PC Sums - include or go your own way

Folks,

Looking for some advice on PC sums with a new house. In general should one accept these then add if you want more or just buy the house at the PC sum ex. price and do it yourself?

Also when deciding shoudln;t one be provided with a full list of choices etc. from the estate agent? I mean 5K from one place for a kitchen for example could be very different to 5K in another place.

All input appreciated,

Noobie

What is "PC Sums" ??

Allowance for stuff like kitchen etc. It's an amount of money the builder allows for a particular item or task and is included in the purchase price.

For example a 320K house may have a PC sum of 10K for a kitchen. One can accept this and even get a more expensive one at a later stage OR one can say no thanks I'll sort it out myself, in which case the house cost is now 310K (320 less the 10K kitchen PC sum).

My question is whay is the advantage of accepting the builders PC sum as in all likelyhood it's just so he can get a kickback for the kitchen provider or whomever?

Noobie.

Usually they are included automatically in the price and its up to you if you want to go with what they supply, add a bit extra to upgrade or take the pc sum and go to another agent, the catch with going somewhere else is that these people are not allowed on site untill the house is handed over to you.....the best option is to check around differnt suppliers to see if you are getting good value..some pc sums are worthless and its easier to go with what they offer...

Cheers johnnyg,

It's just that the Estate Agent wants me to decide now and I've no idea about the two kitchen providers or if they are giving me value. The Estate agent said I can go with whomever I want when it comes down to it but I guess he'd say anything he thinks I want to hear.

To be honest I'm inclined to accept stuff like the PC tiling allowance but not the kitchen.

As always input appeciated,

Noobie.

I would still take the PC sum for the kitchen...if you don't take it and go else where, you can use that pc to pay for the solicitor/engineer (as this would be included in the total price of the house and mortgage)...comes in handy when you close out everything.

noobie99 said:

For example a 320K house may have a PC sum of 10K for a kitchen. One can accept this and even get a more expensive one at a later stage OR one can say no thanks I'll sort it out myself, in which case the house cost is now 310K (320 less the 10K kitchen PC sum).Noobie.

Click to expand...

In this example could it be that you will now move up a bracket in the old stamp duty stakes?

Roy

No, stamp duty on a new house depends on square footage not price.

On the PC sums, one thing to note is let's say with a fireplace:
If you want your own fireplace then the company you get to install the fireplace will have to wait until after you've gotten the key from the builder and as you can imagine its quite difficult to install a fireplace when the sitting room has been finished - floor put down, etc.
What I've decided to do is go with the company who are supposed to put in the standard fireplace and choose an upgrade from their own list so they'll still put it in at the more opportune moment.
For a kitchen, its best to have the whole floor tiled first before the units go in as otherwise groundlevel appliances like dishwashers and washing machines will be virtually impossible to move if they're on concrete and the rest of the kitchen is half an inch above.