Renovations - A Builders Paradise

I have been cosidering getting together with a couple of friends and buying a run-down property in Dublin (in a good area) and doing it up for resale. None have FTB status so we wont be losing that but the question I have is:

1) Surely every half-arsed builder in the country can do this so is it partiularly common

2) Is it better to form a company and do it similar to a self-build project

3) Is anybody doing it out there and could let me know if its approachable.

I know that simple projects can spiral out of control so I will have an experienced person on board as one of the members and if still not happy I`ll pay a consultant engineer before each project starts to examine the porposed purchase.

Cheers

1) Surely every half-arsed builder in the country can do this so is it partiularly common

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In reply to that, you should have a read of the Homes & Gardens forum, so you can see the problems posters are having with the work of "full-arsed builders"

People tend to forget the incidentals that must also be paid for when taking on the role of a building contractor or property developer. Things like: insurance- public liability and employer's liability, tool and plant hire, contingency sum (for unseens), licences and other fees (for hoarding, utility connections, permits etc), waste disposal costs, security etc. Even on an apparently small or straightforward build you need to consider all these. I'ts unlikely that the capital appreciation available on one small project would be sufficient to attract or warrant the input of two or more investors/ partners in the whole process. Most builders, even the smallest operation, would have quite a lot of money tied up in plant, tools and machinery- all of which are essential to getting work done efficiently and economically. As the saying goes: "if it was easy everyone would be doing it".

There are also the acquistion / sale costs, Stamp Duty and Capital Gains Tax issues to consider, which are quite prohibitive in Ireland .

Stamp duty is much lower in the UK - that's why we see all the property renovation programmes on UK TV where relatively inexperienced people buy a fixer-upper, renovate and, in most instances, make a reasonable profit.