Buying a half(ish) finished house

Dkel95

I am considering purchasing an unfinished house, built c. 2006-2008 (guess what happened), roughly 2400sqft, (I won't name where), the structure is pretty much complete as far as ext. walls, roof and partition walls (just stud work) is complete. From what I know the house is first fixed plumbed, the well is sunk but the septic tank is not

I am wondering does anybody have an idea on the cost to finish this ie. Wiring, plumbing, heating, and if services have not been connected an average cost.

Will there be issues with planning and certification and finishing through a mortgage? As far as I know engineer reports are NOT available.

Also, I have a carpentry background so all second fixing, internal joinery, kitchen fitting and even slabbing the walls i could do myself.

I understand every build varys, but any help or anyone with previous experience on this would be hugely appreciated

Is it too much to undertake or would it be worth seriously considering?

BrokenArrows

Dkel95 wrote: »

I am considering purchasing an unfinished house, built c. 2006-2008 (guess what happened), roughly 2400sqft, (I won't name where), the structure is pretty much complete as far as ext. walls, roof and partition walls (just stud work) is complete. From what I know the house is first fixed plumbed, the well is sunk but the septic tank is not

I am wondering does anybody have an idea on the cost to finish this ie. Wiring, plumbing, heating, and if services have not been connected an average cost.

Will there be issues with planning and certification and finishing through a mortgage? As far as I know engineer reports are NOT available.

Also, I have a carpentry background so all second fixing, internal joinery, kitchen fitting and even slabbing the walls i could do myself.

I understand every build varys, but any help or anyone with previous experience on this would be hugely appreciated

Is it too much to undertake or would it be worth seriously considering?

That is a how long is a piece of string question. It will depend on the quality of the work when it was built. Does it meet current regulations. How has it handled the past 12 years being unoccupied. Probably plenty of damp and mold issues.

Still waters

Allow anything up to 150k depending on what finishes you want, assuming its plastered outside, but as previous poster said its a question not easily answered, if its watertight after this length of time then your ahead, if you do have damp/wet that coild lead to a whole range of issues

Dkel95

Still waters wrote: »

Allow anything up to 150k depending on what finishes you want, assuming its plastered outside, but as previous poster said its a question not easily answered, if its watertight after this length of time then your ahead, if you do have damp/wet that coild lead to a whole range of issues

It sure is! Roof is fully tiled so the rafters, joists etc.. should be pretty good. No windows fitted so will sure have some case of damp as you said.

The main queries I'd have is the price of wiring, 2nd fix plumbing and septic tank. You'd have to assume percolation was done previously. Any ideas on cost for any of these?

Mortgage could be the issue, are banks willing to loan to these types of builds? I have no idea on that!

Dkel95

BrokenArrows wrote: »

That is a how long is a piece of string question. It will depend on the quality of the work when it was built. Does it meet current regulations. How has it handled the past 12 years being unoccupied. Probably plenty of damp and mold issues.

True. An engineer/ building surveyor would have to be called, any idea on the rates for those guys now?

L1011

I would be concerned as to whether the planning consent is still valid at this stage; and also whether the house can be made meet modern building regulations practically/affordably - it is not a finished house from 2008; it will be a finished house from 2020/1; so cannot rely on 2008 regs.

ted1

I’d walk away. An half built house sitting there for 14 years. Left over ****ty quality from boom

Cyrus

ted1 wrote: »

I’d walk away. An half built house sitting there for 14 years. Left over ****ty quality from boom

Yep

Unless it's in some desirable part of Dublin it would almost certainly be cheaper in the end to buy a new one finished .

Dkel95

L1011 wrote: »

I would be concerned as to whether the planning consent is still valid at this stage; and also whether the house can be made meet modern building regulations practically/affordably - it is not a finished house from 2008; it will be a finished house from 2020/1; so cannot rely on 2008 regs.

Yes I'd imagine planning would have to be resubmitted. The regs change is where things could get tricky, air tightness, insulation, energy consumption all completely changed since then as far as I'd know

Panjandrums

Dkel95 wrote: »

Yes I'd imagine planning would have to be resubmitted. The regs change is where things could get tricky, air tightness, insulation, energy consumption all completely changed since then as far as I'd know

I am assuming it's a block cavity, if so.

Air tightness could be sorted by using a 10mm sand/cement render onto the blocks internally. And an air tightness membrane on the underside of the joists.

UFH with a screed could also be added.

The thing I would be concerned with is the blockwork, ie dpcs in above lintels, correct bearing of lintels and a clean cavity with correct spacing of wall ties.

lomb

Dkel95 wrote: »

It sure is! Roof is fully tiled so the rafters, joists etc.. should be pretty good. No windows fitted so will sure have some case of damp as you said.

The main queries I'd have is the price of wiring, 2nd fix plumbing and septic tank. You'd have to assume percolation was done previously. Any ideas on cost for any of these?

Mortgage could be the issue, are banks willing to loan to these types of builds? I have no idea on that!

Planning is valid if its built to roof level so thats all good. Building regs would likely be under the old ones so no issue.
Cost of 2nd fix wiring likely around 6k, septic tank 15k(biocycle), 2nd fix plumbing, probably 5k
But add to that tiling, flooring, sanitary ware, fitted kitchen, fitted wardrobes, landscaping,driveway,patio, plastering, painting, insulation, insulated plasterboard, light fittings, internal doors and carpentary, windows ,alarm. Id say probably 150k would cover it, youd need to hire an architect to confirm planning and building reg situation,draw up a spec for completion, a chartered surveyor to check the quality of existing build and services, quantity surveyor to create the existing value and stage payments and a valuer to project the future value of the finished house for the mortgage and reassure the bank so thats 4 experts. Expect that to cost around 2.5k-5k(depends on what architect charges for spec sheet some charge a % of project cost) Make sure the development levy has been paid too. This could be 12-25k. Many werent paid and the builder went bust.
This sure could be a good buy if the price and location is right and a bonus its exempt from LPT as it wasnt complete and occupied back in 2013 so your saving a few bucks there!

lomb

L1011 wrote: »

I would be concerned as to whether the planning consent is still valid at this stage; and also whether the house can be made meet modern building regulations practically/affordably - it is not a finished house from 2008; it will be a finished house from 2020/1; so cannot rely on 2008 regs.

Dont think this is the case. Your morally right but likely not legally right. The fact is the planning is valid once the development levy is paid and the house built to roof level. I persume the building regs follow the planning like a cat follows a mouse. Otherwise lets say there are new regs in 2021 and you are still building at dec 2020 and its only half done, does that mean that your building is illegal in Jan 21 if the regs are substansially different, of course not...
Its when you started not when you finished that counts afaik

BrokenArrows

Surely if there were no windows fitted then every piece of wood in the place would be destroyed including the roofing rafters. 14 years of Irish whether!!

Dkel95

lomb wrote: »

Planning is valid if its built to roof level so thats all good. Building regs would likely be under the old ones so no issue.
Cost of 2nd fix wiring likely around 6k, septic tank 15k(biocycle), 2nd fix plumbing, probably 5k
But add to that tiling, flooring, sanitary ware, fitted kitchen, fitted wardrobes, landscaping,driveway,patio, plastering, painting, insulation, insulated plasterboard, light fittings, internal doors and carpentary, windows ,alarm. Id say probably 150k would cover it, youd need to hire an architect to confirm planning and building reg situation,draw up a spec for completion, a chartered surveyor to check the quality of existing build and services, quantity surveyor to create the existing value and stage payments and a valuer to project the future value of the finished house for the mortgage and reassure the bank so thats 4 experts. Expect that to cost around 2.5k-5k(depends on what architect charges for spec sheet some charge a % of project cost) Make sure the development levy has been paid too. This could be 12-25k. Many werent paid and the builder went bust.
This sure could be a good buy if the price and location is right and a bonus its exempt from LPT as it wasnt complete and occupied back in 2013 so your saving a few bucks there!

As regards planning, that's what I thought myself i.e roof on so it should be exempt, thought I'd have to check this out, same with the building regs, legally would it be under 2007 or 2020 law?

4 experts, sounds like a right headache! I would've imagined a surveyor/engineer and architect would've done me!

Development levy something I'd have to check too, I know very little about this and not something I even considered to be honest!

Thanks for the reply, hugely appreciated

Dkel95

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Surely if there were no windows fitted then every piece of wood in the place would be destroyed including the roofing rafters. 14 years of Irish whether!!

Roof actually looks pretty good from what I've seen, windows not fitting but every ope has been covered so at least that anyway!

RandomViewer

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Surely if there were no windows fitted then every piece of wood in the place would be destroyed including the roofing rafters. 14 years of Irish whether!!

We had an old house on our land for years , built early 50's single block wall, widows rotted out in late 80's, we knocked it in 2004 not a n inch of rot in the roof. Wind blew through and kept it dry, so good chance this would be fine

Dkel95

RandomViewer wrote: »

We had an old house on our land for years , built early 50's single block wall, widows rotted out in late 80's, we knocked it in 2004 not a n inch of rot in the roof. Wind blew through and kept it dry, so good chance this would be fine

The timber used nowadays isn't a patch on the old rafters, recently renovated a house built in the 30's, rafters in perfect condition and never been changed!

RandomViewer

Dkel95 wrote: »

The timber used nowadays isn't a patch on the old rafters, recently renovated a house built in the 30's, rafters in perfect condition and never been changed!

We were really surprised at the time, pulling the slates off was a lot more difficult than expected, no rot, no woodwrm, not even that green muck that grows on stuff, only reason we knocked it was planning was easier to get where there was an existing building and services were already to site.