Handover disputes are rarely about whether a defect exists. They are about whether it was closed, when, and by whose authority. A snag list that cannot answer those three questions is a list of opinions.
Severity has to mean something
A flat list treats a scratched skirting and a failed fire damper as the same item. Severity levels only work if they drive behaviour: critical items block the handover certificate, major items carry a fixed rectification window, minor items can pass to the DLP. Agree that mapping with the client before the first walkthrough, not during the last one.
Evidence, captured where the work happened
The before photograph is worth little without the after photograph and the timestamp between them. Both should be captured on site, from a phone, attached to the snag itself rather than sent to someone to file. When closure evidence lives in the record, the handover pack assembles itself.
The signature that ends the argument
Closure should require a named person to accept the rectification — normally the project manager, sometimes the client representative. That single step converts the snag register from an internal to-do list into a document you can put in front of a client at handover and have it accepted.
