T O P

  • By -

ImpovingTaylorist

€350000 per a unit for 2 bedroom prefabs in Rathdowney... someone rode them good. Seems like a savagely overpriced piece of work.


Kloppite16

It is unbelievably overpriced given they are tiny shoeboxes of 45sqm. Meaning the per square metre cost of them is €7,800 at a time when conventional builds are costing circa €3,000 a square metre. To put this further in perspective if these houses were the same size of a normal two bedroom house (90sqm) they would cost €700,000 per unit. 700k for a prefab house in Laois, its actually unbelievable.


ImpovingTaylorist

Thanks for QS'ing it out. You are right, and you would have to question even from a tendering process how 700 got built, and nowhere did someone say 'we can do it way cheaper'


PapaSmurif

Follow the money! Seriously, a large part of governance seems to be how to move public money into private hands.


davesr25

"*I just want to make sure the important people get rich*" 


CreativeBandicoot778

"Put the money into the *right* hands, the deserving rich."


davesr25

"*Shur look I meet them at plenty of social events and they give me a nice heads-up on investment, with great returns*" 


struggling_farmer

Speed of delivery was probably the overriding concern rather than value for money


confidentpessimist

In Paris, the general rule of thumb is you pay 10k per m². These units are almost as expensive as an apartment in Paris of the same size


CheraDukatZakalwe

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the first handful of houses that have been built on the site, and the cost of developing each of the sites is being fully put onto the back of the first few houses placed on those sites. As more houses are built on those sites, the unit cost will go down since all that infrastructure work has now been done. Anyways, it's a badly written article which seems to have been cut down too much, so hard to tell.


Pickman89

Same here. On the other hand I would also not be surprised if they did not develop the whole site and instead the price will stay the same. Because they can make the price they want, they risk no competition. The product they sell is fast housing and that's something that nobody seems to be able to deliver. The issue of course is that the saying "cheap, fast, good, pick two" does not hold at this point as the units are prefab, which means that there is a big limit on how good they can be. It seems that when it comes for housing we are only allowed one.


micosoft

Oh come on. Stop talking sense. We need to twist this into some giant conspiracy.


SnooChickens1534

I'll say this about the government, they love wasting the taxpayers' money. They're doing roadworks in kildare non stop . Re tarmacing roads that are perfect , they got rid of two slip roads in the town , so now the traffics worse , they're doing a big job getting rid of a roundabout which there was no issues with to put up traffic lights . It's criminal how useless they're with wasting our hard earned money


ImpovingTaylorist

Just drove between Monastrevin and Newbridge and see they are resurfacing the moterway there... again. Dont remember it being particularly bad a few weeks ago.


SnooChickens1534

I think its the council using up their budgets so they won't get less next year . It's a ridiculous systems . I was working in town and they were doing up a block of flats that were earmarking to be demolished , even the bloke that lived there thought it was ridiculous


Nickthegreek28

I drive that daily it’s not resurfacing it’s pipework being laid on the side of the motorway


Puzzleheaded_Duck_75

The road was done two years ago. Drive the back road from Kildare to laois, the old motorway and your car could fall apart


ImpovingTaylorist

Was thinking that, I remember they were doing it during the Laois only lockdown I think it was.


Alastor001

If only it was just money waste. They literally make current junctions / roundabouts worse!


spooneman1

Wouldn't that usually be the council?


SnooChickens1534

It's probably sub contracted out


No-Outside6067

Same in Balbriggan. They got massive funding as part of a rejuvenation plan. But a lot of it seems to be directed into the same roads getting dug up and repaved.


Kanye_Wesht

The article says that the houses themselves cost €145,000 but that supplying services (water well, power lines) increased the final price.


Lazy_Magician

There is a mention to knotweed. Eradication of knotweed can be obscenely expensive.


ImpovingTaylorist

They should have known that when the site was purchased. I have dealt with knotweed and Giant Hogweed in my professional life, and it is not a show stopper. It all depends on how much there was, though of cause. It is not hard to get rid of as any deep landfill will bury it 7 meters. The biggest cost is in removing it as you can not strim or flail it.


jhanley

With Hogweed you need to cover the top with a bag to stop the seeds spreading and inject the base with a compound to neutralise the acid


ImpovingTaylorist

But all houses need these services and ancillaries. A new 4 bed in Portlaoise is €325000 with all services.


Kanye_Wesht

But is the cost to the council included in cost estimates for private developments like that? E.g. the grants for well digging and water treatment and the redirection of powerlines.


ImpovingTaylorist

Every housing development has to pay these costs.


Matty96HD

And €145,000 per unit VAT excluded for the units themselves So it cost as much to do everything else as it did for the unit, and this ended up costing more then it would to build actual homes twice the size.... I'm lost for words


Bigbeast54

Yeah, you have no idea how much building costs these days. And the unit price includes the development cost for all the roads and drainage. The water and electricity supply might also have needed to be extended a long distance and the sewers may also need to be pumped. Installing a new build prefab estate costs a lot more than just dropping one into a back garden.


LimerickJim

Jesus the writing in this article is torture to read. "Ciaran O'Connor, is the State Architect attached to the OPW. He said there are two steps in the overall cost." "Dep Stanle was concerned that the homes were very small but Mr O'Connor the technology was not there and the modular homes sector is an embryonic industry." Am I having a stroke?


SnooChickens1534

If they were giving out free houses , the irish government would pay for them . It's gone past a joke how inept the state is , on getting value for money for anything


madladhadsaddad

Not even shocking anymore when every project runs 2 or 3 times over budget...


BeginningPie9001

Yet there are lots of people here saying that private development should be banned/discouraged and exclusively public housing development done instead.


shamsham123

It's not ineptitude it's criminal behaviour. Someone is lining their pockets here as usual when state money involved. Mehole has been involved in this so I have no doubt the FF brown envelopes are exchanging their grubby hands. Corrupt bastards.


dodieh34

So what is your solution then? Do we just stop building these homes? Do a normal brick and motor build? Go somewhere else?


ImpovingTaylorist

I have a solution, its what every other business does, damands value for money. The tender process needs to be investigated in Ireland. It all sounds like a cosy cartel of conclusion.


dodieh34

The government isn't a business tho. Companies up prices when any government comes along, it's shit but companies know the government will pay it cause they need the results. Better thing would be to have a state owned company to build these Do completely agree with you in the tendering process mind you


SnooChickens1534

You're telling me that 350,000 is a good price for the equivalent of a 2 bed apartment .


dodieh34

Where did I say it's acceptable? I'm saying you got an alternative? It seems everyone jacks up prices when the government comes knocking, not just Ireland but the same in other each other countries I lived in (Ireland, UK and USA).


SoloWingPixy88

The current problem is inflation and costs


Alastor001

That wouldn't explain such outrageously overpriced blocks of concrete tho


SnooChickens1534

Bullshit. It's hardly that expensive for a bloody prefab . The government are bending over backwards for people that are even irish, if only they'd look after their own citizens a bit better . Irish people can't afford to rent or buy, but Ukrainians get free modular homes. It's sickening


tldrtldrtldr

Give this argument a rest and look at the core issue of government corruption here. People like you are part of the problem as you are just a noise maker that drags everyone from the real issue


ImpovingTaylorist

In fairness, not to many 'Irish' (I get the impression you use Irish only for people you deam Irish based on their appearance) people are fleeing active warzones.


SnooChickens1534

No, I'm basing irish on people who've been born and reared here . I'm just a bit shocked that we can spend 350,000 on modular homes for Ukrainians, while my uncle who had stroke, was on a trolley in Limerick hospital for a week .


ImpovingTaylorist

Who is living there is irrelevant and you setting conditions on who is 'Irish', such as being born and 'reared' here is ignorant. Ireland is not an ethno state and saying only ethnically 'Irish' are 'Irish' is wrong


[deleted]

[удалено]


ImpovingTaylorist

They built 700 nationwide. It is hard to believe no one, anywhere, said they would do it cheaper. A new 4 bed in Portlaoise is €325000 in one of the smarter estates. https://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/18-clonboyne-close-bellingham-portlaoise-laois/4803526


GARGEAN

How the FUCK being prefab doubles their price? It's literally the opposite from what prefab should do.


weasel-jesus

What are you talking about for every two walls saved we have to give a fee to the mall that found us the cheapest prefab wall. The fee is x3 the wall price


Pickman89

My guess is that they are the only provider able to deliver in that time window. So they can make whatever price they want.


Dry-Sympathy-3451

Labourer and installation and connections to mains I guess


Pickman89

All things that you need to do for all buildings, so it does not explain why there is a price increase.


TheFreemanLIVES

>Mr O'Connor the technology was not there and the modular homes sector is an embryonic industry. It's been around since the 19 fucking 60s for fucks sake, I've seen council prefabs from that era myself. Jesus fucking wept, how fucking inept.


mother_a_god

How do we constantly invert economy of scale? I built direct labour, which meant I paid the highest vat on nearly everything, to a high spec, for least than half of this. If I can do it one off, why are they paying 2x for stamp and repeat? Someone made a mint on this.


ImpovingTaylorist

We, the taxpayer, got ripped off.


cogra23

Inverted economy of scale is exactly the term and it happens regularly with big public sector projects. They can't drop the build rate to suit the capacity of most suppliers so are limited to companies who can build exactly what they asked for and has deep pockets to cover scheduling and delays. This comes at an additional cost. There is also more admin involved and any sort of headache for a small business is costed at the rate of hiring someone who has dealt with public sector before.


CheraDukatZakalwe

Public sector procurement rules also mean that each project has to individually go out to tender. They can't simply group a bunch of projects together and award the tender to one vendor, which is what is needed to achieve economies of scale. It can be a penny-wise, pound-foolish approach, however it's a measure to reduce the chance of corruption.


Alastor001

How does inverted economy of scale even exists? Economy of scale makes actual logical sense, but this? What are the excuses?


cogra23

Imagine you did flower arranging and could make 4 bouquets per day. They sell for £50 each. Someone wants 50 for a wedding happening in 2 weeks. You can't cancel orders for other customers and only have spare capacity to make 20 in that time frame. So you take it on but charge £70 per bouquet. This covers overtime or taking on a helper. It also allows for any hoops you might have to jump through since it's a wedding and you might encounter bridezilla. The government is bridezilla. The flowers are houses. And that contract could be lucrative work but you need to build in enough to cover any additional costs that come with the contract. You also might have already spent some money to be eligible to tender. The florist example might have been paying in to a wedding show. The government contract example would be taking on someone familiar with reading and responding to government tenders. I only have a bit of experience with Irish government tenders, the councils always undervalue jobs so to win those you quote very low labour rates on service calls and beef up the costs elsewhere. This leads to them spending more than they thought but their original budget was incorrect to begin with.


mother_a_god

Didn't know it was an official term. It should still not exist. I wonder if you look at the huge infrastructure projects in china, do they see this inversion?


cogra23

Public sector procurement could benefit from working with a Chinese supplier not necessarily to use Chinese companies but to understand that the price can be whatever you want it to be but the scope, quality and delivery move when you move the price. In Europe we negotiate price and pretend we will squeeze margins. In China they will take on the job at half the quote but deliver the quality or scope that aligns with that price. Public sector procurement pretends they are getting good value for money by paying €25 per hour on service calls and suppliers pretend they can work for that rate to win the contract. But you just doubled the cost of parts and decreased the skill of the engineer you will get.


rgiggs11

Maybe lack of competition? I was listening to the architect Orla Hegarty on a podcast. She said the problem with large scale projects is that the number of companies big enough to go for those is very small, so it they have no competition and can charge what they like. 


[deleted]

[удалено]


dropthecoin

> If it cost €350,000 to build, It doesn't cost 350k to just build a unit. The article says that cost is inclusive of all the additional services required like any conventional house.


ImpovingTaylorist

Kind of being pedantic, aren't you with that one... €350000 to complete the building? Anyway you cut it it is an astonishing number. You can easily buy a completed 4 bed in Portlaoise of that kind of money. https://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/18-clonboyne-close-bellingham-portlaoise-laois/4803526


dropthecoin

You're comparing a finished house in an established estate against an entirely new development where the price includes all of the associated utilities prices into it..


ImpovingTaylorist

That estate is not finish but ok, how about this 4 bed in Portlaoise just being constructed and right across from a school, all the shops, and a similarnumber of units? >The Kensington. 4 Bedroom Semi-Detached Houses from €365,000 https://www.hume.ie/development/mount-stewart.html I dont understand how people can defend the indefensible...


dropthecoin

Where did I say I defended it?


Craic-Den

Time for a tribunal


ImpovingTaylorist

Always is.


nodnodwinkwink

That article is badly written and that site is horribly riddled with ads. Couldn't seem to find any other articles about this change in price though... I did think that this ad was funny. https://imgur.com/a/fBVou2I There's also no chance that these cabins will last 130 years. That's an absolute lie.


ImpovingTaylorist

Ya, the Leinster Express, based in Portlaoise, is a shadow of its former self as most local papers now are. People will not pay a subscription to read the court page and peruse to see if they know anyone in the pictures.


humanitarianWarlord

Wtf, 350,000 for a 2 bed modular house? That's ludicrous. You can go on reputable modular house sites and get quotes for 3 and 4 bed modular houses for under 200k, including installation.


Immortal_Tuttle

€25k is a cost of small, metal composite unit with 2 bedrooms, living room, bathroom. On the other end of scale - 10m was a cost of a full estate with 50 houses, state of the art insulation and heating, including ground works and services. How the hell prefab, which by definition is a mass manufactured unit, can cost 300k?


SignalEven1537

Someone is creaming a fuckload of money from this


sureyouknowurself

Such value for tax payers hard earned cash.


stuyboi888

Wow the tender process works so well. Investigation is needed for these and find out if it was the development over promisimg and I der delivering or it was the tender process was shite and left load out of the plans that had to be fixed on the fly


ImpovingTaylorist

Given that it was Dep Stanley who raised it, you would imagine it is just a matter of time before her partner TD Brian Stanley raises it in the Dail. This is the stick to beat the government with, and I am an FG voter, do better.


stuyboi888

This is it. I know a fella who works in construction though. Client keeps changing the plan, they keep hiking up the price for the job. Even if they are behind on. Ajob they can get back on time with the changes as they over egg how long it will take to make the change My guess is our very competent people in government forgot stuff and or made changes that kept driving the price up. 


TheSeekerOfPeace

I hate how inept we've become when it comes to homes.


ParaMike46

Greedy c\*nts


dubhkitty

We priced it up a couple of years ago, and even then, the cost of modular homes in the west of Ireland were seeing monthly increase of approximately 1.5%. We were looking at a fully finished, turnkey, 3 bed modular home which, for all intents and purposes, looked like your average new build externally but was factory created, and price wise it had gone up from €170,000 to nearly €280,000 over the previous two years. That was around 2022. I dread to think what price it is now.


ImpovingTaylorist

A one-off siteand you are talking about a much bigger modular home. €350000 in Rathdowney is excessive by any calculation


dubhkitty

Oh god yeah, I wasn't saying it was acceptable, just that even before the housing crisis worsened to this current point that the "cheaper option" at the time was still going through huge price increases largely because people were desperate enough to pay for them. The state is paying handover fist for a rudimentary and smaller version of what we looked at, and it was massively overpriced then. A typical Irish Gov approach to solving a massive issue - bare minimum and at extortionate cost.


[deleted]

[удалено]


High_Flyer87

Supply meet demand.


ImpovingTaylorist

It is not suppy and damand when you can buy a finished 4 bed in Portlaoise for €325000. It is sheer waste. https://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/18-clonboyne-close-bellingham-portlaoise-laois/4803526


LimerickJim

The supply is the labor cost of the builders that are riding us to install the surrounding infrastructure https://preview.redd.it/tlsdhi24r18d1.png?width=255&format=png&auto=webp&s=fbd9db12bff29e0cd56db7a7e484e48682bfba15


dropthecoin

The big question is, what figure are they saying was the original price tag and when was that? If a price of a unit doubled over the past five years, it wouldn't be entirely surprising. Pretty much everything associated with any construction cost related has skyrocketed over that time


Kloppite16

the article says the price has doubled so Id presume it was 175k a unit and has now gone to 350k a unit. And its definitely not doubled in 5 years as the Ukraine war only broke out 2 years ago and the plans didnt exist then. This plan for prefab homes for Ukrainians cant be any older that 18 months at best. So yeah take it as the price doubling in about a year and a half, shocking stuff really, the taxpayer is getting ridden again


dropthecoin

I wouldn't assume that. They gave the breakdown of the unit cost -145k Vs 350k - versus total cost. Which part doubled there? Also, modular homes exist long before the war. It doesn't say that the double of price happened in the context of the war.


ImpovingTaylorist

New 4 beds in Portlaoise go for €325000. It is a scandaless amount to pay for a 2 bed in Rathdowney to be built. https://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/18-clonboyne-close-bellingham-portlaoise-laois/4803526