We’re in our early 30s and looking to buy our first home, and since we started looking 18 months ago really notice the difference a good or bad BER makes.
It seems we can afford an F or G property but haven’t the cash then to do the work needed, so any grants (eg SEAI) will be a boon. However, they seem to have driven up the value of ones qualifying for vacant or derelict property grants. We’ve seen poor inhabited houses going for less than abandoned ones that will get grants of up to €70k!
We’re not afraid of physical work but we don’t want to bite off more than we can chew either, especially when dealing with scarce trades. What are your thoughts on buying, doing quick fixes to have a roof over our head and ‘kicking the can down the road’ for the bigger stuff?
Also, we’d hope to start a family in a few years’ time, so don’t want too much upheaval again in say five years’ time? We both have fairly secure jobs, thankfully, so at least there is one constant. Thanks Brigid,
Mike and Katie
Hi Mike and Katie, I’ll never forget this stage of my life, and I get it completely. Yes, it has taken some years but a Building Energy Rating (BER), good or bad, makes a difference when it comes to purchasing property.
The introduction of BERs for houses was not solely an instruction from the EU and the State to enable buildings to reduce CO2 emissions and become more energy efficient for the good of the planet and future generations.
It was also hoped by the powers that be, that part of the solution lay in getting buy in from existing property owners, whereby they would be encouraged to upgrade their homes to increase the value of their investment.
In short that the quality of housing stock would be pulled up by its bootstraps in terms of efficiencies, because it would increase the value of people’s homes and put more money in a vendor’s pocket.
The plan was that government would convey the sustainability message, that the market would insist on innovation and better energy solutions with the arrival of a slew of new tech companies, that builders would carry out the works, and that the people who lived in the properties would spend less on running them. A win-win for all, as it were.
Now, I need you both to take a breath. You have asked my opinion, and, as you know from reading previous articles, I’m here to give it! Not sure if you realised it but you mentioned a couple of key things that demonstrates to me that you guys are going to be alright. The first key thing was the phrase, ‘our first home’.
A good architect, architectural technologist, technician or designer will make this one of their first questions when designing a house. I know I do. ‘Is this your forever home?’. This allows us to get a sense of what should be spent on the building, outside building regulation compliance.
Instead of two family rooms, we encourage one. Instead of four bedrooms and a playroom we encourage you to get the kids to share a room when they are small and make the fourth bedroom the playroom. When the kids grow, the playroom becomes obsolete, and you can make it a bedroom, so each child has their own room. But the key is, you pare back. It’s the same with a renovation.
If this is your first home, take the pressure off. It doesn’t have to be perfect because it’s a stepping stone.
So, I suggest approaching things from this perspective.
Consider the F and G rated houses as your first home and ask these questions; Are you happy with the location? Is the house dry? Is it structurally sound? Are electrics, plumbing and heating services operational, and what is their life expectancy? Does it have a garden? Does the wastewater treatment system work? Does it have safe access onto a public road? Does it need attic insulation. Are the windows functioning well? Are the external doors secure? Does it have a functioning kitchen? Can you connect to the internet? Does it have a burglar alarm?
Your other key phrase is ‘not afraid of physical work’. Elbow grease is the key here. If all the list above is ticked off, it largely comes down to decoration and upgrades here and there. G and F houses are generally stone or concrete and both these have thermal mass potential. All you need is some help from the right consultant. As the building exists, your expert is a chartered building surveyor because surveyors are building pathologists and understand the behaviour of buildings and how to mend them if they’re in trouble.
On grants, it may appear that these have paradoxically made houses more expensive but, and I work in this area, this is not true in my experience. Material costs, production costs, transport import export costs, scarcity of builders and trade, and scarcity of good and experienced builders is what is impacting the bottom line.
To get €70,000 of a vacant property grant, the building has already crossed the brink and must be pulled back from dereliction. That is why these are so costly. And, from my perspective, the most heart breaking for me because I see beautiful, irreplaceable building stock disappear into the earth, never to be seen again because there are so few capable of carrying out the appropriate works.
The grants are wonderful, but they are not nearly enough to rescue these buildings and give you both an option of owning a 200-year-old house. All construction professional organisations are doing their best to get this message across.
SEAI grants are available, and these could be looked at and drawn down over the coming years to upgrade your home as you can afford it. The upheaval depends on what your wish list might be and what your expectation is. ‘How to eat an elephant?’ is very apt here. Just take one bite at a time and you will be sitting in your back garden deciding where to put your mini-green house. Or even, with a little planning, and a little budgeting, deciding if this could be your forever home.
Brigid Browne is a chartered building surveyor and chair of the Southern Region of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland. She is the owner/ managing director of Cashel-based Fortress Planning which offers a range of services including assigned certifier, design certifier, building surveyor, and conservation consultancy to clients all over the country — www.fortressplanning.ie
If you have a property related query or issue you would like to raise with Brigid, please email
irishexaminerpropertyqueries@scsi.ie
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