New Development Royal Canal Park D15

Nhol78 · 30-09-2016 6:41pm

sdhway wrote: »

Nhol78 wrote: »

I asked about upgrading the house with better cable and RJ45 sockets,

I asked for CAT 6 cable in the entire house and i was quoted 160 for it,

I have asked for 6 Port face plate and RJ45 CAT 6 sockets in the utility room and 1 CAT 6 Socket in every room, He did not have an exact price, rough quote was 160.

I don't know much about these but is 5e as standard not enough? I was thinking of upgrading but what I was told is 5e can support up to 1000 mbps. I will only have a few tv boxes and laptops connected. Do you think it's worth 160 to upgrade? Thanks

Also, we are just trying to sign our contracts atm but can only get a loan offer from ulster bank for 6 months. This doesn't cover May 2017 when our phase is due to be completed. If anyone has any guidance on same it would be much appreciated as I guess others in the same boat!

Best of luck to all moving in. Hopefully join you next year!

I like to future proof, In 5+ years CAT 6 will be what is needed. Way easier to do it now then after the house is built. In relation to loan offers, Most banks only offer 6 months, Then they ask for you to show more payslips and or do salary cert again.

EmmaMurray2016 · 30-09-2016 8:36pm

I saw two up for rent already €2000 a month.

http://www.property.ie/property-to-let/6-Phelan-Avenue-Royal-Canal-Park-Ashtown-Dublin-15/1680482/

http://touch.daft.ie/dublin/houses-for-rent/ashtown/2-phelan-way-royal-canal-park-ashtown-dublin-1679586/

Nhol78 · 01-10-2016 3:35pm

I am quite confused on what color the houses are painted, In a previous post some one said they were a light yellow. Sherry Fitz have said gray, I asked ballymore who said white and the above property that is for rent is Gray. Any feedback from people who have moved in would be great. I will not be happy if it is yellow or beige..

nordstrom · 01-10-2016 4:13pm

Nhol78 wrote: »

I like to future proof, In 5+ years CAT 6 will be what is needed. Way easier to do it now then after the house is built. In relation to loan offers, Most banks only offer 6 months, Then they ask for you to show more payslips and or do salary cert again.

You're right to get cat 6 if you can. 160 sounds steep for the difference though, cat 6 isn't much more expensive than cat 5e. Having said that cat 5e is doing everything I need it to do right now.

The rj45 faceplates you can do yourself for much cheaper, if you have the time and inclination.

For wall colour we had a choice of white or grey, we chose grey and they painted it white... but they repainted it when we asked.

PhoenixParker · 01-10-2016 4:39pm

Magnolia and gray were what we were offered. We went with magnolia, which is a pale yellow.

Bruncvik · 01-10-2016 5:33pm

Nhol78 wrote: »

I am quite confused on what color the houses are painted, In a previous post some one said they were a light yellow. Sherry Fitz have said gray, I asked ballymore who said white and the above property that is for rent is Gray. Any feedback from people who have moved in would be great. I will not be happy if it is yellow or beige..

My wife is always complaining that I only see in four colors. To me, the walls looked light yellow. In any case, Sherry Fitz said that we'd get a choice between that and gray, like in the show houses. We were never told to make a choice, and when we received the house it was that light yellow color. Sherry Fitz said that they dropped the other option, and Ballymore warned us that having them repainted to gray would be fairly expensive (given that they quoted us 5k for the media wall in the small family room, I was inclined to believe that it would cost us an arm and a leg). We were here recommended an independent contractor who is repainting the house to gray right now.

cronos · 02-10-2016 3:58am

maciektok wrote: »

Will do lads. Give us couple of days. We sanded the floor and then Varnished it with a varnish that's stained with white paint.

Sorry to ask. Just very curious about the pics

Any luck? No rush, as I say just curious.

cronos · 02-10-2016 2:42pm

EmmaMurray2016 wrote: »

I saw two up for rent already €2000 a month.

http://www.property.ie/property-to-let/6-Phelan-Avenue-Royal-Canal-Park-Ashtown-Dublin-15/1680482/

http://touch.daft.ie/dublin/houses-for-rent/ashtown/2-phelan-way-royal-canal-park-ashtown-dublin-1679586/

I think that's quite cheap for the 4 bed to be honest.

sdhway · 05-10-2016 3:38pm

Regarding contract signing. Are people aware that contracts exclude the standard law society loan offer clause? This means that if your circumstances change (illness, injury, house devalues etc.) leading to you being unable to get the mortgage at any time between the bank's first and second valuation, you are still liable for payment of the full amount. Even though you or your partner are unable to get a mortgage, they will still pursue you. Have people just signed and taken such a risk?

Gumbo · 05-10-2016 3:46pm

sdhway wrote: »

Regarding contract signing. Are people aware that contracts exclude the standard law society loan offer clause? This means that if your circumstances change (illness, injury, house devalues etc.) leading to you being unable to get the mortgage at any time between the bank's first and second valuation, you are still liable for payment of the full amount. Even though you or your partner are unable to get a mortgage, they will still pursue you. Have people just signed and taken such a risk?

Was that not always there?
This was always specified to us and we bought in 2006 and 2015.
Once you sign contracts, you are technically liable for the full balance and deposit lost.

Not many builders persued it during the boom as if you backed out late on, they could sell it for more the next day.

sdhway · 05-10-2016 4:55pm

Suppose that's fair if it's standard practice. We are in as strong a position as any and have no reason to be concerned about mortgage etc. but I am surprised that there is no protection against the unforeseeable in any case.

maciektok · 05-10-2016 5:17pm

sdhway wrote: »

Regarding contract signing. Are people aware that contracts exclude the standard law society loan offer clause? This means that if your circumstances change (illness, injury, house devalues etc.) leading to you being unable to get the mortgage at any time between the bank's first and second valuation, you are still liable for payment of the full amount. Even though you or your partner are unable to get a mortgage, they will still pursue you. Have people just signed and taken such a risk?

Hmm strange. Our solicitor got the loan clause put into the contract...

sunshine135 · 05-10-2016 6:47pm

>Regarding contract signing. Are people aware that contracts exclude the standard law society loan offer clause? This means that if your circumstances change (illness, injury, house devalues etc.) leading to you being unable to get the mortgage at any time between the bank's first and second valuation, you are still liable for payment of the full amount. Even though you or your partner are unable to get a mortgage, they will still pursue you. Have people just signed and taken such a risk?<

Our bank flagged this to us as well... however our solicitor asked to add this clause to the contract and the builder's solicitor agreed no problem. The clause allows to sign the contract now with Approval in principle (for any address) and issue the Loan offer (for specific address) later. Loan offer is only valid 6months - so this way 6-8months house building period is covered without risk of loosing the deposit.

Another contract point we are pursuing is to enable us to swap our house to a different one of the same type from our phase, if it becomes available, after signing the contract. This may be valid for anyone on our phase who was interested in the houses offered to City council for social houses and are awaiting approval. If by any chance City council don't approve these houses, it seems fair to offer them first to people who were first on the list rather than put them back to open market - so if anyone is interested, you can check that signing your contract won't hold you off.

OrdeP · 08-10-2016 4:25pm

Hey guys, I'm planning to buy a house in RCP and as a first time buyer, do you recommend getting a mortgage broker or did you do it yourself? Regarding rcp is so close to the canal, what's the odds of getting houses flooded during the winter?

... offered to City council for social houses... what this really means?

Thanks

EmmaMurray2016 · 08-10-2016 4:26pm

OrdeP wrote: »

Hey guys, I'm planning to buy a house in RCP and as a first time buyer, do you recommend getting a mortgage broker or did you do it yourself? Regarding rcp is so close to the canal, what's the odds of getting houses flooded during the winter?
Thanks

Living there 6 years never saw any floods.

OrdeP · 08-10-2016 4:31pm

EmmaMurray2016 wrote: »

Living there 6 years never saw any floods.

That's very good to hear. Thank you

EmmaMurray2016 · 08-10-2016 4:54pm

OrdeP wrote: »

That's very good to hear. Thank you

Love living there. Best of luck

maciektok · 09-10-2016 1:47pm

Guys just to give you heads up. couple of bikes got stolen from back gardens and 1st floor balcony over centra during the last week. Also someone cut out all the rads from one of the houses being built at the moment. Apparently they got the guy. There is probably nothing serious considering time of the year and the fact that the half of the estate is the building site. However if you see anything unusual please let the security in the estate know.

sunshine135 · 10-10-2016 7:46pm

OrdeP wrote: »

Hey guys, I'm planning to buy a house in RCP and as a first time buyer, do you recommend getting a mortgage broker or did you do it yourself? Regarding rcp is so close to the canal, what's the odds of getting houses flooded during the winter?

... offered to City council for social houses... what this really means?

Thanks

In any new development, percentage of houses/apartments need to be offered for social housing.

uli84 · 11-10-2016 1:11am

OrdeP wrote: »

... offered to City council for social houses... what this really means?

Thanks

Means you might be living next door to someone who got same or better house pretty much for free. Happened to my friend in Waterville.

sunshine135 · 12-10-2016 5:13pm

Hi guys,
Did anyone managed to secure the option for swapping their house into one if the social houses if they become available?

Sherryfitz told us yesterday that "the local authority have not yet confirmed the position with the 3 beds.It may be within the next 2 weeks." - so the same as deadline for signing the contract by next week.

sdhway · 12-10-2016 6:25pm

Hey Sunshine, we haven't asked for this but if you did ask for this you would not be able to make any changes to your prospective house that you have already gone for. Also how would they decide who would get offered the houses first and who would get to pick which one they would like? I reckon it would be a tough ask to get it in but hope you manage!

Separately, can I ask anyone's advice/input on the help to buy scheme - if loan offer has been issued for <80% LTV (meaning couldn't avail), do you think you could still avail of it by switching to >80% LTV before drawing down? I haven't seen any stipulations to dispute this and it would potetnailly take the strain off first timers who are asking for favours from family to help make deposit.

maciektok · 12-10-2016 11:30pm

Check it with the bank. Alternatively I can give you a contact details for the broker we used. He is gold! We went 90%ltv(applied and you the exception from the bank) which made it a little bit easier for us when it came to furnishing the house etc...

guns_healy · 17-10-2016 9:49am

Anyone else find it weird that the downstairs toilet doesn't have a cut out behind the toilet like the upstairs do?

I enquired about it and they said you need to cut the skirting board if you need to get access to the back of the toilet

They also said any problems and they'll sort it. That's all well and good for now, but when they're gone in a couple of years I don't fancy having to cut a skirting board!

Nhol78 · 17-10-2016 2:26pm

Do you normally get them in houses, Personally I have not seen many houses with them, Having them up stairs at least means you can cut off the water and minimize damage to floors below.

Did you ask how much it would cost to have one fitted downstairs?

On another note for people who don't live in the area and who have bought on Bridge Avenue, foundations are going in for some of the houses.

tonto2010 · 18-10-2016 9:40pm

Hi All,

Apologies for the long post, we are moving into our house at the start of next month and just want to anwer some of the questions on the thread and ask a few of our own.

maciektok wrote: »

Hello,

Yeah we sanded the floor in the bedrooms and stairs and then Varnished it. It was hard work but happy with a result. It cost us 70 quid to rent a sander and then we spent about 150 quid on the varnish.we bought one that was stained white. Took us couple of days to do it

Hi macietok,

We were wondering if you could PM us a picture of your floor? We were thinking of doing this for the top bedroom.

sunshine135 wrote: »

Hi

I can see that number of people mention changes to the bar in the kitchen. We would love to change the layout to get more kitchen working space and space for dining table... possibly moving the bar to the end. Also make the change in the shower, so that we have a hose as well as the the rainfall shower head.
Did anyone succeed with making these changes? What change did you make, how did you arrange with SherryFitz, was it costy and how it worked out at the end?

This is proabebly a little late but might be of some use for other people considering chages to the Heron. We extended the Minerva in place of the existing wodden ledge and opted for pocket doors. If you want more info, I can send on the cost etc.

Nhol78 wrote: »

I have just put down the deposit to purchase the heron in the new phase and I have some questions.

3. Has anyone managed to get some of the radiators moved?

Yes we got the radiatos moved in the kitchen as we got the pocket doors, there was no charge for this.

Nhol78 wrote: »

4. Are the management fee's payable on a monthly basis, we live in Ashtown and they are,

The management fee are payed yearly for the first year, you can then pay monthly thereafter.

Nhol78 wrote: »

6. Did the builder charge to move the island a few inches closer to the back door?

We had this done free of charge

Layoulk wrote: »

Hello,
We just put down a deposit on a Heron house so I just want to ask the people that already moved in.
Can you please let me know how much difference there was between the "promised" completion date and the actual move in?

We were told September and have just received word for snagging next week. Although houses built in the first part of our phase have been occupied since September.

We have a few questions, if anyone can answer any of them it would be appreciated! and best of luck to everyone moving into the new development

Thanks in Advance

1.) Can anyone recommend a decent snagger? and do you think it was a good investment? i.e was the list big afterwards.

2.) Can anyone recommend a good reasonably priced alarm company?

3.) How have people fared with broadband? Is it fiber speeds and what companies are available

4.) Has anyone had success in asking Ballymore to change the RJ-11 faceplates to RG-45? I see other have done this themselves but seems a mistake for them to be RJ-11 in the first place.

5.) Has anyone got blackout roller blinds and what our your experiences? We are getting them installed but our fitter says most people get curtains also as they are not blackout around the sides/top of Windows.

6.) We were wondering what the water pressure is sufficient in the bathrooms upstairs, as someone mentioned is was a bit low?

7.) How long did it take for you after Snag to move-in date?

athtrasna · 18-10-2016 11:56pm

Please remember that recommendations may only be made by pm in accordance with the forum charter.

Mod

Nhol78 · 19-10-2016 5:44pm

4.) Has anyone had success in asking Ballymore to change the RJ-11 faceplates to RG-45? I see other have done this themselves but seems a mistake for them to be RJ-11 in the first place.
For this item I was told to contact the electrician working on the house. I agree with your point,why bother installing RJ-11.

I asked for him to quote cost to install for the CAT 6 cable and quote was 150 and CAT 6 face plates etc which was 80 euro for 6 rooms, He advised that they could not do a 6 port face plate in the utility room and that we would need to do this ourselves which raises some concerts
1. You will probably need to cut into the wall to enlarge the space for a 6 port face plate
2. You will still need to wire up the face plate
3. If they do not label the cables for you, then you will need to take to time to identify which is which
4. They would need to advise if they wired it in Type A or Type B configuration. To insure that you wire the other ends correctly
Thinking about it I might just get the CAT 6 in and do the sockets myself.
Thank you for your response to my earlier questions.

Last question from me, how much did this change cost you and could you PM a photo of it to me "This is proabebly a little late but might be of some use for other people considering chages to the Heron. We extended the Minerva in place of the existing wodden ledge and opted for pocket doors. If you want more info, I can send on the cost etc. "

cronos · 19-10-2016 7:55pm

tonto2010 wrote: »

This is proabebly a little late but might be of some use for other people considering chages to the Heron. We extended the Minerva in place of the existing wodden ledge and opted for pocket doors. If you want more info, I can send on the cost etc.

Can you send me this information please? Espically interested in hearing more about pocket doors and prices on both.

cronos · 19-10-2016 7:59pm

tonto2010 wrote: »

Hi All,

We had this done free of charge

Curious how many inches are moving the island towards the back?

cronos · 19-10-2016 8:04pm

Nhol78 wrote: »

4.) Has anyone had success in asking Ballymore to change the RJ-11 faceplates to RG-45? I see other have done this themselves but seems a mistake for them to be RJ-11 in the first place.
For this item I was told to contact the electrician working on the house. I agree with your point,why bother installing RJ-11.

I asked for him to quote cost to install for the CAT 6 cable and quote was 150 and CAT 6 face plates etc which was 80 euro for 6 rooms, He advised that they could not do a 6 port face plate in the utility room and that we would need to do this ourselves which raises some concerts
1. You will probably need to cut into the wall to enlarge the space for a 6 port face plate
2. You will still need to wire up the face plate
3. If they do not label the cables for you, then you will need to take to time to identify which is which
4. They would need to advise if they wired it in Type A or Type B configuration. To insure that you wire the other ends correctly
Thinking about it I might just get the CAT 6 in and do the sockets myself.
Thank you for your response to my earlier questions.

Last question from me, how much did this change cost you and could you PM a photo of it to me "This is proabebly a little late but might be of some use for other people considering chages to the Heron. We extended the Minerva in place of the existing wodden ledge and opted for pocket doors. If you want more info, I can send on the cost etc. "

Think it's worth the 150 for the Cat6?

Nhol78 · 19-10-2016 8:45pm

cronos wrote: »

Nhol78 wrote: »

4.) Has anyone had success in asking Ballymore to change the RJ-11 faceplates to RG-45? I see other have done this themselves but seems a mistake for them to be RJ-11 in the first place.
For this item I was told to contact the electrician working on the house. I agree with your point,why bother installing RJ-11.

I asked for him to quote cost to install for the CAT 6 cable and quote was 150 and CAT 6 face plates etc which was 80 euro for 6 rooms, He advised that they could not do a 6 port face plate in the utility room and that we would need to do this ourselves which raises some concerts
1. You will probably need to cut into the wall to enlarge the space for a 6 port face plate
2. You will still need to wire up the face plate
3. If they do not label the cables for you, then you will need to take to time to identify which is which
4. They would need to advise if they wired it in Type A or Type B configuration. To insure that you wire the other ends correctly
Thinking about it I might just get the CAT 6 in and do the sockets myself.
Thank you for your response to my earlier questions.

Last question from me, how much did this change cost you and could you PM a photo of it to me "This is proabebly a little late but might be of some use for other people considering chages to the Heron. We extended the Minerva in place of the existing wodden ledge and opted for pocket doors. If you want more info, I can send on the cost etc. "

Think it's worth the 150 for the Cat6?

It is a personal choice, if you tend to move lots of data on your network, Stream videos while doing large downloads etc yes

guns_healy · 19-10-2016 9:30pm

Getting beyond a joke having no broadband now

The row of 3 beds on phelan park still have no access to broadband as eir haven't ran the cables from the path to our house

Most annoying thing is eir cannot give a date as to when they will connect the wires

sdhway · 20-10-2016 12:04am

Nhol78 wrote: »

It is a personal choice, if you tend to move lots of data on your network, Stream videos while doing large downloads etc yes

Can I ask, if currently just rj11 faceplates in each room (who uses home phone nowadays?!), where are the cat 5e cables which come as standard fitted? I was assuming there will be Ethernet ports in each room?

Bruncvik · 20-10-2016 12:21pm

The Cat 5 cables are in the walls, but the rj11 faceplates only have two wires out of six, I think, attached to them. A few weeks ago someone described how it's only a matter to change the faceplates and attach all wires to get full Cat 5.

tonto2010 · 20-10-2016 2:51pm

Nhol78 wrote: »

4.) Has anyone had success in asking Ballymore to change the RJ-11 faceplates to RG-45? I see other have done this themselves but seems a mistake for them to be RJ-11 in the first place.
For this item I was told to contact the electrician working on the house. I agree with your point,why bother installing RJ-11.

I asked for him to quote cost to install for the CAT 6 cable and quote was 150 and CAT 6 face plates etc which was 80 euro for 6 rooms, He advised that they could not do a 6 port face plate in the utility room and that we would need to do this ourselves which raises some concerts
1. You will probably need to cut into the wall to enlarge the space for a 6 port face plate
2. You will still need to wire up the face plate
3. If they do not label the cables for you, then you will need to take to time to identify which is which
4. They would need to advise if they wired it in Type A or Type B configuration. To insure that you wire the other ends correctly
Thinking about it I might just get the CAT 6 in and do the sockets myself.
Thank you for your response to my earlier questions.

Last question from me, how much did this change cost you and could you PM a photo of it to me "This is proabebly a little late but might be of some use for other people considering chages to the Heron. We extended the Minerva in place of the existing wodden ledge and opted for pocket doors. If you want more info, I can send on the cost etc. "

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for the answers and PM's. We haven't actually seen the change to the kitchen yet so will send on a pictures as soon as we do. Probably won't be until the snag though.

Thanks for all the info on the wiring! tempted by the CAT 6 now...

guns_healy · 20-10-2016 6:20pm

Got an update from Eir today for anyone interested in broadband. No matter who you want the service off.

The 3 bed phelan park houses have no access to broadband until eir do a site survey to determine the work that's needed to be done. That survey has been scheduled in for the 30th of December

.

I'd imagine the new 4 beds facing the canal will have the same issue as us.

Bizarre considering 30 yards across the road from me in phelan avenue etc has access to Internet

johnny66179 · 20-10-2016 8:56pm

cronos wrote: »

Can you send me this information please? Espically interested in hearing more about pocket doors and prices on both.

Hi, I would be interested in seeing some information on this too

Bruncvik · 20-10-2016 9:56pm

guns_healy wrote: »

The 3 bed phelan park houses have no access to broadband until eir do a site survey to determine the work that's needed to be done. That survey has been scheduled in for the 30th of December .

Anyone has had any luck with 3G? I'm with 3, and I barely get voice in our house, and absolutely no mobile data. However, if a different provider has good coverage, 3G tethering may be an option.

Arbie · 20-10-2016 10:50pm

Bruncvik wrote: »

Anyone has had any luck with 3G? I'm with 3, and I barely get voice in our house, and absolutely no mobile data. However, if a different provider has good coverage, 3G tethering may be an option.

There is huge variation even within houses. Our experience is:

3 - very erratic, most rooms no signal but strangely in the front room getting 40Mbs+ on 4G, so we've been using a 3 prepay sim with all you can eat data (€20 per month) in a wireless router and it does the trick for browsing and Netflix - we use a Huawei B315 4G 150 Mbps Mobile Wi-Fi Router, got unlocked from Amazon, gives good signal up to the attic of Heron

eir mobile - very poor signal throughout, voice calls cut out regularly, reasonable 3G data speeds at windows

Vodafone - excellent signal throughout, perfect voice calls and 4G

cronos · 22-10-2016 5:29pm

guns_healy wrote: »

Got an update from Eir today for anyone interested in broadband. No matter who you want the service off.

The 3 bed phelan park houses have no access to broadband until eir do a site survey to determine the work that's needed to be done. That survey has been scheduled in for the 30th of December .

I'd imagine the new 4 beds facing the canal will have the same issue as us.

Bizarre considering 30 yards across the road from me in phelan avenue etc has access to Internet

Can someone make sure the new houses being built on Bridge Avenue get included if they are dealing with Eir? Would be very helpful, thank you.

tonto2010 · 27-10-2016 8:40pm

Hi All,

We Just snagged this week and overall we're very happy with the build.

If anyone wants pictures of the pocket doors or extended Minerva counter top PM me. They seem to have changed the Minerva colour from the solid white in the show house to a slightly speckled version. I don't think it looks as clean but no big deal.

They also cut the minerva in the upstairs toilet to give access to the back of the toilets. Seems a little crude, but not really sure what the
options were here?

Anyone else snag this week and make any observations?

Cheers

cronos · 30-10-2016 12:52am

tonto2010 wrote: »

Hi All,

We Just snagged this week and overall we're very happy with the build.

If anyone wants pictures of the pocket doors or extended Minerva counter top PM me. They seem to have changed the Minerva colour from the solid white in the show house to a slightly speckled version. I don't think it looks as clean but no big deal.

They also cut the minerva in the upstairs toilet to give access to the back of the toilets. Seems a little crude, but not really sure what the
options were here?

Anyone else snag this week and make any observations?

Cheers

Sent you a PM. Let me know if you didn't get it. Thanks

cronos · 05-11-2016 6:18pm

sunshine135 · 05-11-2016 9:02pm

Hi,
Does anyone maybe have unwanted moving boxes? Please PM me, thanks

athtrasna · 05-11-2016 9:38pm

cronos wrote: »

Hi there,

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any information on Living in Royal Canal Park, Ashtown?

Thanks

No need for a new thread. Merged into this one

Mod

engineermike · 06-11-2016 3:26pm

tonto2010 wrote: »

Hi All,

We Just snagged this week and overall we're very happy with the build.

If anyone wants pictures of the pocket doors or extended Minerva counter top PM me. They seem to have changed the Minerva colour from the solid white in the show house to a slightly speckled version. I don't think it looks as clean but no big deal.

They also cut the minerva in the upstairs toilet to give access to the back of the toilets. Seems a little crude, but not really sure what the
options were here?

Anyone else snag this week and make any observations?

Cheers

I've just done 3 units for clients last week and although a few silly errors (which I would put down to staff member going on leave and things getting lost in the handover to the new B-more rep.) it was the usual above average standard. I've been quite impressed overall with the way they deal with problems my snag list reports highlight.
Even when you dig a little deeper on something that isn't on view anymore (closed in - within a wall cavity etc.) Its good to be furnished with details that show they don't have the 'out of sight / out of mind' attitude which is unfortunately creeping back in again at some builds across the city as the market and demand improves.
The only down side from my side is the 4 bedrooms are a BIG house!, and they take a good deal of time to inspect satisfactorily. However I still welcome new work at the development as everything else in the snagging process is facilitated with ease.

Bruncvik · 12-11-2016 3:46pm

Two weeks in one of the Ashes on Phelan Park, and here are my first impressions for those who asked:

* Post-purchase adjustments - Before we moved in, we had the house repainted and floored. Plenty of places and workmen to select from. We had very good experience with the carpenter for laminate flooring and a few odd jobs around the house (mainly cutting down the doors), painter and window blinds company. Decent experience with carpeting and alarm. Bad experience with tile fitter (good job fitting the tiles, but left enormous mess).

* Heating and electricity - The house retains warmth exceptionally well. We usually keep the temperature at a sweltering 20 until we go to sleep; it's about 19C in the morning, with 0-4 degrees outside. Hot water all day - haven't had such luxury before in Ireland. The heat/water heater management interface is quite sophisticated, and I didn't get the chance to read the manual yet, so we keep it at comfort setting. Downstairs, in the utility room, we also have a heating console, which I didn't master yet, either. So we're just using classic manual thermostats, and so far that's been sufficient. It's too early to say how much we'll pay for electricity.

* Security - The neighborhood is exceptionally quiet, which we like. We're not too excited about the fact that street lights are not yet turned on, but that's a minor thing. We never saw anyone threatening in the streets, and our only negative experience was that someone rummaged overnight through low-value items we stored in the back garden. I think this won't be a concern once people move to the Herons with which we share the gardens.

* Relationship with builders - Once we closed on the house, the builders became wholly unresponsive. Despite numerous e-mails, calls and even a personal visit, we still have one unresolved deficiency we didn't catch during snagging. So far, the builders wouldn't even tell us the shade of the off-white paint color used for doors and skirting boards, so that we can paint over a few scratched.

* Kitchen - In my opinion, this is the weakest part of the build. The kitchen was assembled shoddily. Drawers are skewed and keep falling off the rails, despite having been fixed when our snagger pointed these issues out. The design of the gray parts (drawers and bottom cabinets) is also poor: edges of the wood are fairly sharp, and pulling them open can be uncomfortable on your fingers. I'm currently in the process of installing handles on all of them.

* Mobile and boradband - As discussed earlier, Three is very poor in this area. Inside the house, I completely lost connectivity (no carrier on my phone), and mobile data was a distant dream. Since then I switched to Vodafone, which is marginally better, but even there the signal quality varies a little. Decent mobile data, though. Now the best news, especially for guns_healy: Eir installed Eir Fibre in our house on Friday. Apparently, it is fully available on Phelan Park. So far, I've been very happy with the speed and reliability. The only downside is that the only connection the technician could find working is in the middle of the hallway, where we now have the router, but eventually we'll get cables done to the family room and may even sign for TV.

All in all, we're very happy with the house. The few things we found here are all fixable. As it happens, I'm exhibiting selection bias here, pointing out the few negative experiences we've had, but the vast majority of our stay here has been nothing but pleasant.

cronos · 12-11-2016 4:07pm

Did you get doors between the Kitchen and living room?

Nhol78 · 12-11-2016 5:00pm

Bruncvik - In relation to the router having to be in the hall, Did you replace the RJ11 sockets in the other rooms and in the utility room? When you say the only connection he could find do you mean the only socket that was working?

New Development Royal Canal Park D15

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