House Extensions

masterK

I'm thinking of getting a 2 storey extension added to the side of my house and was was wondering if anybody can recommend a building contracter? I'm in Dublin and would ideally like to hear from people who have had an extension built in the last couple of years and were happy with the work.

masterK

Some further queries. We are pretty much certain what we want and what size extension we want. It's going to be a around 20sq Metres on 2 stories, it's pretty straight forward, just adding one extra room upstair and downstairs.

Now I have some questions:

1) Is is advisable to get and Architect to draw up plans, if so what sort of price can one expect to pay (I know it's difficult to put a price but a guesstimate will do).

2) If we do employ an architect should they be retained for the entire project or just to do the plans? Also do you need an architect to obtain a completion certificate.

Idleater

masterK wrote:

1) Is is advisable to get and Architect to draw up plans, if so what sort of price can one expect to pay (I know it's difficult to put a price but a guesstimate will do).

2) If we do employ an architect should they be retained for the entire project or just to do the plans? Also do you need an architect to obtain a completion certificate.

Architect costs vary. I get the feeling it is either an agreed fixed price or something like 14% of the construction costs. (plus VATof course).

They can do as little or as much as you agree on. Just plans, build management, final sign off etc. The RIAI should be able to answer some more of your questions.

The rough guide on the RIAI says that per m^2 costs are in the region of €2500-€4500 depending on specification of finish and includes "everything" from start to finish decoration.

I suppose the advantages of an archetect is that they sould be able to provide a professional opinion on the suitability of your ideas, and be able to guide you better through the planning process if you are uncertain of how to go through the process yourself.

L.

masterK

The problem we have is that builders will not give us a price unless we have plans, we are not certain if we will go ahead, it depends on the cost. In order to get plans we would have to hire an Architect, we wouldn't want to be stuck paying an architect for practically nothing if we decided not to go ahead with the extension due to it costing too much.

Lex Luthor

masterK wrote:

The problem we have is that builders will not give us a price unless we have plans, we are not certain if we will go ahead, it depends on the cost. In order to get plans we would have to hire an Architect, we wouldn't want to be stuck paying an architect for practically nothing if we decided not to go ahead with the extension due to it costing too much.

That will be the case with most builders unless they have done something specific like it before. I've PM'd you the details of teh guys in Naas

Neverends

Been through this. You'll need an architect or engineer to do the plans in my opinion as how will you know what you can build structurally without an expert working on it? Unless the plans are fairly detailed you won't get accurate quotes. I would advise having an architect oversee it as well if you go ahead, builders are hard to manage - you need all the help you an get to keep them on track.