Stupid Selfbuild question

bazual

Hi Folks,

Just received planning on a house in South Kilkenny. Debating for the past few weeks to either go Direct Labour or contractor. Completely new to this so still unsure.
Currently trying to find out everything I can about foundation stage if going DL and want to make sure dont miss anything that I will regret by not asking you folks about it so.........

If we were down the line going to put in electric gates or lamps in garden etc, i presume trenches will need to be dug for electricity cabling etc etc. At what point would these trenches/cables be done during the build, the foundation stage or later on..

Thanks.

smashey

You could have a few pipes put down when you are digging out your drive assuming you have a driveway.

ircoha

bazual wrote:

Hi Folks,

Just received planning on a house in South Kilkenny. Debating for the past few weeks to either go Direct Labour or contractor. Completely new to this so still unsure.
Currently trying to find out everything I can about foundation stage if going DL and want to make sure dont miss anything that I will regret by not asking you folks about it so.........

If we were down the line going to put in electric gates or lamps in garden etc, i presume trenches will need to be dug for electricity cabling etc etc. At what point would these trenches/cables be done during the build, the foundation stage or later on..

Thanks.

The usual thing done here is to provide for the cables for outside work during the build of the house by laying them from the fuse board to outside the house and then dig the lighting and other trenches later when doing hard landscaping.
The important thing is to size the cables properly, depending on the run to the gate and the power required by the motors etc.
Also all outside circuits should be on 'outside circuit breakers' on the fuse board for safety.

{whatever you do dont let it stop the cats going for X in a row next year in the hurling]

fox man

i'm currently doing a self build in kilkenny and have been in building trade 10 years if u have questions on any part of the build or need numbers for good plumbers, carpenters, blocklayers, groundworks, cheap machine or tool hire or whatever pm me i can also give u number for two cheap builders that do good work if you decide to go down that road.

AckwelFoley

If you can go direct labour you can save about 15 - 20% on the cost of the project rather than getting a builder.

However, i must warn you that you really need to have contacts and have some idea on whats involved. Time is also an issue. It will take longer by direct labour because its a builders job to be able to manage the tradesmen to arrive on site when required.