r/selfbuildireland

Hi all as the title says looking to hear the good the bad and ugly of peoples experiences building a house
Anything you wish you had done or known, wish someone had told you? Any suggestions or recommendations for someone approaching themselves?
Basically anything you wouldn’t necessarily know or learn without going through it.

If anyone kept a blog or log online of their experiences appreciate that too.

Thanks!

Hi

My wife and I moved into our new build house yesterday- all was going to plan until we settled down for bed!!

There is a persistent noise emanating from the ceiling. It would be similar to an extractor fan being left on in the ensuite. I even put in earplugs and could still hear it. My wife noticed it yesterday during the day and thought it was farmers locally working outside

From reading up, it could be the mechanical heat recovery system. Anyone got a similar experience? We are panicking this noise is for good. After spending close to 500k to build this house I’m so deflated

Thanks

My partner and I own a house on 4 acres. We are separating and I asked an Engineer to come and divide the land to create a site for one of us to build a new house on. He has sent me one new map and a bill for 330 euro. I presumed I would be getting 2 maps - the new site and the house with new boundaries. What is the norm? If I ask for a 2nd map, will I have to pay another 300 quid? It seems really obvious that if I asked him to divide the land, there would have to be 2 new maps - did I make a false assumption?

Has anyone looked at importing the likes of kitchen cabinets, utility room cabinets and furniture etc from china?

Have you any decent reputable sources?

Get a kitchen designed this week and a well known designer place and they’re quoting around 38k I’m looking at maybe sourcing from china as the savings could be enormous. Obviously the likes of appliances and lighting I’ll keep within Ireland for warranty reasons.

I bought in a large amount of composite cladding last year and it wonky cost 30% of what Irish suppliers were quoteing, including shipping taxes and delivery to my door.

I’m estimating that could probably buy all the units and stone for utility, kitchen, bedroom wardrobes etc and still come in under 20-25k

Has anyone on here done the same and have some reps they used ?

Has anyone bought and sold deferent machines for their build ? How much do you reckon you saved compared to renting/. Hiring drivers.

I’m thinking of buying a 5-7 ton digger to get me started. Dig foundations, septic tank, drainage pit, and duct work etc.

Once the subfloor work is done flog it on and get a telehandler to help with moving bulk items around site.

Has anyone taken this same approach ? How much did you spend on machines and how much did you lose of them over your ownership ?

Or is there anything else you might have bought that was a life saver?

Currently at the groundwork’s/foundation stage of our build and love seeing the house shape on the ground but struggling to visualise the finished product - everything feels small!

Anyone willing to share pictures of rooms in their selfbuild during the building phase, and then finished with furniture etc would be greatly appreciated!

I'm a single mortgage applicant that has a 0.5 acre site in Cork. I don't have the knowledge or time with a busy 9-5 job to even attempt a self build so I would be going through a contractor.

I would love to build a small to moderate sized house under 150sq/m with the hope of extending in the future if needed. Simple layout, passive, 2-3 bedrooms and a garage would be nice but not essential.

Does anyone have approx estimates on what costs would be involved in a builders finish?

<400k is the dream, 400-450k is manageable, >500k and I'm putting myself under pressure.

Where I live to even buy a small house is 400-500k so I'm a bit lost on whether I should attempt to build, or will the costs just snowball so much that it becomes unattainable.

I'm aware there are many variables involved in the final price but anyone with experience that could advise I would be very grateful. Unfortunately I know no one in the trades to turn to for guidance.

edit/update: I just want to say thank you to the advice across the comments. This is the stuff I had no clue about and already a massive help!

I was chatting to someone who said they owned a plot of agricultural land with trees surrounding it and that they plan to build something on it like a prefab or log cabin or whatever just so they can use it as a second house/holiday home.. I said they were mad and that they’d get told to rip it down by the CoCo as it’d be a change of use and unauthorised development.

They laughed at me…

I was under the impression the CoCos monitored that kind of thing closely - even if you are surrounded by a bunch of trees in a secluded spot. Don’t they use drones?

Just curious what people here thought.

We may or may not be living in a mobile that's in the field to the right of my parents and we may or may not have planning permission... But the site we have to build is on the left of my parents a fair distance away but entirely visible from the site. Are we hypothetically just screwed if we apply for planning and it's spotted

Hello!

Buying a property that needs some work. The west side of the house has no windows, so I was looking at opening 2 new windows in either upstairs bedrooms. How would one go about this? My Google searches yielded nothing for thick concrete walls and my structural engineer only noted "it's possible if you really want to". Are there window installation companies that are happy to cut through 50cm thick concrete walls? Or do I have to get someone out separately to cut the opening and install a lintel? I've done plenty of DIY but this doesn't seem like a DIY job. Any advice or clues appreciated.

(The windows would not face any boundary, and face away from the street, so I dont think planning permission is an issue)

I am planning to reconstruct my house which was bought by my grandfather 35 years ago. Approximate cost will be around 40 Lakhs and I am planning to take a loan for the same. Give me some suggestions that I should keep in mind to avoid any mistakes further.

Looking for a rough price comparison on a 190sqm new build bungalow with attic living space and velux windows, larger air tightness envelope etc. Upstair living area would be roughly 40 sqm.

Comparison with building a 210 sqm bungalow with no attic living space.

Does anyone have any experience with building something lime this or know where I could get solid advice?

Thanks

Hi all, hoping someone on this thread might have some insight into the appeal process with An Coimisiún Pleanála, formerly An Bord Pleanála.

We submitted an appeal to ACP on local county councils refusal of our planning, the decision due by date is this week but no word- letter, email etc yet.

Does anyone have experience with how likely it is to actually get a decision by the decision due date or how likely it is that ACP might extend the deadline? Does the decision usually come via letter and it the website usually updated instantly?

Living on my nerves. Any advice or knowledge appreciated greatly thanks.