Belarmine Woods, Stepaside - Megathread

Grnnomono

Hi,
Can anyone tell me who are supplying the kitchens and countertops for Belarmine Woods? Thanks!

JustaGO

Grnnomono wrote: »

Hi,
Can anyone tell me who are supplying the kitchens and countertops for Belarmine Woods? Thanks!

Mountlodge Furniture

JustaGO

Can anyone see how many houses are now up on the 2nd cul de sac? Or are there any at all?

shulja

I will be there today/ tomorrow, will make Photo for you! ))

shulja

hmmm.... I did a photo, but as a new user can't upload it here ... ((

JustaGO

shulja wrote: »

hmmm.... I did a photo, but as a new user can't upload it here ... ((

Thank you. Sent you pm:)

shulja

So, just quick overview. If you remember the first house (opposite the show houses) it had only base at the time when we were buying early April. Now it has the roof but a lot of work inside. Over 4 houses finished until the roof in this line and 2 more cross the road. On the Photo I sent you is the roof only of the next line house. Hope you understand ))

JustaGO

shulja wrote: »

So, just quick overview. If you remember the first house (opposite the show houses) it had only base at the time when we were buying early April. Now it has the roof but a lot of work inside. Over 4 houses finished until the roof in this line and 2 more cross the road. On the Photo I sent you is the roof only of the next line house. Hope you understand ))

Oh ok. Our house in the 2nd road - 1st cup de sac that is already done and people move in and then on the left of the office show house down so was wondering if there were any houses up on that road or are they only working at the moment on the houses opposite the office.

shulja

JustaGO wrote: »

Oh ok. Our house in the 2nd road - 1st cup de sac that is already done and people move in and then on the left of the office show house down so was wondering if there were any houses up on that road or are they only working at the moment on the houses opposite the office.

They just started 2nd cul de sac. At the moment there is only basement. Looks like they want to finish opposite the office first and then start 2nd cul de sac.

kerrymaid11

hi

Has anyone signed contracts yet? We are due to sign this week. Has anyone picked out tiles/paint etc yet or is it a bit early. Thanks a mill!

shulja

We signed already. The tiles / paint will be next march - April, closer to the end

KingCong

JustaGO wrote: »

Oh ok. Our house in the 2nd road - 1st cup de sac that is already done and people move in and then on the left of the office show house down so was wondering if there were any houses up on that road or are they only working at the moment on the houses opposite the office.

The first 8 houses on the right side of the second cul de sac are nearly fully roofed/slated (another day or two left), with the next two at the end on the right not far behind. The block work is also almost complete on the first 8, I'd say that should be finished by the end of the week. They look like they are making good progress, the houses are flying up (and wrecking the nice view we temporarily had out the back window :P )

JustaGO

KingCong wrote: »

The first 8 houses on the right side of the second cul de sac are nearly fully roofed/slated (another day or two left), with the next two at the end on the right not far behind. The block work is also almost complete on the first 8, I'd say that should be finished by the end of the week. They look like they are making good progress, the houses are flying up (and wrecking the nice view we temporarily had out the back window :P )

Only reading your post now. Thanks so much for the update:D
How is the life there so far? Did you get internet and tv sorted without any problems?Do you know if Sky dish is allowed?

KingCong

JustaGO wrote: »

Only reading your post now. Thanks so much for the update:D
How is the life there so far? Did you get internet and tv sorted without any problems?Do you know if Sky dish is allowed?

All good so far, got internet sorted no problem with Virgin, going to go with Saorview for TV so haven't gotten around to sorting that out yet (can't stand Virgin's TV service). Not sure about Sky, think one of the houses has it (or a dish at least, with a wire running out a window and across the roof), I'd be wary though of a Sky installer drilling through the wall and puncturing the air tight membrane, it'd be bye bye to a lot of the advantages of an A rated house. Speaking of which, the air tightness and solar panels are unreal, gas and electricity bills have been really really low so far.

gaddrep2

KingCong wrote: »

We bought a mid terrace Belvedere, they wouldn't agree to make any changes I'm afraid. We were looking for them to change the door on the under stairs storage, the small square door makes no sense, wanted to shift it closer to the bathroom and have a bigger door for hanging jackets etc. They said they won't make any modifications as they were already providing far more choice than most new homes (kitchen, tiles, paints etc). I'm not too bothered to be honest as planning on putting in slide out under stairs storage units ourselves.

Hi, just wondering if anyone has had any wins on getting the builder to agree to any changes since? Hoping they may have started to give into pressure :-)

JustaGO

KingCong wrote: »

All good so far, got internet sorted no problem with Virgin, going to go with Saorview for TV so haven't gotten around to sorting that out yet (can't stand Virgin's TV service). Not sure about Sky, think one of the houses has it (or a dish at least, with a wire running out a window and across the roof), I'd be wary though of a Sky installer drilling through the wall and puncturing the air tight membrane, it'd be bye bye to a lot of the advantages of an A rated house. Speaking of which, the air tightness and solar panels are unreal, gas and electricity bills have been really really low so far.

What about the walls? Are they strong enough to hang shelves and TV?

KingCong

JustaGO wrote: »

KingCong wrote: »

All good so far, got internet sorted no problem with Virgin, going to go with Saorview for TV so haven't gotten around to sorting that out yet (can't stand Virgin's TV service). Not sure about Sky, think one of the houses has it (or a dish at least, with a wire running out a window and across the roof), I'd be wary though of a Sky installer drilling through the wall and puncturing the air tight membrane, it'd be bye bye to a lot of the advantages of an A rated house. Speaking of which, the air tightness and solar panels are unreal, gas and electricity bills have been really really low so far.

What about the walls? Are they strong enough to hang shelves and TV?

They're still standing so far anyhow!

I'm planning on hanging a TV on a wall in the kitchen/living area, it's low down the list of priorities at the minute though so it'll be a few months before I get to it, can let ya know then. One annoyance is the lack of sockets on the wall i want to hang the TV, seems a big oversight not to have any there as its the obvious wall for a TV (or a lamp etc on a sideboard). Socket placement in general could be better throughout the house, for example there's no sockets on the boundary wall with the house next door (assume that's for sound insulation reasons) which isn't ideal in the bedrooms.

Also watch out for the paint during your snag, we found the quality of the paintwork overall to be fairly poor, with cheap paint used and it badly painted on the walls. We spotted this in our snag and they rectified some of it, but we've noticed tons more examples of rubbish quality painting since we moved in.

The above sounds a bit negative but its minor stuff really, overall we're delighted with the house so far.

JustaGO

KingCong wrote: »

They're still standing so far anyhow!

I'm planning on hanging a TV on a wall in the kitchen/living area, it's low down the list of priorities at the minute though so it'll be a few months before I get to it, can let ya know then. One annoyance is the lack of sockets on the wall i want to hang the TV, seems a big oversight not to have any there as its the obvious wall for a TV (or a lamp etc on a sideboard). Socket placement in general could be better throughout the house, for example there's no sockets on the boundary wall with the house next door (assume that's for sound insulation reasons) which isn't ideal in the bedrooms.

Also watch out for the paint during your snag, we found the quality of the paintwork overall to be fairly poor, with cheap paint used and it badly painted on the walls. We spotted this in our snag and they rectified some of it, but we've noticed tons more examples of rubbish quality painting since we moved in.

The above sounds a bit negative but its minor stuff really, overall we're delighted with the house so far.

Would love to paint everything using the colors I want and not what they offer but I guess we can do that after a year or 2 when paint gets dirty and save a bit of money for now.
Wanted to ask about the walls mainly as I have this vision of thin walls that will get holes just by punching them and afraid they wont hold any weight:)
Would need to get electrician as well then to get few more sockets installed.

JustaGO

KingCong wrote: »

The first 8 houses on the right side of the second cul de sac are nearly fully roofed/slated (another day or two left), with the next two at the end on the right not far behind. The block work is also almost complete on the first 8, I'd say that should be finished by the end of the week. They look like they are making good progress, the houses are flying up (and wrecking the nice view we temporarily had out the back window :P )

Any more visible progress??:)

schalken999

kerrymaid11 wrote: »

hi

Has anyone signed contracts yet? We are due to sign this week. Has anyone picked out tiles/paint etc yet or is it a bit early. Thanks a mill!

We're in the same boat and hope to sign contracts once we have our letter of offer from the bank.
Just concerned after our solicitor informed us that these contracts are unconditional - We stand to lose our booking deposit if banks don't agree to lend when we make a new mortgage application around Jan 2017.

The agent however had informed that all they need is an AIP to sign contracts and had told us that deposit will be refunded if mortgage isn't approved.

We've been told the house will be ready by June 2017. Any idea if they will stick to these dates ?

schalken999

shulja wrote: »

Yes, this is the point - Banks will not agree to extend letter for 1 or 1.5 years. And now we have to give them the 10% payment with no guarantee that the bank will give the mortgage (same amount) next time. I wouldn't like to risk with 40K as it is not refundable. Or we can all strike ))

Similar situation here. Our solicitor told us that the contracts are unconditional and 10k booking deposit ( paid already) plus balance 10% of property price ( due to be paid after contract is signed) is non refundable if banks don't agree to lend when we make another application early next year.

Any suggestions how to deal with this ?

JustaGO

Hey

I am not sure how its exactly with the deposit but we asked our solicitor to add the finance liability clause to the contract so that if you can't drawn down the mortgage they wont find you liable and you wont own them the money for the house.
Maybe ask your solicitor about subject to finance clause.
Ours was to be ready for June 2016 and now its moved to October 2016. We went to the site at the weekend and our house doesnt even have a roof on yet so not sure they will be able to finish it all outside/inside and road/parking for October.
If they gave you a date of June 2017 I wouldn't make any plans and assume that there wont be any delay...

JustaGO

Anyone talked to Sherryfitz to see if October is still the date and got any news on the progress they are making??

Thefact

I am still being told October, the roof has been on for a few weeks now so hopefully it won't be much later than planned.

Dearg81

schalken999 wrote: »

Similar situation here. Our solicitor told us that the contracts are unconditional and 10k booking deposit ( paid already) plus balance 10% of property price ( due to be paid after contract is signed) is non refundable if banks don't agree to lend when we make another application early next year.

Any suggestions how to deal with this ?

There's nothing you can do now if you have signed the contract but your solicitor should have added the clause JustaGo mentioned before you signed so they've messed up and left you in a bad spot.

Hope it all works out for you with the mortgage in the end.

schalken999

Dearg81 wrote: »

There's nothing you can do now if you have signed the contract but your solicitor should have added the clause JustaGo mentioned before you signed so they've messed up and left you in a bad spot.

Hope it all works out for you with the mortgage in the end.

Sorted as our solicitor got the subject to finance clause inserted before we signed. Now for the long wait till June 2017

bmv

Could anyone who moved into 3 bed extended house tell me what's the floor area downstairs?
Also does anyone have any updates on the completion date for the remaining first phase? There is not much information available from the agents nor from the builders.

deco72

Anyone else get a completion date of March 2017 for their house in 2nd phase?

kerrymaid11

deco72 wrote: »

Anyone else get a completion date of March 2017 for their house in 2nd phase?

Nope haven't been speaking to Sherry Fitz since the 2nd phase launched. Did Sherry Fitz mention this date to you? Would be brill if they were ready this soon!

deco72

kerrymaid11 wrote: »

deco72 wrote: »

Anyone else get a completion date of March 2017 for their house in 2nd phase?

Nope haven't been speaking to Sherry Fitz since the 2nd phase launched. Did Sherry Fitz mention this date to you? Would be brill if they were ready this soon!

Yeah I was talking to Ger from SF and that's the date she gave. I was also talking to another woman at the show houses about a month ago and the same date was given. Fingers crossed it is done by then. Foundations are down so hopefully see some more progress in next month or so