Old Farmhouse renovation

patsy_mccabe

A good video on the subject of old stone wall buildings. At 4 min 15 sec he explains how he uses 5 Newton Lime with sand, mixed at 2.5 to one (sand to Lime). This allows the wall to breath and so prevents dampness.

(2) Traditional Stone Wall Building in Rural Ireland - YouTube

Shannonsurfer101

Evening MikeSoys, I’m over half way on my own renovation/extension. In Dec 21 my quantity surveyor estimated €1450/msq for overall cost. That’s with direct labour and all groundwork’s completed by myself, since then prices have increased on the materials side.

if I could pass on advice, take advantage of the vacant homes grant and the better energy community scheme, if conditions are right you’ll receive in excess of 90K back towards the project. Do your research first before starting any work and get your ducks lined up.

funkey_monkey

@gk5000 did you get a start on this yet?

_Brian

we’re assembling paperwork for applying to council for the vacant/derelict home grant. Pain in the ass getting lads to quote.

Work on the roof is due to start in June-July, we’re not including the roof work in the grant application, don’t expect the grant to be approved until mid-late August.

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121980639#Comment_121980639

Hi there,at the same myself - Is it normal to be charged for quotes?

Lime Tree Farm

Was chatting to a local tradesman who said that a lot of his time was wasted pricing work, only to discover that he was only being used to check prices already quoted by another.

einn32

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982375#Comment_121982375

Quite common in construction to get 3/4 quotes for a job.

_Brian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121981908#Comment_121981908

I’ve heard of it but not come across it.

_Brian

I’d say that’s a “swings and roundabouts” sort of thing though. Sometimes he will get the jobs and sometimes the other lads will get them.

Some jobs were getting a few prices, some we have a preferred tradesman to do the work.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982375#Comment_121982375

BS he wants to price too high. Young lad was pricing blocks for the house May/June last year one lad gave a price of about 1.9/block inc vat. He got back to him in December and the price had gone up by 30%. So he told him he was looking elsewhere.

In January he came back that he priced it wrong and was a bit over 2/ block. However the young lad was pricing around again at that stage and had got a lad at 1.7 Inc vat, he is up to sub floors, the lad is a top class blockie.

This started orginall over insurance quotes years back when lads would get paid directly by the insurance company and go to a cheaper lads to fix it. A few builders started it in the last year or two in Dublin trying to tie you to there quote.. You have to give a deposit for a quote. However I would never pay for a quote, it a con by higher priced operators

dohc turbo2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121983782#Comment_121983782

Some builders charge for quotes as they have to pay for a QS to price it , bigger builders have there own in-house Qs

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121997343#Comment_121997343

If a small builder requires a QS to price a job he should not be in the business

Who2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121997721#Comment_121997721

Theres no end to your knowledge bass reeves. I’ve seen that attitude thousands of times within the building trade and it never really ends well for them. Trades specs and materials are changing that fast now that it’s near impossible to quote anything accurately anymore. I heard today Theres a 10% increase going on all velux products and timber this week. One missing detail on a tender can be the difference in making or loosing money. A good q.s is important for any builder or even trade to be able to keep a handle on not just what is there but what others are truly charging.
the amount of absolute time wasters just looking for a quote to beat someone down with or to get a feel for what they might achieve is unbelievable . They have no idea of the time and Effort that goes into measuring pricing and listening to clients talk absolute scutter about the price of materials and how John and mary down the road got there’s done for half that price.

jimini0

I do a good bit of work for a small contractor 5 or 6 full time employees. He uses a Qs and told me he would get rid of everyone including the wife before he would get rid of the Qs. He told me that man has saved him thousands.

dohc turbo2

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dohc turbo2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999383#Comment_121999383

Exactly, we do a lot of work for builders and constantly pricing stuff, simple stuff to price, bass is stuck in the price per foot still, it's far from that now with the price of stuff

jimini0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122001788#Comment_122001788

Take a simple bag of cement for example. It was €4.20 3 years ago it is now €8.40. Have worked on alot of sites big and small over the years. Around the cement mixer there would always be a few half bags fired around the place. The cover would be left off the pallet, cement got wet ruined. It was only €4 a bag who cares just order more. Everything now is so expensive so the qs is earning his money. I know on one house I worked on the qs had it down to + or - 10 bags of cement.

Dunedin

A QS will more than pay their way. I worked in a the construction industry for around 10 years and worked for a few different fellas.

The ones that had a QS are still in business today.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999236#Comment_121999236

Yes It takes time to measure and price anything in any business. On the Velux windows if maying a mistake in the costings of a few Velux windows brings the project into a loss then I say there is a few more issues than that.

Costing of .materials change all the time.... in any business not just construction any person running the business needs to know costs involves.

This thread is renovation farmhouses ( or older houses in general). Any decent builder should be able to price such projects.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999383#Comment_121999383

We had this issue in the naughties, all the trades went subcontracting, most were unable to price the work. I know on one case where a butcher was making a nice turn pricing plastering jobs. One of the lads he was pricing for bought an apartment in Spain. He had to sell it during the recession.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122001788#Comment_122001788

Son I price it in sqft, or yards or covert betweenthem and meteric, but if I price materials I generally do it in metric.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002196#Comment_122002196

I be sacking the QS he paying over 10% too much for the bags of cement. Its relatively easy to price any material. Lads just loose the habbit and get lazy when times are good ( and they will be for another 3-5 years anyway at least). When thebtide goes out you see who has no trunks.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002525#Comment_122002525

Yes QS's like any professional have there values. And in big or medium organisation or if you have lads that can source materials at the right price well and good.

The idea that all small builders are becoming dependent on them is frightening. It's back to the naughties where accountants were advising large builders on how to run hotels and restaurants....and we know how that ended

Suckler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122003603#Comment_122003603

This is just a text book definition of "A little knowledge being a dangerous thing".

You haven't really understood/responded to any of the points. e.g. builders pricing jobs on sq. foot. / sacking the Qs over cement bag prices…it wasnt the QS that priced them in the point you responded to.

It has little to do with "being back in the naughties", it's worn out rhetoric at this stage.

dohc turbo2

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dohc turbo2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002196#Comment_122002196

Correct, any bill of quantity quotation would have the +/-

dohc turbo2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122003603#Comment_122003603

Things have changed since the 90s , lots of quotations now are gone by time u hand up the phone, 90s is the past, builders aren't pricing houses anymore, they afraid to loose things changing so fast, they can't go in and buy everything for the build at the start, we are pricing weekly for qs, and size dosent matter,