Grand Designs

[Voley]

Just caught up with the water tower episode - wow!

It wasn't a question of things going wrong, amazingly, but more about the lack of funds and labour which have hobbled the project. And it was still just a project - 5 years in the making and hardly anything to show for it.

But the finished house in Devon was absolutely amazing, though the owners had virtually 3 x the budget and probably an army of specialists building it; the project in Northampton was basically a one-man show with little previous experience.

I thought Kevin was rather unfair and harsh on them in his summary, so I'm glad he took them to the Devon house to show them a glimpse of what their finished house could look like. I hope he (if he's still alive and able) revisits them in 10 years' time and see if they've finished it, they deserve it if only for their ambition.

Yeah it's like a work of art inside but you can't live in it. The concrete that looks like wood is incredible but ... it's not a house.

 

[pbsmooth]

it was one of them where the episode gives you the idea they don't know what they're doing... but then it all comes together in the end... apart from this one it was just that they really didn't know what they were doing. I don't really get why their architect, who seemed to be the only professional involved in any way, didn't tell them there was no way they could do what they wanted to do in anywhere near the time or their budget. they didn't seem to actually have any money because they didn't get a mortgage!? very strange. admire their drive to do such a project but it was naive to the point where someone should have maybe intervened - they had kids!

 

[Derek S-H]

it was one of them where the episode gives you the idea they don't know what they're doing... but then it all comes together in the end... apart from this one it was just that they really didn't know what they were doing. I don't really get why their architect, who seemed to be the only professional involved in any way, didn't tell them there was no way they could do what they wanted to do in anywhere near the time or their budget. they didn't seem to actually have any money because they didn't get a mortgage!? very strange. admire their drive to do such a project but it was naive to the point where someone should have maybe intervened - they had kids!

I got the impression that that's almost what Kevin tried to do; that it was all just a grand folly on their part, not realistic and not achieveable.

But the finished Devon house for inspiration and motivation, plus the fact that he'd jacked in his job and that they did have money in the bank from the sale of their house, meant that the project could continue. The issue is whether it will ever be actually finished at the pace he was working at....

 

[pbsmooth]

I got the impression that that's almost what Kevin tried to do; that it was all just a grand folly on their part, not realistic and not achieveable.

But the finished Devon house for inspiration and motivation, plus the fact that he'd jacked in his job and that they did have money in the bank from the sale of their house, meant that the project could continue. The issue is whether it will ever be actually finished at the pace he was working at....

I don’t think they said where they were living at the end. Presumably moved in with family. It was like the lighthouse one but more likeable people and smaller scale. Could imagine a revisit and the couple aren’t together anymore