Top online resources to know when building, buying or renovating your home

It offers handy live links to just about every site and contact you need to investigate serious property and construction topics, including the red tape tying up a buy, build or renovation.

Go straight to the housing pages and be prepared to be bounced onto other dedicated platforms designed to answer your needs. See Citizensinformation.

PROPERTY PROWL

Beyond the property portals showing buildings and land for sale, there are two sites familiar to anyone in the property game.

With the Land Registration Authority, you or your agent can search the title and ownership of over 2.2m registered properties — useful if you see a wreck or site and are just starting your hunt for a potential owner ready to sell.

If you have a question regarding boundaries, this is a first stop; Landdirect.

The Property Price Register includes the date of sale, price and address of all residential properties purchased in Ireland since January 1, 2010, as declared to the Revenue Commissioners for stamp duty purposes.

While not offering euro per square metre specificity (it is not a price index), it can give you an idea of what your home may be worth and what has sold recently in an area and for what. Trace the recent sales history of a house you are interested in, or its close, comparable neighbours Propertypriceregister.

SUSTAINABILITY

Building or retrofitting energy-centred improvements, the SEAI presents a comprehensive guide to carrying out efficiency upgrades and securing up to €35,000 of grant assistance to do it.

It is also the home of the invaluable SEAI register of installers/suppliers you must contract in order to access the grant aid whether using independent grant aid, certain free grant areas for social welfare recipients, or the One-Stop-Shop deep-retrofit mechanism; Seai.

For information on another grant scheme garnering huge interest right now, The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant (up to €70,000) which can be combined with SEAI help, go to gov.ie/en/service/f8f1b-vacant-property-refurbishment-grant.

Be prepared, as long wait times are being reported for those retroactive refurbishment payments. For help with a thatched roof of up to €8,252 see gov.ie/en/service/32e72-thatching-grant.

AUGMENTED REALITY

A vital and ridiculously simple free folio of tools for visualising your project, and increasingly offered by major interiors suppliers including Dulux and major floor suppliers like Egger. Take pictures of extant rooms with your mobile device, or upload from stored files, and see room colours, furnishings and second-fix elements merge into your setting. Ikea Place lets you virtually “place” Ikea products in your space; Ikea.
 

Super-easy, some of these tools are app-based, others (based on Roomvo, for instance) work with just a few clicks, allowing you to save and share the results via messaging and email. Some 4D theatre-based, walk-through services have just arrived, with Versatile and World of Tiles virtual reality spaces showcasing in Dublin; Versatile; Worldoftiles.

DESIGN DIVAS

Interior designers don’t have to cost the Earth. For broad strokes (otherwise contract in a dedicated guy or gal), don’t ignore the potential of the inhouse design team on the high street for your bathroom/kitchen or living spaces. 

Interiors inspiration can come from online resources. Picture: Luca Girardini/Houzz

For just €49 at EZ-Living (nipped off your invoice if you buy some pieces), meet with an interior designer in your home, discuss creative, cost-effective solutions to achieve your goals, consider paint colour schemes, work with the pieces you own and love, with a suggested, customised product list to deliver your highly personal style; Ezlivingfurniture.

Houzz offers a good database of reputable interior designers with project books to inspect, for in-house and virtual meetings Houzz.
For a coherent look to flow to room to room, the right designer can really bring it all home.

ARCHITECTS

The only people in Ireland authorised to use the title of architect are registered with the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland.

Find professionals in your neck of the woods, then explore further by linking to the dedicated website before making a call for an initial consultation. Search by name, location, area of expertise, or services offered.

The RIAI site also contains trustworthy in-depth information and 101 guides including “old house, new home, a new online resource for the owners of existing properties, including protected structures; Riai.
On the website, architects offer tiers of client engagement from tender to full design, planning application and project management.

For a good example of a vibrant company with a range of budgeted options take a look at Denise O’Connor’s service packages from €2,750 plus VAT, at her website Optimise-Home (little tip: register on Denise’s site for a wonderful free blog from the designer).

ENGINEERS

Structural engineers (a division of civil engineering) are almost always employed as consultants to handle structural calculations and aspects of an architect’s design.

You do not have to engage an architect to build your home or extension, and many engineers will have sufficient design skills to deliver a functional, attractive space, fully compliant with the rigours of the planning authority and building regulations.

Engineer Kieran McCarthy recently advised: “An engineer may very well be experienced in planning permission but will likely bring less to the table in terms of creative use of space, but they can sign off on the remaining building regulations with particular reference to structure, though it’s likely they’ll need the assistance of some further third-party suppliers/consultants.”

Check out Kmchomes or search the database of registered professionals at Engineersireland.

SURVEYORS

Covering working professionals in areas including quantity surveying, estate agency, valuation and investment, project management, property and facilities management, land surveying and mapping, planning and development, the Society of Chartered Land & Construction Surveyors, (SCSI) is a highly underrated resource for the newbie self-builder or renovator. User-friendly and accessible for the consumer or pro, it offers all sorts of advice on complex property and construction issues that handled badly can ruin even simple improvements or even turn litigious.

Together with its register of individuals, the SCSI offers free tools including a home insurance calculator, a rebuild calculator, a brilliant property check, and advice for both landlords and tenants. Quantity surveying qualifications, including the BSc (Hons) in Quantity Surveying, are accredited by the SCSI SCSI.

DIGITAL TOOLS

There are also resources when it comes to free or cheap digital management tools. There’s no substitute for experience, but spreadsheets are infinitely useful for anyone injecting new life into their house with a full or partial renovation, or for the self-builder who is truly, deeply engaged and saving money with sweat equity.

For a whole-house adventure, organising your project with micro-management of paperwork, trades, times and materials is essential to keep the budget down. Saint-Gobain has just launched a free self-buildmManager system. 

Self-builders can upload and securely store and share design plans, documents and images, manage tasks and set deadlines by inviting other members or trades involved in the project. build.saint-gobain.co.uk.

There are free products and dedicated renovation spreadsheets from €20-€30; find a good example on manjasheets.com available for Google or Excel for €27 to download. See finance specialist Mairead O’Connell’s superb tips on making up your own sheets on YouTube.

TRADES/PROJECTS

Beyond firms and individuals favoured by your architect, supervising builder or engineer, you want experienced, tax-compliant, insured, reputable, and reviewed people appropriate to the job (available in a reasonable timeframe).

There are two sites to search for trades based on a simple job submission form. With Online Tradesmen, you engage with professionals by giving a description of the job type and scope, even adding photos of your job site or repair for more accurate replies. Your anonymity is an attractive element.

They don’t receive your personal details but up to three tradesmen/women can be available to call you back to discuss your project.

You rate your experience online following the completion of the job; check out Onlinetradesmen.

Tradesman is similar, offering connections to a wide range of trades (all registered as companies) to its registered users, and has put together 300,000 Irish homeowners and trades between 2017-2022. Read the T&Cs of these sites carefully; as Tradesmen states: “It is your responsibility to protect yourself and your household against illegitimate or malicious contractors.”

INSPIRATION

Houzz is an aesthetically fertile platform beloved of amateurs and vintage decorators alike. It connects homeowners and home professionals with the best tools, resources and vendors, and delivers a free photography lookbook; Houzz.

Interiors ideas are often displayed on platforms like Houzz. Picture: Holly Marder/Houzz

Instagram a community square of ideas and shared experiences. To stir the senses, The World of Interiors (€54 for six issues and digital edition) in a style bible to make your pulse race. See Houzz, have a look at Instagram, and check out Worldofinteriors.
For mood boards, Pinterest remains popular for curating visual stories. On a web browser, log in to your Pinterest account.

Click your profile photo in the upper right corner of the screen.

Click the plus icon in the Boards section of your profile page. From the drop-down menu titled Create, select “Board” Pinterest.