Direct labour Savings

fiestaman

Information please on direct labour prices. Given that the builder charges roughly €85-100 per sqfeet. If going DL could you save as much as €30-40 on that price? So anybody that went DL please give size and price of your house. cheers

Jimbo

Try here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055041434

D72

I personnaly wouldn't work it out like that but we are all different because the answer to that will be on yourself. EG. Can you get materials at a good price. are you going to be onsite yourself how much will you do yourself. generally what i have found and i have just completed the plastering in my house is that good trademen cost 200 per day good handymen 150/day and labourers about 120/day. but the value will depend on how organized you are and how much you can be onsite

sydthebeat

http://www.homebuilder.ie/pitfalls_of_direct_labour/index.htm


Have a read of this site..... obviously they are biased as they are a construction company, but nonetheless, all the points raised are valid.
I have often seen situations where perceived savings in direct labour builds quickly turn into high costs to fix problems not foreseen by the client.
This paragraph is most pertinent:
If you are not working in construction then the direct labour route is a much riskier route to successfully building your new home. Whilst it is easy to identify a wall that is not plastered correctly, it would nearly be impossible for you to spot shoddy or defective workmanship, particularly for those trades that are not visible to the naked eye. Many subcontractors try and use inferior materials to that specified in their quote.

I would never dream of going into a car showroom and telling the salesperson that i wont but the car, but ill buy all the parts and put it together myself... would you? There is a distinct lack of respect for the intricacies involved in dwelling building in Ireland, especially in the current climate of energy efficiency and conservation.

This is all not to say that you or others are not capable, but i can honestly say, from my neutral position of having to visit sites build by both contractors and direct labour builds, that direct labour builds are consistently worse from a workmanship, organisation and regulation compliance point of view.

sinnerboy

No one likes to pay too much for anything .

But paying too little can be much worse because you don't get what you want . Press too hard on price , seek favours , take ( or have foisted onto you unknowingly ) short cuts - quality WILL suffer

True in general but specific to house building - it is more complex than the non-construction-trained realise .

Programmes like "changing rooms" , thankfully not aired any more , gave an unrealistic impression of what can be achieved for so little . "Grand Designs" on C4 is much closer to reality - essential viewing for anybody interested in building - for the 1st time or 50th

What one wants I suggest is a well built planning and building regulations compliant home . To be beautiful . That encompasses a heck of a lot .

Sure there may be a nagging doubt that professionals conspire against the laity . But i say to virgin would be self builders - Who do you want to blame if it goes belly up - yourself only ? .

Things can go wrong even with professionals involved but they tend not to . Overwhelmingly .

Direct labour is NOT the way to go unless you

1. know exactly what your doing or
2. have b****s of titanium

250882

Plus if I inspect a house and find that the builder has used, for example, timbers with no grade stamp, I have to demand that it be removed and replaced with the correct grade timber, on a DL site the chippy runs away:D.
Take a look at Grand designs some time. The programme usually follows the same line.
-client gets architects design and decides to self build
-Client sets an unrealistic budget and build time
-Building work starts well
-Particular element of construction or trade fails to turn up or was not ordered on time.
-Building work stops
-Building element arrives or another tradesman is found at a huge cost to both time and money
-Building work stops as client runs out of money
-Client finds extra money and Building work commences again
-Building is finished 30-50% over budget and several months late
-Client reccomends direct labour but would never do it again.

sinnerboy

250882 wrote: »

-Client finds extra money and Building work commences again
.

in one recent episode by raiding the the fathers pension fund !! :eek:

250882

Seen that one, man it went over budget and I would question the integrity of the timber after getting the over winter soak.
Just one thing baffles me though, If you wanted a Castle/Gothic building why Oh why would you build it out of timber!!!!!:D

sydthebeat

250882 wrote: »

Plus if I inspect a house and find that the builder has used, for example, timbers with no grade stamp, I have to demand that it be removed and replaced with the correct grade timber, on a DL site the chippy runs away:D.
Take a look at Grand designs some time. The programme usually follows the same line.
-client gets architects design and decides to self build
-Client sets an unrealistic budget and build time
-Building work starts well
-Particular element of construction or trade fails to turn up or was not ordered on time.
-Building work stops
-Building element arrives or another tradesman is found at a huge cost to both time and money
-Building work stops as client runs out of money
-Client finds extra money and Building work commences again
-Building is finished 30-50% over budget and several months late
-Client reccomends direct labour but would never do it again.

yes, i love that last one, nearly all the clients say this.....
i must admit, some of the best houses are 'self build's where the client actually does most of the work themselves, (see the straw bale house, or the hexagonal house) and some of the worst are 'direct labour' where the client becomes the contractor. (that last one, the bath kit house is testimony to this)

sinnerboy

250882 wrote: »

Seen that one, man it went over budget and I would question the integrity of the timber after getting the over winter soak.
Just one thing baffles me though, If you wanted a Castle/Gothic building why Oh why would you build it out of timber!!!!!:D

petrol , match , run ???

Mellor

That gothic one was dredful. the people were idiots.

Kevin:Given the massive budget overrun, If you were to do it again, would you hire and architect?

Lady Idiot: No I wouldn't. They wouldn't of helped or made the job and esier. All they could of done was spotted that it was too big, and then we could of corrected it and not of been over budget.

250882

Which goes back to the point above.....If you are doing the work yourself then obviously you know a little about building, if you are just playing contractor then you are making uninformed calls on stuff you dont understand. I have been in this job for a while now, and its my job to oversee building but I always value a builders or tradesmans opinion.

Know what you are doing or balls of steel

AckwelFoley

Aprox 25%

If DL is organised efficently.