# build costs in co. clare



## fiwhel (7 Jul 2009)

Hi all,
Just planning a house build in co. clare, renovating and extending a stone coach house. Have ended up with an area of 4,000 sq foot, any ideas what kind of build costs we're looking at? Ahve costs come down in Clare at all?


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## z104 (7 Jul 2009)

I know a builder in east Clare /Limerick that builds for 65 euro a sq foot. At the height you would pay twice this.

This is for a new build, Not 100% sure if this would cover renovation


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## fiwhel (7 Jul 2009)

Wow 65 euro is v good. A bit wary having read other posts about cheapest not being best but however. Many thanks for post


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## VOR (8 Jul 2009)

I can't see how you will get a builder for €65 psf for a renovation project. It seems far too little. If it was a straight build I would understand.
I have seen a quote recently from friends for 2,500 sq ft house for €70 psf incl oak internal doors and skirting. However, that was on a greenfield site without the structural headaches that a renovation brings. Another was €75 psf for a 1700 sq ft house + garage. Again on a greenfield site. Both builders would be highly regarded and were bonding the house and had their own insurance.

Where you are restoring and extending you will need a good engineer and they shouldn't come cheaply. Reasonable yes but cheap no. 
Secondly, the PP will almost certainly restrict your use of materials and that will mean additional charges for slate, windows, stonework etc. etc. 

Best of luck with the project but I would be budgeting for somewhere around €85 and hoping to get it for €80 psf.


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## Clarelassie (8 Jul 2009)

Contractors prices have come down a lot in Clare. We have just started our build and for house it is costing about €67 a sft to builder finish ( floors and kitchen not included, but sanitary ware is), but that doesn't include garage etc. It does include slate, solar panels, back boiler on stove and oil heating and a fairly high spec of insulation. Our builder said that in the boom he would have been quoting 90-100 for the same spec. He is very busy at the moment - just having started at least 2 other house builds in the last few months and has a few extensions to do as well. Good builders are still busy! This contractor was no1 on both our architects and engineers list, but like all still needs to be watched.

As other posters mentioned - it will cost more depending on what is needed in the renovation - but for the new portion of your build you should be looking at 65-70 per sf. 

We also got a quote from builders outside of Clare - one from Galway and a big firm for the midlands. We wanted the best price with the most included. The more you know about your build spec beforehand, the closer to the end price you will be. Some of the quotes we got back didn't include some of our spec details, so were worthless and some builders wouldn't sit down to discuss what was or wasn't included. We like the contractor we did go with as he gave us the bill of quantities, so we knew exactly what he was including in the quote and as a result we could see areas where we could save money and areas which will be subject to change due to a p.c. sum being supplied. Our contractor said these were all external companies and if we found we could get a better deal, he was happy to go with those - he wasn't adding any loading onto the pc sums.

There will always be unknowns with a renovation - just make sure you have plenty put aside for unknowns. 

best of luck with it!


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## mini (21 Aug 2009)

Hi can you give me the name of your architect/engineer? I'm hoping to do a renovation and extension. Thanks ballinap@gmail.com


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