r/selfbuildireland

Has anyone ever changed their engineer?
I’m at very early stages, waiting 2 months for construction drawings that were invoiced and paid for, still no sign of them.

The engineer has not contacted me and has ignored texts.
I’m worried this is a sign of things to come.

Once I hopefully do get the construction drawings, am I entitled to the Cad file?

We’re planning to get mortgage approval around March next year and have been set on buying a new build, with the eventually of building near my home house in 10 years.

However, now I’m second guessing and thinking why don’t we just build instead of buying. We were scared off it by the build prices but looking at the new build prices, I would rather build our own place for slightly more.

My question, if you were in our situation what would you do?

Savings €35k by next March, HTB €26,000, a site gifted to us worth approx €40k if we want it.

Hi all

We have moved into our new self build house in the countryside the past 6 weeks

In our house there is a small bathroom (toilet and handbasin only) and there is no window in this bathroom. Our mistake! We never thought about this in the design but when the block work was being done, it became a concern. At the time we said to our builder could we at least put an extractor fan in this bathroom but we were advised the MVHR would take care of any smells

Roll on to 6 weeks in the house and there is a definite lingering smell coming from the toilet. It’s not incredibly foul smelling but would definitely leave you recoiling a bit

Any advice on this from anyone who may have experienced this? We will ask our builder but I’m trying to troubleshoot today

Hi all! sorry if this is a question with a very obvious answer but I can’t seem to find one. We are at the very early stages of building, as in only meeting with engineer for perc test next week. We haven’t the land officially valued yet but a similar parcel of land nearby was valued recently at 38k so we’re using that as an estimate for our own heads, with savings of 27k currently, projected to be 32k (all going well) before we actually apply for the mortgage taking into account planning times etc.

My question is, how do people manage the costs of pre-build expenses whilst keeping their deposit and savings ticking over? Planning costs, architect/engineer costs, solicitor, stamp duty will costs 000s, and although we have it in savings already that would obviously impact how much we have saved for a deposit, and would ruin the “6 month” clean accounts required by the bank. Alternately we could pay for these costs out of our current paychecks but we wouldn’t be able to save as much per month if at all. You‘re always told not to have big outgoings when applying for a mortgage but I can’t see how with the initial stages of a self build. TIA

Hi everyone,

​Planning a ~44 sqm ground-floor extension of a self-contained flat and looking for builder recommendations in the Donegal/North West area.

​The existing cottage is 100+ years old—original stone at the front, with a single-block rear from a previous extension where the new build will connect. Because of the mix of old stone, single block, and new construction, I’m looking for trades comfortable with older building integration.

​Looking for input on:

​Builder Recommendations: Reliable contractors in the area (feel free to DM details).

​Acoustics & Layout: Best practices for soundproofing shared walls/doors and setting up independent heating/sub-metering for a rental unit.

​Vetting Trades: Key red flags or contract terms to watch for when getting quotes for mixed-construction builds.

Any other advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

I just moved into my selfbuild in Galway. I have been using 5G for broadband but NBI are ready to connect me up for fibre. They'll need to cross the road to connect me. I'm at the end of a country bóithrín with grass growing in the middle.

I don't want a pole erected outside if I can avoid it at all, and I have ducting ran to the site boundary. Is there anybody that I can call to discuss this with?.

I'm handy enough and I'd be happy to dig a trench to run the cable across the road myself.

I want to preface this by saying I've taken a look at this sub and a few others and just can't seem to find an answer.

Looking and buying a plot of land which seems to already have full planning permission tied to it. 3-bed bungalow with deatiled pictures of exterior and interior plans on the website.

In the details section of the site they mention "Local needs apply to the site and the property will be sold subject to acquiring new planning permission."

I just have no idea what this actually means for us regarding buying the site and just starting the build asap.

Hi all, looking for info on how people got fibre to their new build? There is fibre in my area and in the houses both left and right to me, all be it they are 200m or so left and right of me. For a "one off" house will NBI include this in their roll out plan or how does it work?

I have contact a few ISP's and they are no use.

Thanks!

Hi, planning a self build… we have young kids & have no intentions of them or us ever having a TV in their/our bedrooms… but should I put a TV aerial socket just incase? Or just an internet socket? Or both?! It’s more so for when they are older… or just incase I change my mind? 😵‍💫 was thinking will tv all move to the internet one day anyway….

I have two Telecom Poles along the road at the front of my site. One pole has to be moved for the entrance.

Ideally I’d prefer if there was no poles there for sight lines and asthetics.

Has anyone got the poles removed and the wires buried? At what cost?

And also has anyone challenged Eircom if there was no way leave granted for their infrastructure on your land?

Hello po, good afternoon po! do you have any thoughts po dito? Bunker for Disaster (e.g landslide, earthquake, typhoon)

If 1st floor po yung bunker namin, is it okay po ba na mahaba siya and mas maliit magagastos or 2 floors po na tama lang po yung laki at haba pero mas mapapamahal po sa costing and magiging mahal din po yung price.

And here po sa bunker namin, what do you think po? ano pong pwede naming gawin, idagdag or ibahin kasi ganito po yung plan namin sa buong floor size po. Tas po, do you think kasiya po ba ang 5 members of the family or more po dito? or do you think po na kaialngan po talaga naming lagyan ng 2 floors para magkasiya po yung fam size na plan namin.

Main entrance: 7.51 x 9.11m

Bathroom: 5.14 x 11.58x 5.11m

Storage unit: 6.50 x 11.97 x 6.50m

Whole floor: 21.00m x 45.23m

Okay lang po magkaroon ng tatlong ways para sa clean water accessibility? (Stored clean water + rainwater harvesting system + well water system)

Yung rainwater and well water is dadaan po sa filtration and purification para po maging drinkable if ever po na mauubos yung stored the clean water.

May tips/suggestions rin po ba kayo sa clean water, power saka breathable air? Thank u po!

Ps. Wag nyo po kaming awayin😭 STEM students po kami, pero we're not into building. Medicine related po kasi ung kukunin namin course and huhu wala po talaga kaming knowledge sa building na ganto. We are trying our best po.

Sobrang laking tulong po ng suggestions nyo samin. Maraming salamat po!!

Any thought) experience on these 2 changes I've asked the architect to make to their first draft?

Moving the WC from the utility room to access from hall way. I was thinking better for guests to not see my messy utility but will no longer be at the back door.

And

What do you think about accessing the ensuite through the walk in wardrobe?

I think I can get a bigger 3rd bedroom by removing the passageway and will take noise/smells away from the bed area.

Thanks

Trying to get quotes for 40 m extension with small renovation ( knocking some walls). Difficult to get a quote. What might the cost of this be? It’s hard to imagine that any normal person can build with the current rates? Will prices come down in the future? A friend of mine in the construction sector said work is slowing down.

Anyone avail of new laws so far ?

Is there a proccess for engaging authorities?

Also with regards to converting existing structures ?

There seems to be a few grey areas alas

I am in the middle of renovating a house in Cork city and my plasterer has injured himself. Having been through the mill with loads of trades so far I'm looking for any recommendations of decent plasterers working in the city?

I see the very popular metal cladded roof on nearly every new build around me. Does anyone here have one what's the noise like when it rains? I imagine it'd be very loud?

Hey everyone,

As the heading states…new torch on roof gone on ..initially it was coated in that dreadful silver stuff that’s supposed to reflect the sun..while that’s fine..I can’t be looking down on a silver roof to a new extension on a three year old house..any thoughts on a black coating I can use to get rid of the silver look…thanks all