Notes for owners · Branding and communication
Handover day and snag lists: how the first week after possession shapes your reputation
A practical snag register, a named contact and a short handover-day routine that turn the owner's first complaints into proof of good conduct instead of a one-star review.
The GullySales team · Updated 17 Oct 2026 · 6 min read
Rules for this trade differ by state and professional body, and they change. Check the current position with your own council or adviser before you act on anything here.
On this page
A good handover is a written snag list, a named person who answers the phone, and a date against every item. The family walks into the flat, notes what is wrong, and leaves knowing who will fix it and when. That list and that contact decide what they post about you in the first week, which is a week in which a lot of your online reputation can be made or lost.
Why does this one week matter so much?
The owner has waited for years and paid in instalments. On possession day they see the flat as it really is for the first time. Any crack, uneven tile or door that does not close becomes a story they will tell relatives that evening.
If it is a story with no ending ("they said they would check"), it goes into the owners' group and then onto Google. If it has an ending ("item 7, tap leak, fixed on Thursday by Suresh"), it sounds like a builder who keeps their word.
You cannot make a flat perfect. You can control whether a problem has an owner, a date and a follow-up. That is the difference between a complaint and proof of conduct.
What goes into a snag register?
Use one sheet per flat, filled on the walk-through, with the family present. Photograph every item with the room name visible.
| No. | Room | What is wrong | Photo | Who fixes | Date promised | Date closed | Owner's initials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kitchen | Platform tile chipped near sink | Yes | Tiling foreman | |||
| 2 | Bedroom 2 | Window latch loose | Yes | Carpenter | |||
| 3 | Bathroom | Slow drain | Yes | Plumber | |||
| 4 | Passage | Paint patch visible | Yes | Painter |
The last two columns are the reputation columns. Many registers stop at "date promised". Closing the loop with the owner's initials is what proves you finished.
Add a "not a defect, explained" line for things the family called wrong that match the agreed specification. Write the reason and sign it. That avoids a later "you never told me".
What happens on the day, in order?
- Meet at the gate, not in the sales office. A named handover person welcomes the family, with the keys and file ready.
- Walk the flat together before any signature. Let the family speak first. Note every item as stated, even small ones.
- Sort items by who fixes them. Group by trade so your supervisor can assign them that evening.
- Agree dates item by item. If you do not know a date, say when you will tell them, and then do.
- Give the contact card. One person, one phone number, one WhatsApp. Not the sales team.
- Photograph the signed list and send the family a copy before they leave the building.
Do this with the family, not for them. A builder who ticks boxes alone and presents a clean list has told the family their opinion does not count.
Whether possession can be taken with items open, and what you owe afterwards, depends on your agreement and on rules that differ by state and change. Settle the wording with your own legal adviser before the first handover, not during it.
Who answers the phone in the first week?
One person, with authority to send a tradesman the same day. If the contact has to ask three people before replying, the family experiences it as being ignored.
Give that person a short script for the first call after possession:
"Good evening, this is Pradeep from the project team. I wanted to check that all four items on your list are scheduled. The plumber is booked for [day and window you have actually confirmed with the plumber]. Will someone be at home?"
It names the person, repeats the list and gives a window that the contact has already confirmed. Compare that with a general helpline, where the owner explains the problem again each time.
Where complaints arrive in volume, the routines in how to handle customer complaints and escalations apply directly.
What do you do about a bad post anyway?
Reply with the facts, once, in public, and take the rest to a private chat. "We have the list from possession day. Items 1 and 3 are closed, item 2 is scheduled for Friday. Our contact will call you today." Do not argue about tone and do not list the owner's flaws.
For the longer habits of replying to developer reviews, how real estate developers manage online reputation goes further.
Skip public replies if the issue involves a legal dispute or a safety matter. Take advice first.
Fixed, but unprovable: a tower in Bareilly (invented)
Take an invented builder in Bareilly who hands over the first tower of a project. The site supervisor makes promises by word of mouth: "We will fix it this week." Nothing is written down. Three families post that their snags have been ignored, and one uses the word "cheating".
Most of the work has in fact been done. But with no list, no dates and no initials, the builder cannot show it. For the second tower the team prints registers, appoints one handover person, and has each owner initial every closed item.
Fewer posts appear. When one does, the builder pastes the dated extract from the register into its reply. The register costs a day of a supervisor's time at each handover, and the supervisor resents it for the first few weeks. Some owners still write harshly about delays that have nothing to do with snags, and a register will not change that.
One tower, one sheet, one name
Print the register for the next handover. Name the contact before the date, not after. The sector context is on the real estate and construction hub. For the register, the contact and the reply routine across a whole project, see complaint and escalation management or tell us what you need.
