With construction price inflation running at about 13 per cent, it is an expensive time to carry out extensive renovations on your home.
Nonetheless, many homeowners continue to plough ahead.
But would they be better off waiting?
Get planning and wait
“Now may not be the time to start work on a big reno job, but you should get it through planning and all the hurdles that process may present,” says David Craig of Dublin Design Studio, which specialises in bespoke builds on problematic sites.
“Planning permission lasts five years and there are many hurdles to getting it. You can’t predict the issues that may present themselves. Giving yourself time to get the planning you want is a good first move. That way, when things settle down, you get the chance to do what you want.”
Or when you get a price that you can afford, you’ll be ready to hit the ground running, is how Tarla MacGabhann, principal of MacGabhann Architects, puts it.
“From an initial consultation with an architect to being ‘shovel ready’, will take about a year on average, six months to design and another six months for planning.”
He says this extra time also gives the design time to mature and the client time to ruminate, and, in some instances, may allow you to get the project delivered more economically.
You may think you want more room, more light and to extend out into the garden and have it landscaped too. When you get the costings back you may realise that you don’t really need a second big TV room, that the spare room can double as a cinema room instead, on those occasions when you need a second space, he says. “It gives you time to reassess.”
There is new thinking creeping in too, exacerbated by the energy crisis, MacGabhann says. “It’s about thinking like a Swiss person. Swiss architecture can appear very ordinary. A lot of the buildings have flat roofs as that is the most economical way to build. Instead the focus is on good quality, high performance windows, air-tightness, insulation and a good quality heating system. If you get it right at the start then you don’t have to spend money trying to remedy problems.”
Get moving
But not everyone says to press pause.
“If you’ve been saving and/or have got loan approval, I would still move on it,” says contractor Mark O’Sullivan of Clanforce Construction.
“If your proposed project is now coming in €100,000 over budget, then you need to scale it back. But scale back on finishes. Do you really need aluminium windows or polished concrete floors? You could use a laminate underfoot, for example.
“What you don’t skimp on is energy efficiency. This is something that has to be done at the start of the project. A well-insulated home will stand you well in an era of energy bill increases.”
It’s about value engineering, he says.
“Getting the basics done now is what’s important. You can then tip away at it room by room, tailoring to budgets as you go.”
Busy, busy
One quantity surveyor and contractor, who didn’t want to be named, says the issue now for both architects and their clients is finding a building slot or window.
“Contractors are busy for the next 12 to 24 months, so it’s very hard for builders to put a realistic cost on a project that far ahead. Signing a contract for works in three-years’ time is something concerning both contractors and clients. What happens if the bottom may fall out of the market and you’re tied into a price, for example? That is also helping to drive prices up.”
Refresh
If you’ve done the figures and have been outpriced by builders and architects to do a complete renovation, there are many full-service interior design companies that will swoop in, along with their tradespeople contact books, and give your home a total refresh.
Habu has plenty of expertise in this area and its director Robert Glynn says a fresh interior design on a house of 222 sq m — including a new kitchen layout with Silestone countertops, three new bathrooms, and a paint refresh for the hall, stairs, landing, two living rooms and the master bedroom — will range in cost from €145,000 to €165,000 and includes all furniture shown in the pictures. Entry-level prices start from €85,000 for the full refurb of a two-bedroom apartment of about 80sq m.
Interior designer Emily Cunnane, a director at InSpace, a firm that can redesign a room or a whole property, is also seeing a spike in lighter work decorative jobs — which she describes as ‘interim work’ — with money being spent on furniture, lighting, painting and joinery rather than extensions and construction work.
The most disruptive of these works is overhauling either a kitchen or bathroom, which respectively will take about three weeks and up to 12 days to complete, nothing compared with a six-month build project. She can price a kitchen from about €15,000 plus another three or four thousand for worktops, while bathrooms cost from about €10,000 to €12,000. A simple paint refresh of an average three-bed semi can range from €7,000 to €12,000.
So hang tight, there may be light at the end of the tunnel, Cunnane says. “It does seem to be settling a little. People are pressing pause, so there is more availability of contractors. This time last year you couldn’t get a contractor, but now you can.”
But don’t break out the sledgehammer just yet — at least until you’ve crunched the numbers. “Prices are still very high,” she says.
dublindesignstudio.com; macgabhannarchitects.ie; clanforce.ie; habuinteriordesign.ie; inspace.ie
How do you pick the right architect for you in the current climate?
1. Ask how many options the firm will come up with for you, is the advice of Tarla MacGabhann, who is currently working on a project for a couple who has relocated from London’s Shoreditch to the Donegal Gaeltacht. He is giving the client six different options.
2. Ask for three references from the firm’s clients along with contact details, and message them to ask what they thought of the service, what sort of options were offered and whether they could get their architect on the phone.
3. Focus on the spatial arrangement and getting light into every room. Don’t worry about the look. With a good architect the prettiness will fall into place.
