Churchfields, Ashbourne

Mk30

XelmoX wrote: »

That's mad I didn't think they could change something so obvious!

I hope you are not disappointed by the change in the bricks! Yellow brick sounds cool though.

Yeah me neither! A little disappointed but can't change it now. Ours will still be red brick so im happy with that!

23ChaChaCha

Hi everyone I am buying a house built by Cairns in the new development Shackleton Park in Lucan. Its a mid terrace house and I am wondering if any of you have any feedback about noise transfer between walls?

Thanks

AoifeMoloney

Hi all. We have also bought in Churchfields Park. We were told when we paid the booking deposit that house would be ready in June/July. Now we are being told September. We are under pressure having sold our own house. Does anyone have a factual timing from the Builder's?

yannakis

AoifeMoloney wrote: »

Hi all. We have also bought in Churchfields Park. We were told when we paid the booking deposit that house would be ready in June/July. Now we are being told September. We are under pressure having sold our own house. Does anyone have a factual timing from the Builder's?

Hi Aoife! In which part of the hood are you? We're in the Blue and have initially been told October.

yannakis wrote: »

yannakis

23ChaChaCha wrote: »

Hi everyone I am buying a house built by Cairns in the new development Shackleton Park in Lucan. Its a mid terrace house and I am wondering if any of you have any feedback about noise transfer between walls?

Thanks

Only saw your message now, sorry :rolleyes:

Parkside is also built by Cairn. There are way more occupied terraced houses at this stage, and many more active users in the thread - maybe they can help.

XelmoX

Hey Aoife!

We bought in Churchfields Close and we were told October/November.

We went up there like 2 weeks ago and the houses are really progressing. 18 - 23 Churchfields Park look like they are nearly finished, roofs are on and everything. 23-30 are not as far along but getting there.

If you are nervous, get in touch with Cairn or ask you solicitor to follow up with them to maybe get a more definite date. Who told you September? I wouldn't listen to anyone other than Cairn. The estate agents don't know anything.

Dogberto

Hey guys!

Myself and my fiancée have put the booking deposit on a house in the estate, but our solicitor has raised serious flags about the contracts.

He says that the water supply system is private and will be turned over to the owners' management company?

He said there was a few special conditions that he had been through that led him to conclude that he "wouldn't touch this with a bargepole".

Has anyone else had this experience? We were so happy with the house and are devastated.

yannakis

Hey @Dogberto! Can you specify these special conditions from your solicitor?

There is a water treatment plant at one edge of the estate, and running cost is included in the yearly maintenance fees. We've been told that once the whole estate is completed, Cairn will apply for connection to the mains which might take a long time. To be honest, as long as we have water, I don't see this being a problem

Dogberto

Hey Yannakis! I'm not fully clear on the contracts because he's only just reviewed them, but he said that he essentially wouldn't be able to sign off on us getting marketable title with the way the contracts are written.

Did you have any issues with this?

His issue is that once the management company own the water facility, if it breaks down, the residents are liable.

We're caught between trusting his opinion and being disappointed about it, if that makes sense?

yannakis

Dogberto wrote: »

Hey Yannakis! I'm not fully clear on the contracts because he's only just reviewed them, but he said that he essentially wouldn't be able to sign off on us getting marketable title with the way the contracts are written.

In my eyes, your solicitor has to interpret what's written in the contracts, relay the information to you, and give you advice. You will be the ones making the final decision with their help. So with all the respect, what you're describing doesn't sound very professional..

Meet with them and discuss all elements under question - you need to understand everything (besides the water facility).

XelmoX

Our solicitor didn't have a problem with the water supply. He said it is unusual but nothing to be worried about. The county council will take control of it eventually is what we were told but no specific dates given.

The water supply could possibly be better than than the mains supply but also could be worse. The fact that it is newly built would make me think it will be reliable. There's no way to know until you're in. There are people living there already using the water supply and i haven't heard any complaints. My main concern is the water pressure but we won't know until we move in. We signed the contracts a few months back and our solicitor had no problems with that. I trust my solicitor completely as i have used him for several thing in the past with no issues.

Chap87

Dogberto wrote: »

Hey Yannakis! I'm not fully clear on the contracts because he's only just reviewed them, but he said that he essentially wouldn't be able to sign off on us getting marketable title with the way the contracts are written.

Did you have any issues with this?

His issue is that once the management company own the water facility, if it breaks down, the residents are liable.

We're caught between trusting his opinion and being disappointed about it, if that makes sense?

Hi Dogberto

Our solicitor had a couple of queries similar sounding to what you have had.
Firstly there was a little bit of confusion as to the land itself and who currently owns it etc... this was a little complex due to the estate being effectively added on to an existing development. Ultimately he went away and did some research and spoke to a few other solicitors who had sold properties in Churchfields and was ultimately happy with everything that he found out, it just wasn't as straight forward as A transfers to B. Perhaps your solicitor may just need to do a little more digging.

For the water supply it was similar, he found it unusual but it seems that it isn't too uncommon for new developments that are on the outskirts of towns due to the current demand for housing and the rate they are being put together.
There are a few points to note.
1. The estate is going to be in development for quite a while due to the next phases ultimately stretching out the length of the GAA club and from what I recal may be up to the edge of the N2, so it could take a while before it is handed over to the owners/management comitee.
2. Our solicitor didn't have concerns over breakdown of equipment etc... but his concern was over the well drying up. Agai after looking into this a bit more, we all came to the conclusion that as this isn't just 1 or 2 houses running off the supply there are a good few hundred and if something were to happen it would be a BIG problem for the local council, they wouldn't be able to let that many households go long without water, there would be major problems.
We should also consider that the management fees that are paid should include the maintenance for the supply, so as long as it is maintained we can hope for no issues! There's always pressure that can be applied on the council further down the line where we all think they should speed up with getting us connected to the mains!

That's my feedback for you anyway, hope it helps neigbourino!

yannakis

XelmoX wrote: »

My main concern is the water pressure but we won't know until we move in. We signed the contracts a few months back and our solicitor had no problems with that. I trust my solicitor completely as i have used him for several thing in the past with no issues.

There's a pressure pump in every house - in the C type it is under the staircase (accessible from the utility room).

aburayaa

yannakis wrote: »

Hey future neighbour!

We were originally told snagging is estimated for end of Oct, but roof and windows are already on our property since last week. So we have a feeling that snagging might be earlier than that.

We are in the blue area below. Are you in the orange area or further west?

Hi!

How are you? We're also in the blue area.
As far as I am aware, first fix is complete for our house. I think the build is progressing well, (I hope so at least), I hope snagging will be as expected by October.

A couple of quick questions please:
* Do you know a good snagger that you can recommend (or even where do we look?)
* Any information when the actual Park will be ready? I heard March 2018?
* For the water softener/filter etc. any recommendations?
* Do we have UPC internet there? How's the quality/speed like?
* Is the planned Creche actually approved/confirmed? That would be handy for our daughter.

Lots of questions, sorry :-)

Dogberto

Chap87 wrote: »

Hi Dogberto

Our solicitor had a couple of queries similar sounding to what you have had.
Firstly there was a little bit of confusion as to the land itself and who currently owns it etc... this was a little complex due to the estate being effectively added on to an existing development. Ultimately he went away and did some research and spoke to a few other solicitors who had sold properties in Churchfields and was ultimately happy with everything that he found out, it just wasn't as straight forward as A transfers to B. Perhaps your solicitor may just need to do a little more digging.

For the water supply it was similar, he found it unusual but it seems that it isn't too uncommon for new developments that are on the outskirts of towns due to the current demand for housing and the rate they are being put together.
There are a few points to note.
1. The estate is going to be in development for quite a while due to the next phases ultimately stretching out the length of the GAA club and from what I recal may be up to the edge of the N2, so it could take a while before it is handed over to the owners/management comitee.
2. Our solicitor didn't have concerns over breakdown of equipment etc... but his concern was over the well drying up. Agai after looking into this a bit more, we all came to the conclusion that as this isn't just 1 or 2 houses running off the supply there are a good few hundred and if something were to happen it would be a BIG problem for the local council, they wouldn't be able to let that many households go long without water, there would be major problems.
We should also consider that the management fees that are paid should include the maintenance for the supply, so as long as it is maintained we can hope for no issues! There's always pressure that can be applied on the council further down the line where we all think they should speed up with getting us connected to the mains!

That's my feedback for you anyway, hope it helps neigbourino!

Thanks so much! We'll see about the neighbour part! I really hope we can get past this.

yannakis

aburayaa wrote: »

How are you? We're also in the blue area.
As far as I am aware, first fix is complete for our house. I think the build is progressing well, (I hope so at least), I hope snagging will be as expected by October.

A couple of quick questions please:
* Do you know a good snagger that you can recommend (or even where do we look?)
* Any information when the actual Park will be ready? I heard March 2018?
* For the water softener/filter etc. any recommendations?
* Do we have UPC internet there? How's the quality/speed like?
* Is the planned Creche actually approved/confirmed? That would be handy for our daughter.

Lots of questions, sorry :-)

Hey welcome!! Foreman told us today to expect snagging before October, so happy days :pac:

- Found a decent snagger through the forum, he already did a property in Churchfields and had good feedback about Cairn. Most probably going with him.
- Leaning towards Clack water softener but haven't decided on the particular model yet. Thinking to add reverse osmosis filter for drinking water but not very convinced yet.
- Afaik there is Virgin Media and Eir provision in all houses, but that's all I know. Would actually be interested to hear how long it takes for the initial connection.

Don't know about the park and the creche

aburayaa

yannakis@ Thank you! That was helpful

Thepeoplesarmy

Dogberto wrote: »

Hey guys!

Myself and my fiancée have put the booking deposit on a house in the estate, but our solicitor has raised serious flags about the contracts.

He says that the water supply system is private and will be turned over to the owners' management company?

He said there was a few special conditions that he had been through that led him to conclude that he "wouldn't touch this with a bargepole".

Has anyone else had this experience? We were so happy with the house and are devastated.

Churchfields is not a new estate,I bought my house here 10yrs ago,although you guys are buying into the new builds,however there's not been any issues with the water well,yes it's private and so what?.

Churchfields is a great estate and you guys are getting it for a fraction of what we paid then,you guys are definitely getting the value for the money you paying.

yannakis

New satellite imagery is available! Google has it dated 7 May but I believe it's a few weeks before that:




Visible on Google Maps on my android phone but not through browsers on my laptop https://goo.gl/maps/c8aAYKahZVP2

Visible on Google Earth desktop but not web based Google Earth https://earth.google.com/web/@53.50799129,-6.40830944,65.89549681a,433.93439914d,35y,0h,0t,0r

Lexoi

Hi guys, we signed the contracts about a month ago for a C2 type house in the area marked blue.
I've been trying to get in contact with some new buyers for ages as I had loads of questions.
We live in Ashbourne so I go by the new house almost everyday:)

The estate agent told us that the house will be ready for snagging in September but in the valuation doc it says 15th of October, they seem to be pretty fast with the building though.

We were trying to get the floor plans to include the square meters but no one could provide us with it:)). Also we we're trying to get the plan for our house as it's positioned differently from the showhouse but no luck either.

We were in contact with the developer and asked if we can get upgrades but we were told no, and that the house comes as the showhouse. We were given the website for the kitchen provider and the guys that fitted the flooring, as we were trying to get a quote for the flooring too, but we weren't given too much info on it.

Also tried to get a list with everything that will be included in the house but no luck. I was hoping that we'll have a choice in stuff like position of the wall sockets.

We were really upset when we noticed our house doesn't have the same amount of solar panels as the showhouse and we almost didn't sign the contracts due to this, the developer's explanation was quite reasonable but I still think it was due to them trying to cut out costs.

Regarding the contracts, it was a little bit of back and forth with them as our solicitors didn't accepted a few conditions but everything was fine in the end.

It says in the contracts that we won't be able to put a satellite dish on the house unless we get the approval from the management group, anyone else knows if this is true? If it's true, is there other way we can get television?

Any idea if there's a Facebook group for new residents in Churchfields as it would be easier for me to follow? Very exciting times ahead and loads of questions about flooring, furniture shops etc.

yannakis

Hey @Lexoi, welcome!! Our houses are probably progressing at the same pace so I'll try to answer what I can:

Floor plan - exact measurements might vary from house to house so they purposely avoid sharing them.

Upgrades/kitchen - we were able to opt-out from installing the kitchen about 6 weeks ago, got Nolans credit and will make adjustments to accommodate our custom plan after closing.

Upgrades/sockets - plaster walls are in the houses already (and all cabling is behind that). We asked a question about moving sockets last week and got a negative answer.

Television - there is Eir and Virgin Media cabling in all houses so I guess we're sorted :cool:

Exciting times indeed, we're also visit the site at least once a week. And we currently live in D15. Haven't found a facebook group, but if you create one share the link here and I'll follow

Out of curiosity, what was Cairn's explanation about the solar panels?

Lastly, if you haven't met them already, Jim and Kevin on site are extremely helpful!

Lexoi

Thanks @Yannakis for your reply.
In regards with floor planning, I understand there are all different but you can't find our type of house even in the brochure😂.
Solar panels- they said our house has less photovoltaic panels as has a good positioning and we will get the same amount of electricity as the other houses, they are covered as the house will be A3( hopefully)
I was talking with Kevin on the phone in regards with the whole solar panels situation, never met him or Jim.
How do you meet them? Do you just go over there on the site and ask for them or schedule a meeting?
Were you able to get into the house already?
I'm very surprised that no one even mentioned the fact that we can get credit for the kitchen.
Not great with Facebook but I'll try to set up something, I was trying to find one when we had loads of questions but I could only find the actual one from Churchfields residents and you need a proof of property to get into it.
Have you started to have a look at floors? Any idea about costs?

Lexoi

Ok, managed to create a Facebook group, it's called Churchfields Ashbourne New Residents, feel free to join!

XelmoX

Hi Lexoi,

If you contact Cairn, they should be able to give you the floorplans. We got them for ours no problem, but ours is a D type.

yannakis

Lexoi wrote: »

I was talking with Kevin on the phone in regards with the whole solar panels situation, never met him or Jim.
How do you meet them? Do you just go over there on the site and ask for them or schedule a meeting?
Were you able to get into the house already?
I'm very surprised that no one even mentioned the fact that we can get credit for the kitchen.
Not great with Facebook but I'll try to set up something, I was trying to find one when we had loads of questions but I could only find the actual one from Churchfields residents and you need a proof of property to get into it.
Have you started to have a look at floors? Any idea about costs?

Yes, just ask the security guy at the entrance of the site and they'll call Jim/Kevin over.

Fiance went on site to speak with Kevin this Monday, and got a quick tour inside the house. She was completely unprepared and subsequently completely overwhelmed! Myself, on the other hand, was just sitting at my desk at work furiously jealous

Kitchen credit is not "promoted" as such, and also not a great deal tbh because Nolans will price your kitchen at individual customer rates, and deduct the credit (which is based on Cairn's corporate rate). We had a very different kitchen plan in mind and unfortunately were too late for Cairn to accommodate moving pipes etc. So we decided to install the kitchen (and move the pipes) after closing. Meanwhile we explored the market; initially looked at IKEA kitchens, and now we're finalising plans with another vendor.

We looked into Quickstep and Balterio laminate flooring, both look realistic when comparing to tiles/engineered wood and come with 20-30 years warranty. Have you looked at any options?

Lexoi wrote: »

Ok, managed to create a Facebook group, it's called Churchfields Ashbourne New Residents, feel free to join!

Can't seem to find it through search, care sharing a link?

Lexoi

Told you I was useles with Facebook, can't post the link as I'm a new user here, I'll PM you and maybe you can post it?

I asked Cairn for the floor plans and they provided it, but with no square meters like in all the floor plans from the brochure. I would have been happy even with the showhouse floor plan with the square meters, but no luck. Was told to go to the showhouse and measure it😂.
No idea about flooring yet, that's why I'm asking as we only started to think about what we need now.
How exciting to see your house! We were thinking about asking but weren't sure if it's allowed. We'll go over today:)
Sure, if you guys get onto Facebook it will be easier to discuss all these

yannakis

Sure, here's the link for everyone https://www.facebook.com/groups/1001232863346744

XelmoX

You can use this for calculating square meters. https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/construction/square-footage-calculator.php Alwayd add an extra 10-15% for wastage when buying floors.

yannakis

@XelmoX what kind of flooring are you thinking about if I may ask?

Lexoi

Thank you! Hopefully I'll manage to get into the house next week and take some measurements.