{"id":3988,"date":"2013-11-21T12:55:22","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T12:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markstephensarchitects.com\/?p=3988"},"modified":"2013-11-21T12:55:22","modified_gmt":"2013-11-21T12:55:22","slug":"the-building-regulation-changes-and-self-builders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markstephensarchitects.com\/the-building-regulation-changes-and-self-builders\/","title":{"rendered":"The Building Regulation changes and Self Builders: one for @bregsforum"},"content":{"rendered":"
The forthcoming changes in the Building Regulations in March 2014 (S.I. No. 80 of 2013 BUILDING CONTROL (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2013) have big repercussions for residential self-builders. Nearly 60% of houses constructed in Ireland are self-builds (source NaSBA) and with the construction industry still non-existent the forecast of owners self-building their houses and extensions is set to continue.<\/p>\n
So why does this have an effect on self-builders? S.I. No. 80 of 2013 (CLICK HERE for the full Statutory Instrument<\/a>) requires that the owner gives notice to the Building Control authority of ‘…ASSIGNMENT OF BUILDER’:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Item 2. requires the owner to have ‘…assigned the following person as Builder of the works and I am satisfied that they are competent to undertake the works so assigned on my behalf.’<\/em><\/p>\n The owner therefore needs to assign a ‘competent person’<\/em> to undertake the building works; this raises several questions:<\/p>\n Now I’d love to have every house or extension in Ireland constructed by a highly professional and well trained main contractor; self builders can be more difficult and require a higher level of guidance\/inspection but the reality is that one-off projects in Ireland are self-built by the owners and that denying self-builders this opportunity will be a further ‘kick in the teeth’ to a construction industry that is already on its knees. The inverse is that in my experience self-builders can build to an incredibly high standard; I have one project in particular at practically #Passivhaus standard.<\/p>\n If we look at the local construction industry here in Mayo; the main contractors (that are still in business) do not normally have sub-contractors as PAYE staff; they are all self-employed subcontractors. The self-builder is employing these sub-contractors in exactly the same way as the main contractor and in the process is saving money (effectively the profit made by the main contractor).<\/p>\n There are several downsides to being a self builder however:<\/p>\n Now as much as I hate to say this (as I would prefer every build to be main contractor built); I live in the real world and I think that depriving self-builders of the opportunity to build themselves will truly harm the construction industry. I also think that the national register of builders isn’t the way forward. Self-Building in the UK (although a much smaller industry) works without such a register; the difference is that ALL<\/strong> construction projects have their plans and construction inspected and certified INDEPENDENTLY<\/strong> throughout the entire construction process. This system of independent drawing and site inspection is something that Ireland will still not implement under SI80 under the Building Regulations Amendments (2013). For a full description of the UK Building Control process CLICK HERE<\/a><\/p>\n Therefore, in its current form the changes to the Building Regulations in March 2014 will increase the difficulty owners face in building or extending their property; it is essential therefore that the government reconsiders the proposed changes that do not inhibit construction growth but still ensure that buildings are constructed in accordance with the Building Regulations – as it is the Building Regulations amendments are I feel – unworkable and require postponement.<\/p>\n The next post (next week) will look at how self-builders can get round this problem (if the Regulations aren’t postponed), methods of training and Passivhaus tradesmen courses…<\/p>\n btw This is a personal viewpoint and not the opinion of any regulatory or representative body<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The forthcoming changes in the Building Regulations in March 2014 (S.I. No. 80 of 2013 BUILDING CONTROL (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2013) have big repercussions for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9,15,17,26,27,50,53,61,62,73,78,79,80,81,85,88,100,109],"tags":[194,311,314,703,1075,1154,1157,1179],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n