Conflicting builder advice - please help/advise

cutedarcy · 30-08-2014 1:02pm #1

Recently purchased on old cottage in Meath area (approx 600 sq ft). Hoping to renovate cottage and build approx 900 sq ft extension, single storey. Want to build a decent quality, warm house. Have begun research into architects, builders renewables etc.

Met with first guy who is an arch and also owns building company. Is experienced in building passive and 'near passive' retrofit houses. He gave us a brief summary but suggested air to water pump, ufh, solar panels, mhrv, above regs insulation, meet regs on airtightness and thermal bridging, triple glazed windows and advised a cost of 110€ to 125€ per sq ft for extension and an assessment for cottage before deciding costs. Certified passive house tradesperson, riai archtech, ber assessor, seai contractor etc

Met then with a structural engineer who also owns a building company. He totally advised against almost all the items the previous builder suggested for many reasons:
Air to water pump: expensive to install and run.
Ufh/geothermal: Again expensive to install and run. Suggested stove with rads and/or oil heating
Agreed with installing solar panels for heating water as house has good south facing aspect
Mhrv and insulation: Suggested mhrv was a waste of time as the natural materials in houses 'need to breath' and compared it to wrapping your attic in cling film. Suggested building two block leafs with 100-150mm insulation between, using insulated plasterboard and staggered venting.
Thermal bridging: Suggested that the insulation between the walls means that hot and cold air wont pass through so covers the thermal bridging aspect
Triple glaze windows: Suggested better to use double glazed as triple glaze is twice the cost of and achieves very little lower in uvalue terms.
Advised a cost of approx 86€ per sq ft to renovate cottage and build extension. Can provide certs of registration as engineer, certified designer and assessor etc

Both gave a rough assessment based on viewing the house as we were just looking for some good advice as to where to start but with such a huge variation on advice, we are really at a loss as to what to believe now. We are new to this whole project so any help, comments or advise would be hugely appreciated.

RITwing · 30-08-2014 1:39pm

The first guy by a (Meath) country mile.

RITwing · 30-08-2014 1:47pm

You did not get conflicting advice. You got good then bad advice.

hexosan · 30-08-2014 5:09pm

Second guy sounds like a tool

MicktheMan · 30-08-2014 9:10pm

cutedarcy wrote: »

Met with first guy who is an arch and also owns building company. Is experienced in building passive and 'near passive' retrofit houses. He gave us a brief summary but suggested meet regs on airtightness.

:eek:
Experienced in building passive / near passive houses ... yeah right!

fclauson · 31-08-2014 7:09am

ask the first guy if he knows what enerphit is - his response should be

a) its the retro fit standard for passive houses
b) ener who ?

if (a) then rock on
if (b) then rock off in opposite direction (but away from your second guy who knows even less)

http://www.passiv.de/en/03_certification/02_certification_buildings/04_enerphit/04_enerphit.htm

thesteve · 31-08-2014 7:42am

Sounds like the first guy is making an attempt to keep up with the times and the second fella is falling back on what he knows how to do.

cutedarcy · 02-09-2014 2:41pm

Thanks for the replies. We obviously had our own opinions on the advise the 2nd guy gave but wanted to check if any of what he said was correct.
Yes, the 1st guy spoke about enerphit for our cottage and has information on his website about both passive and enerphit houses. Does his pricing per sq ft sound somewhat accurate? I had thought it would be a higher figure than 110€-125€ per sq ft?

BryanF · 02-09-2014 5:42pm

cutedarcy wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. We obviously had our own opinions on the advise the 2nd guy gave but wanted to check if any of what he said was correct.
Yes, the 1st guy spoke about enerphit for our cottage and has information on his website about both passive and enerphit houses. Does his pricing per sq ft sound somewhat accurate? I had thought it would be a higher figure than 110€-125€ per sq ft?

1200 to 1700€ m2 loosely translated to be 120 to 170€ sqft

Bidd · 04-09-2014 5:54pm

@cutedarcy. We're looking to do similar with a house we are interested in buying. Could you PM me your Architect's details please?

Thanks!

Razr3D · 06-01-2015 2:29pm

maybe its too late but if you read 'Ecominimalism: The Antidote to Eco-bling' by Howard Liddell it might help with what you really need and the pay back benefits
That basically says spend your money on retaining/containing energy/heat rather that spending money on products that create energy/heat.
Site orientation vital for solar gain, through large windows and minimize windows facing North and spend 50% more on insulation that the required standard at least.
Tripple glaze, very good idea
airtight seal, very good idea
mechanical heat recovery ventilation, good idea
heard that the geothermal decreases heating bills but increases esb bills and I believe it has a 20 year lifespan and it will take you at least 10 years to regain your cost, so I am not a fan.
my point is question everything! and especially weigh up the cost v the pay back, a lot of variables here, your age, plan on moving in 5-10 years etc etc
sure you know all this anyway probably!
another thing, please don't be another sheep and face your house to the road and destroy the landscape around you to have a perfect manicured rectangular lawn with a lawn to the front!
My opinion is your house should be a hidden gem, only you need to see it and only your family will be living in it! your site might not allow this but the country side is destroyed by ugly blocks!
Good luck!

Conflicting builder advice - please help/advise

Comments