Build a flat pack/modular house

JDD

I'm soon to be entering the property market to buy a 3 bed house. As I work in the IFSC and my husband works in Blackrock we're going to have to try and buy something along the Dart/Luas line along with the gazillion others looking to buy something similar. We'd be able to afford a house of absolute maximum €490k so obviously our choices are somewhat restricted.

I promise we're not being precious about buying along the Dart/Luas, I work long hours and my husband does the kids drop off and pick up, so we can't move somewhere with a longer commute.

I'm filled with dread having heard all the horror stories from work colleagues who warn me to not even look at a house that has an asking price close to the top of our budget, and to only look at those that 85% or less than our top price. We could of course avoid this bidding nonsense by buying a new house, but I just cant, CAN'T, bring myself to queue up to buy off plans like it's 2006 all over again. Apart from the fact that none of the new builds in our area are within our budget.

We're currently renting a house, in a lovely area, for a good rent. We're very lucky. But it's basically a two up two down and with three kids we're beginning to lose our minds in such a small space. I don't know if I could wait for a new house to be built off the plans anyway.

One thing that popped into my head was wondering whether we could buy a site (which are like hen's teeth, I know), and build a flat pack house - you know, the one's that are built in a factory in Sweden or Germany and they build for you in a matter of weeks. Has anyone ever done this in an urban setting? Are there any Irish companies that do it? I'm sure the Germans/Scandinavians make good products but if anything goes wrong I don't want to be chasing a company in Hamburg.

If anyone has done it I'd love to know what the final cost was, above the cost of the site and the cost of the building e.g. planning, foundation works, internal extras etc.

I keep thinking if I got a site around the €200k mark and got the building for another €200k we might actually have a nice house without a crippling mortgage. But then, if this was the answer to the housing problem why wouldn't everyone be doing it?

_Puma_

A few timber frame suppliers that are becoming quiet successful here in recent years. What you save in the construction costs in a pre assembled house you can pump back into the standard of finish and energy efficiency. Look up passive houses. The more standard shape of the building the cheaper it will be.

Your main obstacle will be planning.

*Edit you can finish a timber frame so that it looks similar to a block built house if you so wish too. If you do some research there are a few Irish based providers. Plenty of blogs by people that have done it with detailed step by step and surprisingly large amount technical documentation about costings to be got online if you do the digging.

mloc123

JDD wrote: »

I'm soon to be entering the property market to buy a 3 bed house. As I work in the IFSC and my husband works in Blackrock we're going to have to try and buy something along the Dart/Luas line along with the gazillion others looking to buy something similar. We'd be able to afford a house of absolute maximum €490k so obviously our choices are somewhat restricted.

I promise we're not being precious about buying along the Dart/Luas, I work long hours and my husband does the kids drop off and pick up, so we can't move somewhere with a longer commute.

I'm filled with dread having heard all the horror stories from work colleagues who warn me to not even look at a house that has an asking price close to the top of our budget, and to only look at those that 85% or less than our top price. We could of course avoid this bidding nonsense by buying a new house, but I just cant, CAN'T, bring myself to queue up to buy off plans like it's 2006 all over again. Apart from the fact that none of the new builds in our area are within our budget.

We're currently renting a house, in a lovely area, for a good rent. We're very lucky. But it's basically a two up two down and with three kids we're beginning to lose our minds in such a small space. I don't know if I could wait for a new house to be built off the plans anyway.

One thing that popped into my head was wondering whether we could buy a site (which are like hen's teeth, I know), and build a flat pack house - you know, the one's that are built in a factory in Sweden or Germany and they build for you in a matter of weeks. Has anyone ever done this in an urban setting? Are there any Irish companies that do it? I'm sure the Germans/Scandinavians make good products but if anything goes wrong I don't want to be chasing a company in Hamburg.

If anyone has done it I'd love to know what the final cost was, above the cost of the site and the cost of the building e.g. planning, foundation works, internal extras etc.

I keep thinking if I got a site around the €200k mark and got the building for another €200k we might actually have a nice house without a crippling mortgage. But then, if this was the answer to the housing problem why wouldn't everyone be doing it?

Is this realistic? I am not sure about the areas you are looking in but I know that further out (north Kildare) sites with planning are going for 300k. You will get cheap sites without planning... but there is a reason they are cheap IMO, you will spend years and money trying to get planning on them.

LirW

While the houses are grand (I come from a country where people are all over them) the budget for a site is absolutely unrealistic unfortunately.
Unfortunately buying in Dublin comes with a stiff competition but it's less hassle than buying a site that still needs planning which can be an absolute nightmare and in the end you with you would have just bought a new-build somewhere. Would along the DART line on the northside be an option? With your budget you can probably afford to buy in Marino and parts of Fairview which is a really nice and central area and the Dart isn't too far away.