HomePro House Inspections

Eoin

Hi,

Has anyone used HomePro House Inspections (http://www.homepro.ie) for a 2nd hand house purchase - or can anyone recommend a good surveyor for the South Dublin / Bray area? We're due to sign contacts this week, so would like to get a quick inspection done.

thanks,

Eoin

Eoin

Can nobody recommend a surveyor?

Pines

I recently had a survey done on a hundred year old house by an architect named Martin Ridge, who was recommended to me by BoI. He was extremely thorough, had the survey report in 2-3 days from my first phone call, and my only criticism was that he highlighted everything, almost putting me off buying the place when in fact the problems were not too severe (but that's a good surveyor's job, and they do cover their asses).

No website but I've PM'd his number to you.

godtabh

Pines wrote:

I recently had a survey done on a hundred year old house by an architect named Martin Ridge, who was recommended to me by BoI. He was extremely thorough, had the survey report in 2-3 days from my first phone call, and my only criticism was that he highlighted everything, almost putting me off buying the place when in fact the problems were not too severe (but that's a good surveyor's job, and they do cover their asses).

No website but I've PM'd his number to you.

For a 100 year house would you not want to get an engineer involved as well for structural reasons.

An architect wouldnt be able to assess that in his report. Out of interest did he?

Pines

kearnsr wrote:

For a 100 year house would you not want to get an engineer involved as well for structural reasons.

An architect wouldnt be able to assess that in his report. Out of interest did he?

His report commented on the structure all right. I'm not sure why you think an architect wouldn't be able to assess whether a typical Dublin redbrick house was structurally sound...

Victor

Only an engineer can do a 'structural report', the banks don't necessarily seek one. They just want to know the place isn't worth less than the mortgage. Most construction professionals doing snags or surveys will know when to call in an engineer.

Late Victorian and Edwardian buildings are generally sound structurally, but will typically need attention to damp, insulation and general maintainence. Older Victorian and Georgian buildings are much more likely to pose structural problems like sagging / bouncing floors and walls that are too slender.

That said, I know of one Edwardian terrace rotating on its foundations.

godtabh

Victor wrote:

Only an engineer can do a 'structural report', the banks don't necessarily seek one. They just want to know the place isn't worth less than the mortgage. Most construction professionals doing snags or surveys will know when to call in an engineer.

My understandig of OP was that he was looking for a report on the house rather than a report for the bank as he is about to sign contracts.

I was also under the impression for older house (>50 years old) that it is good practice to get a structural report done as well.

But as you said these house are built well and if there is structural issues they would be seen by now.

puffmullett

I'm moving to Bray shortly & used Advanced Surveys www.surveyor.ie (I think) & they were very good

Victor

kearnsr wrote:

I was also under the impression for older house (>50 years old) that it is good practice to get a structural report done as well.

I passed an late Georgian / early Victorian building on the street today. It looked relatively sound and I would have been able to do a survey of it. However, on closer inspection, there were widened joints in the brickwork above and below the windows, suggesting the building is or was settling sideways (there is a modern building to one side). Seeing that would mean I would qualify my report by saying this point needed to be examined by an engineer.

Eoin

puffmullett wrote:

I'm moving to Bray shortly & used Advanced Surveys www.surveyor.ie (I think) & they were very good

Thanks for that - very professional looking site. I had to go with one of the guys linked to on the myhome.ie site because nobody else would return my calls, and time was of the essence! Anyway, the guy I got seems to be quite good, but I'll reserve judgement till we move in, and the place stays standing!

Thanks for all your replies.

godtabh

Victor wrote:

I passed an late Georgian / early Victorian building on the street today. It looked relatively sound and I would have been able to do a survey of it. However, on closer inspection, there were widened joints in the brickwork above and below the windows, suggesting the building is or was settling sideways (there is a modern building to one side). Seeing that would mean I would qualify my report by saying this point needed to be examined by an engineer.

Are you an aritechet or surveyor or something else?

The point I was trying to make was that an arithect can’t do an engineers job and vice versa.

That’s why if I was looking at buying an old house like that I would look into more than a visual inspection.

I was looking at an old cottage a while back. We will have to get an architects report as its a protected structure and I'll be doing a structural report as we want to knock it down.

I wouldn’t be able to do the architects report and he wouldn’t do mine.