It's been a long road but we are nearly there! After months of research, design, more research, development and testing - not to mention copyrighting - our new site is now live.

Minister John Gormley's recent announcment on plans to force struggling tradesmen and builders to legally declare that their vehicles will not only be used for commercial use is both poorly conceived and unfair. Effectively the proposal orders local councils to 'force' commercial vehicle owners to legally declare that their vehicles will not be used for social purposes. It is understood that subsequent usage will will policed by the gardai through checkpoints and random searches, with a penalty of up to €900 being charged to those caught in breach.
 

As per tradition, at Onlinetradesmen.ie we've just finished our latest 'Home improvement spending report '  for 2010. Anything dramtically different this time around ? Read on!

In the wake of recent reports of alleged widespread pyrites damage to over 20,000 homes in Co, Dublin, Co. Meath and Co. Kildare, we thought we’d shed some light on the issue of ‘Fools Gold’ in buildings.

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The proposed government PAYS plan promises make the installation of Insulation, solar and heat pumps more attractive to property owners. It is certainly well conceived, however, there are a number of questions to consider....

The Pay As You Save (PAYS) scheme is designed to provide cost effective energy upgrades to Irish homeowners over the next 10 years. The PAYS scheme is set to be officially announced by Minister Eamon Ryan sometime in the second half of 2010.

Further to my previous entry in the blog, we have moved further with the development of our STS building system

We've all had one! Whether it is a washing machine, dryer, dishwasher or oven - an appliance that seems to need repairs as just as often as it is in actual good working order! In an era where nothing is built to last surely there fix beyone replacing our appliances every few years ?

On the face of it there are a few options reparding appliance repairs:

• Replace your washing machine, dishwasher, dryer or appliance
• Repair your washing machine, dishwasher, dryer or appliance under warranty

• Repair you washing machine, dishwasher, dryer or appliance ouside of it's warranty

The mere thought of having one's home broken is enough to cause stress to even the most hardened property owner. Unfortunately recent figures from the CSO indicate that home break-in's are up by 26% on this time last year. So what can we do to make our homes less attractive to prying eyes and busy fingers ? We've included a few suggestions for you:

With all the existing Building Regulations being updated to properly reflect a need and demand for improved Building standards, there is a greatly increased requirement for U-value targets of floor, wall and roof construction to be met. Why meet the requirements when it is very simple to exceed the current expectations and to set the future expectations of energy conscious homes? Let me explain how.