# irish House Plans Info



## August

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone has used plans from www.irish-house-plans.com ?  We have just purchased a site and have seen a plan we like on the site.

Thanks


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## barry75

Hi August,
We Have used Irish house plans ,the guys name is Sean Baxter,found him very helpful and we had to make changes to the design of the house due to the planners.he had no problem with this.I went with dorm 060,.The plans have great detail on them
regards Barry


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## rathmore

We bought plans from them last month and they look very good and include a building spec. Also found shaun easy to deal with and had good advice. Before anyone asks no connection with them!!


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## DaithiMc2007

Sorry to be pedantic here but books of house plans have been the scourge of the Irish Countryside for the last 40 years. They are a disgrace in fairness!!

What you need to do is hire a properly qualified architect or design professional to look at your unique site and design a dwelling that is unique for you and your family - not something that someone else anywhere in the country can build as well.

Sorry to rain on any parades here but that is the way things should be done. It might be more expensive in the here and now but in the long run surely it is better to have a real one-off home that is designed and built specifically for you than saving a miserable couple of hundred euro by using a mass designed crap house from a book.


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## OCD

Have to agree with the last poster.  You get what you pay for and that's certainly true for houses.

I'm an engineer and could easily design and build my own house tomorrow and even I would get an architect onboard.  I'm all for saving money but do so on your professionals not on actually trying to do someone else's profession!

Getting an architect and engineer in to do what they do best for a few % of the overall project cost is wise money and not only will it give you what you really want in terms of design, it will leave you stress-free and surely that is worth more than money itself.

D


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## ennisjim

Also agree to some extent. I found house plans books useless because the vast majority are not acceptable to County Council planners. For example in Cffaly I was told that dormers are out as are many of the other designs, eg. they want to see storey and a half and not 2 storey for example. Also was referred to Co.Cork rural design guidelines as a sort of 'bible' for planners, and I don't think any of the house plans would comply with these guidelines.
Of course this may only apply to design for rural location - may not apply in urban areas.
Ended up designing my own house and keeping it simple to avoid clashing with planners. Happy with outcome all the same.


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## secman

Have to disagree here, we opted for a  "Book Plan" and we are very happy with the result. 
In fact many of the locals have complimented us on the design and look of the house. We didn't opt for a "Footballers wife style " mansion nor an Urban style. 
We were very concious of the rural area and put considerable thought into our choice, looking for a style that would ease in and not look out of place.  We sussed out what style was preferred by the County Planning authority. Having said that we had to trawl through numerous books for several months before we found it and then we tweaked it, to enhance it in our eyes. Have yet to see a similar one in our location , so its still pretty unique !


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## nutty nut

House plans extracted from books are never going to be unique and with an ever tightening up of design elements by various county councils they are going to go by the wayside. 

But its down to every individual what they want. I have seen so many posts here and on other forums from people complaining about the house design they ended up with by going to architects and paying a small fortune so, despite the old saying, you dont always get what you pay for.

I have found these books to be very helpful to people who want a modest house and with browsing the books they have a lot of choice available to them. People should bear in mind that the internal layout of the house is more important than the external facade. Within reason its nearly always possible to put any type of external design to any type of internal layout so the book owners can amend their plans accordingly to suit both the client's and planners' requirements.


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## Cashstrapped

Can anyone suggest a book to look for a basic (non fussy) house, thinking of a Bungalow/ Dormer Bungalow and would like to consider all Eco Friendly ideas together with recommendations on Solar Heating/ Wood Pellet heating etc.

Thanks


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## nutty nut

A visit to Easons or any large book shop will get you a few choices


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## pat the rat

DaithiMc2007 said:


> What you need to do is hire a proper qualified architect or design professional to look at your unique site and design a dwelling that is unique for you and your family - not something that someone else anywhere in the country can build as well.


 


Have to agree. I am a building contractor and there is alot of unqualified architects out there (not saying in this case). 
You should always pay that little bit more and not look at the initial fee as 'expensive' but by adding it to the overall cost of the build.
I have seen this happen in soo many cases were people waste money on their first set of plans drawn up.
The mistakes usually happen because some of the 'so called architects' don't get the clients plans passed because of not knowing what will and won't pass for their area.
My suggestion is go and find a recommended architect from you area who is familiar with the local planning office..
Its the best option,
I too made these mistake. I was thinking on the cheaper option but ended up losing €3000


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## merchantdon

[FONT=&quot]Having just been through the process of building myself i just thought i'd share my experiences.

I had my site, which was an elevated site that has stunning views.  I wanted to make the most of the views but i also wanted a design of house that wouldn't stick out, i didn't want the house been seen from miles away or acting like a lighthouse at night.  I wanted something that would blend in with the flow of the hill.

I approached an architect that had being recommended and asked him to design a house that would suit the site, i gave my few "must haves" which were mostly to do with room layouts.  The first design he came back with had absolutely nothing that i asked for in it and as far as i was concerned a) wouldn't have gotten planning b) didn't at all suit the surrounding area.

After much discussion he was given a second chance, i detailed exactly what was required,  i gave him a plan of a house, as an example of one particular room layout that i wanted, told him to incorporate that room and design the rest of the house to suit the site.  

He came back a second time and what he gave me was almost the exact house plan i had given him for the internal layout.  At this point i dropped him, i was 3 months on and €1500 worse off and still had nothing.

I searched the net and found a house plan that caught my eye, i took this plan as a basis, brought it to a draftsman and came up with a design that was perfect for the site. The sailed through planning, not one change had to be made to the design (which i'm told was unheard of in my area).

I wouldn't say not to use an architect, but what i would say is ask to see there pervious work and if possible speak to previous clients.  [/FONT]


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## krissovo

I used Irish House Plans, we heavily adapted one of the standard plans for our own use.  We went with them as the two architects we initialy commissioned were both just chancing their arm and trying to sell us plans that they had already.  None were really interested in designing the features we wanted but Irish House pland were great.  Included all the features we wanted and very quick turn around times plus the cost was very good.

The home is in-progress http://grianan.blogspot.com/


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## krissovo

ennisjim said:


> Also was referred to Co.Cork rural design guidelines as a sort of 'bible' for planners, and I don't think any of the house plans would comply with these guidelines.



only issues with Cork rural planning guides was the angle of the roof and the capping on the chimney.  Both of these were changed for free in a day.


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## Patrick2008

Krissovo. I presume you called your house "Grianan" or "sunny place" in English because it now shades out where the sun used to shine?? What is the Irish for "bought house from plans as I was too mean to employ an expert". Each to their own etc but your house is no different to every second house in Ireland. I am not a fan of the Green party but the sooner there is massive reform in the planning process the better. Bring on 2013 when all houses will have to be carbon neutral. I bet Krissovo like others went to his local county councillor to get him to lobby the planners to get planning on his off the shelf house. 

I think anyone who buys house plans from a website or book etc should be taking out and shot. These people are penny pinchers and lack intelligence and treat the country side with utter contempt by just plodding any sort of house onto their site without taking into consideration the site and how the house will sit on it. Houses built in the 70's and 80's were a disgrace. Looks like we still havent learned anything. What will our kids think? Granted, there are some intelligent people in Ireland who have employed experts in building their home but I am afraid most people choose to buy plans from a book etc. These same people have been probably voting for Fianna Fail in the past 10 years.


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## secman

Mind you do not fall off that lofty high place you are perched on, preaching to us, unintelligent peasants ! 

Soner the better bleeding hearts take a hike !

Yours 

Secman


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## sydthebeat

Patrick2008 said:


> I think anyone who buys house plans from a website or book etc should be taking out and shot. These people are penny pinchers and lack intelligence and treat the country side with utter contempt by just plodding any sort of house onto their site without taking into consideration the site and how the house will sit on it.



bull crap....

the onus on what kind of house is to be built is squarely in the hands of the planners..... they have the final say, not the applicants.

If the planners deem the 'plan-a-home' or 'irish house plans' designs good enough then on their head be it.... pick up teh argument with them...


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## Buildright

Planners don't adjudicate on house designs or matters of taste, just because a building gets planning permission, dosent mean that it has been approved as a design. I traveled 400 miles from belmullet to dublin via Cavan and I must agree with the sentiment that the quality of design of our one off housing in the last decade leaves a lot to be desired. Most of the new one off housing looks out of place in the landscape. We have taken designs that originally sought to bring the country to the city, in mock todor/georgian/edwardian decor patterns, scaled it up to adpt it for the suburbs and then perversely exported it back to the countryside with attendant lawns. The result is that these substandard designs look like they were helicoptered onto the site, with no regard for context or sense of place. A mobile home would feel more natural on the site. One simple idea is to plant trees before you ever go for planning.

And thats what it is all about at the end of the day, how it feels. Because for most of us our houses and our places boil down to what feels right. No fancy stuff, just I feel at home here. But the optimal economic solution, the 3 grand planning dosent deliver  Its something that feels right, rationalise it from a financial point of view, but the concept of 'home', that timeless cosy feeling dosent stand up to much economic appraisal or cost benefit analysis. I know the 20 grand Architectural solution dosent deliver either, but there must be a third way, a way of delivering a cost effective tailered solution to suit unique family solutions to make the most of a unique location and set of circumstances. You cant say its expensive to get something better than yellow pack pattern book architecture when all those thousands of out of work architects would bite your hand off to work for you just to supplement their dole entitlements. 

I see the need for strong vibrant rural communities, but I also lament the death of towns, our towns are dying because anyone who can afford it is leaving to get a plot along a country road, soon the rural ideal they escape too becomes suburban without the convenience, soon only those on the welfare, some superpubs, 2 chippers and a chinese left in town. The retail even fected off into the country. Build your suburban pile along the road but dont expect it to last the test of time. Look at what has been built in the last decade and do the exact opposite. What about renovating and extending an existing building. It would have character.


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## baldyman27

Patrick2008 said:


> These people ... lack intelligence


 
Idiot statement.



Patrick2008 said:


> These same people have been probably voting for Fianna Fail in the past 10 years.


 
Idiot statement



sydthebeat said:


> If the planners deem the 'plan-a-home' or 'irish house plans' designs good enough then on their head be it.... pick up teh argument with them...


 
+1, though I don't agree with the whole concept of off-the-shelf-designs, if people can get away with it and are happy with the results, then fair play. Its the system that's wrong.



Buildright said:


> Planners don't adjudicate on house designs


 
In my very recent experience, this is untrue.


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## sydthebeat

Buildright said:


> Planners don't adjudicate on house designs or matters of taste, just because a building gets planning permission, dosent mean that it has been approved as a design.



Thats simply incorrect. Planners most definitely do adjudicate on house design. I have direct personal experience of this. Ok, an argument can be made whether they are qualified to or not... but it is still a fact that they do. And by doing so, they themselves, as a profession, can and should be held above all, as the most responsible for the standard of rural houses being built.




Buildright said:


> I traveled 400 miles from belmullet to dublin via Cavan and I must agree with the sentiment that the quality of design of our one off housing in the last decade leaves a lot to be desired.



i completely agree with this statement, but its an argument that has been made over and over again with no solution. Most counties now have 'design guides' that, whilst certainly reintroduce vernacular features to rural design, are held in too much esteem by planners who know no better. 

Should planners have to have some kind of architectural experience in order to be able to define what is good and bad design??


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## sydthebeat

Buildright said:


> I see the need for strong vibrant rural communities, but I also lament the death of towns, our towns are dying because anyone who can afford it is leaving to get a plot along a country road,.



Thankfully the rural housing guidelines have put paid to this practise. before teh guidelines there was a lazzie faire attitude to rural housing... if you could afford teh site off you go....

but at least not there are specific requirements to be met in order to be considered for rural housing (whether you agree with these requirements or not, at least they work). Again, there is always some exceptions to this, but thankfully these are in the vast minimum. In my experience all my local counties, kildare, laois, offaly, carlow, kilkenny, tipperary... all have become very restrictive in rural planning permissions.


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