advice re contractors with small project management experience

It certainly is a big favour! I’ve no doubt that there will be zillions of board members falling over themselves to reply on this one. I have yet to meet a Dublin builder I would recommend. Their prices are a nonsense, their finish often worse, they can charge what they like and continue to get away with it because there are too many fools around who have too much money and suffer from “I want it NOW!” . It will get worse with SSIA money coming into the market. Even architects seem to just shrug and say “well, that’s the best price I have got, I know it is a bit dear BUT you want the job done…..)
It would be cheaper for you to do it by direct labour and fly over every couple of days to project manage it yourself! (At least the Mammy would feed you!) I had a job priced in Dublin last year and the cheapest quote was 80k, the dearest was 160k. (The 80k quote actually was incorrect, it should have been 100k, the builder had incorrectly added the sub-totals!)
Also, remember that of the 20 companies in Ireland that held creditors meetings last month, 12 of them were construction industry related. I wonder why!
KB

kerrybog-yer advice is appreciated though depressingly what i had feared. If anybody has a decent builder who’s been asleep over the past 10 years and so can charge reaonable prices, i’d be very grateful!!

Most small builders as so picky now that they will work only in their own locality – wanting to avoid traffic, etc. Next time you’re over look at recent extensions/conversions/works in the area where the Ma lives, bang on th edoor and ask
KB