While not being familiar with the letter of Irish Planning Regulations. I am however desperately familiar with the physical manifestations of "Planning". I have the life long displeasure of wading through the stunning sprawl, obliterating my mental health. What is now a 100% categorical total and complete national disaster. We may have managed to protect the "local amenity" we've destryoued our land, our future and mental potential for an uncommon worhtless unheld ideal that is a black art known to only a few.



Whats your foot print / perimeter / site / canvas?

Do you have pets or a favourite animal?

Does anyone have a WebSite which offers a rough breakdown of costs for building a house..

thanks

You could always look in the "construction & Planning" forum on "boards.ie http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=876

Irish association of self builders http://www.iaosb.com/

or selfbuild ireland http://www.selfbuildinireland.com/

None of these sites have a simple "chart" but the experience of contributers and professional builders, the information is there but it just needs a bit of digging to find it.

This boards thread is very informative http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthre ... 2055041434
To ask the question "how much to build a house?" will result in dozens of questions returned before anyone will give an estimate.

€1000 m2 is a rough guideline, based on no additional information.

The boards.ie section that dolanbaker is a very useful tool - although I notice that it has slowed down considerably since the 'downturn' - I guess less people are looking to build etc.

I was hoping to build 1300sq ft for 185 k all in up until recently - I have not revised those figures in the last 6 months as im awaiting the outcome of an appeal against my planning permission - that gives a cost of €146 per sq ft (and that was me being optimistic in truth)

At the cost you quote yours would work out at €105 per sq ft which is my (extremely limited) experience isnt unheard of but is very very hard to achieve even when undertaking project management/direct labour etc. You would do very very well to come in on top of a budget like that

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that 400 sq ft is an extremely tight space, its worth considering upgrading that living area as (in my opinion) you always need to consider its use outside of your needs - what if you become ill and have to go into care etc? How would you sell/rent a dwelling that is smaller than ever the smallest Celtic Tiger era 1 bed apt..

Good luck to you whatever your decision and beware advice from amateurs like myself

Us amateurs should stick together.

I think you're right about the figures, with building sizes at the extremes of what is considered average, you will find that the "standing charges" will have a huge impact on a very small building but a much smaller impact on a large structure.

Leading on from my offer to "design' houses for pinsters in my very limited spare time I am glad to say we have our first iterations.

1 evening of sketching in front of the TV pen and paper.
2 evenings using sketchup

I created the following very basic conceptual design for the user "earthship" wihtout having much of a clue to the exact nature of the site.
Hopefully it will inspire and bring forth ideas on how to utilise a small plot.
Its a tad bigger than the spec, I think it runs about 40sq m. btu I am not sure right now. Itsn ot finished becasue its a concept!
Its enough for general tastes and considerations.

I don't for one minute think my proportions are bang on and the stairs landing is not resolved from a sketchup 3D model point of view but the overall concept layout is there to consider.
This is my first successful house in sketchup.



















Full imagery album here

I 'll add more detail later about why things are the way they are.

Note" the glass plate was not intended. I couldn't build a successful roof shape to cut out windows on the front it jsut woudln't work liek it did for the rest of the building. a bug or me. SO I decided I'll leave a complete glass wall/roof for the sake of being able to view it even more clearly. The original idea was roofing with two smaller cut out windows and a full glass covering for the stairwell which makes this a very light bright house for one so small, each room has the potential for 3 windows on 3 speparate walls and also sound proffing between rooms on the left or right side is solved by the stair cavity.

As earthsip said there are no stud partitions (the exception would be the bathroom but not a big job so could easily be made to feel solid with the right materials)

My intention was to achieve the following when faced with a Small foot print.

Lots of light +Maximize space

I think the key to acheving this was using the stairs as a means to create a central structural spine.

Giving more light, structural support, ability to span services (less cables & pipes!) and had water tank and eve have solar panels if necessary located along its axis.

What works in larger buildings and sky scrapers should work for smaller abodes.

With this layout you can play to the cows come home, offset the stairs. If we coudl get a basment in even better! This is just one very basic layout concept but I would very happily live in it as long as there was no planning compromises which would make it unfeasible and its not by any stretch of the imagination "out there" , its merely an exercise in quality living in a small space.

Ground Floor:
Hall,
Bathroom
Bedroom,
Outer decking from kitchen.

1st Floor
Master Bedroom
Lounge/Sitting room
Balcony

Doors: sliding doors throughout.

So its not perfect but it was free and no one had to loose any sleep (except me as I pulled a late one fighting with sketch up the first night)

Enjoy!

I'm seriously impressed, Open Window.

Good work Open Window.

I think the key with a small home is (1) not to break it into too many rooms, and (2) use the surrounding outside area as an integral part of the home.

So what's needed? A bathroom, a sleeping area and a living area. That's it. The bathroom should be relatively generous in size (maybe 7'x10', 7m2). I like the idea of it being bright, possibly opening into a very private patio area with lots of plants. Such a patio area could be used as a place to exercise, meditate, do yoga or what ever you're having yourself. A sanctum, of sorts.

The living area can be open-plan with the various required functions of the space being facilitated by either formally or informally creating 'zones'. An office/work zone could be created in an alcove or behind a free standing set of book shelves. A sitting room/lounge could be created beside the fireplace with two comfortable armchairs. The Kitchen could be designed to be simple and compact, possibly a 'galley' style but the dining table would be large enough to be comfortable for guests and also for general day to day use. The living space should have a high/vaulted ceiling, and patio doors that open into a paved/decked area and onwards to the garden. The sleeping area doesn't necessarily need to be a separate room. An alcove would serve the purpose perfectly, possibly with a curtain. Lots of clever storage, but sort out all your belongings with William Morris's quotation in mind... 'If it's not useful or beautiful, throw it out!' Separate shed as a utility room. A veranda at the front door adds a lot of space to sit and chat with neighbours or visitors.

And there it is. I designed this for my old man in the hope of building it for 25-30k, but of course that would have required me not getting paid. Keep an eye out for cheap/liquidated/unused windows and design the home around them. Best of luck, and if I can dig up some drawings, I'll post them up.

And read the book, 'A Pattern Language'.

Thanks. If finished I woudl have included the outside area in more detail, balcony veranda and so forth.

Thanks for the link.

Great work Open Window.....kinda reminds me of this Grand Design - hope the link works

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/gr ... 1_p_2.html

I can't imagine it was built for €100 psqft but it has some really interesting ideas. The bedroom pod mezzanines and the Bed sliding away to reveal a bath were two memorable ones. The outcome was very successful and used the space to maximum effect and they weren't tripping over each other despite the fact that it was such a narrow small site and only 1 storey (apart from mezzanines)

Nice work, OW.

Earthship, can you tell us more about the site? Aspect? Is it behind houses or between them? How private is it? Are you confined by the shape of the site - is it long and narrow or square? What are the other houses like and what does semi-urban mean, specifically?

So thats part one completed....Design a 400 sq ft house (40sq ms according to OW)...

Part 2
Can this house be built for 42k ? Anyone care todo an actual costing on this.
Looking for a medium spec, airtight membrame and good insulation materials but none of that heat recovery and geothermal underfloor heating stuff.

For the record, 400 sq ft is 37.16 sq meters according to http://www.digital-dutch.com/unitconverter/area.htm

I'd imagine that the single biggest factor in the pricing for a budget of that size will be what kind of foundation work is required. Until we know a bit more about the site and the kinds of options the planners will accept there - earthship says they're unlikely to go for a kit house, costing is purely theoretical.

More info please!

You could make a significant saving by using pad foundations rather than strip, assuming good ground.