r/selfbuildireland

We are planning a downstairs refurbishment and small extension out the back of our 4 bed semi-detached house (30 yrs old). We've never done anything like this before, so we got a quote from an interior architect for taking on the project. They estimated 155 hours and quoted us €12,500 for their services, itemised into three phases below.

I don't have any doubts about the firms credentials - they are well known and reputable. It's just that I have no experience in these matters, so was wondering if anyone who does could give me their opinion on the quote received? Thanks!

Phase I

- Initial consultation along with site survey documentation

- Space planning and layout development drawings

- Concept design and visual presentation proposal

- Electrical and lighting layout plans, coordinated with audio-visual requirements

Phase II

- Comprehensive drawing packages including joinery and custom-built elements

- Detailed specifications and supporting drawings

- Furniture planning and layout arrangements

- Kitchen design, vanity units, and sanitary ware specification

- 3D visualisation renders

Phase III

- Colour scheme consultation and finishes selection

- Wall and flooring finish specifications

- Furniture selection

- Lighting fixture selection

- Soft furnishing selection

- Final styling and dressing on project completion

We recently made an update to our renovation calculator. You can still manually calculate the cost of a renovation in Ireland, but now you can also use AI Snapshot to pull the data for you. You just have to paste a URL from MyHome.ie or Sherry Fitzgerald or other agents (except daft 😔) or upload a photo of a kitchen or bathroom. My thinking was if I am at a home viewing to buy it can give me a quick sense of how much it could cost.

I'd love for you guys to check it out and let me know what you think! Any feedback is welcomed.

But also, I built this because I'm in the market for a home and every other house needs a renovation. Now that I actually know the costs, the math is just not mathing? Are people out there genuinely doing full renovations and just paying the extra cost? Or is everyone just... not doing them? If you did do a full reno, was it worth it?

Curious to know!

Thanks!

Hi All,

We are currently renovating and retrofitting a 1900s dormer house with a 40sq metres extension also now added on. We have decided to go with A2W heat pump and UFH . Our plumber has told us we are unable to do MVHR and can only do a DCV system which is fine. I am just wondering should our house still be as airtight for this DCV system as it would be for MVHR ? Thanks

Grew up in local area (County Galway), moved abroad for over a decade and now moving home with young kids. Applying for planning permission needing to satisfy local housing need so presumably fall into returning emigrant section of development plan. But how do I prove local housing need if I am returning (as opposed to returned), I.e. I’m still living abroad and planning to move when I get planning. Is it enough to say I’ll find local employment once I get planning, or do people need a job offer to support the move, etc.? Any advice or similar experience would be great as it seems like a poorly documented and grey area.

Just wondering if anyone went through PTSB for their self-build mortgage and specifically how long it took from submitting documents to receiving the letter of offer?

We are currently working through getting approval in principle for our self build - all of the documents are in except for the engineer’s final costings but the underwriters have said that based on current figures they don’t anticipate a problem.

We are extremely lucky in that once we sell our current home, we hope to only need to draw down approximately €100000 but to give ourselves breathing room we have applied for €160000. This money can’t be drawn down until our current home is sold as the bank will need to see proof of funds for the remainder of the build.

The complication is timing. We have some savings left after buying our site, and we had trades we know and trust lined up to start in the autumn when hopefully the house will have sold. Due to a cancellation some trades can actually start at the end of this month, which would be amazing as ideally we’d love to take advantage of the summer and get going, but our current house won’t be sold by then.

We looked into whether a temporary personal loan with the same lender could help cover the early stages before sale proceeds come through (we would pay it back before drawing down the mortgage) but were told the lender views this as bridging finance because it relates to the build.

Just wondering if anyone else has navigated something similar whereby they wanted to start before the sale of their own house and savings weren’t enough?

I have full planning permission granted and looking at submitting commencement notice for a July cabin build. Has anyone submitted commencement notice and had issues with building regulations?
- cabin company only provide certification for the parts/materials they use. No certification for the finished product as they claim to be just “builders”. engineer is saying if building regs come out, you won’t pass.
- I’ve heard that the head engineer in building regs in my county has said that he doesn’t know why the government are promoting cabins alongside the 45m2 rule when they won’t pass building regs.

I’d love to know what have others done? I’ll be building mine with cement cladding so it will look like a regular house. Any advice at all would be great.

When we met with our architect + engineer and gave a budget of €350K to build a house in Galway in December 2024, we never could have predicted the rising cost so fast. Now that we are currently applying for planning, we will probably have to end up selling the site with planning or buying a house and leaving it in the background and hoping for a recession. With the way things currently are we would be looking at between €420K and €480K to build what we had originally designed back then and we have already spent over a deposit (€35K) on site transfer fees, architects, surveys, FI requests etc.) Feeling very deflated. Any house we see at the minute within our price range €350K is around 98m2! What a joke. It is very frustrating. Very little help for the people who want to work hard and try do things on their own.

NOT praying for a recession but something has to happen to stop the inflation

Hi 👋

We are closing in on the completion of our new self build. We expect all internal finishes (floor, tiling, bathroom, doors, painting) to be finished by mid June. The kitchen will be fitted by 23rd June (we hope) but there will be a further 2 week delay for counter

If someone’s been in a similar boat, can you move in at that stage (23rd June) or do you have to wait until the bank have given the last drawdown?

Thanks

Most people go into a renovation with no idea what things should cost and end up overpaying or running out of budget halfway through. Put together some real Irish market figures if anyone finds them useful. Happy to answer questions.

Apologies if this is not the right subreddit.

Bought a cottage in need of renovation. Have had engineer out who told us a good builder will be able to do what we want without drawings/plans as we’re not changing much, just changing out internal studding, redoing the floors (digging out and relaying slab).

Have had builders out for quotes, and they’ve all said they want an engineer to spec it first.

The engineer had recommended these 3 different builders as the ones who wouldn’t need plans.

Feels like we’re going in circles for 6 months.

Hi all - any recs for a plasterer in Dublin who would do a small job (9 squares) of skimming some new plasterboard walls and ceiling for me?

Ta

Hi all,

Currently finished plastering and need to remove the blue protective film that was used to protect glass during plastering stage. When i pull it off there is some residue staying.

I've heard recommendations of hair dryer and or a spray?

Any product recommendations or other hacks that have worked without damaging window.

Thanks

As per the title I am looking for anyone else’s experience in retaining an external building on a site that is not joined to the main home while still availing of the derelict grant.

In summary my parents live in the old farm house, I am building at the site of the old small farm lodge. The core of the lodge building is on land registry maps back as far as 1853 but the building is not listed.

The area is phenomenally built up now and we are well in the City bounds.

Preference was to knock the lodge and start fresh on a clear site. City council want the lodge retained for historically reasons.

My question is, has anyone successfully obtained the derelict grant of €70k for what will be a shed and won’t form part of the house? Or to get the grant must the shed be part of the house. My builder and architect are scratching their heads unsure as to how the council will react but both are aligned that doing a nice job on it as a shed is better than curtailing our options for construction of the main house.

Thanks

In the process of purchasing a house at the moment with plans to expand/renovate in a few years. The more extravigant end of these plans is to self build a swimming pool in the garden. Aside from all those who will say I'm nuts to consider such a project in Ireland, let alone build it myself, I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about the planning regulations regarding private swimming pools? I've done a bit of digging online and have not found any solid guidance.

Anyone with experience of such a project or know anything about whether planning is required? For Reference the house is in East Cork

It’s an AGA equivalent, emits way less heat. Entirely electric and environmentally friendly but ultimately does the same thing as an AGA. Will run from my solar panels at a cost of about €7-€10 a week.

Cost is about €14k for the one we want, intention is to heat the kitchen dining and living area/sunroom with it. House size will be about 240sqm.

Anyone have experience with same. Will run heat recovery also, heat pump.