ᐅ Building inspection before purchase not possible – too risky?

Dear community,

My wife and I are planning to purchase a plot of land that perfectly suits our needs. Unfortunately, it is not possible to carry out a soil survey before the purchase (due to an existing building on the site). According to the contaminated site report from the local authority, there is no suspicion of contamination or unexploded ordnance. There is a house (existing building) from the 1920s on the property. On both sides of the plot, there are also houses (it is a purely residential area). Would you say there is a significant risk of additional costs due to the soil conditions here? If yes, how high could those costs potentially be? The planned building area is about 100 sqm (1,076 sq ft), with two floors planned.

I would appreciate your assessments very much!

1. Existing building on site = probably suitable for construction
2. There are neighbors = crazy idea to simply ask about the soil conditions

My assessment: normal costs

nordanney schrieb:

1. Existing building on site = so building is probably possible
2. There are neighbors = Crazy idea to just ask about the soil conditions

My assessment: normal costs

Thanks! We have actually already asked the two neighbors, and they said everything is fine

You can have the holes for the soil survey drilled right next to the existing house. It was the same for us.

Bauherr23579 schrieb:

My wife and I want to purchase a plot of land that perfectly suits our needs. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to conduct a soil survey before the purchase (existing building in the way). [...] There is a house (existing building) from the 1920s on the site. To the left and right of the plot, there are also houses [...].

motorradsilke schrieb:

You can simply have the boreholes for the soil survey made right next to the existing house.

Of course, the boreholes shouldn’t be placed in the fill funnel (excavation pit with working space of the basement of the existing building) because the results there would naturally be of questionable value. But basically, I would say that an existing building doesn’t complicate a soil survey—it practically replaces it: the settlement cracks of a hundred-year-old house are almost like a soil survey, showing the result of the ground’s condition [hheh]. Parts of the building’s structure might even still be suitable for reuse—that was a good building period.

Bauherr23579 schrieb:

According to the local authority’s contaminated sites report, there is no suspicion of contamination or unexploded ordnance. [...] Would you say there is a significant risk of additional costs due to the soil conditions here?

Unexploded ordnance (as well as Roman or Celtic finds) is a completely different matter than bearing capacity and permeability.

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The question is, what do you (still) want to achieve with the soil survey if there is already a house on the property?!
In my opinion: you don’t always have to follow the initial plan if there is another way to handle the situation 😎
With that said: good luck with the land purchase 😀