Grand Designs

[TikkiB]

It's a repeat tonight of that rather depressing one about the two social workers building a houseboat using only spit and reclaimed materials.

 

[aqua]

Not according to my TV guide it's not!

 

[The Boy]

Is the English couple that rebuilt a maison bourgeoise that was burned down by the Nazis. Quite near where my mum and dad live.

 

[TikkiB]

It was on More4. Sorry, forgot a new series had started

 

[stavros]

A brand new series started last night, having crept up on me almost unnoticed. The guy last night spunked £1.5m on a ridiculous vanity project and stayed thoroughly unlikable throughout. I felt sorry for Kevin having to talk to him.

 

[hash tag]

What a nice chap I thought. Right from the start he had no clues about budget! Ridiculous bloody house. Hope the kids cover his kitchen surfaces and 15 foot sofa in jammy, sticky finger prints. Wonder why his wife did a runner!

 

[teuchter]

I just watched it. Yes a ridiculous vanity project.

His previous house looked pretty naff and i was expecting the new one to come out looking the same. But actually it was a lot better than I expected. There was some difficult detailing which it looked like they had done very well.

Nonetheless horribly extravagent.

I wonder how much the employees of his cleaning business get paid.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Gordon Bennet what a prat that bloke was

 

[Looby]

He was awful but Kevin bloody loved that house. Not sure I'd be building a house that big and still have fairly small bedrooms. Plus he has 4 kids but only built 4 bedrooms? Did I get that right? Fucking millions on expensive tiles and glass and the kids still have to share a room. I didn't like it, too sleek and cold for me plus steel sets my teeth on edge.

 

[SpookyFrank]

His kitchen didn't even have a kettle in it. 1.5 million quid down the cludgie and he can't even make a fucking brew.

The clip from next week looks much more interesting.

 

[Vintage Paw]

I just watched it. Yes a ridiculous vanity project.

His previous house looked pretty naff and i was expecting the new one to come out looking the same. But actually it was a lot better than I expected. There was some difficult detailing which it looked like they had done very well.

Nonetheless horribly extravagent.

I wonder how much the employees of his cleaning business get paid.

Yeah, I was wondering how many more employees he shifted onto zero hours to help pay for that mortgage he's had to take out.

Utterly unlikable titweasel.

Looking forward to next week's. He looks fun.

 

[danny la rouge]

His kitchen didn't even have a kettle in it. 1.5 million quid down the cludgie and he can't even make a fucking brew.

The clip from next week looks much more interesting.

He didn't drink tea or coffee. Weirdo.

 

[hash tag]

I am not sure his kids lived with him given that thier mother has seen the light and gone elsewhere. They may just be weekend kids wanting to be on television.

 

[Looby]

I am not sure his kids lived with him given that thier mother has seen the light and gone elsewhere. They may just be weekend kids wanting to be on television.

Do you know something I don't about his relationships/domestic arrangements? There's a lot of assumptions there.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

I quite liked the house's general feel but the scale and the obsession with some details would make it a crap place for me to live.

As for the brew, he probably has a tap that does boiling water. Very common in offices and i think on high end kitchens these days.

 

[hash tag]

I did say I wasn't sure but do know the kids mother is no longer on the scene.

 

[teuchter]

He said the kids were with him for a few days each week.

 

[Dr. Furface]

Gordon Bennet what a prat that bloke was

He was such a wanker, and when he said he'd paid £850k just for the land I turned off there and then.

 

[stavros]

Middle-aged canal enthusiast looks more promising next week.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Also open plan living space + giant 3 metre square front door = ruinous draught problem

 

[Gromit]

The guy was anal obessive about tidyness and so made a business out of his obsession. So he thinks about tidyness pretty much 24/7 work and home.
He is the anti-me. My nemisis.

I took great delight in hearing Kevin ask him was he happy with the house and his response in my opinion was imo muted. He was like well its as good as possible I guess so I'll have to make do. He wasn't fully satisfied and never will be and so that is kind of a justice.

I didn't for one minute believe his little tale of his children wanting to come around at insistence of their friends all the time etc.
Most kids don't yearn for such sterile surroundings, except maybe when its really hot and they want access to that pool.

 

[hash tag]

Maybe the friends just want to spread their sticky fingers and mucky shoes throughout that sterile gallery.

 

[hash tag]

Did anyone see Jane's boat house being built. Very mixed feelings about it. He doesnt own the land and its under power lines, mixing with pylons. Great use of wood, very simple. A loo with a view by the river. Impressed by the plastered working on stilts.

 

[pinkychukkles]

I'm getting to prefer watching The House That £100k Built, at least it's more realistic and achievable to us proles than all these vanity projects from rich narcissistic cockwombles. The budgets on Grand Designs never usually mention the cost of the land and frequently, just when you think the house has been built for an achievable wedge of cash by people who are fairly likeable, it's on a bit of land that belongs / has been bequeathed from a parent or some such.

Bah - I'm just bitter since I didn't manage to hitch a ride on the Property Gravy Train and the current prospects of being able to buy somewhere... anywhere to pay a mortgage instead of rent are precisely zero. Hooray to raising a family with the "security" of assured shorthold tenancy, not.

 

[ddraig]

Did anyone see Jane's boat house being built. Very mixed feelings about it. He doesnt own the land and its under power lines, mixing with pylons. Great use of wood, very simple. A loo with a view by the river. Impressed by the plastered working on stilts.

fair few plasterers and shop fitter types work on stilts!

 

[SpookyFrank]

That was much nicer house than last week, but it does grate a little that most of these houses are beyond the wildest dreams of most ordinary folk.

I did like the old bloke though.

"Where do you keep your records?"
"I haven't got any."
"Where do you keep your books?"
"I haven't got any."
"Where do you keep your hat?"
"On my head."

 

[Gromit]

Tonight's couple has taken YOLO to the extreme.

Budget £850k may go a little over.

Spoiler

End cost including land £3.2mil

The moment they got a taste of reality (groundworks bill) they should have made some compromises imo. Firstly the outside finishes. Hand made custom pepple dash, really expensive. Hand made custom paper cladding. Really expensive.

Some grey paint and some black paint could have save them tens of thousands.

I'm truly amazed that an accountant didn't plan a proper budget and took credit options that are plain reckless. Bridging loans are stupid expensive and you only ever want to use them super short term (like a week only). Credit card debt is stupid expensive too.

I'm dread to think how much of the cost is interest and how much interest he'll still have to pay.

Its an awesome house. However he is going to be working his arse off forever to pay it off. So much for living his life to the max after his scare.

Oh and his location wasn't exactly going to help witht the costs. Ferries to the IoW are the most expensive ferries (cost per mile) in the world. How many ferry trips did the budget pay for i wonder?

 

[Vintage Paw]

I mean, clearly I haven't had a brush with death, but "I nearly died and I could die any day really so I'm going to spunk all my savings and take out a couple of million in loans and mortgages so that if I do die my family are up shit creek" sounds a bit shit really.

 

[pinkychukkles]

Yes - totally indulgent, which was the point I guess. Hope the stress of working rather than (I assume) an early retirement, to pay it all off doesn't finish him off. Didn't mind the finished house though, did look subtle from the shore. Hope that beach front is on a sheltered bay though, climate change an'all.

I struggle to understand the motivation of most people to appear on GD apart from 'look at me, look at me and my wonderful new house' - there must be a financial incentive, i.e. they get paid to be part of the program? If I was lucky enough to have the land, cash and / or access to credit to do something like what they feature in GD, getting the cameras in would be the last thing I would want. If Kevin wanted to pop in for a cuppa and chat, he would be welcome however , perhaps he does private consultancies...

 

[scifisam]

I liked the Grand Designs revisited one yesterday with the hippy carpenter and his Japanese wife building a sort-of self-sufficient home the Hexagon House one. They didn't have an enormous budget, they planned it really well (planting the willow that they use for fuel right at the beginning, before the house build had started) and it looked like a pleasant house to live in. The wood carvings are maybe a little twee but they're very creative.