Hidden Costs with a New Built Home

masterboy123

So I am looking for what are the hidden costs associated when you buy a new built ready made home and this may help new potential buyers.

Yesterday I came to know that electric fittings are not included, so it has definitely brought down our budget on furniture.

What I can gather are the following costs so far (minimum to average maximum) :-

1. Solicitors fees and associated legal expenses - 2500 to 3500.

2. 1% stamp duty on total cost of the house.

3. Electric fittings (if not included) - 1500 to 5000.

4. White Goods (washing machine, fridge, dish washer, etc) - 5000 to 20,000.

5. Furniture (depending if wardrobes included) - 3000 to 30,000.

6. Bathroom (shower head and shower door not included in ours) - 1000 to 5000.

7. Tilings and floorings - 2000 to 10,000.

8. Curtains - 600 to 3000.

9. Alarm system (depending on which type) - 300 per year on annual subscription or once off 1500.

10. Snagging cost - 250 to 400. (recommended)

11. Costs with new utility connections - 200 to 500.

12. ? Unexpected costs when moving in - 500 to 2000.

13. Rainy day funds - 5000 to 10,000.


P. S. If you're getting a mortgage, then look for cashback offers. I got 2% cashback deal.


Hope this helps. Any missing points are welcome and will be added to this list.

drunkmonkey

Careful with those cashback deals look at the total cost of the loan including interest, some are good deals but keep and eye on the APR as it can make a sizeable difference over the course of the loan. Paying the mortgage twice a month can also have a compuding effect on how quick you get the LTV down.

Your probably over shooting a little on some of those costs but it gives your wiggle room.

Seen as there giving you half a shower, I'd enquire about the option to put in a pressurised water system in the house (basically a pump beside the hot water cylinder) and a larger hot water tank, that'll give you good powerful rain type showers and good pressure from the taps. It's a little luxury but one you'll use every day.
If there supplying toilets and sinks they'll probably just put in cheap ones if you have the option to supply or choose your own take it and pick a good brand, nothing worse than a bad toilet.

You've budgeted just under 100k to get a new house fixed up, shop around and you'll half that or more. It's a huge amount to be spending after buying.
Just buy quality items and you won't have to replace them after a coupe of years.

Amazon warehouse and some of the German household websites are your friend. Massive savings to be made.

awec

10k seems optimistic to tile and floor a new house unless it's very small.

No idea how you'd do it for 2k.

masterboy123

Basic floor and tiling are included in most new builts, so it's a top up on existing basic flooring.

Hope this sounds within the range.

awec wrote: »

10k seems optimistic to tile and floor a new house unless it's very small.

No idea how you'd do it for 2k.

drunkmonkey

There's a big cost difference between laminate and good wooden or engineerd floor. Big cost difference in laying it as well.
All depends on the size of the house of course, you can save a lot on floors if you shop around as some places might have some left over from a previous job that might suit one of your rooms.

Gumbo

Some Figures there are close and some are way off.
I wouldn’t class them as hidden costs either.

Every new build estate in the country comes with sockets, face plates and standard hanging pendants including low energy bulbs. Your case seems to be strange or it’s a one off build that you didn’t price for these items at the start.

Electric fittings : in a new build, it will just be light fittings.
White goods : 20k would be expensive. Your typical 3 bed semi would cost 4Kish and that would be decent appliances but I do appreciate that different tastes can come into play here. I done my full kitchen from power city 2 years ago. Larder fridge, larder freezer, dishwasher, machine, hob, double oven built in and built in microwave for less than 4K.

Furniture : taste comes in again. Also depends if your starting from scratch or moving etc

Bathroom : no shower head is a strange finish by a developer. I have never seen a development without a shower head. Shower doors are normally extra alright.

Flooring : yeah I spent 10k on tiles and flooring for 125 Sq. M fitted so it’s about right. Can be done a lot cheaper but we spent extra on the ground floor tiling.

Did you buy in a. Estate or a one off build?

Hani Kosti

What was the cost of the house if nothing was included??? Our house came with electric fittings, tiled bathrooms and utility, shower heads and doors, built-in wardrobes and utility was connected. All of this seems to be standard these days
The main expense for us was
Solicitor fees
Stamp duty
Flors
Furniture
Blinds
Alarm
Shed
We received a voucher upon signing which covered fair amount of appliances

tusk

masterboy123 wrote: »

1. Solicitors fees and associated legal expenses - 2500 to 3500.

2. 1% stamp duty on total cost of the house.

Solicitor will get Stamp duty sorted for you. I remember getting my solicitors invoice and not expecting that. Nearly had a heart attack.

masterboy123 wrote: »

7. Tilings and floorings - 2000 to 10,000.

We floored our house with laminate and carpet for about 4.5k, some quotes were coming in at 12k+ (130ish sqm)

masterboy123 wrote: »

9. Alarm system (depending on which type) - 300 per year on annual subscription or once off 1500.

You'll likely have an annual fee for a sim card too if you want texts and alerts to your phone. We also had to pay a few bob for the HKC app to enable us to set alarm remotely etc.

masterboy123 wrote: »

11. Costs with new utility connections - 200 to 500.

New connection fee is generally only if you don't do direct debit afaik.

masterboy123 wrote: »

12. ? Unexpected costs when moving in - 500 to 2000.

There is no max limit to unexpected costs lol. Every extra penny we have goes into unexpected costs!.

Gumbo

tusk wrote: »

You'll likely have an annual fee for a sim card too if you want texts and alerts to your phone. We also had to pay a few bob for the HKC app to enable us to set alarm remotely etc.

I have the HKC system as well but I don’t have the app. I just have a PAYG SIM card in there and I top up by €5 every 6 months. I can also control remotely by text message.

awec

masterboy123 wrote: »

Basic floor and tiling are included in most new builts, so it's a top up on existing basic flooring.

Hope this sounds within the range.

Are they?

Not sure flooring is usually offered, and there's usually a tiling allowance that doesn't come close to covering the cost.

tusk

kceire wrote: »

I have the HKC system as well but I don’t have the app. I just have a PAYG SIM card in there and I top up by €5 every 6 months. I can also control remotely by text message.

Yep, sorry. The app is of course optional. But worth the 10er or whatever it was for me

the_pen_turner

I wouldn't call any of those hidden. Most are peitty obvious

Gumbo

tusk wrote: »

Yep, sorry. The app is of course optional. But worth the 10er or whatever it was for me

Yeah to be honest if I was doing it again I’d probably go for the app. It’s worth noting that if you go with the sim only option at the start (like I did) then you can’t just opt into the app later as the h it that holds the SIM card has to be swapped out too as you pay the sim fees to hkc.

Sheep Shagger

Am about to close on a new build...with the exception of stamp duty you have to shop around. We've had massive variances in quotes on various things.

White goods can be done for well under 5k unless you are going top end (ours are coming as part of the house but we did do research).

We got tiles in the bathrooms but have to do elsewhere, coming in at about €8k for a 179sqm house (wood and carpet).

Alarm coming in at €900 - installed but no ongoing monitoring.

Light fittings will be under a grand (incl splashing out on a fitting from Bo Concept).

Blinds throughout- €1500

Actually have 2k aside for random bits and pieces but we know that is a pure guess and the sky is the limit if you let it.

wench

masterboy123 wrote: »

2. 1% stamp duty on total cost of the house.

For a new build, it isn't based on the total house price, you take away the 13.5% VAT first.
So a house costing 227K would pay stamp duty on 200K

masterboy123

@Kceire:

It's a house from a development, they are building 18 houses and we have got one of them.
The competition was high enough when we signed the contracts last Christmas.

Gumbo

masterboy123 wrote: »

@Kceire:

It's a house from a development, they are building 18 houses and we have got one of them.
The competition was high enough when we signed the contracts last Christmas.

From a completion and Building Regulation sign off, they have to provide sockets, switches, and lighting pendants (standard drop down white wire with low energy bulbs).

From your other posts, it appears the developer is not providing this.

Something underhand appears to be going on.

masterboy123

Do you think builder is robbing us?

Is there any official document available on this please?

kceire wrote: »

From a completion and Building Regulation sign off, they have to provide sockets, switches, and lighting pendants (standard drop down white wire with low energy bulbs).

From your other posts, it appears the developer is not providing this.

Something underhand appears to be going on.

ted1

awec wrote: »

10k seems optimistic to tile and floor a new house unless it's very small.

No idea how you'd do it for 2k.

4k is. Is very reasonable for an average 90m house avoid expensive wooden floors the mark easily. The likes of kronoswiss are excellent laminate.

No electric fittings sounds dodgy as a sparks can’t sign it off. Double check.

Gumbo

masterboy123 wrote: »

Do you think builder is robbing us?

Is there any official document available on this please?

All depends on what you bought.
The houses may be advertised as needing all these extras, which you knew about then your grand if prices have been reflected.

But, in order to sell, the builder has to get a CCC from building control and I know in Dublin, he wont get a validated CCC if theres no sockets etc

masterboy123

It's around 120 m2.

What wooden floor rating would you recommend? AC rating.

I am going to check about the electric fittings.

ted1 wrote: »

4k is. Is very reasonable for an average 90m house avoid expensive wooden floors the mark easily. The likes of kronoswiss are excellent laminate.

No electric fittings sounds dodgy as a sparks can’t sign it off. Double check.

drunkmonkey

ted1 wrote: »

4k is. Is very reasonable for an average 90m house avoid expensive wooden floors the mark easily. The likes of kronoswiss are excellent laminate.

Laminate is printed cardboard no comparison under foot and looks. Those marks are memories and a good one shouldn't mark easily and there easy clean. A good engineered floor would add value to a house.

Anything but tiles, your future kids will thank you when they bang their heads.

masterboy123

Yes that's what was written in the contract. I am going to double check with the builder now.

kceire wrote: »

All depends on what you bought.
The houses may be advertised as needing all these extras, which you knew about then your grand if prices have been reflected.

But, in order to sell, the builder has to get a CCC from building control and I know in Dublin, he wont get a validated CCC if theres no sockets etc

ted1

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Laminate is printed cardboard no comparison under foot and looks. Those marks are memories and a good one shouldn't mark easily and there easy clean. A good engineered floor would add value to a house.

Anything but tiles, your future kids will thank you when they bang their heads.

It far more than cardboard, that’s just an uneducated snobbery remark.

As for memories that’s just rubbish. Ah look isn’t that a lovely memory, the day your sister came over in her high heels to give you back your bag...and left marks all over the place.

I dint know anyone who got a solid wooden floor and dint regret it. They just don’t wear well.

I would suggest you look at krinoswisss
https://www.swisskrono.com/ch-en/products/flooring/#/. They offer 14mm which is thicker than the cheap stuff drunkmonkey is talking about

If you do go a laminate/ wood etc Get hem fitted before the skirting so you dint need to add beading for expansion as they will sit under the skirting

drunkmonkey

I didn't regret it, wooden floors throughout including the kitchen and one upstairs bathroom as there was too much flex to put down tiles in it. I use laminate in work and usually tear it up after a few years as it turns into mush in high traffic.
I put down laminate in one room as ran out of budget and it just looks fake compared to all the rest.
It has it's place but isn't comparable to the real thing.
We could go to and fro all day on it as I completely disagree with you based on experience, we've no high heel marks anywhere, we did in one room but I just sanded it down and refinished it, that was after 20yrs of high heels though, now it's good for another 20 or more.

ted1

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I didn't regret it, wooden floors throughout including the kitchen and one upstairs bathroom as there was too much flex to put down tiles in it. I use laminate in work and usually tear it up after a few years as it turns into mush in high traffic.
I put down laminate in one room as ran out of budget and it just looks fake compared to all the rest.
It has it's place but isn't comparable to the real thing.
We could go to and fro all day on it as I completely disagree with you based on experience, we've no high heel marks anywhere, we did in one room but I just sanded it down and refinished it, that was after 20yrs of high heels though, now it's good for another 20 or more.

Poor quality laminate is different than 14mm stuff like kronoswiss.

I put down the cheap laminate in rental properties as you can change it every few years fir cheap. But I wouldn’t think about putting it in my house.

awec

Laminate is a lot better than it used to be. When we bought our floors we went with the intention of getting engineered wood, but we ended up going for Kronoswiss instead.

drunkmonkey

I've to do a place in a month or two, I'll take a look at it as an option, preference would still be engineered if you can get it at comparable prices. That's why I was saying to hunt around for some left over from a bigger job, lost or places just have it sitting in their storerooms.

awec

Of course engineered wood would be the preference if a similar price, but it's pretty much never the same price or anywhere close.

Also, some engineered floors have ongoing maintenance requirements where they need to be re-treated every 18-24 months I think. Worth asking the floor guys about this.

Muahahaha

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Amazon warehouse and some of the German household websites are your friend. Massive savings to be made.

Can I ask what these German websites are and are they set up to deliver heavy goods like sinks/toilets to Ireland? Any good brands to look out for?

masterboy123

So the flooring has brought up a totally new issue. I have seen Tegola flooring and attached 2 pictures. Is it smiliar to kronoSwiss?

Also what's the approx. price per square meter for a good laminated floor? Such as KronoSwiss.

3rd picture is for carpet flooring for stairs and our bedrooms, prefer a nice carpet in rooms. It's called Sublime and cost is 40 euros per square meter.

Thanks everyone. It's really helping me.

P.S. Apologies the pictures got inverted for some reason. Hope you can view it.

ted1

Never heard of tegola but it quickly looked it up and it seems to be thinner than kronoswiss.

12mm v 14mm

drunkmonkey

Don't rule out engineered if you can stretch to it. The sticker prices on those pictures weren't far off some of these https://www.woodfloorwarehouse.ie/engineered-wood-flooring

Someone asked for some site's, plenty out there like SkyBad for bathrooms https://www.skybad.de/en/ shipping is cheap.
I've saved a bit on https://www.mk2shop.co.uk as well.

BryanF

as per forum charter
With the exception of large, national or multi-national businesses who really don’t need the free advertising , posts naming specific companies/traders and/or their products are discouraged and may be deleted and the poster warned or banned or both. Let’s get back to the Original query. Thanks

masterboy123

Engineered Wood is 13 mm as opposed to S
KronoSwiss which is 14 mm. I will try to get hands on KronoSwiss, some oak colours are available at a discounted rate and looks class.

Any other costs? Someone recommended to get a water pump to get pressurised water, how much do they cost?

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Don't rule out engineered if you can stretch to it. The sticker prices on those pictures weren't far off some of these https://www.woodfloorwarehouse.ie/engineered-wood-flooring

Someone asked for some site's, plenty out there like SkyBad for bathrooms https://www.skybad.de/en/ shipping is cheap.
I've saved a bit on https://www.mk2shop.co.uk as well.

Gumbo

masterboy123 wrote: »

Engineered Wood is 13 mm as opposed to S
KronoSwiss which is 14 mm. I will try to get hands on KronoSwiss, some oak colours are available at a discounted rate and looks class.

Any other costs? Someone recommended to get a water pump to get pressurised water, how much do they cost?

Pump plus fitting could be €1k.
It’s not a requirement and not needed in the vast amount of properties so it should not be in a thread of hidden costs.

You also have to make sure the pump doesn’t go in where it can effect showers and other appliances that specifically state not to be pumped with water n

masterboy123

So is water pressure pump required in a new built home?

drunkmonkey

masterboy123 wrote: »

Engineered Wood is 13 mm as opposed to S
KronoSwiss which is 14 mm. I will try to get hands on KronoSwiss, some oak colours are available at a discounted rate and looks class.

Any other costs? Someone recommended to get a water pump to get pressurised water, how much do they cost?

Your missing the difference between the two. Your looking at mm and assuming one is better based on that. If there was a wooden top on the laminate it would be engineered.
Get a plank of a wood floor, and engineered plank and a laminate plank in your hand and compare them, the difference will be obvious. A 13mm engineered means it has a 13mm hard wood top, the laminate contains no hardwood layer and is a printer pattern. If you were renting I'd say go for the laminate but if this is your home I'd urge you to put in the real thing. If it's a large area it may be very costly and then it's understandable why you might go for a laminate but it doesn't sound like your doing a large area. It's all down to cost price price don't rule out one when you don't even know the cost difference yet.

If your getting a pump you may need a bigger water tank as the flow rate is going to be a lot more so you'll empty the tank quicker with a rain shower or similar. Not sure what tank they've put in it may be good enough.
The benefit of doing this is a lot stronger water flow from taps and pumped showers. If your using electric showers you won't really notice anything.
Pump and tank, shop around maybe €1200ish, think that's around what I paid. Made the mistake of buying a non brand shower and had to replace it after 3yrs as couldn't get parts. Installed a Grohe one a few month ago hoping it'll last a lot longer and spare parts are available so no need to dump the shower if something goes wrong.

drunkmonkey

masterboy123 wrote: »

So is water pressure pump required in a new built home?

Depends on your water pressure. Do you know what its like in the new house. You'll need a pump if you want a pressurised water system as in stong flow of water from taps and showers.

looksee

I had engineered wood in two rooms and laminate in three. I am talking about recent, good quality laminate, and there was no comparison between the two. The engineered wood looked sad very quickly. The laminate looked great and never changed. I normally hate things that are made to look like something else, but (modern) laminate floors is one that I would go with for preference now. All that stuff about cardboard and mush just shows that the poster has not looked at recent laminates.

drunkmonkey

If it tired very quickly it didn't have a good quality veneer. You should look for something suitable for commercial use if it's in a high traffic area. That will require little or no manitaning.
If your floors are tired give them a sanding and put on a good veneer and they'll be as good as new.

masterboy123

Well plumbing hasn't been completed yet in the house so I am not sure about the water pressure.

However given its going to cost 1200 euros plus water tank isn't big enough, so I have to leave it as it is.

And regarding flooring I hope to get lamited Kronoswiss. Looks like a fair deal to me.

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Depends on your water pressure. Do you know what its like in the new house. You'll need a pump if you want a pressurised water system as in stong flow of water from taps and showers.

drunkmonkey

You have to have a water tank and the plumbing anyway, so your taking about paying a bit extra for a bigger tank maybe. So it's just the cost of the pump.
Your opting for that floor because of some of the comments here. There just opinions. Laminate is not better than engineered if can be in some circumstances but as a rule of thumb engineered is better.. So work out your budget and see what the comparison cost is before ruling out other flooring options. Your really need to research flooring as I'm still not convinced you understand the difference.
Your basically saying I want a fake wood floor over a wood floor regardless of cost. Fake is Fake no matter what way it's pitched.

Gumbo

masterboy123 wrote: »

So is water pressure pump required in a new built home?

Not required. Optional.

Gumbo

masterboy123 wrote: »

Well plumbing hasn't been completed yet in the house so I am not sure about the water pressure.

However given its going to cost 1200 euros plus water tank isn't big enough, so I have to leave it as it is.

And regarding flooring I hope to get lamited Kronoswiss. Looks like a fair deal to me.

Would love to see this development.
Based on your other threads you have no adequate hot water tank either.

drunkmonkey

It does sound strange, along with the suggestion bidding got a bit carried away. It sounds like a shell, is it even insulated. Is there doors, if they only stuck up the cheapest ones that's probably something worth looking at as well as nice doors can really lift the look of the house.

masterboy123

Well, there are doors definitely. And good quality doors and windows as it's a A3 rating house.

The lot size is 250 square meter. Garden seeded and tarmacadam front

I understand my posts don't make sense at times, but hey I am learning and doing research online as my profession is in Healthcare.

And thanks to you all! Always got really good advice here.

Gumbo

masterboy123 wrote: »

Well, there are doors definitely. And good quality doors and windows as it's a A3 rating house.

The lot size is 250 square meter. Garden seeded and tarmacadam front

I understand my posts don't make sense at times, but hey I am learning and doing research online as my profession is in Healthcare.

And thanks to you all! Always got really good advice here.

FYI
A3 is the minimum requirement under the building regulations. It’s what every house in the county has to meet at a minimum so don’t let the fancy A3 stickers fool you.

It’s like selling a. Rand. Ew car from a big showroom and a sticker on the window saying NCT Passed!

Radsky

ted1 wrote: »

Poor quality laminate is different than 14mm stuff like kronoswiss.

I put down the cheap laminate in rental properties as you can change it every few years fir cheap. But I wouldn’t think about putting it in my house.

Where did you get the kronoswiss laminates? Is it advisable to use it in kitchen with possibility of flooding / water damage?

masterboy123

It's not recommended to use kronoSwiss on bathrooms as there maybe slight swelling.

It's good in living room, bedrooms, and kitchen if you don't spill water regularly there.

Radsky wrote: »

Where did you get the kronoswiss laminates? Is it advisable to use it in kitchen with possibility of flooding / water damage?

ted1

Radsky wrote: »

Where did you get the kronoswiss laminates? Is it advisable to use it in kitchen with possibility of flooding / water damage?

I think it might have been Des Kelly in Sandyford, we have tiles in the kitchen. So not sure about use for kitchen. I I know you can definitely get waterproof stuff there , just not sure which brand