, tap test with a mallet (a tile that sounds hollow is badly bonded and will come loose).
- Wood flooring: flatness, perimeter gaps, behaviour in an air-conditioned room.
- Internal joinery: doors, wardrobes, hardware, adjustments, flushness.
- Paint and ceilings: touch-ups, alignments, recessed lighting junctions, access hatches.
- Kitchens and bathrooms: fittings, connections, traps, ventilation, waterproofing of shower trays.
Building services
This is what distinguishes a technical inspection from a simple condition report, and it weighs most heavily in the costing.
- Air conditioning (VRF or chilled water): room-by-room balancing, supply temperature differences, condensate and drain falls, access to units for maintenance.
- Electrical: distribution boards, circuit labelling, protection devices, compliance with DEWA requirements, testing of every control point.
- Plumbing: simultaneous pressure, time to hot water, production and storage, drainage.
- Pool: structure, filtration, overflow, water level, plant room.
- Home automation, security, access control: testing every scenario, and above all handover of codes and administrator access — an item regularly forgotten at handover.
What comes out of the inspection
Three deliverables, and only one recipient: you.
- A complete photographic report, sorted by criticality, with each snag precisely located.
- A costing of the remedial work, as a low and high range.
- A snag list ready to submit to the developer, in a format they can process line by line.
Then a re-inspection after the works, to check that each item has actually been fixed — not just ticked off.
How many snags should you expect?
The question comes up often, and there is no honest average figure: it depends on the developer, the contractor, the pressure on delivery deadlines and the size of the property. A high number of snags is not necessarily a sign of poor construction; it is often the sign of a serious inspection.
What matters is not the count. It is the share of high-criticality snags, and the amount their remedy represents.
