Contractor accommodation Ireland: how to calculate cost per night

Searching for a single figure for contractor accommodation in Ireland per night rarely produces a number you can budget with. Providers quote by the property, by the room, by the week or by the month. Utilities, cleaning and parking are sometimes bundled and sometimes charged separately. Many listings simply say "price on request". This guide gives you a repeatable method for turning any of those quotes into an estimated cost per person per night, plus a total for the whole project.

What you will have at the end of this guide

By the end, you will have a completed pricing worksheet that shows:

• An effective cost per night for each property or room option you are considering.
• An estimated cost per person per night for your whole team.
• A total accommodation budget for the full project, including a contingency.
• A list of inclusions and conditions you have confirmed with each provider.

This guide is written for operations managers, project managers and procurement leads who place site teams, engineers or contract staff in temporary accommodation. It also suits anyone arranging temporary housing linked to an insurance claim, where dates can shift at short notice.

Time required: 15 to 25 minutes for a first-pass budget. Allow longer if you are comparing several locations. Difficulty: beginner. You need basic arithmetic and a spreadsheet, or pen and paper.

What you need before you start:

• Team size and any preferred rooming (single, twin or shared).
• The nearest town or towns to each worksite.
• Start and end dates, and how flexible they are.
• Preferred property type, such as a self-catering house, apartment or serviced apartment.
• Must-have inclusions, such as parking, Wi-Fi, mid-stay cleaning and laundry facilities.

A note on the worked examples later in this guide: every euro amount in them is an illustrative placeholder chosen to demonstrate the arithmetic. They are not market benchmarks and they are not Sos Stays rates. Replace them with real quotes. The typical ranges in the next section are our working estimates, and they too depend on location, season, property and availability.

What does contractor accommodation typically cost in Ireland?

Before the method, a sense of the numbers. As a rough guide, a hotel room in Dublin runs about €150 to €250 a night, while contractor accommodation in Dublin is more like €55 to €90 per person per night. For teams staying longer than a week, that usually works out 30% to 60% cheaper than hotels.

A practical budgeting formula is:

Number of workers × number of nights × €50–€80 average nightly cost per worker, plus transport and contingency.

Worked through for a few typical projects:

• 5 workers for 30 nights: approximately €7,500 to €12,000
• 10 workers for 60 nights: approximately €30,000 to €48,000
• 20 workers for 90 nights: approximately €90,000 to €144,000

The better comparison is total cost, not just the nightly rate. A hotel may include reception and daily housekeeping, but contractor accommodation often gives a crew more space, better facilities for longer stays and a more practical setup. For larger teams, ask for a managed quote rather than relying on public hotel or rental listings. Public prices change quickly, and availability can disappear before a project starts.

Why there is no single price per night

Before you calculate anything, it helps to understand what a quoted rate usually represents. Three variables cause most of the confusion.

The quote basis changes the meaning of the number

A provider may quote a price per room per night, per property per night, per property per week, or per property per month. A weekly figure for a four-bedroom house is not comparable with a nightly figure for a single hotel room until both are converted to the same unit. The unit this guide uses throughout is the effective cost per person per night.

Several factors move the rate

• Occupancy. Single-occupancy rooms cost more per person than shared or twin arrangements.
• Property type. A self-catering house, a one-bedroom apartment and a serviced apartment are priced differently and include different services.
• Location demand. Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford typically see stronger demand than smaller regional towns, and demand near large construction or infrastructure projects can tighten supply locally. Check the specific town rather than relying on a national average.
• Seasonality. Summer tourism, large events and university terms can all raise rates or reduce availability. Winter stays may be cheaper on the base rate but add heating costs.
• Length of stay. Weekly and monthly bookings generally carry lower nightly equivalents than short stays, and many providers set minimum-stay rules.

The effective per-night cost is the number to compare

The effective per-night cost is the total you will actually pay for a stay, including any extras that are not bundled, divided by the number of nights. It is the only figure that allows an honest comparison between a weekly house quote, a nightly apartment rate and a hotel.

Gather the inputs providers price from

Collect these details before requesting quotes. Incomplete briefs lead to incomplete quotes, and incomplete quotes lead to budget overruns.

1. Location. Name the nearest town to each worksite. State whether the team needs a short commute, on-site parking for vans, or access to public transport.
2. Dates. Give the start and end dates, and say whether move-in and move-out days can move by a day or two. Flexibility often affects price and availability.
3. Team composition. State the headcount and whether people will take single rooms, twin rooms or share a house.
4. Accommodation type. Decide between private self-catering rentals, serviced apartments, or a mix.
5. Inclusions. List what you expect: electricity, gas and heating, Wi-Fi, mid-stay cleaning, linen changes, consumables such as toilet rolls and soap, and parking.
6. Operational needs. Note whether you need verified check-in, a named contact for maintenance callouts, or one consolidated invoice.
7. Constraints. Record pet policy, smoking policy, tool or equipment storage, accessibility needs, and any insurer or client security requirements.

Checkpoint: you should now be able to describe your requirement in three or four sentences. If you cannot, return to the list and fill the gap before asking for prices.

Build the pricing worksheet, step by step

Step 1: Set up the basic formula

• Total accommodation cost = base rent + extras + contingency.
• Effective cost per property per night = total cost ÷ number of nights.
• Effective cost per person per night = effective cost per property per night ÷ number of people.

Create a simple table in your spreadsheet with one row per accommodation option and one column for each of these line items:

• Quote basis (per property per week, per room per night, and so on), and the quoted rate (€)
• Number of nights, and the base rent total (€)
• Utilities, cleaning, linen and consumables not included (€)
• Parking fees and non-refundable fees (€)
• Subtotal, contingency and total (€)
• Effective € per person per night

Step 2: Convert each quote into a base rent total

Use the exact quote basis.

• Weekly quote: weekly rate × number of weeks. Confirm how the provider treats a part-week at the end.
• Monthly quote: monthly rate × number of months. Confirm whether the month is a calendar month or a 28 or 30-night period.
• Nightly quote per room: nightly rate × number of rooms × number of nights.

Then check the minimum stay. If a provider sets a minimum of 28 nights and your project needs 21, the real cost is the 28-night price, and your effective per-night figure must reflect that.

Warning: do not divide a monthly rate by 30 by default. If the stay is 26 nights and the provider charges a full month, divide by 26.

Count deposits only if they are non-refundable or if you need to budget for the cash outlay. A refundable deposit affects cash flow but not final cost.

Step 3: Add the inclusions that are not in the base rate

Go through each provider's quote line by line and add a cost for every item you need that is not bundled:

• Utilities and heating, especially for winter stays.
• Mid-stay cleaning and linen changes.
• Consumables and restocking.
• Parking.
• Any service charge or administration fee.

If a provider cannot tell you whether an item is included, enter an estimated cost and mark it as unconfirmed. Chase it before you commit. Confirm also whether quoted figures include VAT. A mix of VAT-inclusive and VAT-exclusive quotes will distort your comparison.

Step 4: Add a contingency

Projects change. A handover slips, a phase overruns, an extra engineer joins for a week. Add a contingency to the subtotal to cover extended stays, extra cleaning and consumables. A figure in the range of 5% to 10% of the subtotal is a sensible starting point, and a more volatile programme warrants the higher end. Record the percentage you choose so it can be reviewed.

Step 5: Calculate the effective per-night figures

Divide the total by the number of nights, then by the number of people. Enter both results in the worksheet.

Checkpoint: confirm that your per-night figure matches the quote basis. A common mistake is dividing a per-property total by nights but forgetting to divide by headcount, which makes a shared house look far more expensive than a hotel room. The reverse also happens: a per-room price is treated as per-property and understates the cost.

Three worked scenarios

The figures below are placeholders. Replace them with your own quotes.

Scenario A: a small crew of three for four weeks

Three workers share a three-bedroom self-catering house for 28 nights. The provider quotes €1,260 per property per week, with utilities not included.

• Base rent: €1,260 × 4 weeks = €5,040
• Utilities estimate: €35 × 4 weeks = €140
• One mid-stay clean: €90. Parking: free.
• Subtotal: €5,270. Contingency at 7%: €369. Total: €5,639

Effective cost per property per night: €5,639 ÷ 28 = €201.39. Effective cost per person per night: €201.39 ÷ 3 = €67.13. The shared self-catering model works well here because each person has a private bedroom while the house, kitchen and utilities are split three ways.

Scenario B: a site team of ten for six weeks

Ten workers take two five-bedroom houses at single occupancy for 42 nights. The provider quotes €1,900 per house per week, with utilities and parking included. You add weekly cleaning and consumables.

• Base rent: 2 houses × €1,900 × 6 weeks = €22,800
• Weekly cleaning: 2 × €110 × 6 = €1,320. Consumables: 2 × €25 × 6 = €300
• Subtotal: €24,420. Contingency at 5%: €1,221. Total: €25,641

Effective cost per night for the whole team: €25,641 ÷ 42 = €610.50. Effective cost per person per night: €610.50 ÷ 10 = €61.05. A longer stay and a bundled rate lower the per-person figure compared with Scenario A, even though each worker still has a private room.

Scenario C: a large programme of forty across two sites

Forty workers are housed for 56 nights. Twenty-four share four six-person houses, and sixteen take eight two-person serviced apartments near the second site.

• Houses: 4 × €2,300 × 8 weeks = €73,600
• Apartments: 8 × €120 × 56 nights = €53,760
• House utilities: 4 × €45 × 8 weeks = €1,440. House cleaning: 4 × €100 × 8 weeks = €3,200. Apartment cleaning: included
• Subtotal: €132,000. Contingency at 5%: €6,600. Total: €138,600

Effective cost per night for the programme: €138,600 ÷ 56 = €2,475. Effective cost per person per night: €2,475 ÷ 40 = €61.88. Blending accommodation types is straightforward once everything is expressed in the same unit. Convert each accommodation group to a total, add the totals, then divide once by nights and once by headcount.

Costs that are easy to miss

Under-budgeting usually comes from the lines nobody asked about.

• Utilities and heating. Self-catering houses often bill electricity and heating separately, or apply a fair-use cap. For winter stays, ask for the cap and the overage rate.
• Cleaning and linen frequency. Clarify whether the quote covers an end-of-stay clean only or regular mid-stay cleaning with linen changes. Weekly service costs more but keeps standards consistent for long stays.
• Parking. Confirm the number of spaces, whether they are on-site or on-street, and whether vans or work vehicles are permitted.
• Consumables. Toilet rolls, bin bags, washing-up liquid and similar basics need a clear owner. Ask who restocks and how often.
• Administrative charges. Look for deposits, damage waivers, change fees and cancellation terms tied to minimum stays.
• Commuting. A cheaper property 40 minutes from site can cost more in fuel and lost working time. Add the daily commute to your comparison where proximity varies.
• Compliance. Ask providers to confirm they meet current Irish short-term letting requirements, including registration where it applies, and to supply the invoicing details your finance team needs.

Contractor accommodation compared with a hotel

Hotels are convenient for a night or two. For longer assignments, the comparison needs the same method. For a hotel, build the effective figure as: (room rate + breakfast + parking + laundry) × nights ÷ people. Include the extras your team would actually use.

Self-catering accommodation typically allows teams to cook and do laundry on site, which removes some of the daily spend that a hotel stay generates. Hotels can still be the better option for very short or uncertain stays, where a minimum-stay rule would cost you more than the nightly premium. Contractor workforce accommodation tends to make most sense once a stay passes a few nights and the team needs a kitchen, space to unwind and consistent routines. Our guides to contractor workforce accommodation in Ireland and self-catering versus hotel costs go further. Run both calculations on your own dates and let the effective per-person figure decide.

Ways to reduce the cost without lowering standards

• Align the booking to the real timeline. Ask for a quote that matches your planned dates, and confirm what happens if the stay runs over or finishes early.
• Fix the inclusions before comparing prices. Send every provider the same inclusion list so quotes are like for like.
• Ask for totals, not only headline rates. Request weekly or monthly totals in writing, then convert to the effective per-night figure.
• Match rooms to reality. If some team members are comfortable sharing, a twin-room arrangement may reduce cost. If rooms are booked as singles but the team is split across shifts, check whether that is still the right allocation.
• Book early where you can. Lead time affects availability in popular towns, particularly in summer and around major events. Earlier enquiries give you more options and more room to negotiate.
• Plan for continuity. Ask how the provider handles calendar changes, maintenance callouts and extensions, so a delay on site does not turn into a scramble for beds.

When managed accommodation is worth the extra attention

A direct landlord arrangement can be economical, but the coordination often falls to your team: checking people in, arranging cleaning, chasing repairs and reconciling invoices from several owners.

Managed accommodation moves that work to the operator. In practice that means guest screening and verified check-in, coordinated cleaning and turnovers, maintenance callouts handled through trusted trades, and linen and consumables managed on a schedule.

Use these criteria to decide whether a managed option fits:

• Time to move in. How quickly can the operator confirm properties and keys?
• Consistency. Will the standard be the same in week one and week eight?
• Coordination load. How many calls, emails and invoices will your team handle if something goes wrong?

If your team has no spare capacity to manage a property, the time saved can outweigh a modest difference in the quoted rate.

One brief, one contact: how Sos Stays handles it

Sos Stays is an Irish self-catering and short-term rental operator built around locally positioned properties and hands-on management. We work on the idea of "the break, not just the booking", which means paying attention to the quality of the stay as well as the reservation. For project teams, our corporate stays offer is furnished workforce accommodation across Louth, Clare, Wexford and Wicklow, booked by the week or month on one invoice with one point of contact.

The point of that single contact is that you don't chase five landlords. Here's how it works:

1. Send us the brief. Headcount, rooming, dates, the nearest town to each worksite and your must-have inclusions. The checklist below is all we need.
2. We source or accommodate it. We'll put your team into our own managed homes where they fit, and source options near site where they don't, then come back with a written quote that shows the inclusions line by line.
3. One person looks after it. Check-in, mid-stay cleaning and linen, maintenance callouts and any extensions all go through the same named contact.
4. One invoice at the end. Your finance team gets a single, itemised invoice instead of a pile of landlord bills.

If dates move, tell us once and we sort it. That's the bit that saves the most time on a real project, because dates always move.

For anything above a handful of workers, a managed quote will usually beat public listings on both price and certainty. Send us your brief through our corporate stays page and we'll come back with options.

Troubleshooting common problems

• Quotes cannot be compared. Different quote bases are the usual cause. Convert every quote to a per-person per-night figure using the worksheet.
• A provider will not show prices. Send your requirement summary and ask for a written quote with the inclusions itemised. If a provider still declines, treat that option as unconfirmed in your budget.
• The per-night figure looks too high. Check that you divided by headcount, and that you did not count a refundable deposit as a cost.
• The per-night figure looks too low. Look for missing utilities, cleaning, parking or consumables, and for a minimum stay longer than your actual stay.
• The project dates moved. Rerun the worksheet with the new night count, and ask the provider whether the weekly or monthly rate still applies.

Checklist to copy and send to providers

Inputs to gather

• Number of people and rooming arrangement
• Nearest town to each worksite
• Start date, end date and date flexibility
• Property type preference
• Required inclusions: utilities, Wi-Fi, parking, laundry, mid-stay cleaning, linen, consumables
• Pet, smoking, tool storage and accessibility requirements
• Insurer or client security requirements

Questions to ask each provider

• Is the quote per property, per room or per person, and per night, week or month?
• What is the minimum stay, and what happens if we leave early?
• Which utilities are included, and is there a usage cap?
• How often is cleaning done, and how often are linens changed?
• Who supplies and restocks consumables?
• How many parking spaces are available, and are vans allowed?
• What deposits, damage waivers or admin fees apply, and which are refundable?
• Are prices inclusive of VAT?
• What is the change and cancellation policy?
• Who is our point of contact for maintenance, and what is the response process?
• Can everything be billed on a single invoice?

What you have accomplished and what to do next

You now have a method for turning any contractor accommodation quote in Ireland into an effective cost per person per night, with a total project budget and a contingency. You have also seen how the figure moves for small crews, mid-sized site teams and larger multi-site programmes.

To apply it:

1. Send your requirement summary and the question list to at least three providers.
2. Enter each quote in the worksheet and calculate the effective per-night figure.
3. Confirm inclusions line by line, then confirm the minimum stay and the change policy in writing.
4. Choose the option with the best effective cost for the service level your team needs, and keep the worksheet to reuse on the next project.