To take a builder and an electrician to a house viewing?

[Sunnyfootlands]

I’m not entirely sure about etiquette here!

We have found a house we love that is a fixer upper and it will be our first (and only!) house renovation project. We are not in a trade so don’t have any idea how to spot bigger problems, so my idea is to take a local electrician and builder with us on our second viewing of the house.

the house is empty, the owner died a year ago and it’s been on the market since and held by a property management company, so there’s no vendor to accidentally insult as we’re walking round if that makes sense?

Is this allowed? Will the agent get annoyed with the builder and electrician poking around and making suggestions/ taking notes or is this fairly normal?

Can’t see any reason why not. Go for it. The issue will be coordinating both the builder and the electrician at the same time as the viewing!

Absolutely fine. Crack on

Yes that’s fine like someone said the only issue will be coordinating builder electrician and estate agent for viewing

Totally normal. They can give you a rough indication of the work needed and a guide for costs.
Much better to do it before committing to the property than after if you can’t estimate these things yourself.

Standard practice. Crack on.

Surely there will be a whole lot of teeth sucking, head shaking and "Ooh THAT will be costly" going on?

I’d agree that if the vendor was there, it would seem odd. But as it’s just the agent, I don’t think it’s an issue at all. In fact, it shows you’re serious, rather than just being there for a nosey around. I didn't realise that was a thing, until I came to sell my old house.

We are very fortunate that both the builder and electrician are family friends, although we are of course paying both for their time for the viewing and both will be quoting us for the work if we go ahead!

Entirely normal to take builder etc to an empty house viewing - shows serious intent apart from anything. Do you have people able to go at the right time?

Thanks for this, we are definitely serious about it but also walking in with our eyes very much wide open. It needs a lot of work but has massive potential.

Sounds entirely sensible to me

I know it's not what you asked, but I would be very wary indeed of instructing family friends to carry out work on your home. Mixing business and pleasure is really tricky eg are you hoping for mates rates, would you feel able to complain if not happy with the quality of the work etc

Yes, both the electrician and builder are available for when the viewing is booked and have agreed to come with us, more out of curiosity than anything I think (the houses on the street are lovely, quite talked about locally and only come up for sale very rarely, this one was last on the market as a new build in 1918!)

It’s fine. I’m selling my parents’ house and someone that’s made several visits has taken his contractor to view.

We are very fortunate that both the builder and electrician are family friends

You are allowed to take friends with you when you view a property. The fact that they just happened to be in the trades is a just a coincidence.

I took someone who is was an engineer and experienced DIYer with me when I was a FTB, and the vendors where there. Other people I know have done similar though often the person happened to be their dad/step-dad/BIL/uncle/nephew.

Thank you, it’s a good point. The electrician we are very comfortable with, he’s done work for us before and we absolutely don’t ask for or get mates rates , he is excellent though.

The builder im less sure of, but we’ll be asking him to quote for us as well as getting quotes from other builders (he’s aware of this), we’re also asking builders to provide references/ testimonials/ people we can contact to ask for a testimonial as part of the quoting process so we’ll have a strong ‘get out of it’ option if there’s any red flags! He’s done work for our family before though and comes well recommended from my MIL!

That’s reassuring, this is our second viewing and our house isn’t on the market yet so I did feel a bit cheeky.

Why would there be?
I’ve done a lot of work and uses a lot of builders and they’ve never acted like this.

This is very normal.

I'd do this. We have a few family friends all in different trades. I'd take them all 😂 buying a house is a bit commitment so it's best to be in the know. And as you know them personally I think you're being very sensible!

Absolutely normal to make your own enquiries with someone else or do your own checks. If you're planning on a full structural survey, I'd wait until that comes through as it might reveal something that really needs doing and isn't cosmetic.