Irish Independent
Friday February 9th 2007
Home improvement starts at home
The property boom of the past decade has been matched by a boom in the home improvement market as home owners develop their properties rather than go through the all the hassle of 'trading up'. And if you're needing building work done, the internet offers a service that will out you on the right track
LEVELLING off in house prices across Ireland and the predicted 'soft landing' of the property market have done nothing to reduce the nation's voracious appetite for home improvement.
Indeed it seems that every housing estate in the country is full of scaffolding, builder's materials and skips - demonstrating that for many householders 'improving' their way to a dream home is more feasible than rushing headlong into an uncertain property market.
onlinetradesmen.ie recently surveyed 25,000 of its property owning users seeking tradesmen.
The results indicated that homeowners spent an average of €14,782 per project on labour alone in 2006.
Tradesmen bookings on the service for 2007 already indicate that the coming year will show no let up on these figures, with a whopping 3,250 requests for home extensions nationwide already logged on.
According to the survey nationwide spending on property extensions and conversions constitute the highest outlay in the home improvements sector. The average spend on extensions nationwide in 2006 was €50,324.
Of the 25,0000 people surveyed, 22% were seeking an extension or conversion to their home.
Some 63% of respondents indicated that the development of their properties would involve two or more new rooms, with 38% earmarking a new kitchen as the priority addition, closely followed by sunrooms/conservatories and home offices.
Attic conversions also featured prominently.
Other popular areas of home improvement activity unearthed by the survey included bathroom refits, tiling, wooden floor installation, decking and landscaping.
Of these the following were the average costs per project category nationwide: Bathroom Refits: €5,735, Wooden Floors: €1,764, Decking Installation: €1,235 and Landscaping: €2,854.
The survey revealed that the costs for projects varied from county to county across the nation.
Dublin proved the most expensive with counties Kildare, Meath and Wicklow in hot pursuit.
An average building cost of €192 per sq ft applied to the Dublin market in 2006, with residents of Cork and Galway cities incurring up to €175 per sq ft.
People in counties Kerry, Donegal and Leitrim can shell out as little as €115 per sq ft.
Sadly, it is common for property owners not to check the credentials of contractors prior to hiring them.
This is, frankly, crazy when you consider the amount of money and responsibility that that property owners are giving them.
The onlinetradesmen.ie service enables property owners to enter their timeframes and specific project requirements - anything from fixing a leak to building a house - and receive pricing estimates, start dates and company profiles back by email from a pool of over 8,000 accredited professionals nationwide.
As a rule it only uses qualified and accredited trade professionals - members of bodies such as the National Guild of Master Craftsmen Ireland, the Register of Electrical contractors Ireland among others - ensuring that property owners are provided with services from qualified and professional contractors.
Property owners can read the profile of each business that sends a reply and can even see the feedback submitted by previous users who have hired them through a secure feedback system. It all happens without any of the stress and uncertainty normally associated with the tradesmen hiring process and all from the comfort of the property owner's home or office PC.
It would appear that the growing trend towards using the internet to source trade professionals will be cemented in 2007.
The trend is most likely due to the increasing time spent by property owners in front of PCs at work and at home, the proliferation of broadband and the lack of local knowledge for young property owners living on the commuter belts of major towns and cities.
In 2006 the onlinetradesmen.ie service fulfilled in excess of 35,000 requests and is projecting in excess of 100,000 request fulfilments in 2007.
This represents a major shift for trade professionals looking to win business from the 'internet generation' with the challenge of getting themselves online and getting noticed.
And here's some good advice for starters: just because a contractor has the money to advertise, doesn't mean that they are qualified to do the job.
Remember to look for accreditations, qualifications and reliable references every time.