Direct Labour or Builder

barry75

Hi All,
Hope to start building a 2400 sq ft house next month,subject to getting our planning permission.What are your opinions on building by direct labour,does it really save you money in the long run,or is it better to go the builder route from start to finish with less stress??thanks:)

Soledad

I am near the end of a self build and we have saved a considerable amount of money and time by doing this.
However be warned that unless you have a lot of time to spare, work/live near the site and have loads of contacts in the building trade I would say it is a very difficult route to take.
It is very difficult to organise all the tradesmen and liase with them to ensure the smooth running of the building work.
We have quite a high spec on our house whihc is 3500 sq feet by going for direct labour.
A freind began building a 2000 sq ft bungalow at the same time as us using a builder and she feels we have gotten a lot better value for money by going by direct labour.

muffler

barry75 wrote:

Hi All,
Hope to start building a 2400 sq ft house next month

I'll wish you luck with your proposed starting date. If your post is accurate you haven't yet decided which building method to use so you are going to spend some time looking for someone to start the house. If its anything like here in Donegal you can expect to join a waiting list for the builders.

As Soledad said it will be much cheaper to go down the direct labour route but there is a lot of hassle with it at times. But then again not all full contracts run smooth either.

You will most likely need someone there to supervise the works (mortgage purposes) but if you have a friend or relation in the trade I would get them to call and have a look at the works every week

yop

Agree with the guys, without a doubt cheaper and even better if u can do some of it yourself.

We are nearing the end of our self build and have saved anything between 30-40k euro. Saved us 6k alone by doing all the tiling and timber flooring. So it soon clocks up.

I would not agree though about contacts in the building industry, I had none really and survived.
On thing if you are a complete no no on DIY then self build will be a bit tougher, if you have an interest and are in the position to learn about what you need you will come out of it better as you can talk to tradesmen and not get robbed.!

De_man

i agree with everyone else, self-build route, but one word of
caution make sure you've got adequate insurance for the build
including public liability.


if you get your mortgage through the EBS (Self Build Mortgage) you'll
get automatic cover for the build however you must have the public
liabiliity cover in place before works commence.

For the self build route only two companies offer insurance namely
Hibernian (absolute daylight robbery price) and Wright Insurance
based in Kilkenny (sorry i can't find the contact number).

Insurance cost is based on Floor Area, a rough estimate would be in the region of 4000 yoyo for 3100Sq feet

Best of Luck


A pint of plain is yer only man