Clay Farm, Leopardstown, Dublin 18

Rob01 · 05-02-2018 2:39pm

gstones wrote: »

Nope, don't think we got it.

Just had Siro put in and they've messed up the wiring for it in seemingly every house. It still works but the two wires should be beside each other but are on either side of the door.

Requires Power Line Adaptors at c. €100 to fix or a line ran up and over the front door and back down the other side. The staff installing the line were baffled at how they managed to get that wrong.

Overall happy with the house and estate but there's quite a few simple things like that, the TV point etc that they're got wrong, pretty poor for a new build.

The TV point in the Fern was a massive issue for me when viewing the showhouse. The TV is in the correct place in the Elder and we've had no issue as sky just drilled a line from outside. I asked Saville's on the day of the launch about the Fern and they couldn't provide me with an answer as to why

Also the Siro connection in the Elder was fine. Digiweb drilled a line from the side of the driveway and connected it all up fairly easy?

Rob01 · 05-02-2018 3:14pm

JDD wrote: »

Perhaps this is me being cynical, or perhaps it's because I bought a new build at the height of the boom that had all sorts of promises of parks and shopping centres and creches attached that never materialized when the builders went into NAMA, but I would not be buying a house in Clay Farm based on the promise that the Eco Park will be built by a certain date, or at all.

You need to be completely happy with the estate as it is, the day you get your keys. The way I see it, if the Eco Park is built it's a bonus. I take that Park Developments have been around for a long time and seem to be a good solid company, which I'm sure fully intends to follow through on the promise of an Eco Park. And I know it's part of their planning permission approval. But you never know what might happen between now and next year. It may be the case that if their plans for the 900 further units gets refused again, they may not have the cash for the Eco Park. And you can be sure it's not part of purchasing contracts.

Another few questions for you all that have moved in already

- how much was the booking deposit in Phase 1?
- how much is the full deposit on signing contracts?
- how soon between launch and signing contracts?

I think the Eco Park is actually being put in by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council in Phase 2

JDD · 05-02-2018 3:22pm

Rob01 wrote: »

I think the Eco Park is actually being put in by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council in Phase 2

Really? Well that would definitely mean that it at least will be built.

God, another question occurs to me. Is there a management fee?

gstones · 05-02-2018 3:22pm

Installing the Siro was fine but it should have been set up so that both points were at the door which would have enabled a connection through the electricity wires to all points in the house, the way that second point was placed, on the far side of the door, they weren't able to do it, actavo who are working for Vodafone said they'd seen it in a few houses. Means buying a €100 bit of kit to have it connected into the TV properly.

Managed to move our TV point on the fern thankfully so it's on the main wall.

In terms of others things, they're all small but the double doors inside open out instead of slide so they hit the kitchen door and inhibit what you can do with that space, we plan on moving them to a slide on time.

There was too few electricity points.

All downstairs bulbs had to be replaced.

Houses weren't properly wired for smart lighting.

Few things like that, again not major and by no means would it put me off the house or the estate just comes across as poor planning and but disappointing to not have covered basic things like that. We managed to fix nearly everything but costing a bit, nothing too much on its own but adds up.

Rob01 · 05-02-2018 3:23pm

Haidee_Hammond wrote: »

Thanks a lot @gstones. Would you have any more examples? Might be useful to know.

Kitchen does not come with a cutlery/utensil divider which was annoying. The kitchen provider will quote you €45 for one. Ikea sell one for 45cent as a makeshift one

Bathrooms come fully fitted and are excellent, the finish was great. Only difference between ours and the show house, is the towel holder and toilet roll holder do not come with the house as they were deemed accessories.

Other than that I literally cannot complain. The lads onsite are also brilliant if you need anything done or looked at after you have moved in

Rob01 · 05-02-2018 3:25pm

JDD wrote: »

Really? Well that would definitely mean that it at least will be built.

God, another question occurs to me. Is there a management fee?

Don't quote me on that but yes I think so

No management fee for the houses. I would imagine like all apartment complexes in line with the MUD Act there will be a management fee for them

JDD · 05-02-2018 3:59pm

Great, no management fee for the houses is a definite plus.

Being a total nerd I've been lurking on other new estate threads and some suggest that for an extra payment you can get the builders to convert your attic. Now I know these are timber frame houses so you need a surveyor involved but have any of you heard of anyone getting the builders to do that?

I'm sure Savills wouldn't bring it up as obviously they want you to buy a four bed house if you're that way inclined.

It's probably not an option open to us cost wise but we would like to convert at some point in the future and it'd be nice to know how much it might cost.

SouthKnight · 05-02-2018 4:10pm

Rob01 wrote: »

Kitchen does not come with a cutlery/utensil divider which was annoying. The kitchen provider will quote you €45 for one. Ikea sell one for 45cent as a makeshift one

Bathrooms come fully fitted and are excellent, the finish was great. Only difference between ours and the show house, is the towel holder and toilet roll holder do not come with the house as they were deemed accessories.

Other than that I literally cannot complain. The lads onsite are also brilliant if you need anything done or looked at after you have moved in

Hey Rob01, have you ever tried to get any paint of wall and skirting board from the lads onsite?

Cuddlesworth · 05-02-2018 4:14pm

JDD wrote: »

Great, no management fee for the houses is a definite plus.

That's unusual, the council usually flat out refuse to take on-board new estates.

shanedunne2000 · 05-02-2018 4:25pm

Hi all,

We moved into Larkfield Place over the weekend. We’re having trouble setting up a refuse collection for our house. Panda say they don’t service the estate, no luck with green star either.

Who should I ring to collect the bins?

Rob01 · 05-02-2018 4:35pm

SouthKnight wrote: »

Hey Rob01, have you ever tried to get any paint of wall and skirting board from the lads onsite?

No not yet, the house comes fully painted in a Magnolia type colour and the skirting is spray painted white so we have not looked at painting yet as the finish on them is very good and will do us for now. You could always ask the the painters on site to do a nixer?

shanedunne2000 wrote: »

Hi all,

We moved into Larkfield Place over the weekend. We’re having trouble setting up a refuse collection for our house. Panda say they don’t service the estate, no luck with green star either.

Who should I ring to collect the bins?

We went with Greyhound, €18.50 a month for all 3 bins, black/brown collect one week, green bin the next.

Haidee_Hammond · 05-02-2018 5:15pm

SouthKnight wrote: »

Hey Rob01, have you ever tried to get any paint of wall and skirting board from the lads onsite?

Just in case you want to know, I asked Savills and they told me that these are the details:

Ceilings: Fleetwood Matt Tinted 240179

Walls: Fleetwood Matt Tinted 240126

Woodwork: Eggshell (Oil based) 240179

I think Stillorgan-decor stocks them all.

Thanks a lot Rob01 and gstones! Living room doors and power points is something it was already annoying me. The towel rack or kitchen cutlery issue, I agree is small, but unexpected. Also, what do you mean not wired for smart lighting?

I am starting to wonder how do you contact the guys onsite in case you want to ask for the price of modifying anything, also, what have you guys done? I am wondering is small things such as adding more light points, shelves in the closet for the main bedroom, towel rack, and... out of curiosity, why not, attic conversion (although I can almost assure you we can't afford it right now either).

ionapaul · 05-02-2018 5:23pm

I would be very surprised if there isn't some kind of management fee for the houses! Nice work if not though, happy days.

thebsharp · 05-02-2018 5:26pm

All Councils will take estates in charge once you build to an agreed specification

Rob01 · 05-02-2018 5:37pm

ionapaul wrote: »

I would be very surprised if there isn't some kind of management fee for the houses! Nice work if not though, happy days.

They cannot put a management fee for houses in place after people have purchased and moved in.

Just to be clear, it was not in the contract for the house, so there is no management fee

JDD · 05-02-2018 6:23pm

Just asked Savills and they confirmed no management fee. That's a definite plus in comparison to Glenside, which has a fee of €700 per annum I believe.

shanedunne2000 · 05-02-2018 11:49pm

Rob01 wrote: »

No not yet, the house comes fully painted in a Magnolia type colour and the skirting is spray painted white so we have not looked at painting yet as the finish on them is very good and will do us for now. You could always ask the the painters on site to do a nixer?

We went with Greyhound, €18.50 a month for all 3 bins, black/brown collect one week, green bin the next.

Thank you very much.

Any opinion on TV provider? For sky, is a satellite dish needed? And if so, is that allowed?

emmad · 06-02-2018 12:07am

Haidee_Hammond wrote: »

Just in case you want to know, I asked Savills and they told me that these are the details:

Ceilings: Fleetwood Matt Tinted 240179

Walls: Fleetwood Matt Tinted 240126

Woodwork: Eggshell (Oil based) 240179

I think Stillorgan-decor stocks them all.

Thanks a lot Rob01 and gstones! Living room doors and power points is something it was already annoying me. The towel rack or kitchen cutlery issue, I agree is small, but unexpected. Also, what do you mean not wired for smart lighting?

I am starting to wonder how do you contact the guys onsite in case you want to ask for the price of modifying anything, also, what have you guys done? I am wondering is small things such as adding more light points, shelves in the closet for the main bedroom, towel rack, and... out of curiosity, why not, attic conversion (although I can almost assure you we can't afford it right now either).

Thanks for paint info!
I was googling the woodwork paint but couldn't seem to.find it. Is it Fleetwood too? And is code correct cos it is the same as ceiling paint?

When you say woodwork - is this skirting boards and stairs bannisters?

Thanks!!

Haidee_Hammond · 06-02-2018 12:14am

emmad wrote: »

Thanks for paint info!
I was googling the woodwork paint but couldn't seem to.find it. Is it Fleetwood too? And is code correct cos it is the same as ceiling paint?

When you say woodwork - is this skirting boards and stairs bannisters?

Thanks!!

I couldn't find it either, but I wrote to the Stillorgan shop since they stock both brands and they told me it was enough info for them to mix it, haven't gone yet myself though. That is the info I got from Savills, but to me it would look like stairs and skirting boards are the same colours indeed.

ruadhanbarry · 06-02-2018 9:36am

I got Siri installed last week. I wasn’t happy with the placement, so had it reinstalled yesterday. We’re in a Fern, and we had them route it from the front door to the other side of the house, so that it now comes into the corner of the living room. We went for the 300mb/s from Vodafone. To get the 300 you need to wire everything from the router, so it’s important to think about placement. I’m still getting >200 over WiFi, which is more than enough for most activity.

There are a few guys on site who will do nixers. The foreman will be able to connect you if you ask. I had an electrician hook up the car point at the front door. It’s not live when you move in.

+1 We’ve found the spot lights have needed to be replaced, however I prefer having LED.

I have Hue lights set up, so I’m not sure about the problem with Smart Lights.

Rob01 · 06-02-2018 10:18am

shanedunne2000 wrote: »

Thank you very much.

Any opinion on TV provider? For sky, is a satellite dish needed? And if so, is that allowed?

Satellite dish is needed for sky. Our contract said we could not put one on the front or side of the house, but you are allowed put it on the back of the house provided Sky can get a signal. Their engineering will come out and do a test and put the satellite in this best place in the back garden/on the back of the house to pick one up

I couldn't put myself through the trauma of having to use Virgin TV each day, it's terrible

cfresident · 06-02-2018 1:23pm

Hi All,

Just a couple of things to note.

In relation to broadband/TV. We had ours installed last week. The main cable for connecting to the services is at the front door. This main cable then runs to the back door where there are two plates on the wall with TV & Data written on them. Providers need to connect the main cable to the cables at the back door to service the connection points in the house. They should not need to drill holes in the walls (they probably do for Sky). The main connection is not in the hall and as far as I know there is absolutely no need to connect anything in the hall or drill through walls for Broadband. I would suggest anyone else getting Digiweb tells them about the connections at the back door in the utility room.

In relation to paint, we rang Fleetwood and they told us that we wouldn’t find the paint for the houses commercially as they were made specifically for Clay Farm (we had tried an number of stores). We went to the Fleetwood trade centre on Davitt Road and they were very good. Maybe try Stillorgan first, but failing that I would go straight to Fleetwood rather than wasting your time going around DIY stores.

shanedunne2000 · 07-02-2018 9:24am

Rob01 wrote: »

Satellite dish is needed for sky. Our contract said we could not put one on the front or side of the house, but you are allowed put it on the back of the house provided Sky can get a signal. Their engineering will come out and do a test and put the satellite in this best place in the back garden/on the back of the house to pick one up

I couldn't put myself through the trauma of having to use Virgin TV each day, it's terrible

Thank you very much, the sky guy is on the way, let’s hope it works.

shanedunne2000 · 07-02-2018 9:26am

Rob01 wrote: »

Satellite dish is needed for sky. Our contract said we could not put one on the front or side of the house, but you are allowed put it on the back of the house provided Sky can get a signal. Their engineering will come out and do a test and put the satellite in this best place in the back garden/on the back of the house to pick one up

I couldn't put myself through the trauma of having to use Virgin TV each day, it's terrible

Thank you very much, the sky guy is on the way, let’s hope it works.

Haidee_Hammond · 10-02-2018 12:10pm

Question, how is the drainage in the garden? Do you notice any issues with it or have any idea if there is any particular arrangement for it? I am just worried because we visited a friend that just moved in and her garden seemed pretty damp, so I am worrying a bit (since I had loads of plans for the garden, which admittedly was my first mistake XD). Thanks!

JDD · 12-02-2018 1:18pm

I'd also be interested in the drainage issue. Given the fact the development is so close to that flood plain I'd hope the garden wouldn't get waterlogged. I'm really looking forward to growing some vegetables which I haven't been able to do in our rented home for the past few years.

Phase 2 goes on sale at the end of this week apparently, though this hasn't been confirmed yet by Savills. Just waiting for the email. Hopefully won't have to queue - it just smacks of 2006 and having bought a new house just before the property crash hit I couldn't bear to take part in that sort of nonsense again...

Asalbeag · 14-02-2018 6:03pm

Anyone else getting measured for floors at the moment. Was talking to a local supplier today who said that they were measuring a good few houses and i asked if he'd do a group discount. He was interested and said this was done on other developments.

Anyone any interest?

emmad · 15-02-2018 8:52am

We are going to go with The Flooring Mill who did the showhouses. Great idea on discount though.

muirgheasa · 15-02-2018 1:20pm

Asalbeag wrote: »

Anyone else getting measured for floors at the moment. Was talking to a local supplier today who said that they were measuring a good few houses and i asked if he'd do a group discount. He was interested and said this was done on other developments.

Anyone any interest?

We've got a house in what I think they're calling phase "1B". Haven't got quotes for flooring yet as they're saying we're still a few months from snagging, but would certainly be interested if you have any more details on that. Sounds like a win-win!

rhubarb1980 · 15-02-2018 4:20pm

Asalbeag wrote: »

Anyone else getting measured for floors at the moment. Was talking to a local supplier today who said that they were measuring a good few houses and i asked if he'd do a group discount. He was interested and said this was done on other developments.

Anyone any interest?

Sounds interesting, who is the local supplier and what type of floors/brands are we talking about?

Clay Farm, Leopardstown, Dublin 18

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