City Centre Site with FPP

Kazbah

Hello all,

I've been looking for a house to buy within walking distance of Cork Centre for about a year now. Most houses are very old and I've now seen a small site with FPP to erect a mid-terrace house. I got the plans from the auctioneer and they look good with a few tweaks. I'm totally unfamiliar with the idea of a self build and I'm looking for some help with the steps/process and an idea of what things to avoid.

1) Cork city has a major problem with drains/subsidence. Are there ways to minimise the risk of running into these types of problems with modern engineering/building methods or does it all come down to the site itself?

2) Can I get the equivalent of a pre purchase engineer's survey on a site? Any idea what kind of price would this be?

3) If I'm interested what do I do next? Bring the plans to a QS/builder and get a quote for construction.

Many thanks,
Kaz

BryanF

1 & 2 seek structural engineer to do survey
3. Have engineer check plans/ planning & particulars as part of survey. Then if alls good Seek advise from architect about tender drawings & spec that can be sent to several builders.

Kazbah

Thank you

BryanF

what are they asking for the site with pp ?

Kazbah

I will PM you.

Drift

Hi OP,

If you could get permission to open a small trial pit on the site an engineer would be better able to advise you regarding potential foundation problems. Obviously anything he/she says will still only be indicative because anything could crop up in the rest of the site.

It would be a start but obviously the cost of hiring a digger+driver and the engineer would prohibit it unless you were very interested.

It's very often overlooked in smaller construction projects in Ireland but a proper site/subsoil investigation in advance of construction can save a fortune. Of course you can still auger, drill and dig 100 trial/test holes and not hit the underground cavern that ends up scuppering your project! - Caveat Emptor and all that.

BryanF

you mentioned elsewhere archaeological survey is required, so that digger will be working alone side an archaeologist..

Drift wrote: »

Hi OP,

If you could get permission to open a small trial pit on the site an engineer would be better able to advise you regarding potential foundation problems. Obviously anything he/she says will still only be indicative because anything could crop up in the rest of the site.

It would be a start but obviously the cost of hiring a digger+driver and the engineer would prohibit it unless you were very interested.

It's very often overlooked in smaller construction projects in Ireland but a proper site/subsoil investigation in advance of construction can save a fortune. Of course you can still auger, drill and dig 100 trial/test holes and not hit the underground cavern that ends up scuppering your project! - Caveat Emptor and all that.

Drift

I was hoping he could do it before he committed to a purchase.

I'd assume the archaeologist is a planning condition?

Of course if there's potential for archaeology on site it might prevent or at least affect your ability to do trial pits.

Kazbah

Yes there are archaeology conditions in the planners report but I think it's unlikely the site is of archaeological significance.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a Cork based engineer to be assigned certifier, take plans on-site and manage the build? Ideally the same engineer would do the pre purchase report/trial pits etc