Buying a new built house

MissElle

mollybird wrote: »

miss Elle i would leave it till end of feb at least. we thought we would have had keys by start of this month and we are still waiting on a snag list to be done nearly 4 weeks later. last bits are massively dragging out and having not one builder give me a straight answer on things is delaying us massively!!!

Yeah you're right, don't want to be left with a load of furniture and no where to put it! It'll probably be delayed too. Thats very annoying for you, you'd think with it being the snag you'd nearly be finished! Hope you get an answer tomorrow

amtc

Snagging differs totally house by house. My first house I had over 400 including a window that was totally in the wrong place! The bedroom window had one third of it in the bathroom, so pane couldn't be opened. Second house had two snags.

My top tip was discovering Heatons...and home store and more. Essentially for towels, duvet covers, curtains it's last years clery's stuff. But dead cheap.

On sofas etc, never pay advertised price. Goes against my nature to haggle but got me a chair free. I brought along my mam and she pretended she was interested...

tradesman

amtc, sounds like your 1st house was a total disaster! did everything get sorted on the snag list or did they try to wangle out of some items? Your 2nd house with only 2 snags doesn't seem right to me. I have carried out numerous snag lists & the least amount of snags I found was 52 & I considered it a very well built house.

I have heard homestore & more is a good shop to kit a house out. Always haggle on furniture prices - you never know unless you try your case! It is hard to plan moving into a house unless you have a builder who actually has pride in what he is doing

mollybird

hey guys. finally got our snag list done on fri. Has anyone experienced their snagger missing bits that you had spotted yourself? our guy had missed about 4 things that we had spotted on the exterior of the house. ill be saying it to him when i go to pay him on tue. i had mentioned it to our builder all ready but i have them written down on the list the snagger gave me so ill remember to say it to the builder who is doing the bits that are on the list.

dori_dormer

mollybird wrote: »

hey guys. finally got our snag list done on fri. Has anyone experienced their snagger missing bits that you had spotted yourself? our guy had missed about 4 things that we had spotted on the exterior of the house. ill be saying it to him when i go to pay him on tue. i had mentioned it to our builder all ready but i have them written down on the list the snagger gave me so ill remember to say it to the builder who is doing the bits that are on the list.

Yes just little things to. Ours sent us the report to view first, asked if we wanted to add anything, then we submitted to builder. Also we were worth him during the snag so pointed stuff out as we went along

sullivk

We're in the process of buying a new build. Can anyone pm me recommendations for snaggers in Dublin please?

OfflerCrocGod

I'd appreciate some recommendations too, real pity that boards doesn't allow people posting reviews.

athtrasna

OfflerCrocGod wrote: »

I'd appreciate some recommendations too, real pity that boards doesn't allow people posting reviews.

Legal reasons. Please respect that.

amtc

Yes, the first house was a disaster although more to do with the ex! The second one, and I think athtrasna you know where I live...really only had two snags. Same people snagged both, structural engineer and architect husband and wife. Good friends. I was trying to delay for bridging loan reasons and they honestly said they couldn't find a thing wrong. One of the snags was a rough banister on the stairs and one was to checking if the front ponded as there had been no rain. We were clutching at straws.

tradesman

mollybird. I suggest you get back on to your snagger & get him to send you a new list with your snags added to it. It just makes sure there are no omissions & only 1 list to work from. Make life a lot easier. Four items missed on the front elevation is not a sign of a good snagger!

macsauce

I'd also really appreciate a PM recommendation for a snagger in South Dublin / North Wicklow.

mollybird

tradesman i was chatting with our builder today and wrote down my added stuff onto his copy of the snag list. they said there was other bits that they noticed that needed fixing up that he never coped onto is well. So ill def be telling our solicitor not to recommend him to anyone again. So sorry guys i def won't be sending on the name of the guy we had as not happy at all. hope ye get someone that does a decent job.

Can i ask guys does anyone know what is the time roughly that a snagger should spend going through a house fully?

sullivk

mollybird wrote:

tradesman i was chatting with our builder today and wrote down my added stuff onto his copy of the snag list. they said there was other bits that they noticed that needed fixing up that he never coped onto is well. So ill def be telling our solicitor not to recommend him to anyone again. So sorry guys i def won't be sending on the name of the guy we had as not happy at all. hope ye get someone that does a decent job.

Eek, that doesn't inspire confidence, does it? Please pm me his details so I know NOT to get him!!

tradesman

Mollybird, Good to see your builder is hopefully going to look after you. He seems like one of the good ones but always be wary & don't give in to any issues you have already found. Remember you have up to 2 years to find faults that they have to fix.

As to the time it should take to snag a house - it depends on the size of the house & also the quality of the build. I have snagged houses that took 2.5 hours & others that have taken 5 hours. It all depends on how bad the builders are. I once had an auctioneer tell me he would be back in an hour to lock up, to which I duly replied I will ring you when i'm finished then you can come & lock up! Guess what? He did come back when I was finished & it was about 3 hours later! Lol.

mollybird

tradesman our house is a 2story semi d with 4 bedrooms, a sittingroom, utilityroom, study, and a dining/kitchen. Also have 4 bathrooms and an attic. not sure if you can give me an estimate timescale on that. would be good to have some idea just to point out to him that he went over it far too quickly as our builder said.

thanks

tradesman

Mollybird, It could be anything from 3 - 6 hours. Sorry I cant be clearer but it really is down to how good / bad the builder is. I once worked for a snaglist company in the UK & the director of the company told me I was going into too much detail on the jobs! I was getting paid to do a job & as far as I was concerned my customer was going to get the best job possible I could give them. How long did your snagger take?

mollybird

he was there for a half hour my builder said. he said that he himself has done some snags in his time and has never done any that quick.

tradesman

Mollybird, In my opinion there is no way he could have produced a proper snaglist for you in that time. He should put himself forward to the guiness book of records. Only problem would be that they would disqualify him for not doing the task properly!

REFLINE1

@Tradesman: Top ten things to look out for when snagging a house?

CatAnne

It sounds like everyone is getting professional snag lists done. Did anyone get a Surveyor's report too?

mollybird

ya we had to get that done too kat. our bank gave us 5 pages with list's of names of people to choose from. was €150 to do.

tradesman

REFLINE1. TOP 10 MOST COMMON SNAGS AS REQUESTED:

1) Bathroom extractor fans not connected to the outside of the building in approximately 7 out of every 10 houses snagged.
2) Bathroom taps loose.
3) Doors not closing properly - rattling in the lock keep.
4) Debris in manholes.
5) Slight leaks in pipework to toilets, sink taps, radiator valves etc.
6) Bad pointing / plastering around pipes that are through the wall to the outside of the building.
7) Windows & glazing, scratched & dirty.
8) Uneven floors.
9) Toilet bowls loose - not fitted to the floor & wall.
10) Tops of doors not painted / varnished.

Most houses have a general poor finish - its as if no one really cares about the standard of finishing. Too many buyers wanting to purchase & get into the property asap so they overlook or don't see the finish until it is too late!

CatAnne

Thanks Mollybird

SarahMollie

mollybird wrote: »

ya we had to get that done too kat. our bank gave us 5 pages with list's of names of people to choose from. was €150 to do.

Thats not a surveyors report, thats a valuation. A survey costs between €300-500.

Most banks only insist on surveys for properties over a certain age, ie, 30 or 40 years. All banks insist on a valuation being done.

mollybird

oh my bad thanks for that sarah. i always get them mixed up. we didn't have to get a survey done due to our house being a brand new build.

Innervision

Our solicitor has recommended we get a survey done as well in addition to the snag list...just getting quotes at the minute and that makes it fairly pricey so not sure whether to go for it or not!

SarahMollie

Innervision wrote: »

Our solicitor has recommended we get a survey done as well in addition to the snag list...just getting quotes at the minute and that makes it fairly pricey so not sure whether to go for it or not!

Yeah a lot of people get them done, even if its not a bank requirement and even on new builds. In the context of buying a house, its just a few hundred €€€ so personally I'd probably get one done too even on a new build. (I did get one done on my 15 year old property for my own peace of mind).

riclad

I would not pay 500 euro for a survey unless the house is at least 20 years
old .or i had to reason to suspect a problem in the structure .

kirving

riclad wrote: »

I would not pay 500 euro for a survey unless the house is at least 20 years
old .or i had to reason to suspect a problem in the structure .

I'm no surveyor but I do carry out factory acceptance tests for machinery which could cost as much as a house. This machinery has been tested for weeks before I arrive, has full electric and mechanical drawings, and we invariably find small issues. We then spend weeks testing it before accepting.

To not have a professional do even the bare minimum of checks on hundreds of thousands of your own money, that you'll be paying back for years to come is incredibly naive. Could be the best 500 your ever spent.

sullivk

There seems to be an issue with our new build. The foreman says they noticed the concrete flooring in the kitchen/dining room had dipped by a few mm. Likely due to settling of the soil underneath the house.

They have rectified the issue but the foreman has said he is not happy to sell the house until after the new year (it was due for completion end of Nov). He wants to give it more time to settle so he can ensure there are no further issues with the floor.

He said it has come to light in a couple of other houses in the development.
Has anyone had this happen with their property? It's making me a bit nervous. Will a structural surveyor be able to assess these issues prior to purchase?