Episode 7, Teresanne O'Reilly @ourhouseandthesunset on self-building and renovating with industry know-how

In today's episode I have the pleasure of talking with homeowner and renovator Teresanne O'Reilly, based in Tramore, Co Waterford.

Self-employed couple Teresanne and her husband Declan, owner of Evoke Kitchens, spontaneously bought this second property in 2019, just weeks before their wedding, with a view to renovating it pretty shortly after moving in.

Since the pandemic hit, they only started their reno in the last few months. They are turning a 1990s 3-bed bungalow into a modern two-story. The house sits on an acre of land overlooking Tramore Bay in Co. Waterford, with views of Tramore itself, the beach and sand dunes and the Comeragh Mountains in the distance.

Tune in to hear how industry pros approach and manage a renovation, and how you might be able to DIY parts of your project to save money and take control of your dream home.

About this episode’s homeowner, Teresanne O’Reilly

Teresanne O'Reilly is a homeowner and one half of @ourhouseandthesunset with her husband Declan, who also owns @evokekitchens. Professionally, Teresanne is the Managing Director of a web design and brand strategy company called The Forest and a presenter, formerly a full-time radio DJ.

Key moments:

"[My husband Declan's] background is in building and construction, he has an engineering degree from DIT...it was the reason we could do it as whimsically as we did...he had the vision, the forethought, the skills to [take on the project]."

"We were in a fortunate position with the market and having equity in our first house that had gone up in value, which I had bought by myself as a PAYE employee in a previous career."

"Very slow process buying a house in the middle of the summer, by the way!"

"We were sale agreed in June [2019], moved in in October. Our plan was to live in through the winter and then start the renovation process. And then the pandemic hit."

"It was going to be [profit from selling the first house] and savings along the way that were going to fund the renovation...and the caution we took early on [because of the uncertainty of the pandemic with Declan being self-employed] allowed us to live in the house for longer than we anticipated and get to know the house through different seasons, and how we lived and flowed through the house."

"We didn't know if we were going to add a second storey or not until we lived in it for a while. We didn't have a plan, really."

"We worked with David of MDP & Partners who was great...we applied for planning permission and had no objections...David was familiar with the region so well, he guided us on what he thought would work and be accepted."

"The first thing we did was we built our garage - it was a functional space we needed to facilitate us to move out of our [first] house."

"Space wasn't a dictating factor [in the final design]. We went by each space and how we wanted to use them."

"We have four dogs - and the house had to accommodate for them."

"I was just thinking - how do I work? How do I live, how do I operate? What are my habits? And how do I design my living space to accommodate those good habits and try and get rid of the bad habits."

"The renovation cost stayed on budget because we worked with the facilities that were already provided [by the existing bungalow], like positioning bathrooms to existing plumbing, it's surprising how much that can save. Being clever like that."

"Even with the size of windows we originally wanted...custom sizes were going to cost so much more...so we went back to standard sizing and opening mechanisms to save."

"You know what we did? We went big then we scaled it right back to still work with the premade standard size materials - we don't have anything custom - we wanted to be creative to still have a luxurious feel without going custom."

"People have unrealistic expectations of 'custom' design. You can still have a premium and beautiful home without everything being made entirely from scratch for you - because the price difference is often not 50% more, but 10x more - simply because of economies of scale." - Tanya Neufeld

"Start big and then ask: what is it that you really need? What is it that you can really afford? And what are the luxuries - should things stretch - what are the first priority luxuries we want to add? And what the first luxuries we'd be willing to give up?"

"We would've paid double - €200K more probably - if we hadn't done the labour ourselves."

"You get home from a day of work and you'll be working [on your renovation project] until you go to bed, working out every thing that can be done, researching, getting in touch with suppliers...if the only thing you can give your project is time, you will save a lot."

Resources & Professionals:

Kitchen: Declan Furlong - https://www.evokekitchens.ie/

Architect: David Merrigan, MDP & Partners, Waterford - https://mdpandpartners.ie/david-merrigan/