Building Extending Renovating a Home
Patricia Ability is the no-nonsense quantity surveyor who made her name on the RTÉ prove Room To Improve, the ying to presenter Dermot Bannon'south yang.
She left the show in January and has been swamped with work because her ability to talk money makes her invaluable to whatsoever edifice job.
Power'due south main piece of advise to anyone embarking on home improvements is to spend money in means that add to comfort levels – so money that is outlayed on insulation and new windows will make your home a much nicer infinite to alive in and will reduce your utility bills. Go along in mind that a good-looking kitchen, no affair how cool it is, volition still engagement, she says. And once yous start building works, there is a knock-on issue. If you determine to get the builders in, have a think nearly what else it affects, can yous do the piece of work scrap by bit, or is it worth saving some more to exercise more in the long run?
For Declan O'Donnell, the sage judge on the last couple of series of RTÉ's other popular property show, Dwelling house of the Year, who has also left the testify, the virtually luxurious way to practice renovations is to invest in the fabric of the house and to create light and a sense of space inside it.
The two experts have outlined the main building queries they get below. This, they say, is money well spent because it adds to the overall comfort levels of your business firm, and volition, over time, save you in free energy bills.
Afterward this dingy work is done, what remains in the budget can be spent on the niceties such as fitting a new kitchen, new bathroom ware, tiling and painting.
Then what's involved in getting my home insulated?
Y'all tin dry-line a house internally using insulation board but you need to recollect to gene in monies to replaster and pigment the walls, the coving and the skirting afterward, says Power.
"If y'all are insulating, that is the time to do any rewiring and plumbing pipework because your radiators are probably on external walls and will need to exist removed when dry-lining.
"Insulation board is a synthetic textile. Sheep wool is a natural alternative that yous would sandwich behind studded walls. Information technology costs a little bit less than the synthetic options only won't aid improve your BER to the aforementioned degree as the synthetic.
"A house that is over 60 years' sometime will probably have lime plaster and will need a breathable solution that is three times the price of the standard insulation."
If I'm on a tight upkeep, what kind of windows should I go for?
"On a projection, the cost uplift between double- and triple-glazing is well worth the extra spend over their lifetime considering the level of comfort achieved with triple-glazing is far superior to that of double. Triple-glazing is a must on n-facing walls and while the procedure makes the glazing slightly grey in colour, nosotros live in what is a common cold, damp and grayness climate. The experiential difference is phenomenal. But don't only consider the glass. Consider the window as a whole. Become for full replacement of the glass and frames, every bit y'all lose heat through both," advises Power.
She says architects aren't mad on Upvc windows because they're not a natural fabric merely they are effective and tin can exist ordered in any RAL color, for an additional cost. Aluclad windows are another option and its timber-effect interior tin can be painted to co-ordinate with any colour scheme.
I'grand told I need to rewire. What tin I expect?
Rewiring is pretty confusing, says Power. "If you lot're insulating internally, rewire at the aforementioned fourth dimension. You lot will demand to work out your lighting plan in advance to instruct your electrician where you want all sockets and low-cal points to go. You tin never have enough sockets. A v-amp socket in rooms like the living room, primary bedchamber and fifty-fifty a child's room ways you can illuminate table lamps from one picture of the main switch – instead of having to go circular and manually switch each one on. Information technology is a very constructive and inexpensive style to layer calorie-free.
"Also cistron in security wiring for windows, doors and roof lights as well as CCTV wiring and fifty-fifty an external port for an electrical car."
What should expect if I also need to replumb?
Plumbing is dirty, messy, horrible work, Ability says. "If the boiler is more than than 10 years' one-time information technology will too need upgrading. You may need new radiators likewise. It is worth reading most the SEAI grants bachelor. The areas to invest in include heating controls that create zones within the house, hot water and heating separate."
The avocado suite has got to become. How much will that cost me?
"A new bathroom can cost between €viii,000 and €10,000 depending on the level of fixtures and fittings y'all go for," says Ability. "An ensuite will price a bit less. A power shower, the kind that features monsoon and rain water heads, will utilize more electricity and water than an electrical shower. When costing, factor in new sanitaryware (become for the smaller cisterns that use less water), tiles for floors, showers and sink surrounds and taps."
Do you really need an extension?
"We're conditioned to think about extensions when many houses are already plenty big but their layout needs a rethink," says O'Donnell. "If the client loves to cook and the forepart reception gets bathed in forenoon low-cal and so why not install the kitchen in one of the all-time rooms in the business firm instead of out the back where it doesn't accept the same aspect?"
How much volition it cost me?
"When you're thinking about renovations, there are any number of great visual resources to tap into but what you actually need is expert advice that can help you put figures on what you'd similar to do," says O'Donnell. "That's where a well-seasoned builder and quantity surveyor tin help save you money.
"A rule of pollex is you should expect to pay between €1,000 and €i,500 per foursquare metre to renovate an existing firm. That money should, first and foremost, go into the cloth of the firm."
"Expect to pay from €3,000 to €4,000 per foursquare metre for new build works – that includes extensions.
"In the electric current marketplace, much of the housing stock beingness offered for auction needs upgrading and sometimes you may be better off choosing a wreck of a house that has no heating over ane that appears to be in good order only is already 25 to thirty or more than years' old, for the latter will still need heating and electrical upgrades, is Power's communication. "The better option is an older firm in rag order that you haven't paid a premium for."
Make a listing and bank check it twice
The start thing y'all demand to practice is make a list of everything you want to put into the refurb, is O'Donnell's communication. "Well-nigh clients underestimate what everything costs. Itemise every unmarried chemical element, however small – floors, sanitaryware, kitchen units, appliances, tiles for floors, walls and splashbacks, windows, floor, every aspect of the lighting right down to the light switches. Put it all into a spreadsheet and kickoff putting a price on each. By the time you've added these up, y'all will realise that some compromises will have to be fabricated to deliver the job yous desire done within the budget that you have."
What am I paying for?
The best money y'all can spend is on a good architect, O'Donnell says. "He or she volition draft proper documents and drawings for the design and planning stages, create detailed documents for tender so that every aspect has been considered and by doing so yous create a sort of shopping list for the architect. These and so become your contract documents. If information technology's not on the tender document and then you can't become it priced.
"Builder fees are generally betwixt 10 and 14 per cent of the build costs. There are some that offer a package service where they will do a survey and draft plans for you and equip you lot with a list of reputable suppliers and contractors to execute the works."
What is your budget?
While professionals like architects and quantity surveyors can give you a read on edifice materials, y'all, the customer, need to accept an overall financial flick of what y'all have to spend, O'Donnell says. "To become that, you need to know what everything volition price. Do you want to spend €v,000 or €50,000 on a kitchen? You need to figure out what can you actually afford to spend.
"Costs screw when you lot've budgeted €90 per square metre for flooring and you want a beautiful parquet for €300 per square metre.
"You lot should talk budget at every stage, from your first coming together to drafting drawings for planning and through the build."
AHHH I hate it. What can I exercise to change it?
Making changes after services accept been installed is going to cost money, says O'Donnell.
"A so-called small job may not be every bit small as you think. Even a modest kitchen extension will even so require foundations, wiring, plumbing, structural steelwork, the physical units, prissy countertops, flooring, lighting, sliding doors out to the garden, a new bathroom under the stairs, a roof and roof finishes and maybe a new garden to look out at."
Is it actually as bad as near people make out?
It is really stressful, O'Donnell says. "Don't put yourself in the financial state of affairs where your back is against the wall. Until the build gets out of the footing, go on nigh €8,000 equally a contingency."
Join Patricia Power and Declan O'Donnell at The Irish Times Home & Design Theatre at the Ideal Homes Show this Friday and Saturday .
Budget breakup
I have €100,000 to do all renovation works. I'm living in a standard-size iii-bedroom semi. Can y'all give me an idea of how I should spend it?
Insulation to floor, walls and attic: €15,000
Window and door replacement: €xx,000
Electric re-wiring: €ix,000
Re-plumbing, pipework, radiators, new hot h2o cylinder: €18,000
Kitchen: €ten,000
Bathroom/en-suite works: €12,000
New internal doors, ironmongery: €3,000
Floor: €6,500
Ornamentation: €v,000
Wardrobes: €i,500
Upkeep spend €100,000
Grants
Exist aware of the grants available – the SEAI better free energy habitation scheme covers grants for insulation and heating upgrade works; also under the Home Renovation Incentive, window replacement, re-wiring, plastering, tiling, new kitchens, bathrooms and painting qualify.
Conduct in mind that your property revenue enhancement needs to be paid up to date and that whatsoever invoices submitted need to exist in the same name as is on property tax payments.
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