Buying off plans - what to expect?

Dolbhad

coff66 wrote: »

We are being told it is a private cul de sac with no social housing, but there is more land to be developed behind this current development which may well have social housing.

Have a look at the planning permissions online. The phase we looked at phase 1 has no social house but phase 2 will have the social housing. It’s under two separate planning permissions but can see how the estate in full will look like

Contracts will give you specifications on how many outlets are in each room. I’d keep note of where they are located in a similar show house and go from there.

lawred2

coff66 wrote: »

I do get the point around requests, especially in larger developments, there are deadlines to be met and costs can spiral if, as you say, all house look to be going off spec.

We had a chat with the builder yesterday and he was open to discussing anything we wanted anyway which was positive, whether he will agree to anything when requested is still unknown.

What do people think would be the best way to ensure enough outlets per room without being too demanding/awkward?

Hopefully he'll be able to help you out.

When we bought ours in 2015, we met the site foreman.. lovely fella. Discussed every single one of our requests.

End result, nothing deviated off plan internally..

Had a reason not to do everything..

We did however get them to prep the back garden for artificial grass. That saved us a fortune. Involved tonnes of hardcore and sharp sand.

coff66

Dolbhad wrote: »

Have a look at the planning permissions online. The phase we looked at phase 1 has no social house but phase 2 will have the social housing. It’s under two separate planning permissions but can see how the estate in full will look like

Contracts will give you specifications on how many outlets are in each room. I’d keep note of where they are located in a similar show house and go from there.

I grew up in a council estate myself so know the pitfalls that can exist. I think where the house we are looking a buying is based in the current phase and the location of other possible phases we should not even be aware of where social housing would be if it does get included.

Ya we will wait until contracts to see where exactly outlets will be but , the occupied house we viewed yesterday didn't seem to have any issues regarding outlets and we are told layouts will be almost identical.

coff66

lawred2 wrote: »

Hopefully he'll be able to help you out.

When we bought ours in 2015, we met the site foreman.. lovely fella. Discussed every single one of our requests.

End result, nothing deviated off plan internally..

Had a reason not to do everything..

We did however get them to prep the back garden for artificial grass. That saved us a fortune. Involved tonnes of hardcore and sharp sand.

Ya it's easy to listen to requests and as easy to not doing anything about anything that's requested. Hopefully anything we do request will not be a massive deviation and he can agree.

They are seeding both front and back gardens as far as I am aware. At the moment I like the idea of cutting the grass in the summer ,but that could all change after a few years of having to do so.

Jess2019

Hi all, we put a booking deposit down on a new build. We viewed the show house, the show house did not have double doors leading from the sitting room to the dining room/kitchen, but the show house was not our house type, and the double doors are on the plans of our house type.
We asked the estate agent on the day about this, and he said 'thats no problem we can do that for you'. We have now been told the plans have changed for our house type, and there are no double doors from the sitting room to the dining room. There is just a wall.
The estate agent told us the wall is already up.
Is there anything we can do about this? We have heard of people being able to change lots when they bought a new build, and we have just been told 'no the plans have changed and the wall is up'. We are part of phase 1 of the launch.

oleard1987

We just bought our house and received the keys xmas week ,The developer was OLOS and they couldn't of been more easy going ,We met the kitchen fitter and any extras we wanted he would price and we were able to pick any colors we like
Same with the electrician ,they had standard amount of sockets but you decided where they went and if you wanted any extra he would price you for them
The only part that they wouldnt budge on was the back garden but all in all they were fair enough

I would push the builder and see what you can do and if they wont budge try the tradesman on the site

Wildly Boaring

Jess2019 wrote: »

but the show house was not our house type, and the double doors are on the plans of our house type.

You bought off plans.
Double doors were on your plans
Insist on what you paid for, go through your solicitor, if you need.

If it's an internal door in a stud wall it is a simple change that will cost them a few euro to rectify.

awec

First thing to do is check the reason why they aren't putting the doors there in the end, there might actually be a good reason for it.

Jess2019

So I asked the developer the reason why, and he said cost and time. He said they are building 500 houses so they can't and won't be going back to make changes to any houses. He was really rude and was trying his best to get me off the phone.
He also said the Agent went ahead with the wrong plans when they launched, and it is the agent's fault.

I asked if it is a load-bearing wall and he said no, he said we can knock the wall down ourselves if we want to.

I've contacted my solicitor about this, to see if there is anything we can do.