Is the price fixed once I sign?

Depends on the contract. Some allow extras or inflation clauses—your solicitor explains what you are locked into.

Can I pull out if completion moves by a year?

Only if the contract gives you that right. Otherwise you may lose deposit monies or face penalties—another reason to get legal advice before signing.

Should I visit the site during construction?

When the builder allows safe access, seeing progress beats relying on marketing renders alone. It does not replace professional inspections at handover.

How is off-plan different from “coming soon” on IrishBuilds?

Our “coming soon” flag means the development is on the map before full sales detail; off-plan is the legal relationship once you contract with the developer.

Does Help to Buy apply to off-plan purchases?

It can, if the home is a qualifying new build and you meet Revenue’s tests. You can apply before you sign, but the claim itself waits until the purchase contract is signed. The refund on a purchase is paid to the qualifying contractor. Read the Help to Buy guide before you treat a booking form as a claim.

Buying off-plan in Ireland

Last reviewed: 10 October 2026.

Buying off-plan means you commit to a home from plans and specifications before it is finished—sometimes before construction starts. You pay a booking deposit, sign a builder’s contract, and wait for completion while prices, neighbours, and finishes are still partly unknown.

That can secure a unit in a busy scheme, but delays, specification drift, or developer failure are real risks. A solicitor who routinely handles new builds should review the contract line by line; IrishBuilds helps you find developments worth investigating—not legal advice.

Key takeaways

Read completion dates as targets; builders often have extensions built into contracts.
Know where your deposit sits and what happens if the scheme stalls.
Mortgage offers may not survive a two-year build unless your lender agrees otherwise.
Snagging before handover is your chance to flag defects—use it.

From reservation to keys

You reserve a unit, often with a booking fee. Ask what that fee is, whether it is refundable, and how long you have before you must sign the contract. A reservation is not the same document as the building contract.
Your solicitor reads the contract before you sign. The points that usually matter are the price, the specification, the completion date, any right for the builder to extend that date, the deposit, who holds it, and what happens if the scheme stalls or the developer cannot finish.
You sign and pay the deposit the contract asks for. Do not assume a percentage you saw on another development. The figure is in your contract.
Construction can take longer than the brochure. Tell your lender as soon as the date moves, because a mortgage offer can expire. The mortgage guide covers offer extensions and stage releases.
Help to Buy, if you are using it, is claimed after the contract is signed on a purchase. The refund goes to the qualifying contractor. The Help to Buy guide explains the self-build route separately.
Near the end you snag the finished home, complete the purchase with your solicitor, and get the keys when the contract says they are released. Keys are not automatic on the day the builder says the house is “ready”.

What to check before you sign

The contract price, what is included, and whether extras or a price-variation clause can change it.
The specification you are actually buying, not only the show house or the render.
Where the booking fee and the contract deposit sit, and whether you lose them if you do not proceed or if completion is delayed.
The long-stop or completion clause, and whether delay lets you walk away or only gives the builder more time.
How defects are dealt with, including any defects period after you move in, and whether you can keep back money until snags are fixed.
That the contractor is on Revenue’s qualifying contractor list if you are counting on Help to Buy.

Those answers come from the contract and from your solicitor, not from a sales brochure. The Law Society’s find-a-solicitor service is a starting point if you do not already have one. Citizens Information’s buying-a-home pages cover the general conveyancing steps that still apply once the new home is ready to transfer.

What snagging involves

Snagging is a room-by-room list of defects in the finished home: sticking doors, damaged finishes, missing items from the specification, heating or ventilation that does not run, and incomplete outside works. You, or a surveyor you hire, write the list down and send it to the builder. It is not a structural survey, and it does not replace your solicitor reading the contract.

There is no single national snagging form that every Irish new-build contract uses. Ask, before you sign, when you are allowed in to inspect, how long the builder has to fix the list, and whether completion and the keys can wait until the agreed items are done. Do the inspection in daylight, with the specification beside you, and keep a copy of what you sent.

Where this sits next to the other guides

Deposit amounts and stage payments vary by contract. For the mortgage side, use mortgages for new builds. For the tax refund, use Help to Buy. To see what is on the market, use new builds Ireland, new builds Dublin, new builds Cork, and listings by status.

FAQs

Is the price fixed once I sign?: Depends on the contract. Some allow extras or inflation clauses—your solicitor explains what you are locked into.
Can I pull out if completion moves by a year?: Only if the contract gives you that right. Otherwise you may lose deposit monies or face penalties—another reason to get legal advice before signing.
Should I visit the site during construction?: When the builder allows safe access, seeing progress beats relying on marketing renders alone. It does not replace professional inspections at handover.
How is off-plan different from “coming soon” on IrishBuilds?: Our “coming soon” flag means the development is on the map before full sales detail; off-plan is the legal relationship once you contract with the developer.
Does Help to Buy apply to off-plan purchases?: It can, if the home is a qualifying new build and you meet Revenue’s tests. You can apply before you sign, but the claim itself waits until the purchase contract is signed. The refund on a purchase is paid to the qualifying contractor. Read the Help to Buy guide before you treat a booking form as a claim.

Sources

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