An increasing level of regulation in building is adding to the cost of building new homes.
The Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2013 (BCAR or SI.9) came into play on the first Saturday of March, 2014. In theory, they are designed to protect the home owner from the rogue builder and also to protect the homeowner from themselves, should they decide to do the project on their own.
At one time in Ireland, if you did not require a mortgage and decided to erect a house, there was little or no checks being made on the structure apart from visual ones. This was open to abuse
The new regulation aims to control this, demanding that builders and self builder demonstrate compliance with the design and the building regulations from start to finish. This even includes the commencement notice and continues throughout the build to a series of certificates that must be signed off on by an ‘assigned certifier’.
While it will add costs to the build we are just about at the same level of building controls seen in other developed countries.
Things that are covered are
* The design and construction process of a new building
* The design and construction process of an extension requiring planning permission (generally over 40 square metres or in the case of any protected structure)
* Any works where a Fire Safety Certificate is required
It is estimated that this new compliance could add as much as 2-2.5% to te cost of the build on a standard home.
Call me if you would like to discuss further but please do not start a project without making yourself fully aware.
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