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From The Sunday Times

June 5, 2005

Who's first to cross the finishing line?

With the arrival of prefabs, the time needed to build a house has been cut. David Houlden puts four types under starter's orders

Castletown House in Co Kildare, home to the famous Speaker William Connolly, may be one of the grandest homes in Ireland, but it took more than half a century to build. Work began in 1722 and was not completed until the 1770s.

More than 200 years on, not much has changed. Anybody who has attempted a self-build in Ireland knows that delays and hold-ups are considered the norm.

But the makers of kit homes say their new materials and techniques make putting up a home much speedier. So we decided to find out just how much faster is it to build a property using alternative methods. We questioned manufacturers and clients about the process of constructing a number of different home types, each with a standard size of 1,500 sq ft and three bedrooms.

Timber house: 20-24 weeks

While Connolly hired an Italian architect, the forestry company Coillte went to Austria to get its modular timber house design.

This can be assembled on a pre-prepared site and is made lockable and weatherproof in two weeks. It is up to you to have the foundations ready, built to specifications supplied by the Irish-Austrian joint venture Griffner Coillte. Unlike the conventional timber-frame kit, the house comes with a roof and an external wall finish supplied and fitted. Inside, it will remain doorless, wireless and radiator-free until you arrange to have the innards completed.

Although you have less to organise than with the timber frame only, there is still a lot of decision-making and time-management to consider. Griffner Coillte offers a full turnkey service that will get your house completed, depending on its size and complexity, in an average time of 20 weeks, not including the three weeks needed for foundations.

Frank and Sinead Harrington decided to take the off-site approach when it came to building a second house in their garden at Goatstown in Dublin.

“We had done our research and the Coillte house seemed to be the best package,” says Frank Harrington.

We travelled to Austria to see the Griffner houses and were impressed by the high quality of the buildings and the good ambience inside them.”

The Harringtons wanted a bespoke house and were attracted by the quick erection time of the external structure. “Once the foundations were in, the shell was put up in less than 10 days. It was not only quicker than a conventional house but also cleaner,” says Frank.

“It is important to get the shell up and weatherproof as fast as possible so that you can work in the inside safely and comfortably,” he adds.

The manufacture process uses timber extensively internally and externally. The external cladding is incorporated into the prefabrication process and this reduces the amount of on-site work. The conduits for the plumbing and wiring are built into the walls, which makes life easier when working on the interior.