FTB looking at half finished property

The treaty man

morning all, newbie here so be gentle..
I recently found a property i like the look of through a well known web-site. located in Co. Wexford. Property is only partially complete. its a detached dormer located out in countryside that is blocked and roofed & slated and 90% plumbed and that is it..
While im a QS, my background is in heavy civil engineering so have no idea of what the cost would be to finish such a project. all internal walls downstairs are blocked and all the partitions upstairs are just frames, no insulation & not slabbed. No insulation to ceiling either. No first fix electrics anywhere. Thw window ope's are huge aswell so i believe that could be costly. The 2 levels cover approx 2,850 Sq.ft. its on a site of over an acre also.

So what should i be getting done before wading into this:

• financial report (assuming who ever was building initially ran out of money)
• legal side of things
• How to go about estimating a cost to finish it?? (assuming builders dont tender for free!!)

thanks in advance, and all commetns welcome.

Treaty man.

StillWaters

Opinion on Compliance with work already done. This can be difficult to get, although the relevant professions are getting more used to this, it can still be tricky to get sign off on unseen works.

The_Conductor

You also have the issue of the current owner- even if they ran out of money- it doesn't sound like its something that they'll happily walk away from.......

Your questions about costs really are akin to asking how long a piece of string is. You need a good survey done on the site along with the opinion of an unbiased (if they exist) carpenter, electrician, plumber etc. Your estimation of 90% plumbed- doesn't really mean much- you have no idea what the end result is supposed to be.

First step- local county council office- get a copy of the plans lodged with them- at least you'll have a roadmap then.......

Latro

I'm at closing stage of buying unfinished house but the works are more advanced and the house is smaller ca. 200sqm.
The things need to be completed: 2nd fix electric and plumbing, fireplace, floor finish down and upstairs, bathrooms tiled plumbed etc(master, 2x en suite, guest toilet),
kitchen, interior painting, garage door, front boundry fencing and gate(about 30m), cobble lock driveway(about 80sqm), basic landscaping, esb connection, 15 interior doors propably to be replaced as I hate pine/red deal.
All that will cost about 65k. Some things like hanging door painting etc I will do myself.

I imagin your house being bigger and the works are less advanced will need at least 100k
depending on materials you want to use, sky is the limit here.
The most expensive for me so far will be kitchen about 11k, floor finish down and upstairs about 8k, heating system+domestic hot water all about 10k.

bombadil

Please take heed of Stillwaters words of advice. I was involved in the purchase of a part finished house last year. Trying to obtain certificates of compliance from the original architect can be a major problem. The originals are usually to be provided by the seller and are obtained from the architect/engineer who inspected the works as the job was carried out. To find out the architect involved I would suggest seeking the original planning files on the County Councils website.. check for a name on the drawings.. and phone the architect yourself to see if there are any issues. This could save you getting involved in a sale which may/may not go ahead due to any number of reasons... remember if the house is now in bank ownership... the original builders may have little interest in getting the sale through. Make sure to check with your lender if they will accept a cert of compliance based on visual inspection alone... if the originals are not available...

Sorry if this seems a little downbeat!.. and I hope you get the house!

riclad

You could get a full survey done, re what works needs to be done,how much it will cost, maybe get advice from an architect .MAYBE WRITE DOWN FIRST what materials you will use,will you get extra insulation ,
WILL you use standard blocks,tiles etc or higher quality ,non standard materials ,what type of insulation will you install etc
put the doors on adverts ie or buynsell.
you might save a bit,if you buy some building materials from adverts ie,
eg tiles etc you can buy new windows direct from certain companys.they have some windows ,returned, never fitted, if the frames you have are standard sizes.
see gumtree ie or certain other websites.

The treaty man

bombadil wrote: »

Please take heed of Stillwaters words of advice. I was involved in the purchase of a part finished house last year. Trying to obtain certificates of compliance from the original architect can be a major problem.!

Bombadil and stillwaters thanks for your input, very helpful. I would never have taught of such a thing as that. seems it could be a/the deciding factor in whether i progress with this or not once i review the planning application papers. However i am going to take all your info on board and contact the council office and get more info regarding the original planning application as there seemed to be a very large foundation footprint poured out the back of the property for either a very large garage or else a stable block judging by footprint layout. (again, will need to see planning application) other things that came to my mind last night after looking at it, as its out in the country, a well needs sinking, a septic tank/biocycle thingy (no physical sign of either when i vsited said site) and an electricity supply brought in aswell.. seems like a mind field before starting at all. :eek:
Thanks to everyone for posting so far, very helpful and informative so far. will keep this updated.. hopefully know more by end of the week or else next week and see where can go from there.

jbloggs18

The treaty man wrote: »

Bombadil and stillwaters thanks for your input, very helpful. I would never have taught of such a thing as that. seems it could be a/the deciding factor in whether i progress with this or not once i review the planning application papers. However i am going to take all your info on board and contact the council office and get more info regarding the original planning application as there seemed to be a very large foundation footprint poured out the back of the property for either a very large garage or else a stable block judging by footprint layout. (again, will need to see planning application) other things that came to my mind last night after looking at it, as its out in the country, a well needs sinking, a septic tank/biocycle thingy (no physical sign of either when i vsited said site) and an electricity supply brought in aswell.. seems like a mind field before starting at all. :eek:
Thanks to everyone for posting so far, very helpful and informative so far. will keep this updated.. hopefully know more by end of the week or else next week and see where can go from there.

Hi, have just been researching planning applications for an unfinished property in Wexford myself. All you need to do is locate it on the Wexford County Planning Department website. You will get ALL of the documents from the application, to the site layout, house plans and full planning decision. Go to http://gis.wexford.ie/lp3/Layout1.aspx, do a search for planning by location, then find the property on the map that comes up. You will get all the info that you require. Very interesting info that it comes up with.
It may take a bit of time to locate the exact property but once you do that the planning application number itself is easy to get.
Cheers