Retrofit + Extension: approach

Just looking for thoughts from people who may have done, or be in the process of doing, something similar.

We (family of 5) bought a secondhand house in 2019 - moved in May of that year.

• Early 1970s semi-D, Dublin. Great location for our work, schools etc.
• 4 bedrooms, approx 1600 sq\ft
• Small kitchen extension at rear
• Big back garden
• OFCH
• BER = E1

The house is, while structurally sound, dated to say the least (we were 100% aware of this upon purchasing!). After spending the covid winter here, it's also very apparent that this dating applies to the fabric of the house as well as things like kitchens, bathrooms etc - it is poorly insulated, the windows are ancient, the heating system is creaking.

In short, it requires an entire modernisation effort.

We engaged an architect in early 2020, just before covid hit and we agreed design and plans with him.
In short:

1. demolish existing rear extension, replace with a new 38 sq/m extension (kitchen + living space)
2. replace existing main bathroom upstairs
3. build new ensuite for main bedroom upstairs
4. we do not plan to convert attic at this time
5. some movement of walls downstairs (build new downstairs WC, utility room), upstairs essentially retains same floorplan

This design gave us everything we want from a design perspective. We planned to then move to tender, with more detailed drawings and specifications.

Then covid hit and everything shut down. We just sat tight in our cold house and awaited normality to return. Saving hard against 'the house fund'.

We've now re-engaged with the architect and had a meeting a couple of weeks back. We agreed that the design would remain as is but we also focussed on the fabric of the house as well - the brief being that we want to achieve as high as energy rating as is possible. He thought low A\high B would be achievable, including:

• replace suspended wooden floor with poured concrete
• heat pump
• underfloor heating downstairs
• seal the thermal envelope for airtightness
• new ventilation system
• insulate to A standards (could be external front and back, but would need to be internal on gable wall due to narrowness of side passage)
• new windows\doors throughout

This^^ as well as the obvious bits - being new flooring throughout, full rewire, the extension itself, cost of a new kitchen, cost of new bathrooms etc. I can give more detail as needed.

He is in the process of producing tender plans and documents.

My questions being:

1. timing: everything I read suggests this is a uniquely bad time to be tendering for works like this, both from a builder availability and costs perspective. Is it even worth proceeding now or (given that the house is livable today) would it be smarter to wait 2-3 years until some kind of normality returns?
2. Retrofit grants: it seems to me that we are quite constrained by current SEAI regulations - you have to go through a specific list (small) of approved contractors - and also that the actual grants themselves are not all that generous. Again, is this something worth waiting for?
3. Piecemeal implementation. Is it worth taking a piecemeal approach to the project? My gut says no and that a 'do everything, do it once' approach will ultimately be the least disruptive
4. Costs: I am fully braced for this to come in at well over 200k. I think the question for me really is 'at what point does this project become ridiculous versus the actual market value of the house?' MV is approx 750k.

Thanks in advance!