House of the week: Wheatfields, Carrigaline €485,000

Sq m 299 (3,200 sq ft)

THE big and brand-new, out-of-the-box house at 18 Wheatfields is being sold now in the final run up to completion, to allow new owners specify exactly what finishes, look and brands they want in their 3,200sq ft home.

Carrying a guide price of €485,000 via auctioneer Shane Finn of DNG Creedon, the detached home is being sold with what’s called a builder’s finish, meaning it needs kitchen, floors, bathrooms, built-ins, fireplaces and final decor to complete.

Depending on choices made, it could all come in for a further €50,000 — or quite a bit more.

Nothing has been stinted on so far, suggests Mr Finn, who says the builders, HRH Construction, are top class and that “there’s already a number of features in the build which we haven’t really seen being put into new homes since the downturn”.

Such features include a sophisticated heat recovery system, solar panels with a gas combi boiler back-up, and extremely high insulation levels, as well as passive energy level windows.

It’s been constructed to date to a demanding air-tightness level, so even though a pressure test and BER hasn’t been done here yet, it’s expected (and was designed to) hit A BER levels when complete.

“Fifty cents worth of heat will go a long way here,” quips Mr Finn.

A large, double fronted home, it has Liscannor stone trim to its front facade, along with limestone sills, as well as a nice, contrasting horizontal strip of cedar giving just the right mellow tone: It all gels visually.

Among the things you don’t see, but will feel and be grateful for, are concrete hollow core floors at first floor level, and internal walls are in block, so it’s going to be a fairly soundproof home to have kids running around and banging doors in (even if the carbon footprint is high, due to all of the concrete.)

The same builders have done several other Wheatfields houses, according to Mr Finn, who says their standards are high.

Wheatfields has about 50 detached homes in all over about 15 acres, which allowed for a number of aspiring self-builders to build to their own designs, and last month we covered the smaller, about 2,500sq ft No 38, which carried a similar €495,000 asking price via ERA Downey McCarthy, whilst another 4,000sq ft one-off was offered last year for €550,000.

At market peak, many were worth €800,000-plus; the most recent sale was at €490,000 in 2013, with one dropping to €409,000 back in gloomy 2010.

No 18 Wheatfields “is a home many families would aspire to, and already inquiries and viewings are over expectation”, says DNG’s Mr Finn with a first offer in this week.

Slotting in between two finished Wheatfields homes, No 18 is on a 0.2-acre site with lofted 220 sq ft detached garage, and the site is walled in. As part of the sale price, it will be seeded and the drive done in cobble- lock.

Rooms inside include main kitchen/dining with open plan living area, playroom/study/bed five, ground floor bathroom with shower, and a utility with dual access also to the kitchen and to the hall. The hall is also open and airy, double height with extensive glazing and has three roof-mounted Veluxes overhead.

The first floor proper has four double bedrooms, three with built-ins and two en suites, plus main family bathroom, and all need tiling, sanitary ware etc as part of the builders’ finish offer.

VERDICT: As the saying goes, buyers get to put their own stamp on the finish of No 18, and the build crew will stay to deliver it all to the same standard as they started with.