Building costs. Jan 2023

Ya you would be going looking at prices at that stage. However you could be sussing out your engineer while planning is in progress if it not the lad doing the house plan's that is doing the certification for you.

Watch the extra they will probably quote you two rows 18'' to floor level watch the extra if it's going beyond that. Make sure you are not modifying after construction drawing are in place no matter what the better half wants. Same with specifications for Kitchen, bathroom, on suites etc. That is where costs can go completely out of control.

Any time

any guesses on what the current costs would be in Dublin / North Kildare area for a new build? Site has no access issues or anything unusual about it?

The bank are unlikely to allow a 10k drawdown, minimum on mine is 20k. However they also had a stipulation that I could not make a drawdown until I had spent a certain amount of my own money. I had full approval etc and everything signed off but until I’d spent a (fairly significant sum) then no drawdown would be sanctioned.

Typo

We are actively looking at getting quotes now.

I sent our architect plans to a company and they asked for €800 + VAT for a basic quote using our architect plans or €6,000 + VAT for an in depth quote.

Did you get anywhere with your quotes?

typo

Are material prices coming down, holding or increasing? Shortage of trades seems to be a big problem too and the trades that are there are naming their price

First st quote back was €85,000 - €90,000

First quote back was €85,000 - €90,000

For this, my original post from a few months ago.

We are in a bungalow and looking to do a job in our attic in West Dublin.

Job will be Remove roof, new stairs, add two dormers, increase overall height by about 2ft and put two new bedrooms, a new bathroom and a small office up there.

The space is 35sqm. All planing has been approved.

Pre Covid our quotes were:

Builder 1 €87k

Builder 2 €98k

Builder 3 €133k

Builder 4 €154k

Going to start trying to get new quotes in the next few months and I don't know what to expect.

No, all builders visited the house and all builders quoted for the same job.

The €154k quote included mood boards and vision boards and 3D Renders with AI and physical models and all sorts of madness.

Just because the tender is cheap, doesn't mean the quality of work will be good, although the same can also be said for the most expensive.

You have to question, how can Builder A undercut all the other builders by such a considerable margin. What corners will they cut? Ask for a breakdown of estimated costs. Consult a Quantity Surveyor to get a reasonable idea.

Buying cheap often leads to buying twice, this translates to everything from tools to building works, based on my experience. I think it would be worth hiring a building engineer to periodically inspect the work at different stages to ensure work is done properly, regardless of who you hire.

I worked with a guy that built a new house in Wicklow a few years ago, he went with a cheap quote from a family run business. He had nothing but problems. His house is draughty, airtightness is a problem, UFH causing lots of bother. There are lots of small but super important details to building a modern, warm home/extension. Get those details wrong and you'll have problems. Some builders/tradesmen, even those with lots of experience, are quite dismissive of current best practices for insulation/ventilation/airtightness. There are some fantastic tradesmen who are very knowledgeable and love to discuss detail, but they are usually expensive.