Grand Designs - full commitment again...

I sense this could go wrong already…

They’re mad! Ordering the inside of the house 7 years before they built the house!

Only half watching, am I right in thinking he paid 250k to a Latvian company for the glass and when they failed his Sister owned or ran a glass company so she sorted him out?

That's about it, but the Latvian company dispute his version.

Anyway, what do you need 7 bathrooms for?

At least they got a lovely visitor centre out of it. With a yoga ‘zen’ space. And only £1mill over budget.
So that’s nice.

A strong start to the series. Mad rich people doing mad things.

There's more going on than said on TV there....
Sister runs glass co. but they chose to pay £250k upfront to a foreign company who now dispute it...?

And magic sofa found nearly £1m this time.

FFS, they are maybe 50, so now have £1m mortgage until they are 70?

Wow.

(And while very 'high end', I wasn't that taken by the house either.)

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GrandDesigns&src=typeahead_click

all these comments

I don't know why people do it to themselves, then again I'm a lazy ****er. Given where it is, at least it's probably worth the money if they need to sell.

If someone at work pissed £250k up the wall through such poor contract and contractor management they'd be looking for a new job - let alone going 125% over budget.

... And I've said it before - so many of these houses look like upmarket creative workspaces I've used. Some elements were fine but I'm not sure I'd find it a comfortable space to live in - but that may just be me

If love to do an audit on how much time is spent sat in all the seats they have in these massive houses. They had a library space with a sofa in their bedroom. Bet they never sit there. I'm just jealous.

I reckon something has gone on under a table/in the shadows with the Latvians. Either leading to the architect ‘recommending’ or the owner needing to do someone a favour after one of his TV projects.

I liked the house, not sure they will after a couple of years of its mortgage meaning all they can do is sit in it.

Surely this is just a comedy show now!?

I liked the bit when they were trying to bend those huge panes of double glazing, and they kept breaking.<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> </span>

Actually I quite like the finished house, but not enough to commit to a mortgage in my 80s.

When he handed over £250k without a bank backed performance guarantee I cringed. I said to my wife that’s not going to go well…cue him losing most of it in a dispute later. Words fail me sometimes - these people have more money / income / borrowing powers than sense.

I did actually quite like the house - although if it were me I’d have made it a bit smaller I think.

Did anyone get pregnant?

Did anyone get pregnant?

No, but there was a lovely pregnant pause when Kevin announced it was early 2020, the Latvian's hadn't arrived with the £250k glass and the architect had a suspicious cough...

Did anyone get pregnant?

I got the impression by the way he looked at her , if she was of child bearing age , she may well have had a bun put in her oven.

I can see the Latvian money was probably swallowed up by building the floors in situ.
We have started using floor cassettes in our film set builds. It involves a plate being welded to the underside of the steel beams for them to sit on. It also involves co-operation between the chippies and the steel erectors as you need to fit them as you go on a complicated project like that, otherwise you don’t have space to get them in.The cassettes are made at same time as steel. That steel frame and floors would have been up in around 8-10 days if they had gone that route.
Another GD where they think it’s easy to project manage a job with no experience in building .

Makes good telly though 😉

Surely this is just a comedy show now!?

Been a drinking game for years. A very easy drinking game.

I can see the Latvian money was probably swallowed up by building the floors in situ.

this +1, as someone who uses contractors to chuck pipework into chemical plants it's frightening how much and how quickly labour swallows money up regardless of nationality.

The steelwork frame was good - it was massively complex but appeared to go in without any issues.

Flat roof???? In Manchester????? The most mental part of the whole project.

Thank you for the heads up OP. That was absolute comedy gold. The blokes face in the glass factory when the 2nd bit shattered was superb. Rewound that a good few times and still giggling as I type this! And the size of the rental property was outrageous while he swanned about in his Tesla whinging about money.. absolute **** lunatic! He should’ve been renting a small flat and cutting aboot in a £1k scrapper if it was that bad. Mental

One of the best hours of telly I’ve watched in donkeys.

I know it's yet another GD cliche but I was so offended by the sheer size of the build for two people (hadn't the kids fled the nest?) that I was hoping they'd fail or at least have to rein it in. But I think I got my schaedenfreude wish as it looked like he d gone through the mill

We ve all seen the magic money sofa but having your sister own a glass making company just as you desperately need some windows is a new one

His sister runsthe familyglass business set up by their great great grandfather.

Makes interesting reading in companies house 😉

I bet the latvians made glass cheap for the family company, and so he tried pulling a fast one with cash in hand

I quite enjoyed it! Liked the house in the end too.... except for having the kitchen/dining room in the underground carpark.

What I did appreciate was the quality - they clearly spent A LOT of time and money on the design, and having the architect design the interiors resulted in a really exceptional finished product.

Having said that, as a home to live in...... nah.

The bloke seemed ok - but just lacked basic project management skills. I suspect (due to his industry culture) had a vastly overinflated sense of his own capabilities. I agree with the above, that the project turned at the point that the Latvians couldn't use their "cassette" building technique with the complex steel frame, by their own admission this would quintuple (?) the time/budget required. We don't know who's fault that was - maybe they weren't diligent enough when scoping the job, or maybe the client changed the design so much in the 7 years they were planning it and the builders weren't consulted.

Regardless - at that turning point there should have been a conversation - "we can't deliver this project within time/budget", and work stopped until it's resolved. Worst case, you pay a fair rate for the work done to date and everyone walks away. What seemed to happen was that everyone just bimbled-on with their head in the sand, knowing that, at some point, the number of hours in the builders budget was going to run out. Sounds like the deposit for the glass was used to pay for labor costs - it wasn't expressly said whether this was/wasn't agreed, but I suspect this paid for the Latvian workers to return that second time.

I'm from a (non construction) project management background, and most of my time now is spent building project budgets, troubleshooting/costing changes, and managing the fallout this causes with (often inexperienced) clients - and was finding myself triggered throughout that episode!

Was a big fan of the wife though.

I'm guessing the budget didnt include the original house/plot too? Never really bought the 'Oh moneys tight now' act TBH. Thought the finished product looked great though too big IMO

Makes interesting reading in companies house 😉

Is there a £250k tax write off this year on foreign relations?

I can see the Latvian money was probably swallowed up by building the floors in situ.

And unloading vehicles by hand as the project manager hadn't supplied a forklift and driver for the day. Changing the spec of build items after starting (which happened at least once) is always going to be expensive and introduce delay.

The blokes face in the glass factory when the 2nd bit shattered was superb

Tbh it’s usually priced in and is why anything a bit spicy is mega money.

I had a simple bit done with a slot and a hole, all within the manufactureable ranges and it took them a few times to get one that didn’t go bang, it’s funny stuff.

Flat roof???? In Manchester????? The most mental part of the whole project.

Multi-purpose surely, the can convert it into a pub at a later date? 🤣

Seven years of misery/stress and 1.5 mill for a council office on a street covered in pavement parkers. Nice interiors, though.

Just watched it. Mind-blowing.

Still house looked amazing.

I thought the finished house looked amazing. The money side of it was just crazy but if they do come to sell then I'm sure they will recoup their money.

In by Christmas KLAXON!!!!

Modular units don’t fit together KLAXON!!!

And that’s only the first part done…

Modular units don’t fit together KLAXON!!!

And that’s only the first part done…

I’m so glad they did all the design work in house 😉

is it just me that's massively annoyed by their hard hats?

Not annoyed, but they look very odd 😁

is it just me that’s massively annoyed by their hard hats?

also annoyed

Well, that worked well.
It's not my taste in external design, but inside is great.
And it clearly means a lot to them.

I like the house. Not the cladding though.
It seems almost too easy and I like easy.

It did seem to go well.
However I would expect an onsite built thing would be cheaper - possibly quite a bit cheaper.

Nice modular build with good materials.

However, FFS why put the Buddha statue at the side of kitchen sink? Should be put on top of the cabinet facing the garden instead.

Come on Grand Designs, I’m not here to watch something that runs relatively smoothly.
It’s got to have a feel of “The Apprentice” about it, where you are almost willing for it to go wrong for the entertainment value 😂 **

That said, I did like it, although one of the upper parts just didn’t quite integrate properly, it looked like it had just fallen on top and was balanced precariously . I’m also not a fan of Corten steel , I think it looks terrible.

is it just me that’s massively annoyed by their hard hats?

One of our guys turned up to site wearing one of those . It’s been relegated to be the “w**kers” hat. The one that’s given to someone who turns up without a helmet.

** looks like we are back to epic bellenderey next week . Yay

I'm now having to watch it on +1 to see the hard hats. Most of the rest can do one, but I'm intrigued by the hats.

Edit: and they're bad

I don’t like the rusty steel / would prefer to have more of the wood cladding - and make the slats a bit wider. Also don’t like the big stupid chimney.

The views are epic and the modular build option seems a really good one. Speed of construction and precision seems really good.

Nice people that really cared about what they got and didn’t have an endless money pit. Makes a change. Wouldn’t want that every week as it’s less exciting though!

Was it just me or did anyone else think the "friendly neighbour" requiring £5k for having a crane on their land (empty field with metal mats laid out so the ground wasn't damaged by the crane...) for 2 days was taking the pi$$ a bit?

Anyway, I liked that house a lot, fast and (almost) stress free build. Bet that would have been at least double the price and three times the build time if it wasn't manufactured off-site and trucked in. Quite liked the Corten steel too.

Made a nice change that episode, Nice couple and a clever build loved the QR code stuff.  Though what is it with GD and putting bloody baths in bedrooms next to windows with no blinds (no blinds on any windows for that matter)

Yep, enjoyed that...nice couple, not the usual mega budget with equally mega size mansion & a great advert for modular

...just didn't like the stairs, style or colour

bloody baths in bedrooms

Regardless of next to window, bath in bedroom was a no for us particularly with an en suite with shower

Was it just me or did anyone else think the “friendly neighbour” requiring £5k for having a crane on their land (empty field with metal mats laid out so the ground wasn’t damaged by the crane…) for 2 days was taking the pi$$ a bit?

I felt that was put in there for a little “jeopardy “, otherwise it was going to be a straightforward build with no real issues.
Same with the car that was parked well off of the road. Did you see the gap on the lorries left hand side ?

If I was the friendly neighbour then I would want an informal contract to say if there was any damage then it would be paid for to be put right.

It’s got to have a feel of “The Apprentice” about it, where you are almost willing for it to go wrong for the entertainment value

Did you see the trail for next week? Looks like being ruinous for anyone playing the drinking game.

Another +1 on baths in bedrooms too.

Just caught up on last weeks regional airport terminal. There was definitely something going on with that glass. I can understand that the Latvians were losing money because of the overrun on the flooring, but the MD of the contractors saying that the glass was not included didn’t sound right. What was going on with the contract? I wouldn’t pay a tradesman £250 without a written quote, he shelled out €125k up front that may or may not have been included.

And 7 bathrooms? How many arses did they have between them?

Anyway, the result looked quite smart, but he’s going to have to make a lot more documentaries in North Korea to cover a £1m overspend. They could always sell it to a footballer for £5m I suppose.

Will watch this week’s tonight. From the trailer I’m not sure that I understand the transparent hard hats.