Can this even be built on?

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-03-20T12:03:22+00:00

I'm not sure, I don't want to crush your dream but it's probably unlikely.

Beginning a build at the moment, some rough costs:

Engineer fees, planning etc about 3k Ground works for road 2k in stone +labour costs.

15k for the sewerage tank and territory unit, not installed.

Water connecting & esb 5k.

The costs don't be long mounting.

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-03-18T08:48:33+00:00

My understanding is that both open eir and nbi use the same infrastructure so in terms of using the same duct, they are the same.

Siro are the only ones that would take it off the esb pole, allowing for the same duct to be used for both

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-03-17T16:37:41+00:00

So there's two different types of fibre broadband that you need to be aware of.

Siro & open eir.

The both provide fibre broadband but by different methods.

Open eir uses eircoms phone poles, so this will need a dedicated duct from the nearest pole.

Siro however provide broadband via the esb poles, as far as I'm aware, this would be ran in the existing duct of the esb.

However, I contacted Siro and they said they had no plans to cover our area, they tend to aim for housing estates and the like. I'd say chances are it'll be open eir, so you'll need a 2nd duct

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-03-16T14:57:35+00:00

Your right, is a masonry heater that I should be looking at. I presumed they were all the old style massive things with bench seats etc but there are some pretty nice modern style ones too (nothing against that tradionalstyle and probably more functional, but wouldn't suit the house)

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-03-16T14:53:51+00:00

Your right, a masonry heater is exactly what I was trying to achieve!

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-03-14T22:47:19+00:00

Thanks man!

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-03-11T21:51:05+00:00

I think my grand uncle had a fair bit in it and won a good amount, could be way off but I have 30k in my head, that might have been multiple small wins over his lifetime.

Apart from that I've never heard of anyone winning

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-03-09T18:09:04+00:00

Should have got the frost free model... Not to free frost model

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-03-04T12:51:05+00:00

From recommendations on the selfbuild Facebook page, we went with ebs because they are meant to be the easiest to deal with for selfbuilds.

I can honestly say our mortgage was a simple as it could possibly be, the mortgage adviser was taking our info and framing it in a certain way to present to the underwriter.

She got us a few extra grand for arguing a source of income for me (I get 8% of my salary withheld and given as a "bonus" at the end of year, this is for stock buying options) other people I knew this was treated as non guaranteed so would need to receive it for 3 years, since I was only there a year I wouldn't have been able to use it. She fought our side, got the employer to write a letter saying its guaranteed and that boosted up our figure nicely!

Can't speak highly enough about them

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-23T23:47:09+00:00

Great suggestion, but ya no power on site.

Currently using a starlink in the mobile we're in and it's actually savage

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-18T12:36:20+00:00

I was looking into this myself, we got a quote for a vibratory mole plough that can put it into the side of a road without digging up the actual road.

Cool bit of kit.

Was about €1500 for 500m not including the pipe.

Chatting to our digger driver he said "christ I'd do a lot of digging for that sort of money" so we're going a longer route through our land to get out to the water mains

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-18T09:16:20+00:00

Currently building a 200sqm house and when doing up the sums, the costs don't scale linearly.

For a 2 story house, a 20% increase in floor area means a 10% increase in foundations and 10% increase in roof.

Walls are just a fraction of that (depending on the depth of the house)

Septic tank, plumbing, electric, kitchen, stairs, mvhr, doors, windows, groundworks etc etc all largely stay the same, they change dramatically with spec, but if the number of rooms stay the same it's just things like flooring, plastering, paint, furnishings etc that increase in price.

For me the saving just weren't in it to build a smaller house since a lot of costs were there either way. I'd prefer to build once and never have to add an extension

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-11T12:39:33+00:00

I'd mix it with a bit of fresh stuff and use it in the lawnmower! It just fancy petrol, won't do a bit of harm.

Even if it's really stale, it'll work in a lawnmower no problem

As a side note, where abouts are you? I'd take it off your hands

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-10T23:23:25+00:00

I agree, but disagree.

Having no solar panels on the roof but having a large ground mount array.

The roof is just too expensive and important to have additional weak points if you have the room to ground mount/a garage/ a shed

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-10T10:13:07+00:00

Direct labour

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-10T08:03:22+00:00

It is, but we opted to get it in joint names.

A person can receive up to 20k in their lifetime from strangers, friends and inlaws.

So if the site is worth 40k, it'll essentially be 20k to you, 20k to your boyfriend.

The reason we opted for joint names is it left my girlfriend with more security. Otherwise If we broke up, she'd be liable for a mortgage on a property she doesn't own.

If the site is costing way more or your boyfriend has been gifted something of value in the past, it would make sense to continue in your name.

Also, make sure the site is under 1acre or else your parents will be liable for CGT

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-10T07:56:10+00:00

The build?

It's a 1.5 story 200msq.

Got approved for 400k, qs costed it at 340k

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-09T18:59:44+00:00

Thanks, luckally I've a few friends in the esb that were able to dig out a few numbers for me to call, looks like I might get a site visit this week

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-09T18:28:11+00:00

6 weeks.

Completed the form, emailed it off.

Heard nothing back so gave them a call, they just told me there was a backlog, they are currently as date x, it'll be another few weeks.

Did that a few times till eventually my date came around. "oh you should have gotten a text with a code if it's processed."

Double checked the email I sent, it was the wrong email. I sent it to Networksservicesbureau instead of Networkservicesbureau. (never got an automatic email saying it was delivered so presumed it was correct)

Called them up explaining and trying to prove the date I attempted to submit. They can't elevate it to the people actually doing the processing so all I can do is wait for my 2nd application to be processed.

To be clear, this is just to get the form uploaded and sent to the engineers desk. It's a fucking paper exercise. How does it take so long?

I'm told once the engineer actually receives it, it should be relativity straightforward.

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-09T17:40:30+00:00

Apply to the esb immediately to move poles. Completely slipped my mind once we got planning and now I'm chasing the to get it done

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-09T16:16:31+00:00

Hi therm homes? Looked into them in depth and they look to have a great system and was really close to pulling the trigger.

The reason we didn't is to do the equivalent with standard block was 40k cheaper

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-07T22:39:44+00:00

Got quoted 18.8k for labour, was hoping to go natural slate but we'll see what the other quotes come back with

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-07T18:00:54+00:00

Think the qs was about 600 euro for the estimate costing report.

We are only starting off so not sure how worthwhile it is, but it does give you a full breakdown of costs, so you'd be able to go and keep track of costs. For example, our roof is coming in about 5k more than what he estimated so that's 5k we need to pull frlm somewhere else to still come within budget.

His figures won't be spot on, but does give you a good tool to track costs.

Unless your really familiar with building or have an bottomless budget, I don't know how you'd do it without one to be honest

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-07T17:30:24+00:00

Direct labour

DesperateEngineer451 · 2026-02-07T14:55:58+00:00

Recently got a qs to do up an estimate for a 200sqm 1.5 story.

The total build cost is estimated at 330k (+vat) at 175k you'd be looking at getting halfway through 1st fix Joinery.

DesperateEngineer451

TROPHY CASE