TJ Cronin

the warts and all of the building as such, right?

So when you actually get to get into the property, strip it back and get to, you know, for example, look at your heating system, look at your wiring, look at your, you know, insulation, the floor and the attic and so on and so forth and the walls, then and only then will you realize what the true cost of renovations are going to be.

So I have

On countless occasions, I have spoken to people, buyers that have bought a property for X, on the presumption that it's going to cost Y to actually bring the house to a certain level.

But when the builders get in on site, start stripping back, then the building tells its own tale.

And then it can be a very different price in terms of the actual end-day product, you know.

Now, I don't want to...

Yeah, and they're right.

The grants are there between SEAI grants, between derelict houses grants or vacancy grants, and they're quite substantial grants.

But again, I go back to the actual cost of the actual doing the work.

the appreciation within the actual cost of construction is outstripping the benefit of the grants rapidly.

And the other thing as well is that I don't want to appear to be negative in relation to the grants.

They're a huge benefit to a lot of people.

But what I have seen, especially in relation to first-time buyers and especially in relation to properties that need that deeper innovation,

they're stretched to buy the house in the first place in a lot of cases.

They can't afford to actually do the work.

So, for example, if you look at the vacancy house grant, up to €50,000, they must pay them.

It's not an upfront grant.

They must do the work and then get, once the work is completed and inspected, they then get the benefit of the grant returned to them.

So I have spoken to countless people that they're just saying that they're just,