Grand Designs

[Babe Rainbow]

Best Grand Design ever was Ed & Rowena. Absolutely stunning.

 

[ddraig]

has money === privileged. Pathetic

pardon?

 

[stavros]

There have been some GDs where the people have obviously had way too much money, and shat it all away on a vanity project. I remember there being a Brighton family doing that, and that single bloke building in a graveyard (SW London I think).

 

[hash tag]

One of the better ones was a young couple who bought a piece of land/property of their family. It was a horrible uphill off-road drive on top of a hill. They fought against snow and ice and also foot and mouth I think it was.

 

[pbsmooth]

They clearly had the money and time and family to help, so, yeah

Well, yes, someone with a bowl of gruel is privileged compared to someone without the gruel but in the grand scheme of Grand Designs, they were pretty low down the chain.

 

[Fuzzy]

I had to watch the North Devon Lighthouse revisit. Guy bought a house on a cliff edge for £1.4 million, demolished it to build a new home. His wife walked out with the kids, he went bankrupt and the place kept soaking up millions. I had to watch to see if the place ever got finished, to see if his family got back together. In so many was, this has to be the ugliest grand designs, for many reasons ever. It's on catch up if you want to see a happy ending, or not.
View attachment 348982

it's for sale on nrightmove for 10 million quid.

 

[stavros]

it's for sale on nrightmove for 10 million quid.

So it is. I'll give my mortgage advisor a ring in the morning.

 

[DaveCinzano]

it's for sale on nrightmove for 10 million quid.

So it is. I'll give my mortgage advisor a ring in the morning.

The trouble with trying to put a deal together to buy a lighthouse is that one moment it's on, then it's off, on, off...

 

[hash tag]

The trouble with trying to put a deal together to buy a lighthouse is that one moment it's on, then it's off, on, off...

Blink and you could miss it

 

[stavros]

Weird shit can happen when you live in a lighthouse.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Weird shit can happen when you live in a lighthouse.

View attachment 349559

Personally I have never never felt like that

 

[hash tag]

Has this barn of a building been posted before? When seeing the master bedroom & bathroom teuchter springs to mind South Lincolnshire | Grand Designs

 

[WouldBe]

One of the better ones was a young couple who bought a piece of land/property of their family. It was a horrible uphill off-road drive on top of a hill. They fought against snow and ice and also foot and mouth I think it was.

That was a good one. An old family farmhouse in Wales.

 

[hash tag]

Ive just watched some of the cobb house in Devon. It's huge, it's Cobb and eco friendly but cold inside. It needs a little colour, some nic naks, books, personality.

 

[ebay sex moomin]

It's huge, it's Cobb and eco friendly but cold inside.

I'm not sure that's a chant I can get behind

I know what you mean, so many of the houses featured look a bit soulless inside. I know they must tidy it and maybe remove some personal items, but some of them look like the owner wants an entirely sterile environment. They have the air of an expensive waiting room.

 

[hash tag]

I'm not sure that's a chant I can get behind

I know what you mean, so many of the houses featured look a bit soulless inside. I know they must tidy it and maybe remove some personal items, but some of them look like the owner wants an entirely sterile environment. They have the air of an expensive waiting room.

Or a hospital or dentists surgery.

 

[pbsmooth]

the massive house with loads of glass that ends up looking like an office is a Grand Designs classic.

 

[rubbershoes]

Tonight's house is the ugliest I've seen on the show. It would fit perfectly on a light industrial park

 

[pbsmooth]

New series... Starts with a classic that ticks every spot on the bingo card.

 

[WouldBe]

New series... Starts with a classic that ticks every spot on the bingo card.

£1.2M for a nissan hut.

 

[pbsmooth]

That kitchen... Just didn't seem like a good layout or use of the incredible view.

How do all these architects get away with doing builds that go so far over budget? Surely they're meant to have an idea of the cost.

 

[SpookyFrank]

That kitchen... Just didn't seem like a good layout or use of the incredible view.

How do all these architects get away with doing builds that go so far over budget? Surely they're meant to have an idea of the cost.

It's usually because the punter tries to run the build themselves despite not knowing what they're doing because they're just some new money finance person with no experience of the real world at all.

 

[pbsmooth]

It's usually because the punter tries to run the build themselves despite not knowing what they're doing because they're just some new money finance person with no experience of the real world at all.

I'm talking about the difference between the initial budget for the brief given to the architect and then the quotes from builders to do it. So before you even get into the build. It seems that the architect designs something that costs far more to build than the budget they were working to. The first quote was literally double their original budget!

 

[ddraig]

And surely sweets online wouldn't cover that mortgage

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

New series... Starts with a classic that ticks every spot on the bingo card.

Bingo:

Slightly over budget.
Massively over budget.
'Surprise' pregnancy.
Delays due to windows/steels/something arriving on site and not having been made to spec and having to be remade/plans having to be readjusted as a result.
Delays due to materials not having arrived on site as scheduled.
Delays due to them running out of money part-way through because they failed to include a proper contingency in the budget and hit a huge practical/financial hurdle as a result.
Delays due to them running out of money part-way through because they had their heart set on gold taps or super expensive marble kitchen worktops or other extravagancies and not adjusting their budget accordingly.
Delays due to them running out of money part-way through because they were shit at planning generally.
Delays due to inclement weather.
Delays because they couldn't make a fucking decision and they were dithering between this or that and so the project ran over-time.
Either they or somebody else fucked up and something had to be demo'd and redone.
Delays due to waiting for planning application/change decision.
Fuckwittery due to incorrect assumptions.
They didn't do a site survey and it turns out the site is prone to flooding or there are mineworks underneath or some other random geological feature/complication.

Have I missed anything?

 

[pbsmooth]

Good list. I'd add:

Free/cheap land from family
Inspiration behind the project dying half way through
Last minute extra family money to finish the build with expensive fit out despite being massively over budget

 

[Looby]

I hate that master bedroom. The toilet and shower just tucked behind a wall and the shower the first thing you see when you go in.
No space at the end of the bed because there’s a stupid bath that sets my teeth on edge.

The kitchen is fugly and why would you put the fucking lounge there and not the dining room.

Stupid stupid stupid.

 

[pbsmooth]

Well, tonight's episode was pretty horrific all round...

 

[hash tag]

Although last week's is far from being finished, I liked the wooden house in Herefordshire and all the work the woman herself put into it.
Already disliking tonight's...one of Britain's top divorce lawyers far too much money.

 

[hash tag]

A ginormous house with a budget of £1.2 million. Did that include the land? It is bound to go well over budget.