Inspirations

Have a rock-solid plan

From finding a suitable lot to build on, to getting all the required paperwork and permissions in order, to finding a building contractor, to selecting a design and finishing scheme, pretty much every aspect of the construction process must be planned for well in advance.

Create a comprehensive action plan with budgets and timelines for every desired outcome and leave nothing to chance. Don’t just plan for the expected – plan for the unexpected as well.

What happens if your builder accidentally cuts through a water mains during construction? What if certain permissions do not come through on time? What if certain materials are not available? Planning for every eventuality is perhaps the most important step toward eliminating delays and keeping things on plan.

Be intentional and decisive

When you make a decision after giving it due thought and consideration, make sure to stick with it and follow through on executing it. The easiest way to create delays and bottlenecks in your house building project is to change your mind about something midway through. So you chose ceramic floors, but midway through you start to wonder whether hardwood floors would work better even though it wasn’t part of your plan. Don’t. Do. It. Really.

Apart from the fact that you can expect to tack on a few more weeks onto your construction schedule, even a tiny change can have all sorts of unintended consequences that can dramatically escalate costs or even threaten the entire project altogether. Once you decide on something with your builder, follow through on it single religiously.

Make sure you have all the money you need

This is a surprisingly common mistake that home builders often make during the planning stage. Even if the bank has committed to crediting your mortgage account on a particular date, or you are expecting a payment before a specific date, do not plan as if you already have that money.

Wait for all payments you are expecting to come in first and then you can start to execute your budget.

The last thing you want is to be left red-faced with a returned cheque or failed debit, struggling to explain to a supplier or tradesperson that you’re really not trying to stiff them, but there must be a mistake from the bank…

Ensure that everything you will order is available

This is particularly important for materials that are key to your build, or cannot be replaced easily. Weeks before commencement, you should do a spot of research to confirm that all the materials and items you will order in the course of the build are available in the quantities that you need.

Never assume that a supplier must have something in stock because on the off-chance that they don’t, you could be facing expensive delays to your project while you run around sourcing it from elsewhere.

Communicate constantly!

After selecting a winning bid, your communication with the contractor has only just begun. It’s not a good idea to assume that “they know what they’re doing so I’ll just stay out of their way”.

In many cases, you need to be in constant contact to properly communicate what you want and how you want it. The contractor’s job is to render their services and get paid – not to read your mind. If you don’t get your builder to observe your vision, they still end up with a cheque regardless, while you end up with an unsatisfactory house.

Because it takes a lot of time!!

Paint colours, carpet, counter-tops…for many people, choosing the finishes and selections for their new home is the most fun part of the building process! This is the opportunity to make the home truly yours. The best part of choosing finishes for your home is that you can be as creative or conservative as you wish—it all depends on your personal style, and how you want to live in your home.

Whether you’re building a new home or renovating your current one, finishes are like the icing on the cake. If you’re feeling intimidated by the thought of choosing the perfect home selections and finishes, never fear! These five tips will inspire your creative juices.

Your choice should reflect your personality

If you’re going to live in that house with your family and have your friends over from time to time, you probably want to put a few customising touches on it. It should reflect you, which in turn helps you feel more at ease.

If you’re a quiet indoors person, soft colours and comfort-first furniture should be right up your street, but if you’re the more extroverted type and you’re likely to have a house party every now and again, you probably want a bold colour scheme with artsy, visual furnishings.

Use the Internet to get a second opinion

A number of design and photo-sharing websites give you a gateway to a world of options and design concepts. Your builder might possibly be less than thrilled to you second-guess their opinions based on something you saw on the internet, but remember that once their job is done, they don’t have to live in the house – you do.

Always make sure you have seen a good number of options before making a choice, so that you don’t see a kickass concept on Pinterest two weeks after moving in and then start having regrets. While you’re doing this however, keep in mind that you should probably…

Limit your options to keep your sanity

Now it’s all well and good poring through hundreds of options on Pinterest, trying to decide on a single design that fully encapsulates your desires but keep in mind that the number of available options is literally unlimited. If your decision is dependent on going through all the options you can find on the Internet, you will probably never get round to building your house.

To avoid the paralysis of excessive choice, consciously limit your options to a manageable number and then start eliminating them one by one. When you are down to two or three options, you can also involve your builder to help you make a selection.

Always keep your budget in mind

It is very easy to get carried away by the euphoria of creating your own living space and overseeing how it is put together. So easy in fact that you might end up several €000 out of pocket if you’re not careful! When making your merry way across photo sharing internet sites and examining options with your builder, always have your budget in mind as your primary selection parameter.

Never make the mistake of telling yourself, “I’m sure I can squeeze out a few extra €00 for this…” because it will not stop with just that one item.

Reduce your time window and just do it!

As a rule, the more time you have to get something done, the more likely you are to procrastinate or vacillate without actually achieving anything, which ends up in either a rushed decision at the last minute or changing your mind several times during the period.

To avoid creating unnecessary stress for yourself and your contractor, it is better to simply give yourself a reasonable time window to make all decisions and lock them in. Once you are done making your choices, force yourself to move on and attend to other things.

To avoid the paralysis of excessive choice, consciously limit your options to a manageable number and then start eliminating them one by one. When you are down to two or three options, you can also involve your builder to help you make a selection.

We all know the feeling of when we were younger when our parents embarrassed us or we were slightly embarrassed about bringing our friends to our home because of what they might see. Research has shown that these days, kids are a lot more aware of their social status, with the huge rise of social media, images, brands, fashion etc.

A recent study in the UK shows that children aged between 11-16 years old were very aware of their surroundings at home with regards to feeling proud or in some cases ashamed of where they live.  It shows that kids that are happier to invite their friends around have better and stronger bonds with their family and therefore spend more time at home both alone and with their friends…

Living in 2017 and being what we like to think a modern day kitchen company we have decided to be a fountain of unbiased knowledge when it comes to selling our kitchens.

As mentioned in a previous blog, nearly all kitchen suppliers across Ireland are supplied by the same handful of suppliers when it comes to doors, counter tops & accessories. This means that nearly all companies can supply you with the exact same kitchen (literally) as the competitor up the road. We are about to let the cat out of the bag and think more about the customer than ourselves!

This month, we are going to trial an offer that see’s us guarantee you, the customer, a like for like price match from any competitor and we will cut the cost to you even further. We are aware that people shop around, we know that buying a kitchen whether it’s for your new build, renovation or simply for a rental property, most will shop around trying to get the best deal possible. This is not a scam, nor is it a marketing ploy, it’s a simple offer that allows you to get the best possible value for your money.

Let’s talk about the 3 areas mentioned:

Choice..

We have the same suppliers and manufacturing capabilities as every other kitchen company in Ireland. This means we can provide you with exactly what anyone else can in terms of style, design, door type, carcass & accessories!

Quality..

We work only with the best quality material. Our doors, carcasses, counter tops (Stone or Laminate) and even down to drawers and hinges are of a quality that cannot be argued with. We are very picky about who we allow supply us because we genuinely want you to receive the best quality product your money can buy! We have a lifetime warranty in some cases on our product and that means the world! Our fitters are the best in the businesses and are highly meticulous when it comes to fitting your kitchen.

What we will do is if you have visited a showroom in Galway and you have received a quote for your dream kitchen but haven’t yet visited us, we invite you to come into our showroom in Briarhill with your quotation and allow us to give you our price of that exact same kitchen. Let’s put it this way, we haven’t lost a kitchen to price yet!

You can get in touch with us in many ways, we have tried to make it easy for everyone…

1. Book an appointment: CLICK HERE
2. Send Us Your Plans & Quotes: CLICK HERE
3. Call Us: 091-766637
4. Email Us: hi@goodbrother.ie

NB: Please note, coming to us with a basic email with no detail only a guide price will not give us enough information to price like for like so be sure that you have a breakdown of the spec of everything you are being quoted for.

If you’re thinking about buying a kitchen whether it’s next week, next month or next year, it’s really important that you understand how things work.

We have found that many people think that because a company has a fantastic and expensive showroom display that somehow they have a better more luxurious range of kitchens. Well in fact nothing could be further from the truth!

The vast majority of kitchen supply companies have access and stock to the same suppliers. In fact, the suppliers may only be 3-4 in most cases. These 3-4 suppliers provide accounts only with the trade and provide, for the most part, a really fantastic product at a very affordable price. The job of the main suppliers is to ensure that they have their finger on the pulse when it comes to trends, finishes and colours.

Each kitchen supply company has access to all of these doors from both the most modern to the most traditional and everything else between.

Typically, the bigger and more expensive the showroom of a kitchen supplier is, would mean that their cost are significantly higher than a smaller more efficiently ran business and therefore must command higher prices to pay for their overheads! Makes sense right?

The thing to remember is that the majority of kitchen supply companies can all offer the same door types, colours and variations and are all buying at the same price!

What makes any company different then?

Well at Good Brother we believe that Good customer service, Good pricing & Good quality are all things that should be expected and not our USP. We know we can provide a professional service to beat all others as well as competitive prices on a range of every kitchen type imaginable, so we go “One Gooder”!

We will match any price you have gotten from any other company and possibly do a little better, all while putting you in for the competition.

If you would like anymore info please give us a call or call to our brand new showroom based in Briarhill, Galway.

It’s about making life so much easier, such less hassle, making you feel happy and proud…

There are 100’s of thousands of kitchens right across the country that are still in their old dated design of the late 80’s or early 90’s. This does ad some character to the house, but if you’re anything like me you will be sick of the sink in that place, or the fact that the doors bang when you push them that bit too hard or that drawer is always too sticky. I need to go to one side to get the bread and back to the other side to have a decent space to make my sandwich, it’s just all wrong!