New sewer connection pricing

masterluke3

Hi. I am expecting to go 'sale agreed' in a property in Castlemartyr, east Cork very soon, but there is an issue with the drain which needs to be resolved by putting in a new connection to the mains sewer. I need to price this job up quickly as the final house price I pay will be dependent on the price quoted for this work. I called Irish water, but I was told it will probably take 2 months for them to even give me a quote to do this. My questions are..

1) Is there really no way to get a quote (even an approximate one) more quickly? Perhaps an informal meeting with someone similar to what is possible with the planning authority.

2) My estate agent suggested that the council might not be happy digging up the road/footpath as they have just been redone in the area. Is it possible they will say no to the work?

3) Will Irish water perform all the work up to the border with my property or is this something my contractor (or another contractor?) does with a permit/license from irish water?

4) Is there any way I can find out the depth of the drain on the street so I can try and figure out if there is sufficient fall (the property has a basement, unlike others on the street).

Thanks

Irish Water: Mairead

Hi masterluke3,

Please accept our apologies for the delay in response.

We are currently liaising with the relevant department regarding your query and will have an answer for you as soon as possible.

Thanks,
Mairead

Irish Water: Mairead

Hi masterluke3,

We have received the following update from our Connections Department.

The only way to have a quote would be to apply for a new connection. The area engineer would then go out and assess the area. We would only know the proposed quote once the Area Engineer had made their assessment. We would also not be aware of whether your contractor or our workers would carry out all the works until this assessment in complete.

If you would like to find out the depth of your drain, we recommend you contact your Local Authority, or if you PM the following details, we can request this on your behalf:

- Name;
- Address; and
- Contact number.

If you do wish to apply, you can follow the steps below and we will process the application for the customer:

1.You can apply online here and enter the name of your Local Authority.
You can also download the form and return it to us via email at newconnections@water.ie , or post it to us at:

Irish Water
P.O. Box 860,
South City Delivery Office,
Cork City,
Cork.

2. Once the application is received, we will process your application which will be reviewed by our technical team for assessment and will then go through the costing process.

3. When the calculations have been completed an Offer Letter will be issued to yourself, along with any specific terms and conditions. You would also be issued with an agreement letter, which needs to be signed and returned to us with the reference number provided. However, we would be unable to provide a quotation at this stage.

We hope this helps and if you have any other queries in future, please feel free to get in touch.

Thanks,
Mairead

masterluke3

Hi Mariead,

Thanks for your reply.

That is a real shame.

This is fairly unhelpful for people in my situation. I am looking into buying a house in a town which needs connecting to the mains sewer. This is jeopardising the sale because of the unknown situation with the mains sewer, and there is no way that I can find out if the property can be attached and approximately how much this will cost (within a reasonable timescale)  and therefore how much I would need to deduct from my offer price.

I understand until Irish water came along it was possible to call someone and you could have a quick meeting onsite site and get a good idea about feasibility and cost there and then. 

I have 1 further question please. As I am not the owner of this property yet... would I be able to submit a connection request. I don't have access to the mail at the address (it's currently unoccupied). Would there be communication by post that I would miss? 

Thanks

Luke 

Irish Water: Micheal

Hi masterluke3,

Thanks for your message.

We are sorry for any inconvenience as a result of this, however, the current process is based on Local Authority timelines prior to Irish Water ownership of the New Connection process.

There is no problem in submitting an application if you are not the current owner of the property as long as you provide your current correspondence address within the application

Please do not hesitate to contact us again should you have any further queries.

Kind regards,
Micheal