Summary of a House extension

percy212

If the builder is sighing about making no money, and not communicating that small changes are an additional cost (despite the fact that the OP made it clear any changes to cost were to be explained), then yeah, annoying. It's typical of builders in Ireland actually. Dragging their arses around the house looking for cups of tea, and NOT explaining anything.

kceire wrote: »

Not really. Changes require Labour and time.
Someone has to pay for this.

Depends on what the changes were and how often changes were made that will determine if it's annoying or not.

Gumbo

percy212 wrote: »

If the builder is sighing about making no money, and not communicating that small changes are an additional cost (despite the fact that the OP made it clear any changes to cost were to be explained), then yeah, annoying. It's typical of builders in Ireland actually. Dragging their arses around the house looking for cups of tea, and NOT explaining anything.

That's a communication problem between contractor and client.
To expect them for free is silly or at the very least not quiery if there's a charge prior to giving the go ahead. It's 50/50 blame here IMO.

jay0109

percy212 wrote: »

If the builder is sighing about making no money, and not communicating that small changes are an additional cost (despite the fact that the OP made it clear any changes to cost were to be explained), then yeah, annoying. It's typical of builders in Ireland actually. Dragging their arses around the house looking for cups of tea, and NOT explaining anything.

Can fault my builder for the work/effort they put in on site. 10 hurs days were the norm, with barely 30 mins for lunch break each day.

I think the blame is 75:25 to the builder here.
They are experienced and do this for a living. They knew in their heads that each extra job was going to be an extra at the end and they could have said this as they were requested. But they didn't and just lobbed a bill in on the final day totally catching us by surprise!
My innocence was at fault too but this was my first time ever dealing with builders.

Anyways, it was a small issue in the overall context of a good job. But defintiely something for others to keep in mind when dealing with them.

mcneil

jay0109 wrote: »

I thought they were free because
a. they were so small as to take up very little time/required no 3rd party materials
b. the Builder did much sighing and cribbing that he was making no money on the job on each occassion something was asked. This made me think they were defo for free. A cost was never mentioned or that there wuld be a cost at the end.
c. I had made it clear that anything that would cost us money over and above the agreed works were to be laid out, written down and agreed to by all sides. To avoid confusion and because I was at the limit of my budget

Overall the cost was not huge. Less than 5% of the Builders total cost which we negotiated down a bit more

Ive worked on jobs where clients look at jobs and think they dont take much time yet can take a half day or even a day to do. Define something small on your job and what was the price given for it. Be truthful now!

mcneil

percy212 wrote: »

If the builder is sighing about making no money, and not communicating that small changes are an additional cost (despite the fact that the OP made it clear any changes to cost were to be explained), then yeah, annoying. It's typical of builders in Ireland actually. Dragging their arses around the house looking for cups of tea, and NOT explaining anything.

Are you going by hear say or experience. I work in the building trades and i refuse tea when offered because i know ll them cups of teas time will eat into my price! What i do know is theres a serious amount of people who think they know what they are talking about when it comes to the building game yet they know jack sh1t! For example, over the years ive been in and out of peoples houses and they all blame the movement cracks on the plasterers, yet the plastering was excellent. Typical of the people in Ireland actually! I could go on with other examples but i think you know what im talking about.

jay0109

mcneil wrote: »

Ive worked on jobs where clients look at jobs and think they dont take much time yet can take a half day or even a day to do. Define something small on your job and what was the price given for it. Be truthful now!

We now have a utility that encompasses part of the old kitchen. We left the old units in place there. We had a dishwasher in there thats now gone as there's a new dishwasher built in out in the extended part.
So we asked for some of the doors from the old discarded units to be fitted into the gaps left in the utility with the dishwasher gone.
This was charged at a few hundred euro.

Gumbo

jay0109 wrote: »

We now have a utility that encompasses part of the old kitchen. We left the old units in place there. We had a dishwasher in there thats now gone as there's a new dishwasher built in out in the extended part.
So we asked for some of the doors from the old discarded units to be fitted into the gaps left in the utility with the dishwasher gone.
This was charged at a few hundred euro.

Days rate for a carpenter and then site attendance for the main contractor and follow on delay that the carpenter would have been doing on that day instead of the kitchen presses.

Very easily adds up to 3-400 euro IMO.

Officer Giggles

Excellent post OP, could you PM the details of the builder you used please

mcneil

jay0109 wrote: »

We now have a utility that encompasses part of the old kitchen. We left the old units in place there. We had a dishwasher in there thats now gone as there's a new dishwasher built in out in the extended part.
So we asked for some of the doors from the old discarded units to be fitted into the gaps left in the utility with the dishwasher gone.
This was charged at a few hundred euro.

Where you surprised at the bill for this. A few hundred euro is the norm for something like this. What i seem to get from the public here in ireland is if they earn 350-500 a week for working 40 hours, they look at a job that they think will take maybe half a day(which they are usually wrong) then they look at their own wages and think they tradesman should charge 60 euro for his time. They forget to take into consideration that the tradesman has to pay for tools, tools maintenance, van, van insurance, insurance, tax, usc, diesel and so on...

percy212

And the lad working in an office has to pay for his own car, petrol, insurance, dry cleaning, lunches, coffees, childcare.

jay0109

I've outlined my thoughts/side on the whole 'extras' bill at the end of this project. Not going to keep rehashing it.
It's done, lesson learned and hopefully the story will be of use to some other uers on here to avoid such a scenario arising for them.

JustAThought

Great finish onnthe outside - I've seen a fair few hash jobs on exterior extensions but yours really has a lovely style and finish to it. Congratulations!! Faboulus floor! Inwas looking at this both from a dealer in Louth & Arnotts - but could't put insulation under it so am still procrastinating; it was very expensive but a fantastic product. Did you manage to put under floor insulation under yours? I don't want to lay the recommended filler on my wood floors as an underlay either

tradesman

percy212 wrote: »

And the lad working in an office has to pay for his own car, petrol, insurance, dry cleaning, lunches, coffees, childcare.

you are forgetting that a van is a tool not a car! it is like an expensive wheel barrow! tradesmen also have cleaning bills - it is dirty work. they also eat lunch, coffee, & oh yes they have kids as well!

mcneil

percy212 wrote: »

And the lad working in an office has to pay for his own car, petrol, insurance, dry cleaning, lunches, coffees, childcare.

Are you trying to say that a tradesman should be just charging for his hourly rate same as a wage someone would get in an office? Seems to me that you are.

jay0109

JustAThought wrote: »

Great finish onnthe outside - I've seen a fair few hash jobs on exterior extensions but yours really has a lovely style and finish to it. Congratulations!! Faboulus floor! Inwas looking at this both from a dealer in Louth & Arnotts - but could't put insulation under it so am still procrastinating; it was very expensive but a fantastic product. Did you manage to put under floor insulation under yours? I don't want to lay the recommended filler on my wood floors as an underlay either

Not sure I'm following you.
Our floor has the underlay under it that we bought also. The extended area has a different underlay to the old build area. This is because newly poured concrete may still have some damp.
And when the Builders were constructing the extension, they also put in sheeting to stop damp rising up. Before filling in the rest of the floor.
PM me if you want the name of the company we got the flooring in.

Does that answer your question?

IrishRed2013

Really good thread Jay, thanks for sharing.   
Nice to hear good feedback about the builders you used too.  So often it's bad endings, but this seemed to work out well for you and the pics look great.

jamboambo1

Can you pm me your builder details if you were happy with them.
THanks

James 007

jamboambo1 wrote: »

Can you pm me your builder details if you were happy with them.
THanks

Jay, could you also PM the builder details to me, and if you could also send on the schedule of works that the builders used for the pricing element, that you mentioned in a previous post.

curiousb

Jay, thanks for this thread. We are embarking on a similar project ourselves, so would really appreciate it if you could PM the schedule of works you used. We are talking to a builder at the moment so it would be great to have this to help us flesh out our requirements.

BoardsMember

Great post OP, thanks.

If you could PM me the name of your builder and the company that supplied the flooring I would appreciate it, and the painter info too please!

jay0109

PMs sent

cobrakev

Hi Jay,

The extension looks great, love the external look and all glass back aswell. I am looking to do something similar soon myself. Could you PM the name of builder and schedule of works?

Thanks

rw53

Hi Jay, great post thanks, the end result looks great! Just about to start our own renovations and small extension, could you please PM the builder's name, schedule of works, laminate supplier and painter details as well please? Also if you could give me a rough estimate of time and cost as well? Thanks!

ButtersSuki

Jay, could you also PM me the builder details?

Thanks!

antodeco

I'm currently getting an extension at the side of the house. It's doubling size of the house, so a big job.

Picking the right builder is key, and if you notice anything, ask about it straight away! Better to be told it's nothing to worry about now, than having to get more work done later down the road!

croucher

Hi Jay, could you also PM the builder details to me, and if you could also send on the schedule of works that the builders used for the pricing element, that would be super helpful as we are embarking on something similar:eek:

jay0109

PM sent to all who requested info.

1 further recommendation.
I needed a room divider type piece of furniture to use along the drop in level within the overall room (the steps only cover part of the drop). I didn't want the standard rectangle bookcase type furniture from IKEA as it wouldn't fit the gap exactly and I just didn't like the look of them.

After much searching I got a recommendation of a company called Tylko in Poland
https://tylko.com/
You can design your own shelving unit/bookcase to the exact measurements you want. As many rows as you want and in different dimensions. Very good interactive tool on the site to design the unit.
They have sales on every couple of months offering 10% off if you go over €500. Production and shipment took a few weeks.
Quality product and very good after sales follow up service. Only took an hour to put it together- much more straightforward than the IKEA flatpacks. And much better product too IMO.
Highly recommend them.

Elle01

Hi Jay
Can you please PM builders details?
Thanks

FrankGrimes

jay0109 wrote: »

PM sent to all who requested info.

1 further recommendation.
I needed a room divider type piece of furniture to use along the drop in level within the overall room (the steps only cover part of the drop). I didn't want the standard rectangle bookcase type furniture from IKEA as it wouldn't fit the gap exactly and I just didn't like the look of them.

After much searching I got a recommendation of a company called Tylko in Poland
https://tylko.com/
You can design your own shelving unit/bookcase to the exact measurements you want. As many rows as you want and in different dimensions. Very good interactive tool on the site to design the unit.
They have sales on every couple of months offering 10% off if you go over €500. Production and shipment took a few weeks.
Quality product and very good after sales follow up service. Only took an hour to put it together- much more straightforward than the IKEA flatpacks. And much better product too IMO.
Highly recommend them.

Thanks for the tip, really like the idea of the Tylko shelves, do they look well? As in some shelves you just want out of the way doing their job, others can look well enough to be a feature in themselves if you know what I mean?

jay0109

They do look well, very pleased with them.
I'm no interior designer but some of the in-laws who work in Property have been very taken with them and got the website info off of me for work they have coming up etc.

Tylko's after sales service very good too. I had 1 small issue which I wasn't even going to raise with them but they chased it up and resolved it.