Question Author
Yes, it is a watertight shell, stairs are in, all rooms have been divided, no electrics yet or anything (plus the back garden still looks like a building site!).
The person who said it would take around £40,000 to finish said they would need to totally change the internal layout, move the stairs, change layout of all the rooms, fit out the kitchen/bathroom and that type thing.
I have managed to get my hands on the original builders contract and it would suggest there was about £25,000 of work left to be done (excluding kitchen units/bathroom suite) but including fitting the kitchen, central heating and all decorating.
I should fess up at this point and say that the person who is interested in buying the property is in fact said 'builder' who built the bloody thing in the first place and he is also the one who claimed it would cost him £40,000 at least for him to finish the job. He says he doesn't like the layout as it is and would have to 'rip it all out' and start again. (In fact he originally stated it would cost him £60,000, I told him he was taking the p*ss so he 'revised' his figures). At this point I had not seen the original contract between him/deceased so had no idea of actual costs involved.
He also disputed the £180,000 market value figure saying no way would it sell for that if it was finished.
I AM NO GOOD AT ALL THIS!
I can't negotiate for toffee, I am too honest and I take peoples word when they tell me that 'x' will cost this much and 'y' isn't worth that much.
I think the fact that I now know the actual original figures to finish the build (which were written by his own fair hand!) will be my starting point with this and I will just take it from there.