A free Word template for a new build or build stage survey report: progress against the specification, inspection by stage, compliance, the punch list and acceptance trials, with example findings graded A, B and C.
Download the Word template.DOCXA new build survey report records what you found at each stage of a yacht's construction, measured against the build contract, the specification and the standards they name. The buyer uses it to approve stage payments and keep the yard to the specification, and the punch list it carries decides what's finished before delivery.
Download the template in Word, or read on for what goes in each section.
The boat, the yard and the contract you're inspecting against. A new build survey checks the boat against what the buyer was promised, so name the documents.
Third stage visit to the builder's yard on 21 October 2026, hull 14 of the Sirena 68 range, built to specification revision D and change orders 1 to 6.
What stage the build had reached and what you were able to inspect. A structural defect is easiest to put right before it's covered, so list what will be closed up before your next visit.
Where the build stands against the contract. Buyers pay stage payments against progress, so be specific.
What you found at this stage, item by item. Each finding should say what the specification or standard requires and what the yard should do.
How the boat meets the standards the contract names. The yard certifies compliance, but your report should note anything that looks out of line.
Every open item in one numbered list, carried from visit to visit until the yard closes it. The punch list is often what the buyer and yard argue over at delivery.
P-23, raised 2 September 2026: fuel return line chafing on the engine bed frame, port side. Status: closed. Chafe guard and P-clips fitted, checked on 21 October 2026.
At the end of the build, the results of the harbour and sea trials against the contract figures.
Your statement, name, qualifications and signature.
Each finding says what the system is, where it is, what was found and what should be done, with a grade for how urgent it is. These are written the way Axsail writes them from what the surveyor says on board.
Hose bears on the edge of the engine bed frame with no chafe protection. Wear marks already visible.
Recommendation: Reroute and support the hose with P-clips and a chafe guard.
Seacock fitted without a backing block. The specification calls for a laminated backing pad on every through-hull below the waterline.
Recommendation: Fit a backing pad as specified before the area is closed up.
Secondary bond tabbing lifted at the upper edge over 120 mm, with a visible void.
Recommendation: Grind out the void and re-tab to the laminate schedule. Inspect the other bulkhead bonds on the starboard side.
Cables unsupported for about 1.2 m and laid across a sharp frame edge.
Recommendation: Support the run at intervals and protect it where it crosses the frame.
Fastenings not yet sealed, waiting for the next stage.
Recommendation: Check the sealing at the next visit.
Most expensive new build defects are ones that got closed up: a void behind a bulkhead bond, a seacock without its backing pad, a cable run behind fixed joinery. Each report should end with the items you need to see before the next stage covers them, and the yard should know that list before you leave.
Keep one punch list for the whole build, numbered once and never renumbered, with the date each item was raised and closed. A buyer arguing over an open item at delivery needs to show when it was raised. The same list becomes the warranty list after handover.
For how a new build compares with buying used, see how to buy a yacht.
Inspections of a yacht during construction on behalf of the buyer, at agreed stages such as lamination, structure, machinery installation and launch, checking the work against the contract, the specification and the standards it names. It ends with the acceptance trials and the punch list before delivery.
It depends on the size of the boat and the contract. A semi-custom yacht of 15 to 25 metres often has four to eight visits, timed before each stage closes up the work beneath it. Larger custom builds may have a surveyor on site.
The yard checks its own work against its own standards. A buyer's surveyor checks it against the buyer's contract and specification, and keeps the punch list that decides what must be done before delivery.
Yes. Download it, add your logo and terms, and use it for your own surveys. No sign-up.
Dictate as you inspect. Axsail builds the findings and the report for your signature
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