Engineers reports - buying a house

Loupylou

Hi all,
Im in the process of buying a house in Waterford and im loking for an engineer to give a look over the house to make sure there are no major issues. How much roughly should i expect to pay for this service?
The house is a detached house in a housing estate.
Also if anyone has any engineer recommendations please post them below.
Thanks

ladymuckmoo

We are also looking for a building surveyor to carry out a pre purchase building survey, did you find someone good in the end? any information would be helpful

AfterHrsProp

Loupylou wrote: »

Hi all,
Im in the process of buying a house in Waterford and im loking for an engineer to give a look over the house to make sure there are no major issues. How much roughly should i expect to pay for this service?
The house is a detached house in a housing estate.
Also if anyone has any engineer recommendations please post them below.
Thanks

You should expect to pay about 150 to 200 euro for a structural engineer's report depending on who you go to. Well worth it in the long run.

ladymuckmoo

I am being quoted 400 + vat at 23%, am I being ripped off. do you have names of engineers you'd recommend? I guess the price depends on the property type and location.

AfterHrsProp

ladymuckmoo wrote: »

I am being quoted 400 + vat at 23%, am I being ripped off. do you have names of engineers you'd recommend? I guess the price depends on the property type and location.

Thats very expensive, depends on what area you reside in to whether I can recommend you a good engineer or not. You should be looking at a max of 250 euro for a report like that.

ladymuckmoo

the property we are looking at is in kilmeaden, its standalone on .5 acre, 3 bed bungalow with private well and septic tank.

Bigcheeze

Don't go on price alone. This work is full of cowboys with no real qualifications. Use a qualified building surveyor and ask to see a sample report. It should be very detailed. It takes about 4 hours to properly survey a property. This then needs to be written up in a detailed report. (approx 10 pages). Better to spend 400 on something of value than 200 on a worthless report prepared by an incompetent person.

kkelliher

ladymuckmoo wrote: »

I am being quoted 400 + vat at 23%, am I being ripped off. do you have names of engineers you'd recommend? I guess the price depends on the property type and location.

I would think that is a reasonable price for a structural engineers report. There are two types of reports that can be provided, a structural engineers report or a prepurchase survey. A structural engineers report will generally be more detailed and will activly comment on the structure in all cases. A pre purchase survey is a visual inspection only which will highlight room sizes, general condition, concerns etc etc but it will not inspect the structure unless there is something visibly conerning.

A prepurchase survey will generally cost €150-200 plus VAT whereas a structural engineers report is general more expensive

AfterHrsProp

ladymuckmoo wrote: »

the property we are looking at is in kilmeaden, its standalone on .5 acre, 3 bed bungalow with private well and septic tank.

Sorry Im on the other side of the country to you, I dont know any structural engineers in that area, maybe someone else will post one for your area.

If they dont however, you should ring around to various different engineers in your area & get them to price you for the job. A quick search on golden pages or yourlocal.ie brings out numerous different engineers in your area. Go with the one that offers best value for money.

ladymuckmoo

Thanks to you both for your replies (AfterHrsProp and Bigcheeze), I'd realy like to get someone that comes recommended so if ye know of any reputable people, companies that would be great.

ladymuckmoo

thanks kkelliher maybe i'm calling it the incorrect name, i want a detailed report and insurance to cover anything that might be missed in the report. would love to hear from people with good feedback or experiences

fricatus

Sorry, this thread is confusing. Who is looking for the engineer? Loupylou or ladymuckmoo?

Let me know, as I can PM you a name of a guy in Waterford who we used, and were very happy with.

ladymuckmoo

well I am looking for one anyway, so if you could pass on the name that would be great.

gmisk

I can recommend abl surveyors (Dublin) I have used them on two houses, very very thorough and helpful, 300 euro inc vat.
I got another one done for 250 on a house and it wasnt a patch on it.

RATM

There is a poster on here called engineermike who is very knowledgeable on pyrite issues and has compiled maps of estates in Ireland where it has been discovered. It is a pertinent factor when buying any house these days as pyrite often doesn't show up for years after you've purchased the house. Whatever structural engineer people decide to use I'd suggest they make sure that they know their stuff when it comes to pyrite because according to official figues anywhere in the region of 40,000 houses are affected by it and the problem can cost somewhere in the region of €50,000 to put right.

I am not sure what part of the country engineermike he is based in but I'm sure he'll contribute to this thread whenever he is next online.

You can see one of his posts in this thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=83535213

fricatus

ladymuckmoo wrote: »

well I am looking for one anyway, so if you could pass on the name that would be great.

Sent you a PM there now.

ladymuckmoo

thank you all for replying, you are all very helpful

riclad

A full structural survey goes into great detail ,re any faults in the house ,structure, walls,roof, floors,
eg possible repairs needed, COST of repairs to bring it up to modern building standards.
eg things like,dry rot, bad insulation,bad foundations.IT can identify faults ,or small repairs needed that a non expert would not notice ,
or consider from just viewing a house.

jpd85

Hi. I've been reading a lot of the very helpful information on here re buying houses. Am also looking for an engineers report for a house I'm looking to buy. It's a fairly new 2006ish house but I'd like a detailed report before purchasing in the west waterford area. Any recommendations for engineers?
Thanks