Blog

Blog

House Extensions

01/01/1970

When Your Family Grows

It can happen that your family grows faster than you ever bargained for! Thankfully, whether it’s a traditional bungalow or a terraced townhouse, there’s a lot that can be done to reimagine your living space. Even a relatively newer home may need expansion as your family grows. A home extension brings with it more storage space and an opportunity to build your home around your good habits — so you can do more of the things you love. An open-plan home can mean more connection with the family, and a visceral sense of expansiveness which, combined with modern architectural knowledge, can improve your mood and wellbeing.

When Your Family Grows – Open Up Your Space

With a traditional house, we often have heavy blockwork cutting out all the sunlight from entering your home. By adding in modern features you can create a greater sense of space and let more light into your home. We can replace that old blockwork with steel frames. These enable exciting new possibilities to your home. With greater support, you can have much larger windows and sliding doors that give your home a connection with the outside. With modern glass technologies, the glass will help naturally heat your home during the day and keep it well insulated in the evening and night.

Home extensions

If you have the surrounding space available, you may want to build a two-story extension. For many families, this can often double their living space. Of course, the larger the extension the bigger the project. We start with what you need and wish for your dream home and then we support that vision with plenty of technical thinking. The most important thing is to have solid foundations. We unfortunately work in an industry where many providers are prone to taking half measures and shortcuts, knowing that the cracks won’t show in their work till many years after they’ve upped and left. We always make sure to go deep in everything we do. We help you re-create a space that will last a lifetime. We go over and above expectations to ensure that you remain delighted with your home for decades to come. That’s why we provide aftercare for our newly built renovations, redesigns and extensions. And we’re so confident in our work that we provide a ten year warranty for all new builds.

Renovation

01/01/1970

How Passive Heating Works

Many of us grew up in traditional homes designed using old building technologies in Ireland. Today it’s now possible to create living spaces that are exceptionally well insulated such that natural sunlight is enough to keep your home warm and comfortable all year round. Passive heating can massively reduce your energy costs and transform your living experience. And while it may not always be easy to achieve full passive heating in an older home, you may be able to reap much of the benefits in a new home extension.

How Passive Heating Works

Passive heating is firstly about patching up the ‘leaks’ in your home. That is, identifying areas where heat can escape. Once this is achieved, you can then look at natural heating such as solar gain as a source of free heat energy. To ‘plug those leaks’, the first step is to insulate. Attic insulation comes first since heat rises and this is followed by insulating the walls. Most homes in Ireland today have some degree of insulation in the attic. Some have wall insulation to some extent. However, it’s amazing how much heat can still escape from seemingly tiny gaps.

The next step in plugging those leaks is to improve airtightness. Your design and build team will install an airtight membrane throughout the building. Using testing equipment, they will identify areas where heat can still escape through walls, windows, doors and attic spaces. They will then plug that up so that your home becomes draught-proof. Cold chills can become a thing of the past.

how passive heating works

Direct Gain

If you have south-facing windows in your home, you may get all the heat you need during the day. For example, with an open-plan living space and large windows built with modern materials (such as highly insulated triple glazed windows), your highly insulated, airtight home will store up that natural heat. And you may only need a very small amount of heating in the evenings to keep things comfortable.

BER Ratings

A Building Energy Rating (BER) Certificate helps to classify your home’s energy efficiency. It rates a home from an A1 Rating to a G rating. A G-rated home has virtually no insulation aside from its bare walls and roof. An A-rated home can be quite difficult to achieve through a renovation as you are working with a pre-existing structure. It’s much easier to achieve an A rating with a house built from scratch using all the modern technologies and materials. However, anything above a B2 rating is excellent and will feel extremely comfortable even in the worst of our Irish weather. Despite the challenge, we have achieved an A-rating on many renovations.

House Extensions

01/01/1970

Breaking Down Walls

There are many advantages to renovating your traditional home. One of the best is that you have a chance to redesign the layout completely. This typically involves some demolition work on the interior. The initial phases of a remodel can be scary for homeowners, especially if they were inhabiting the space before renovations began. As they look at the demolished areas of the home, they might wince and think, “are we sure this was the right move”?

Breaking down walls to create a new space

But their fear never lasts long once the demolition work is complete. With the old, cramped layout gone, they can see all of space to work with. The most exciting transformations occur when the owners were occupying the space; When you’re used to living in a space with a typical Irish layout, small spaces, limited light, the shift to an open, bright warm space can surprise you — even after spending a great of time planning and designing the rebuild and seeing that dream home on a computer screen in a 3d drawing, it’s never the same as stepping into that space for the first time and feeling for yourself what that can do for you on a visceral level.

And once that space has been reclaimed, you can rethink your home. You can get way more use out of the space, and with some clever designs, you can get plenty of functionality, plenty of storage and plenty of peace.

Cosy up to new possibilities

During a renovation, you have an opportunity to get all-new windows and all-new insulation. This can transform your living space. With many of our older homes, we take cold draughts and dampness as part of the furniture, but it doesn’t have to be that way. With modern airtightness technology, you can remove the dreaded draught from your home. And using super-insulated, large windows built with modern design materials, you can bring more light into your space. You can take full advantage of the sun’s natural heat. So you can keep your home comfy and fresh throughout the year.

So there’s a great deal to be said for demolition work. It might feel scary, but the only is up when you have the right design, and a great design and build team.

Renovation

01/01/1970

Dramatic Designs

We help our clients create dramatic designs that radically transform their living experience. Whether it’s by altering the structure itself or by remodeling a kitchen or interior, specific changes in the features or layout of your home can have a profound impact. Here are some examples.

Letting more light in

You can create a beautiful contemporary home that uses modern glass technology to allow the maximum amount of natural light and heat into your space while allowing you to soak in the exterior landscape. This can also be one of the advantages of renovating a country home, where there aren’t so many houses around you is that you can take great advantage of the surrounding exterior space while maintaining your sense of privacy.

Marrying the old with the new

We can take what’s beautiful about your traditional home and add some modern flair while creating a sense of connection between the different spaces. We build livings spaces that are clever by design. When we initially meet with you to discuss your dream home, we’re taking in what you need and what you want, and from there, we’ll figure out a design that exceeds your expectations.

We can add those elements that bring utility to your space while enabling a minimal look in other areas. For example, a modern pantry space gives you easy accessibility to everything you need for cooking while freeing your kitchen space of clutter to enable fine lines and beautiful contours that make your spaces beautiful.

Dramatic designs that make working from home a pleasure

Working from home is a different thing altogether when you’re in a cleverly constructed space designed with your work in mind. We can implement a modern office space for you, with natural light and correct placement so that you’re getting that natural light but without the glare or eye strain as you work at your computer. Planning the space around your office desk means we can take full advantage of the light, the outer landscape, and other features of your home to deliver a comfortable, remarkable home office that can make work feel light and easy throughout the day.

It is crucial to have a sense of separation between work and play, especially when you work from home. Re-thinking your living space allows you to create something new, like a chillout area. A different physical space to enter will enable you to enter a different mental and emotional space. And these are just some of the dramatic changes that can occur in your home when you take intelligent design to your living space.

Extension/Remodel

01/01/1970

Reflecting on a Wonderful Year

It’s always good to look back on the year and reflect on what was accomplished. As a house design and build company with years under our belt, it has always been inspiring to look back and see what we were able to accomplish when we focused on quality. As we look back on the year, we can see we’ve handed over a record number of renovations. We do so many handovers each month it’s hard to keep up. Yet our team has never missed a deadline. That in itself is something to be proud of. Especially in an industry that is infamous for poor customer service and torturous delays.

Reflecting on a Wonderful Year of Quality Kitchen Renovations

In the last twelve months, we’ve delivered some truly beautiful kitchen renovations for many dozens of families throughout Cork city and suburbs. We’ve delivered some truly beautiful colour schemes, finishes and styles that will bring value to our clients’ lives for decades to come. And in 2022, we want to bring more value to our clients with more options for finishes and even more assistance with interior design.

Exceptional Extensions

Home renovations can be a hassle. It’s up there as one of the most stressful things a person can experience in their lives. In 2021, we re-imagined dozens of homes for our clients. With tailor-made homes that ticked all the boxes on our client’s wishlist. It starts from our first meeting, where we learn about your requirements and dreams. We survey your existing property to see what’s possible. We exchange some ideas and make suggestions, and from there produce a 3d drawing so you can see what it will feel like to step into your newly renovated home when it’s completed. One thing we’ve become exceptional at, and 2021 was no different, was planning. We can immediately assess whether planning permission is required and we can handle the entire process with the council to ensure you get planning approval.

Attention to Detail

We love finding new ways to make your home better. We love finding ways to make your living space warmer and brighter. With open, welcoming spaces that keep that homely feel without feeling cramped. We look at inefficiencies that will waste energy and money on heating. We consider where the light falls in your home and make changes such as roof windows. When everything is carefully considered, you can ensure that damp, draughts, and mildew are all things you’ll never experience in your dream home.

Renovation

01/01/1970

Transformations Inside and Out

Over the years, we’ve helped many hundreds of families to build their dream homes. What we set out to do with Sigma Homes was to vertically integrate every critical part of a design and build under one roof. Seeing the inefficiencies of the Irish building industry and how it negatively affected the lives of homeowners, we brought everything together. And today, you can think of Sigma Homes as an architectural firm, a design company, a planning department, and an engineering company. As a quantitative surveying company. We take care of the electrics and plumbing. And we’ve consistently completed these projects on time and within budget. To this day, we have never missed a deadline for a handover. And with credit to our team, it’s all done with unmatched efficiency. Our average turnaround time for a complete renovation project is less than twelve weeks.

Transformations Inside and Out

Our mission is to transform the building industry. To bring out the best of the old and integrate it with the new. To solve the problems our clients face. The delays. The disruptions. The chaos that occurs when you have dozens of separate contractors. And too often, those contractors don’t treat the client as a priority. So as our knowledge has grown, it made sense that we started offering supplies for kitchen fitting and tilings. One of the exciting things about working with Sigma Homes is that the whole team are always working on more ways to change the industry. Our next move is to offer more solutions for interior design. Now we’re ready to integrate even more stunning solutions for our clients. We will help our clients even more with creating spectacular interiors: remarkable fixtures, fitting, furnishings, and expert advice for our clients.

We’re very proud of the work we do. Creating beautiful homes that impress from the outside. Pushing the limit of what’s possible—always seeking new ways to take advantage of the available space. Creating stunning transformations inside and out, on everything from country cottages to three-bed semi-detached houses. Every year things have gotten better. So watch this space. There’s a lot to look forward to, offering even more for our clients. More scope. Greater possibility. More light. Unmatched functionality.

Renovation

01/01/1970

Modernise Your Traditional Home

Some very traditional homes can be found all around Ireland. They can have some beautiful aspects to them, but they often feel cluttered and cramped with interiors that can feel dark and damp. They certainly served their purpose for their time and the technology that was available. But that doesn’t mean you can’t update it with a modern, sharp design and build.

Make it more inviting

With smaller rooms that can feel disjointed from one another as well as from the outside, this is often the first thing we’ll look at. Things can feel cramped when we don’t have good clear open spaces with outside views. And very often, you’ll have essential rooms like the kitchen that feel more like a hallway or utility room. It’s very common for the rear garden to be north-facing, which can leave the rooms in the back feeling cold and dull. These spaces can be transformed into bright and warm living spaces.

A more connected space

A modern open plan design connects everyone together. An extended space is excellent for families. When you’re cooking, you can still keep an eye on the kids as they play without anyone feeling interrupted. By letting more light in your home can feel more spacious, which can have a massive effect on your mood. And by bringing it from a lower heating rating such as a C2, which is very common, to the higher ratings such as A2, you don’t just increase the comfort of your space by eliminating draughts. You also increase the energy efficiency of your home. You save money and help the environment.

Modernise Your Traditional Home

You don’t have to feel confined by the existing structure or layout. It’s incredible what can be accomplished with the right design and a will to carry it out smoothly and efficiently. Even if you need work on the exteriors, such as a new roof, new windows, external insulation. Or if you’re located in the countryside and your house needs a new biocycle unit. The patio, garden, driveway may all need to be revamped. And you may need planning. We take a deep look at the design. We handle it all and do whatever it takes to create your dream home.

Extension/Remodel|Renovation

01/01/1970

How We’ve Never Missed a Handover Deadline

If we had to name the Irish building industry’s biggest problem, it is this: delays.

The industry has plenty of problems, but delays are among the biggest frustrations for homeowners waiting on their new builds and renovations. Delays mean another winter cramped in your in-laws’ house. Delays mean mounting costs as your budget is stretched thin. Your builder seemed so trustworthy when you first met, but your heart sinks as they break one promise after another. What’s a measurable indicator of a broken promise?

Delays.

When we first started, we realised very early that tracking our deadlines would help us measure whether we were keeping our promises. We wanted to change the industry, and become Cork’s #1 design and build team. That took a lot of work and a lot of time. We had to improve our processes continually. We needed to ensure that we could provide outstanding service to our clients and always deliver on time and on budget.

It’s about attitude

Delays have many causes. But a lot of it has to do with attitude. Too many Irish builders don’t take enough pride in their work. Many builders adopt the typical attitude of their peers, which borders on contempt for you, the client. It’s “acceptable” amongst builders to leave their clients high and dry for many months past the promised deadline. And it’s common for builders to disappear for weeks to start on another project. They do it, knowing it’ll mean they run late on your renovation, And they know they’ll probably break their promises with the other client, too. If it were a relationship, we’d call it cheating.

It’s about process

We’ve learned that delays are also a symptom of dysfunctional businesses and dysfunctional teams. Dysfunctional teams lead to bad practices and inefficient processes. Almost all build teams in Ireland work within a traditional model. They don’t look to improve their process. They do what has always been done. They build the same brick-and-mortar structures that have hardly changed in generations. They do not integrate other core parts of the build into their team. And so there are no standardised procedures between the architect, the builders, the plumbers and electricians, the insulators and plasterers and window fitters.

Mismanagement causes miscommunication. And miscommunication causes delays.

Picture this. You’ve planned for a guest bathroom. It was designed meticulously to allow enough space for storage as well as a shower. The architect indicated exactly where the drainage should be placed- as even a few inches off would mean the layout wasn’t possible. The plumber followed the plan. But later, while another contractor came in to quote for work, they accidentally moved the pipework. Shortly after, someone came in to pour cement. Now, that badly placed drainage system is stuck in place. Just one mistake means you either forego your original plans for the bathroom and settle for a room with an awkward layout, no shower and a poorly placed toilet…or waste days undoing the error.

Whenever there’s a problem, we hold it in our minds that there may be a better way. That way, if things go wrong as a result of inefficient processes, we are very unlikely to blame someone. Instead, we examine our process. What did we collectively miss? What measures can we put in place to account for human error? It makes for better teamwork. It improves our efficiency. And by replacing blaming with training, we ensure our future projects meet deadlines.

We’re always improving

Consistently delivering on dream home designs means consistently working on our process. Every Friday, the entire team knows we will hand over a new build to one of our clients. In the weeks preceding, the whole team works together. At each stage of the project, we are checking to see if we’re on track. If we found a potential issue in our process, we work to fix it. We ensure that everything looks incredible – and as planned.

We’ve been doing this now for years. It’s always a big day. It’s always exciting. And we have always been on time.

House Extensions|Renovation

01/01/1970

The Wrong House But In the Right Location

You spent months trawling property sites. You had alerts set to notify you. You know your perfect location. You put the wires out, and friends and family tipped you off whenever they saw something that might suit. And finally, after all the hard work, you’ve nailed down your ideal location. It’s a great opportunity to get something right near where you want… but the house is only a few hundred square metres. Not nearly as large as you need to create your ideal new home. Still, you decide to take a look. This is the perfect location. You arrive there, and the hope starts to dwindle as you take in this dishevelled, drab property. A fixer-upper if there was one.

It may look like the wrong house, but looks can be deceptive

Yes, narrow passages and those single bedrooms are not going to get you far. And indeed, those dark rooms, low ceilings and cramped corridors are not even in the ballpark of what you have in mind. But when you find an opportunity in your ideal location, it’s really worth exploring what’s possible with the property before you give up on it.

With the bit of exterior space, the right plan, and the right team behind you, you can transform the wrong house into a bright, warm modern home that’s suitable for your whole family. If you have a decent amount of exterior space on the property, you’d be amazed at what you can achieve. Doubling the living space of your potential property is very often feasible – even if you can’t picture it now. Before you give up on it, it can help to get an expert opinion on what can be done to extend your home.

Making the planning application a cinch

For many homebuyers, the planning process can be difficult. You have ideas, like something that’ll allow you to completely overhaul your kitchen. But they don’t match what the planning board will accept. You end up going back and forth, and the delays can seem endless. Unfortunately, this happens all too often — even when you’re working with a builder. To prevent this, we handle the entire planning process for our clients, making sure that everything we plan together is designed to work with planning. This means that the design we come up with together should be permissible. It means that there’s no going back to the drawing board. And no time wasted. The plans we make in the early stages is usually very close to what you get as the end result.

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