Talking Property

Now that we're cash-poor and time-rich, DIY Declans are out in force again, says Isabel Morton

GENERAL CONVERSATION these days is littered with angry references to the recent past and to the fact that we were all "ripped off" by various professions over the good years.

The building sector is the number one target for abuse at the moment. People feel very resentful about the exorbitant amounts of money they spent on everything from labour costs to flashy fixtures and fittings.

At the time, it didn't matter how much cash was injected into the house, it was all justified by the fact that property was shooting up in value by the day.

But now, regardless of the flash finishes and the state-of-the-art "smart home" gizmos, properties have dropped in value and are still not selling.

People now feel that they should be able to have their houses built or their extensions added, at greatly reduced prices. But the reality is that building materials have not become any cheaper. If anything, with increased fuel prices, they have become more expensive to produce.

On the plus side, labour costs are coming down, with stiff competition for every building job, however small. It is considerably easier to find a plumber or an electrician these days compared with a few years ago, when you would get a private audience with the Pope quicker than track down someone to fix your leaking radiator.

There was a lot of "making hay while the sun shone" over the last decade and now that the sun has stopped shining, people are comparing quotations and shopping around.

However, ironically, the DIY Declans are out in force again of late. Now that we are all cash-poor and time-rich, many are determined to attempt various home improvements and small building jobs themselves.

Weekends are no longer spent sailing, golfing and playing a spot of tennis as they are all too busy doing odd jobs around the house in order to save a few bob.

Already these DIY novices are driving the staff in builder's suppliers insane asking innocent questions and constantly referring to their copies of the HomeBond House Building Manual, which has now become their building bible.

On the point of scoffing at the innocence of it all, I checked through the million publications lining our own office bookshelves, only to find a copy of the same (very informative) HomeBond manual amongst a myriad of my husband's boring civil engineering tomes and my glossy coffee table interior design books.

I also came across an early copy of Irish architect Jack Fitzsimons's much maligned book Bungalow Bliss- whose title is now used as a derogatory term to describe the rash of nasty unattractive bungalows which have been mushrooming up all over the Irish countryside since the early 1970s.

Having read through it for the first time, I was, despite the numerous very plain bungalow designs, impressed with the overall content, which was full of practical information on building construction on everything from septic tanks to advice on interior design.

Our aspirations and expectations have definitely changed since Bungalow Blisswas first published in 1971 but our basic living requirements have not.

We all became very keen on en suite bathrooms, ballroom-size kitchens and a different reception room for every day of the week, but let's be perfectly blunt, they were never entirely necessary.

In fact, people were all so busy chasing the Celtic Tiger's tail that they didn't have time to stay at home in their luxury mansions to play billiards in the games room, luxuriate in the Jacuzzi in the en suite bathroom, wallow over a good book in the library or work out in the private gym.

Glossy kitchens, under utilised in the boom, are now being explored and tested by owners who previously reached for the takeaway menus. It's time to take out the manuals, get to know the steam oven and start actually cooking.

Families, who were in the habit of disappearing to their individual bedrooms, are being reintroduced to the concept of sharing a livingroom, as an alternative to heating the whole house.

In homes all around the country, lights are being switched off, doors are being kept closed, Mummy is painting the hall, Daddy is tiling the bathroom, and the children are earning their (reduced) pocket money by doing their household chores.

Then there will be Lentil Bake for dinner before curling up with the recently reprinted 1971 edition of Bungalow Bliss.

Talking Property