Extension quote

Wow - that's nearly the cost of a new house!! Seems about right these days depending on the location?

At least you got a quote! Down south we are looking for an extension... got a very rough quote of €50k about 18 months ago.

Went out looking for builders again, none will quote at all, one said maybe in the summer they'll give a quote, another won't take any bookings until 2023.

We used a builder who only covers South Dublin. Very happy with them. Not sure of their availability though. They were very competitive.

Fair enough. I suppose I meant are you expecting expensive/high quality finishes for that or more standard finishes. Asking because 400k is definitely more than we wanted to spend so wondering if there’s much fat in that budget.

Wow. Good to know. Thanks and best of luck with it!

You and me both!

WOW.

The devil is in the detail though. A redesign and simplifying certain aspects might save a pile of money.

We had our doe last year. Approx 50sqm in total. We didn't go up though and didn't require any structural works to the main house. Literally just build on the side. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a utility, Turn key was 70k. Would probably be nearer 100k this year though. Which would have meant not getting it done.

That seems very good value. We got an estimate from an architect for doing a two-story side extension, adding two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a utility. Also a rear extension of probably 30sqm. The estimate was 350k. We have to upgrade the whole house at the same time due to the building regs. Would be delighted to get the side done for 100k, never mind 70k!!

I believe it depends on the percentage of the house that’s getting work. The rule is 25% but I’m not sure how they measure it. The architect did say that a lot of people assume those planning exempt extensions are also exempt from the new regs and that’s not actually the case.

On your point about nobody going ahead with these prices. We’re in the position where we feel like we don’t have a lot of good options. We’re overcrowded in the house, especially with working from home. There’s nowhere better available to move to really. Anything that’s near schools and big enough for us costs a fortune or needs a lot of upgrading, or both. I’m not sure we could get anything better for our money. We’ll have to see what we can scrape together and what it will get us in a renovation/extension. I don’t want to wait a few years either because our kids are hitting the teens soon. No point doing it when they’ve only a couple of years left at home. No guarantee prices will go down in the next few years either. As I said, no good options in this housing market really.

I’m hoping a garden room office will help make it all work. We’re not in Dublin so remote work has opened a lot of possibilities for us career wise.

Wouldn’t that be great!

It’s not just Dublin! I’m in Galway city and we got an estimate of 350k for renovation and side and rear extensions on a semi-d. Won’t even be 250sqm when it’s finished!

When you say people are self-building, what do you mean? Are they just project managing the build themselves, ie there’s no main contractor? Or are they actually doing the labour themselves? Or does it mean there’s no architect?

Yes. No main contractor. Everything else the same.

That’s a great result!

The figure here is nowhere near 3000 per sqm contractor or not.

I'd say 50 to 60k saving approx via self build on a 250 sqm house rural mayo.

Pre covid the contractor rate was circa 1300 per sqm with many self builds coming in at 250 to 270k for 250 sqm.

Right now it's probably gone over 300k self build.

If only things worked like that.

I have to say this is making me wince just slightly, considering I'll have a substantially smaller house built for similar money, not in the west but 100 km north of Dublin. Does that figure include external finishes (concrete, yard, tarmac) a well, garage?

Jesus 32k for 4 skylights?

We are waiting on tenders back from 3 builders for a 30 SqM rear extension and partial downstairs refurb. Ballpark figure from Arch/QS was €150k. We will see.

Hope the build goes well!