Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance. Now, we heard this morning that homeowners can't afford to move house. So around a quarter of a million homes, homeowners are spending money on home improvements. But are people doing it right? Are there simple ways to improve the space in your home? And can you keep the costs down? I'm joined by Pete Finn, who's in the studio with me.
Pete, the builder.
Chapter 2: Why are homeowners choosing to renovate instead of moving?
Hiya, Pete.
Hey, Clare. How are you?
People, I suppose what they're doing is compromising. What they really want to do is move house to a bigger home or a different home, but can't afford to do it.
Yeah.
Yeah, well, I think everybody's situation is different. Everybody's life situation is different. You're going to have people who want to downsize because maybe they're empty nesters.
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Chapter 3: What are some simple ways to improve your home space?
Then you've got young families that maybe bought a first time home and then wanted to move on. The family's grown and then they feel they need a bigger home. So in both situations, and there's lots of other situations, people are considering should they move? They probably originally thought that they were going to move. But I think when they actually look into it,
Chapter 4: How can homeowners keep renovation costs down?
So let's say the downsizer is going to move into maybe closer to the town or is going to move into a new estate. First of all, they realise they've no back garden. Second of all, they realise there's probably one parking space if they're lucky. So what seemed like a good idea and it's a whole new community. So that's a big decision to make.
So while the house might be too big for them, then the new lifestyle might not be what it was. And then in the opposite side where the person is looking to move, they're going to move home, but at the cost of that then makes a big decision that has to be made. Should they stay in the home with the community, the kids in school, and just extend their existing home?
But extending your home and renovating, I mean, there's nothing cheap about that either now, right?
Well, there's nothing cheap about either option, let's be totally honest. So buying a new house or renovating is both are unfortunately very expensive at the moment. We are definitely moving into another period of time when construction costs are going to have question marks over them. They're starting to
You can see it already, can you?
Yeah, we're starting to hear about it. It hasn't actually been implemented just yet, but starting to get emails from suppliers saying that costs are having to go up because of obviously the fuel crisis that's happening at the moment and delivery costs and everything that, you know, the protests went on about last week has a ripple effect into every industry.
And there's no doubt about it, people within the construction industry are being massively affected by the increase in the diesel costs. So that's going to increase the renovation costs, but there's nothing reducing the cost of purchasing a home as well.
So each family or each, you know, individual, I suppose, situation has to be assessed and then you have to make the decision, you know, is it worth moving? Because again, moving into a new home, It's completely different. New community, sometimes it could mean new schools, like uplifting your whole family and moving.
But you're going to be moving into a much more energy efficient home if it's a new home. It's a newer home. Yeah, it's going to be an A-rated home. It has to be to meet the building regulations.
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Chapter 5: What factors should families consider when deciding to move or renovate?
Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Yeah, no, look, the cost of construction at the moment is realistically somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 euros a square metre, which is... High. It's very high. Yeah, it's very high. Look, I can remember I was doing extensions for, you know, 1,200 to 1,500 euros a square metre. But in reality... Not too long ago, I'd say.
Well, you're talking definitely, you know, probably somewhere between six and eight years ago. There was a huge uplift in cost after COVID came along. And now, you know, we've got just everything has risen in cost. But also building regulations have massively increased as well. So I suppose the options that people have are, do they stay in their home?
And then if they're going to stay in the home, what do they actually need? Because I often turn up to someone's home and they've asked me to come and say they need an extension. But when you get to the home...
The home actually is big enough, but there's maybe a room that they're not using and they should be repurposing that room rather than adding, you know, square meters or square footage to their home.
So you have to do the architect's job as well, do you?
Yeah, sometimes. But look, it is well worth getting advice, you know, good advice in these situations and finding out what you need. The first thing that people think of is we need an extension. But do you really actually need an extension? And if you do need an extension, what is the purpose of the extension? Is it to move your kitchen out to that area to create more living space?
Do you need another bedroom for the additional children that have come along? Do you just want it for a gym? Like, what is the reason why you want it? And again, in this times that we're living in, you should always consider, is it going to be an actual valuable investment in your home?
Because it may be a better investment to actually retrofit your house and increase the energy efficiency of your home. Take advantage of the grants. And you will definitely hold that value within the home if you're going to sell it.
Because sometimes you can make do with the space you have if your house is more comfortable. So if it's warmer and you've got new plumbing and your electrics are working well, unfortunately that costs a lot, but it's invisible work, isn't it?
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Chapter 6: What is the current state of construction costs affecting renovations?
Of course, you absolutely do have to spend money. And look, again, there was a lot of people out there saying, oh, but if you go through the grant system, the contractor is going to increase the price and it kind of levels out. And, you know, maybe when the grants first came out, that may have happened. I can tell you now it's not happening now.
And the grants have been increased a couple of times now. So only at the start of this year, the grants were significantly uplifted. And you can get a grant for like over 10,000 euros now to fit a heat pump. There's no way that someone's going to be able to fit a heat pump for, you know, cheaper than getting the grant done.
And again, the advantage of going through the grant system is as well, you get peace of mind. So the most difficult thing about renovation at the moment is actually getting someone to do it. So you have to try and find a person, then you have to try and, you know, obviously come up with a design, get the cost and then commit to it.
where if you're doing a retrofit to your home, an element of work to your home, the SEAI have a list of registered contractors who've been vetted, who've been checked out, their work is constantly checked, and they're there with their hand up going, I'm willing to do this work. You go out, it doesn't mean you just pick one of them and get the cost of one of them.
You go, you get two or three costs off different people, and you know you can get that contractor to come. It's usually somewhere between eight and 10 weeks of a waiting time, which is actually not that bad in the current times. And you've got a lot of peace of mind. You can do the one-stop shop as well, which gives you even more peace of mind.
which is where they'll come in and they'll manage a package of grant works.
And it all has to be signed off as well. So you get, you know, the line is drawn under it when the work is done that has been done.
And it will be checked. It will be checked. There's no doubt about that. And again, the contractors are used to doing this. They know it's going to be checked and they will do it to the level of work that's required. So that gives homeowners an awful lot of peace of mind, knowing that they're getting the work done and they are going to get the grant.
Yes, I know you have to pay money to get it, but you're getting the grant back. If you're getting... like 20 or 30 grand's worth of grants and it's costing you 40 or 60 grand to get it done, you're still getting the money back. So you're getting 40 grand's worth of work for 20 grand's, you know, worth of paying for 20 grand. It makes sense in any man's language.
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