New home sale in Belmont, Stepaside, Dublin 18

Bells 1978

Dearg81 wrote: »

Hi Bells, it was posted earlier in the thread - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=88448699&postcount=168

Didn't see that!! Cheers

Victor

camo wrote: »

Will have to apply for that shotgun licence so.

Constructive posts only please.

Moderator

_John_luke

Hi All
Happened to speak with few of the first phase joiners in belmont and many people are complaining about fixes and constant repairs carried out in their homes due to improper build and patch work. Some of the issues discovered recently like as kitchen exhaust fitting and attic multiple leaks created lots of work in many houses. The builder seems to be supply boxes to cover hidden exhaust cheap cable fix which seen is one house and he said he had done it in many other houses too.

There are lots of complaints about quality of fixing used too. Some of them advised not to pay any money to the builder unless all issues in the snag list closed correctly otherwise they won't be checked later; waiting time for foreman and fixing person drastically increased since phase 2 launch as they are working in phase 2 etc..

if anyone knows about such issues please put it forwards so that the new customers will have a chance to solve such issues well before or they end up in such situation; the existing customers can also verify those issues hidden in house; such as water pools in garden due to building waste hidden in ground which was shown by one of the customer.

The rushed closure proposed by the builder for phase 2 may lead many customers to end up in this situation as phase 1 customers unless the snag list or structural verification is checked before payment. As a customer in the new phase ; very curious to know more cases like this specially to check during closure and would like to know more details of fixes solved by the builder in other phases as they seems to be affecting many houses..

camo

_John_luke wrote: »

Hi All
Happened to speak with few of the first phase joiners in belmont and many people are complaining about fixes and constant repairs carried out in their homes due to improper build and patch work. Some of the issues discovered recently like as kitchen exhaust fitting and attic multiple leaks created lots of work in many houses. The builder seems to be supply boxes to cover hidden exhaust cheap cable fix which seen is one house and he said he had done it in many other houses too.

There are lots of complaints about quality of fixing used too. Some of them advised not to pay any money to the builder unless all issues in the snag list closed correctly otherwise they won't be checked later; waiting time for foreman and fixing person drastically increased since phase 2 launch as they are working in phase 2 etc..

if anyone knows about such issues please put it forwards so that the new customers will have a chance to solve such issues well before or they end up in such situation; the existing customers can also verify those issues hidden in house; such as water pools in garden due to building waste hidden in ground which was shown by one of the customer.

The rushed closure proposed by the builder for phase 2 may lead many customers to end up in this situation as phase 1 customers unless the snag list or structural verification is checked before payment. As a customer in the new phase ; very curious to know more cases like this specially to check during closure and would like to know more details of fixes solved by the builder in other phases as they seems to be affecting many houses..

Are people entitled to have a proper lawn grown? There was grass put down but very poor job done. The lawns don't have proper topsoil and therefore are not growing properly. Garden's are full of stones, boulder clay, builders rubble, insulation, wood etc...

_John_luke

camo wrote: »

Are people entitled to have a proper lawn grown? There was grass put down but very poor job done. The lawns don't have proper topsoil and therefore are not growing properly. Garden's are full of stones, boulder clay, builders rubble, insulation, wood etc...

This garden issue is one of the main concern as the builder did not seems to work much on it ; have seen a pool of water accumulated in one of the garden as the soil is not absorbing water; developed deep cracks; frustrated customer is waiting for a resolution for weeks; the current clay-cement-stone mixture type soil may need to be fully removed. have seen similar soil behind many 2nd phase houses ; which may be given as is i guess or unless written in snag report otherwise...Any suggestions to improve this situation from people who knows more about this situation or what exactly to ask for to make sure builder adheres to some sort of standards ?

Bells 1978

Hi

Was up at the site over the weekend and I noticed that a larragh type house seemed to have erected a shutter over its car port? The car was parked outside the shutter across the path and jutting out onto the road. If this trend takes off in relation to the car ports then there are going major car parking & health & safety issues for people walking with prams and children.

Any thoughts???

_John_luke

Bells 1978 wrote: »

Hi

Was up at the site over the weekend and I noticed that a larragh type house seemed to have erected a shutter over its car port? The car was parked outside the shutter across the path and jutting out onto the road. If this trend takes off in relation to the car ports then there are going major car parking & health & safety issues for people walking with prams and children.

Any thoughts???

yea. i have seen that. the car seems to be permanently parked in footpath. All pedestrians are supposed to go through the middle of the road just to be kissed by another vehicle which could be coming from back or front. It is indeed a health and safety issue.

nakom

_John_luke wrote: »

yea. i have seen that. the car seems to be permanently parked in footpath. All pedestrians are supposed to go through the middle of the road just to be kissed by another vehicle which could be coming from back or front. It is indeed a health and safety issue.

Just wondering. Is not the owner of the house the owner of the driveway/footpath as well?
Meaning, is he not entitled to park there?

Dearg81

nakom wrote: »

Just wondering. Is not the owner of the house the owner of the driveway/footpath as well?
Meaning, is he not entitled to park there?

They would own the driveway but not the footpath, as it's a public footpath. It is against the law to park on it but I imagine you would not be very popular with the neighbours if you rang the Guards about it.

Bells 1978

The footpath is public & you are correct obstructing a footpath is an offence - I think it is a very dangerous precedent blocking the carport with shutters as car parking will be a nightmare & with cars parked on corners and curbs and little kids around the place it is an accident waiting to happen.
When is the management company being put in place?

Bex12

We placed a booking deposit down in Feb. We're still back and forth with queries on our contract for a number of things. There is one query in particular in relation to the car parking spots that is bothering us. We have requested that we have 2 designated spots that are allocated to our house. We have been told that we do not have any allocated spots, only stating that there is room for 2 spots outside the front of the house within the curtilage of the dwelling. This is something of a worry given the space, should some neighbor have a 3rd car they can freely take one of your 'spots' without you having a say in the matter. Has anyone else had any issues with this?
It's quite hard to fathom considering it's a housing estate, not an apartment complex.

Bells 1978

Interesting - I think that there are 2 spaces for each house?
I suppose it depends on the house type - do the carports not accommodate 2 cars?

Wallander

Our solicitor had also been keen to query this at first but they didn't know we would have the carport and I am just assuming nobody else is going to be parking in that or right in front of it in the second space.

For non-carport houses it looks fairly clear from the site maps which spaces are designated to which houses. Personally I would hope common sense would therefore easily sort out any problems but I wonder if the management company could act against any potential parking space stealers?

dunnetd

Hi, we are due to move in over the summer. Is UPC still not available in the estate? Other posters mentioned alternative provider options, can you tell me what Broadband providers are available?

_John_luke

Bells 1978 wrote: »

Hi

Was up at the site over the weekend and I noticed that a larragh type house seemed to have erected a shutter over its car port? The car was parked outside the shutter across the path and jutting out onto the road. If this trend takes off in relation to the car ports then there are going major car parking & health & safety issues for people walking with prams and children.

Any thoughts???

nakom wrote: »

Just wondering. Is not the owner of the house the owner of the driveway/footpath as well?
Meaning, is he not entitled to park there?

No one should be allowed to park in footpath as it is meant for pedestrians. The builder should take initiative to mark the parking areas appropriately. May be some of these "individual cases" would be solved once the management company is in place as they can advice the owner to refrain from such activities. As indicated in other posts the vehicle should be parked in the designated parking area in the contract.

T hawk 4

Hi , I have just recently bought in phase 2 and I am due to move in soon - UPC is not available in the area as the company called sky Conway have installed a dish to give residents 100mb fibre (already cabled) . There is also free to air satelite TV which works out great .
I think it works out at €27 per month for both contract free. I know i sound like an advert for Sky Conway but believe me i am not . I will trial it at the start and if it is not a fit then our only other option is Sky . I think you can order sky directly . I hope this helps.

copacetic

Do a search and read the horror stories about sky Conway from various developments they have sole access to, or have a look around the nearby developments and looks at all the people who have UPC mmds aerials or their own sky dish, which would have been quite a hassle to go to if sky Conway was a reasonable service provider.

T hawk 4

yeah i have heard some things but the fact that it is contract free i am willing to give them a chance . I spoke with their customer care and they seemed to have treated me well too . fingers crossed but i apprecite the heads up

Lillian123

T_Hawk, is that €27 a month include TV with SKY? And broadband?

Also what alarm company did people go with for this estate?

T hawk 4

Hi Lillian,

I think there is an install fee (not sure how much) . the €27 is for the 100mb fibre bb and the free to air TV satelite stations . These include all the normal stations that we are used to but not sky sports or movies . If you call them they will send you a full list of channels available. all the house are cabled for this service already . there is a communal dish that all the houses are cabled to . i saw that there are some houses from phase 1 that have put up there own sky dishes so they must have dealt directly with sky. im only guessing . I would also like to know who people are using for alarms in the estate? any reccomendations would be greatly appreciated .

Lillian123

Thanks T_Hawk for the information on the broadband and prices, its good to get an idea. Have you thought about where you are going to get your flooring from? We are pricing ours at the moment, its more expensive than I thought!!

Dearg81

T hawk 4 wrote: »

Hi Lillian,

I think there is an install fee (not sure how much) . the €27 is for the 100mb fibre bb and the free to air TV satelite stations . These include all the normal stations that we are used to but not sky sports or movies . If you call them they will send you a full list of channels available. all the house are cabled for this service already . there is a communal dish that all the houses are cabled to . i saw that there are some houses from phase 1 that have put up there own sky dishes so they must have dealt directly with sky. im only guessing . I would also like to know who people are using for alarms in the estate? any reccomendations would be greatly appreciated .

Sounds like good value. I'll be interested to hear how you feel after you start using the free to air and bb given their bad rep but you can't argue with the price.

Someone recommended an alarm company earlier in the thread - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=89222757&postcount=456

BTW I just noticed there a handy boards search tool for searching the thread under the page numbers if you are looking for keywords like alarms etc...

Eleysian

Moved into a new house last year - not far from you. I was shocked at the cost of flooring so following advice I went up to Irwins in Castleblayney. I saved almost €3,000 over quotes I had received in Dublin. When moving into a new house that money saved goes a long way!

Baileys4

T hawk 4 wrote: »

Hi , I have just recently bought in phase 2 and I am due to move in soon - UPC is not available in the area as the company called sky Conway have installed a dish to give residents 100mb fibre (already cabled) . There is also free to air satelite TV which works out great .
I think it works out at €27 per month for both contract free. I know i sound like an advert for Sky Conway but believe me i am not . I will trial it at the start and if it is not a fit then our only other option is Sky . I think you can order sky directly . I hope this helps.

Just to clarify that UPC tv is available and has been for 4+ months as previously mentioned in the thread. I understand from some neighbours & private messages that people are having difficulty getting UPC to come out but it is available in the estate and you'll see the little silver satellites on a handful of the houses. When they installed ours, we were told that the fibre cables were to be installed in early 2014, I don't know if this has happened yet but certainly worth asking about. I don't know why anyone would go with Sky Conway given their reputation which other posters have mentioned and also the higher cost

Baileys4

Bex12 wrote: »

We placed a booking deposit down in Feb. We're still back and forth with queries on our contract for a number of things. There is one query in particular in relation to the car parking spots that is bothering us. We have requested that we have 2 designated spots that are allocated to our house. We have been told that we do not have any allocated spots, only stating that there is room for 2 spots outside the front of the house within the curtilage of the dwelling. This is something of a worry given the space, should some neighbor have a 3rd car they can freely take one of your 'spots' without you having a say in the matter. Has anyone else had any issues with this?
It's quite hard to fathom considering it's a housing estate, not an apartment complex.

Hi Bex,

We had a similar query with our solicitor however as we purchased a property with parking within the footprint of title deed, it was covered. It is not necessarily a parking space but has been used as such and this is why it is not specified. This may be different for different properties e.g. Those with carports possibly only fit 1 car and therefore 2 cannot be provided or in the case of properties with parking designated to the front of the property but not included in the title, this could be a potential issue.

We haven't had an contact regarding the set up of manafement company yet however I'd imagine as more and more people move in, this will be put in place to address any issues with parking etc

chopper6

Baileys4 wrote: »

We haven't had an contact regarding the set up of manafement company yet however I'd imagine as more and more people move in, this will be put in place to address any issues with parking etc

I hope it justifies the three grand a year you're going to be paying them.

Baileys4

chopper6 wrote: »

I hope it justifies the three grand a year you're going to be paying them.

For someone who has such strong opinions on this thread, you don't seem to have many facts regarding the development.

_John_luke

Baileys4 wrote: »

Just to clarify that UPC tv is available and has been for 4+ months as previously mentioned in the thread. I understand from some neighbours & private messages that people are having difficulty getting UPC to come out but it is available in the estate and you'll see the little silver satellites on a handful of the houses. When they installed ours, we were told that the fibre cables were to be installed in early 2014, I don't know if this has happened yet but certainly worth asking about. I don't know why anyone would go with Sky Conway given their reputation which other posters have mentioned and also the higher cost

Thanks Baileys4. Contacted UPC just about two month ago and they confirmed that they were working towards getting services in to belmont. Good to know they have resolved it pretty quickly. Have you signed up with UPC in Belmont ? Spoke to few people and found skyconway service is also good as they offer fast connection with out contracts.

Baileys4

_John_luke wrote: »

Thanks Baileys4. Contacted UPC just about two month ago and they confirmed that they were working towards getting services in to belmont. Good to know they have resolved it pretty quickly. Have you signed up with UPC in Belmont ? Spoke to few people and found skyconway service is also good as they offer fast connection with out contracts.

Hi JohnLuke,

Yes we got UPC in about 5 months ago along with a few other neighbours for tv only though we haven't contacted them since about broadband so I can't comment on this.

Dublin_Mom

Baileys4 wrote: »

For someone who has such strong opinions on this thread, you don't seem to have many facts regarding the development.

To be fair, the idea of the boards is to express opinions, so not sure why you have a problem with this?