The home you've always wanted.
New builds, extensions, renovations, cottage redesigns. Residential work is the heart of what Danarch does, and it has been since 2005. Whatever stage you're at, from a bare site to a house you've outgrown, this is where it starts.
Designing homes for how Irish families actually live
Building or reshaping a home is one of the biggest things most people ever take on. It's also one of the most personal. A home isn't a product off a shelf, it's the place where a family's whole life happens, and it should be designed around that life rather than around a template. That's the starting point for every residential project we take on. Before any lines are drawn, we want to understand how you actually live. Where the morning light matters and where it doesn't. Whether you really use a formal dining room or just walk through it. Where the children do their homework, where the boots and coats pile up, how the kitchen connects to everything else. The houses that work are the ones designed around real daily habits, not around how a house is "supposed" to look. Over twenty years we've designed one-off rural houses, suburban family homes, dormers, bungalows and two-storey builds across Ireland. Different shapes, different sites, different budgets. The constant is the approach: listen first, design second.
New builds
A one-off house in Ireland is part architecture, part planning strategy, and part understanding the site you're building on. The orientation, the slope, the views, the access, the services, all of it shapes what the house can and should be. We design new builds from the first rough sketch through to full construction drawings. Along the way you'll see the design evolve, and you'll have every chance to change it while changing it still costs nothing. Most clients arrive at a design they love within a few rounds of revisions. The aim is a house that feels right from the day you move in, not one you spend years rearranging the furniture in, trying to make it work. Natural light is something we push hard on. So many Irish homes, especially older ones, are darker than they need to be. Floor-to-ceiling glazing, corner windows, rooflights over circulation space, vaulted ceilings, all of these can transform how a house feels, and they cost far less designed in from the start than retrofitted later.
Extensions and renovations
Not every project starts with an empty site. A lot of our residential work is helping people get more from a home they already have and don't want to leave. Extensions are the most common project we take on, and often the most rewarding, because the right extension changes how a whole family lives. An open-plan kitchen, dining and living space. A side return that finally fixes a dark, narrow hallway. A rear extension that properly connects the house to the garden. A two-storey extension that adds bedrooms without losing the garden entirely. Renovations are their own discipline. Older Irish houses and cottages have character that no new build can replicate, but they also come with damp, low ceilings, awkward layouts and high running costs. A good renovation keeps the character while solving the problems. For protected structures, we work alongside conservation specialists and the relevant heritage officer so that sensible upgrades can be made within the rules.
Planning permission for homes
Most residential projects need planning permission, and the Irish planning system rewards applications that are prepared properly and penalises ones that aren't. Rural one-off houses in particular face local rules around zoning, housing need, sight lines, road access and wastewater treatment. We've lodged a great many residential planning applications, with more than 300 successful approvals across the firm's work. We prepare the full application, handle the public notices, deal with the council, and respond to any queries that come back. The goal is always the same: get it right the first time so the project isn't held up.
Specific exempted development size limits for extensions (for example, how large a rear extension can be without planning permission) will be added here once confirmed against current Irish exempted development regulations. No unverified figures are shown.
Fixed fees, so a family can plan
For a family building or extending a home, certainty about cost matters enormously. A percentage-based fee, which is what most firms charge, means your professional bill grows every time your project does. We've never charged that way. Danarch charges fixed fees, agreed in writing before work starts and paid at clear stages. You know what the design costs, what the planning costs, what project management costs, all before you commit. For a household budgeting carefully around a once-in-a-lifetime build, that certainty is worth a great deal.
Asked & answered.
The questions Ian gets asked most often, addressed honestly. Don't see yours? Drop us a line.
It depends on the size, type and location of the extension. Some small extensions fall under exempted development and don't need permission, while larger ones do. The rules also differ for terraced, semi-detached and detached houses. The safest approach is a free consultation, where we can tell you exactly where your specific project stands before you spend anything on design.
Your dream home
starts with a free consultation.
No fees. No pressure. We come to your site, listen to what you want, and tell you honestly what's possible and what it'll cost.