Glossary of Irish self-build terms
Plain-English definitions of the Irish self-build terms you meet mid-build, from assigned certifier to snag list, grouped by stage. Each term opens with the one-line meaning, then the Irish specifics and a link to the full guide.
Insurance
The covers you arrange before work starts.
- Contract works insuranceContract works insurance, also called building or site insurance, pays for loss of or damage to a house while it is under construction, such as fire, storm or theft.
- Employers’ liability insuranceEmployers’ liability insurance covers your liability for injury or illness suffered by people who work for you as employees.
- Public liability insurancePublic liability insurance covers your legal liability for injury to other people, or damage to their property, caused by your site or your building work.
- Site insurance (vacant land)Site insurance for vacant land is public liability cover for a plot you own before building starts, protecting you if someone is hurt on it.
Who builds
The roles and routes that decide who carries what.
- Direct labour (self-managed build)A direct labour or self-managed build is one where you hire, coordinate and pay each trade yourself instead of hiring a main contractor to deliver the house.
- Main contractorA main contractor is a builder who agrees under one contract to deliver the house, or an agreed stage of it, and who hires and manages the subcontractors.
Planning and the site
Permission, local rules and what the ground must allow.
- Development contributionA development contribution is a one-off charge a council attaches to a planning permission, under its contribution scheme, to help pay for public infrastructure such as roads, water and open space.
- Domestic wastewater system registrationDomestic wastewater system registration is the legal requirement for the owner of a house with a septic tank or treatment plant to register it with the council.
- Local need (rural housing need)Local need, or rural housing need, is the test a council applies to decide whether you have a genuine social or economic connection to a rural area before it permits a one-off house there.
- Occupancy condition (section 47 agreement)An occupancy condition is a planning condition that limits who may live in your new rural house, usually for 7 years, and a section 47 agreement is the legal contract with the council that binds the land to it.
- Site characterisation (percolation test)A site characterisation is the assessment, done on the Environmental Protection Agency’s form, that tests whether your plot can safely treat the house’s wastewater, including a trial hole and percolation tests.
Building Regulations
The filings and certificates that run alongside the build.
- Assigned certifierAn assigned certifier is the registered architect, building surveyor or chartered engineer you appoint to inspect your new house during construction and certify that it complies with the Building Regulations.
- BCARBCAR, the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014, is the set of Irish rules that require a new house to have named certifiers, an inspection plan and a registered certificate of compliance on completion.
- BCMSBCMS, the Building Control Management System, is the national online system through which councils receive commencement notices, certificates of compliance and the other Building Control filings.
- Certificate of compliance on completionA certificate of compliance on completion is the document, signed by the builder and the assigned certifier, that says your finished house complies with the Building Regulations and must be on the council’s register before you occupy it.
- Commencement noticeA commencement notice is the form you file with the council’s building control section to tell it you will start building, with the documents and fee the Building Control Regulations require.
- Design certifierA design certifier is the registered professional who signs the Certificate of Compliance (Design), confirming that the design of your house meets the Building Regulations.
- Opinion on complianceAn opinion on compliance is a written view from an architect, engineer or building surveyor that a house was built in line with its planning permission and the Building Regulations.
Money
How the build is paid for and what you hold back.
- Approval in principleApproval in principle (AIP) is a lender’s early indication, based on your income and outgoings, of how much it may lend you; it is not a loan offer.
- Retention (holdback)Retention is an agreed share of the contract price, or of each payment, that you hold back from the builder until the work is finished and defects are put right.
- Staged drawdownStaged drawdown is the way a self-build mortgage is paid out in several stages as each part of the house is built and certified, rather than as one lump sum.
Energy and finishing
The energy rules and the last checks before you move in.
- BER (Building Energy Rating)A BER, or Building Energy Rating, is the certificate and advisory report that rates a home’s energy performance, which you must arrange for a new house before it is first occupied unless an exemption applies.
- NZEB (nearly zero energy building)NZEB, nearly zero energy building, is the energy standard that new Irish dwellings have had to meet since 1 November 2019, set by Part L of the Building Regulations.
- Renewable energy ratio (Part L)The renewable energy ratio (RER) is the share of a new home’s primary energy that comes from renewable sources, and Part L of the Building Regulations requires at least 20%.
- Snag listA snag list is a written record of defects and unfinished items found in a new house, which the builder agrees to fix before you make the final payment.