Heron's Wood: Carraigaline, Co Cork. When will these houses be allocated?

OK people, just found out that i actually work with a close friend of the person that owns astra, she is on hols at the moment but will be back tomorrow, ill get more info then. also note i have a buddy thats works in consumer rights etc and complaints dept and she warned me last nite to stay away from Land of Leather as they are swamppd with callers complaining of very poor quality and poor aftersales service also, there was a batch only recently that caused rashes on amount of people! i dont know, i never bought anything there but just thought id mention it!
 
Dear Blossy, you are a mine of information. I got a call back from the council today and was told that my complaints would be put in a report to the builder but I shouldn't hold out much hope of the problems being sorted. There is no gurantee. I love the house but I do feel a bit worried. We really dont seem to have a safety net like private buyers with snag lists and engineer reports. I would love to make contact with the builder, but have already made attempts via phone and email with regard to tax and vat no. etc and no answer. Hope you are more successful.
 


We also have a problem in the house of dampness in the hallway that my father noticed when we viewed the house.....I didn't see it at all, but it could be the case in a lot of houses.....Is it the fact that no one has been living in them for months that this has come about? Not sure what to do about it so please let me know if you get any answers! Thanks
 
hey all, just rang astra construction and she informed me that McCarthy, the main guy is out until next monday and would i ring then! she asked what did the Council say about the matter, i explained that the Council said it was in my hands and i was enquiring what can be done about it! she asked what was the number of mine i told her and she took note! So will try again on monday!
 
also speaking to the council she will ring me back about how we are to get the keys if we want an engineer in to see it, i asked how wud an engineer claim they were ok when cracks etc visible she didnt seem to be able to comment much on that just that when engineer looked at them they were fine!!! arrrgh! i also asked when were they were completed and she couldnt answer that!
 
thank you guys for taking the time to post up your information - especially you blossy .....unfortunately the council didnt have the keys to my house on wednesday so i have no idea what condition it is in.
because i dont know anything about building i had every intention of getting an engineer to snag the property, even if it looked ok to me(just in case)
now after reading these pages i think it is very strange that the council are saying they are snagged when they are obviously not and that we are expected to haggle with builders to get our houses to a reasonable standard
i think its so important to only accept these houses in perfect condition, after all we will be the ones paying to have them fixed.
im looking foward to hearing what astra have to say to you blossy- hopefully it will be all positive
 
thats mad, i went with Dublin City Council and we got our own snags done and everyting fixed and then we re-snagged and then signed. I find it strange the council are not allowing you to get your own snag, there could be extremely important stuff they may miss out or that you may need checked that they may not tell you about. I'd personally go and get a full snag does despite what they say, it will cost you a couple of houndred but in the long run may save you years or hassle or thousands in costs if something serious is wrong.
 
from my experience with dealing with astra construction, they have a "take it or leave it attitude" esp the owner (should not be dealing with the public) so not sure will they be helpful or not. Trying to get in contact is a joke and for them "ringing you back" forget about it, my advice, plague them everyday (thats what we did) to get the work done, cracks can be filled in and painted over but damp spots are a major concern...

I don't see why you can't snag the house as surely you are well within your rights to do so as co-owners.
Best of luck and welcome to herons wood, great place
 
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Hi Guys, just back to see how ye got on with the houses, hope ye don't mind I have to say I'm shocked to see that the council expect ye to accept houses that are less than perfect I would suggest that you all get an independant engineers report, your engineer should be able to get the keys directly from the council. Also your house should have a structural guarantee for I think 6 years, whereby if something happens in that period the builders are obliged to fix/replace it, forgive me if I'm wrong! BTW I have always found Astra very helpful to deal with. The council just probably want to get this 'project' over and done with asap without any inconvience or delays. You should also talk to your solicitors, they should be able to clarify where you stand. Hope ye get it all sorted soon and you are in your new homes before too long.
 
blossy dont worry about being the only person to have rang the council on this... once i get my keys to inspect my house i will be straight on to them too if there are any issues to be resolved. as i said before i will not be accepting this house in anything but perfect condition and am still shocked that the snagging is not as clongriffin described in her situation
 
Hi All,

Congrats on the offers. I recently got and AH off CCC also and when I went to arrange a snag I was also told that it was already completed by the councils engineer and that if there was anything in my engineers report to be fixed chances were Id have to do it myself. In the end I didn't get a snag done because of what they said to me. Thankfully everything was ok with the house in the end but I really don't know how the council can say that it's not up to them...............
 
Hi all, got official letter today in post. Anyone else get them? Suppose its just going to banks now and hoping they will give the money! Really dunno how this process works from here!!
 
hi everyone, we got our letter too. Am going to try to organise bank and solicitor on Monday. Has anyone been successful in making contact with the builder?? we have made endless calls and sent emails to no avail.
 
Hey folks. Great to hear feedback from future neighbours. Went to see the house last Thursday. All in all very happy with the house. Have taken video footage and photos of the entire house (should anyone request footage). Again I agree with hat a lot of people have said. Have a few problems with one or 2 doors not closing. I have spoken with some engineers who have told me the downstairs toilet sink isnt a huge deal should we have to get it done ourselves. The Girls from the council did say they would mention it to the builders and see if the can get it sorted, but I would say there is Bob and no, hope of that! Btw, I have a hot tap pipe going into my downstairs toilet. I know it's it as I've footage of the cupboard under the stairs where the pipes are coming through. Also, has anyone checked the insulation in the attic... you could swim in it!
 
Welcome Bob,
Did you get any satisfaction from the council when you contacted them?
Is the attic a big problem??
 
I havent contacted them other than to speak to the 2 girls who were there on the day. The attic is fine and has lots of room. Loads of insulation but very cheap. It's like pink christmas up there. I'll be replacing it straight away so I can actually store stuff up there without it getting covered in fluff. Will send photos if you like. Btw, I saw someone talking about dampness. I would presume thats just from the house drying out and wouldnt see it as a reason for concern. Same goes for cracks around waredrobes.
 

Would love to see photos if you have them?? What area is your houses in?
Our house has a damp patch on the chimney breast so it looks like the chimney wasn't completed properly, we will be chasing the builders but fingers crossed..
 
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