Extension Costs

budo73

Hi

thought I'd post this in case it is of use to anyone:
I just finished building a 20 Sqm ground floor extension to the back of my house. The extension consists of a bathroom and a kitchen. Did all the work myself except for the plastering. The total cost (as in totally finished/decorated ready to us) came to €27,000. Included in this is the cost of a €5,000 kitchen, €1,400 for plastering and costs for windows etc.

Let me know if you have any questions.

sinnerboy

what part of the country ?

glineli

Hi

I am looking into a sunroom and for a 10x10 i am getting quoted up around 20k so that figure seems really good.

budo73

It's in Dublin....

harly1516

Im a small builder in Dublin just finished the same only 25 Sq meters including kitchen, windows tiles walnut flooring and painting for 37,000 in Dublin if you did the work yourself and did it at weekends it must have taken a long time if you take time off work to do it you have to ad the wages you lost all in all I think you cost yourself more than if you got someone in not forgetting the incurance and a good guarantee

bakerbhoy

My mother in law has been quoted €53000 for a less than 20sq mtr single story extension in cork city.

BEDROOM 3.6M X 3.45M
REMOVE WINDOW OF EXISTING BATH ROOM AND EXTEND TO INCLUDE WET
ROOM SHOWER AREA (WHEELCHAIR ACCESS)
ALL SEWER PIPES LOCAL
SHORT CORRIDOR TO NEW REAR ENTRANCE.
ONLY ONE NEW WINDOW TO BE SUPPLIED.
SIMPLE A FRAME ROOF .
ACCESS BY SIDE OF HOUSE
EXCAVATIONS NO MORE THAN 10 CUBIC METERS.

COST PER SQ FOOT €265
TAKING THE PI.. OR WHAT :eek:

sinnerboy

Budo on the face of it you did exceptionally well €/m2 1350

Harly , that was a keen price €/m2 1480

Baker - that price does seem high . €/m2 2650
But maybe there is some "hassle factor" to the job that is reflected in the price . Either that or your right , - a p*** take . Get more quotes is best thing to do

Around Dublin , for good to high spec work , turn key , before slowdown , costs have been consistently in and around €/m2 2000 - 2500 . More if "designed" external works and planting are included .

budo73

harly1516 wrote: »

Im a small builder in Dublin just finished the same only 25 Sq meters including kitchen, windows tiles walnut flooring and painting for 37,000 in Dublin if you did the work yourself and did it at weekends it must have taken a long time if you take time off work to do it you have to ad the wages you lost all in all I think you cost yourself more than if you got someone in not forgetting the incurance and a good guarantee

Hi Harly
I didn't need to take time off work and it didn't take too long.

What kind of walls were in your 37k?
I have noticed a lot of builders around using hollow blocks.
I did it the proper way with two solid walls and good kingspan insultation (partial fill) in the cavity.
I don't agree that I cost myself more - anyway you would say that wouldn't you :-)

Gumbo

budo73 wrote: »

Hi Harly
I didn't need to take time off work and it didn't take too long.

What kind of walls were in your 37k?
I have noticed a lot of builders around using hollow blocks.
I did it the proper way with two solid walls and good kingspan insultation (partial fill) in the cavity.
I don't agree that I cost myself more - anyway you would say that wouldn't you :-)

i think what he means is that if you took 2 weeks off work to do the job and you earn 500 euro a week then you need to add on an extra 1000 to the final figure.

also hollow block walls are popular as they can be insulated internally and 300mm cavity walls is another option, doesnt mean that hollow block construction is not proper construction.

by the way, it was a great price you done the work for.
quick question if you dont mind, what did you do about insurance as in what happen if the wall falls doen in 6 months and somebody is hurt? is there a structural guarantee etc etc

im not having a dig, just curious as my brother is thinking of doing the same to his own house, he has three months off work and was gona build during that time.

budo73

Hi kceire

Yeah I get what he meant, the point is that I didn't take any time off work to do it.

With respect, I have to disagree with you on hollow block construction. I know that you can insulate inside and dryline, but it is just not up to current thermal standards and certainly wont meet future ones. It really is a cheap and nasty way of construction. Builders like it because it gets the job done quick - this appeals to most clients too. If you do a search on this forum you will find this debated at length.

I should qualify all this by letting you that I am a structural engineer so I knew what I was doing.

In terms of insurance I think that this is basically a scare tatic used by builders. Most of the people that builders employ to lay blocks have no formal qualification anyway - they are just guys who "do a bit of block laying". If you read up enough on it and practice a bit and have a reasonable amount of cop on then anyone can lay blocks. As long as the walls are plumb, level and sqaure (and you use wall ties) they are not going to fall down

Budo

sinnerboy

Note to any one reading this

dont budget based upon budo's rates .... not around the M50 anyway . Rates are less elswhere .
If you are a profesional and can self build you will save money by becoming in effect your own contarctor

The difference between budo and harlys rates is about 10% - a reasonable margin , taxable . Budo hardly charged himself VAT ( 13.5%) , which Hearly gas to to charge clients

Insurance a scare tactic ? - only if you think car insurance is .

To Budo , as a profesional I am shocked at you . you could have been financially ruined if someone was injured or worse during your works . As a profesional you would be severley dealt with if such a case ended up in court - as someone who knew exactly what they were doing and disregarded the risks all the same

budo73

sinnerboy wrote: »

Note to any one reading this

dont budget based upon budo's rates .... not around the M50 anyway . Rates are less elswhere .
If you are a profesional and can self build you will save money by becoming in effect your own contarctor

The difference between budo and harlys rates is about 10% - a reasonable margin , taxable . Budo hardly charged himself VAT ( 13.5%) , which Hearly gas to to charge clients

Insurance a scare tactic ? - only if you think car insurance is .

To Budo , as a profesional I am shocked at you . you could have been financially ruined if someone was injured or worse during your works . As a profesional you would be severley dealt with if such a case ended up in court - as someone who knew exactly what they were doing and disregarded the risks all the same

Hmmm, this thread is very interesting. It's easy to see the vested interests in this country coming out. You can mess with anyone - but not the builders obviously. They will keep coming up with stupid excuses and scare tactics to ensure that they can continue ripping people off.

In regard to your comment regarding insurance, how exactly was someone going to get injured by me working, by myself, in my back garden? Are you worried about a burglar pulling the wall down on top of himself?

My friend, believe me I know a lot about insurance as I have to have it professional practice and you clearly haven't a clue.

Many people throughout the country build sheds/extensions etc. on their own property and have done for some time and the reasons you give for not doing it are frankly laughable and are typical of someone (probably unskilled) who is trying to cream what they can off poor unsuspecting clients while you still can.

I started this thread in case other self builders wanted to ask any questions, not to engage in meaningless dialouge with a few cowboy builders.

harly1516

Without being smart to anybody sinnerboy is 100% right I have to pay vat I pay wages I dont work any whare with out incurance I always try to be safe as I dont want my insurance to go up but there is always the chance of the mum, dad, sister, brother or best friend falling over the chalk line not forgetting the post man the kid who kicked his ball over the back wall on Sunday morning when your at mass and hops over to get it. did I forget the sneeky f...er who really does hop over to see whats free hapens all the time he is entitled to claim strange as it may seem also the Russian labourer that miss understands me when I say 4 to 1 2 years down the road what happens I dread to think, yes Im quite happy to tell the client I have Incurance.
I try to give a fair price for a really nice job we always hope to leave not with clients but new friends, friends that pass my number on to more friends it seems to work for me thing are hard for small builders at the moment but were not all bad so give us a break

Carpenter

budo73 wrote: »

Hi kceire

Yeah I get what he meant, the point is that I didn't take any time off work to do it.

With respect, I have to disagree with you on hollow block construction. I know that you can insulate inside and dryline, but it is just not up to current thermal standards and certainly wont meet future ones. It really is a cheap and nasty way of construction. Builders like it because it gets the job done quick - this appeals to most clients too. If you do a search on this forum you will find this debated at length.

I should qualify all this by letting you that I am a structural engineer so I knew what I was doing.

In terms of insurance I think that this is basically a scare tatic used by builders. Most of the people that builders employ to lay blocks have no formal qualification anyway - they are just guys who "do a bit of block laying". If you read up enough on it and practice a bit and have a reasonable amount of cop on then anyone can lay blocks. As long as the walls are plumb, level and sqaure (and you use wall ties) they are not going to fall down

Budo

Most of the people that builders employ to lay blocks have no formal qualification anyway - they are just guys who "do a bit of block laying".
How can you say that why did you not say in your opinion

budo73

harly1516 wrote: »

Without being smart to anybody sinnerboy is 100% right I have to pay vat I pay wages I dont work any whare with out incurance I always try to be safe as I dont want my insurance to go up but there is always the chance of the mum, dad, sister, brother or best friend falling over the chalk line not forgetting the post man the kid who kicked his ball over the back wall on Sunday morning when your at mass and hops over to get it. did I forget the sneeky f...er who really does hop over to see whats free hapens all the time he is entitled to claim strange as it may seem also the Russian labourer that miss understands me when I say 4 to 1 2 years down the road what happens I dread to think, yes Im quite happy to tell the client I have Incurance.
I try to give a fair price for a really nice job we always hope to leave not with clients but new friends, friends that pass my number on to more friends it seems to work for me thing are hard for small builders at the moment but were not all bad so give us a break

Hi Harly, yes you are right. Sorry for the rant.
I do appreciate that the majority of small builders are upstanding people who do provide a good service.
TBH I'm just annoyed that I started this thread to discuss self building and immediatly get hit with a bunch of posts from builders trying to immediatly pick holes.
The majority of people out there are not capable of self-building or don't want to and that is where reputable people like yourself come in. I'm just saying that for those of us that can manage it ourselves it is a viable option.

Budo/

harly1516

Fair enough

muffler

budo73 wrote: »

Hmmm, this thread is very interesting. It's easy to see the vested interests in this country coming out. You can mess with anyone - but not the builders obviously. They will keep coming up with stupid excuses and scare tactics to ensure that they can continue ripping people off.

In regard to your comment regarding insurance, how exactly was someone going to get injured by me working, by myself, in my back garden? Are you worried about a burglar pulling the wall down on top of himself?

My friend, believe me I know a lot about insurance as I have to have it professional practice and you clearly haven't a clue.

Many people throughout the country build sheds/extensions etc. on their own property and have done for some time and the reasons you give for not doing it are frankly laughable and are typical of someone (probably unskilled) who is trying to cream what they can off poor unsuspecting clients while you still can.

I started this thread in case other self builders wanted to ask any questions, not to engage in meaningless dialouge with a few cowboy builders.

You are new here so I am going to give you a bit of leeway (other may call it more rope). You havent exactly understood what this forum is about. Most of the people who post here are self builders - ie. people who are planning to build or are in the process of building their own home and are not necessarily doing the works themselves. That is why they post here looking for advice.

The remainder of the people who post here are the regulars who are mostly professional people who give up their time to answer questions and give advice to everyone who needs it. Its fairly safe to say that we don't have builders posting here regularly.

You need to more careful with both how you phrase your comments and who you think you are replying to. Infraction given but only for your subsequent apology it would have been more. We will leave it at that.

sinnerboy

budo73 wrote: »

TBH I'm just annoyed that I started this thread to discuss self building and immediatly get hit with a bunch of posts from builders trying to immediatly pick holes.

Just to clarify , i am not a builder . I belieive my opening remark acknowledeged you did well . Bad call on the insurance issue , however .

budo73 wrote: »

The majority of people out there are not capable of self-building or don't want to

budo73 wrote: »

I'm just saying that for those of us that can manage it ourselves it is a viable option. Budo/

so you are telling those who know how to build what they already know . anyone else can't really follow your example can they ?

by the way - did you do your own electrics ?