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I didn’t hate it/him as much as I thought I would having read here before watching. Amazing he’s managed to get as far as he has with his somewhat lacking attention to detail, but he’s not even top 10 when it comes to grand designs throbbers.
His main contractor deserves a sainthood though.
tomhoward+1
Not a developer that I'd go to, but personable enough.
Long wait for German windows again!!
Are those patio doors legal ? I actually quite like the fact you can open the door and fall out but surprised it got signed off!
It's in keeping with the area, for years there was a bungalow round the corner that just had a UPVC door to nowhere in the gable end.
@kayak23 - thanks for sharing this, although given the youth of the house, I’m slightly concerned that the joinery already needs a few months of your fettling, so hope that it’s more your cabinet-making skills in play for new stuff than remaking curved doors. I would love to build a Passivhaus in my sloping garden in the next few years but certainly not 800m2 worth!
I expect that give it a couple of months and it'll be bleeding rust out of the render given the lack of attention to detail in the rest of the build.
I’m not sure Kev is impressed by these two idiots. Only starts in March 23 so they either get it all done or we’ll be back to look at a muddy hole at the end…
He works with multi global companies so it's in safe hands.
multi global companies
Perfect for GD, different planets.
I like how the massive pergola sensitively ties the garden in with the house. They'd be lost without it.
It’s not my taste but I can’t knock the fact they got it done. No babies, no caravan, no major dramas. Weird really.
Edit: I’ve warmed to them, as has Kev. Under budget! There was a nod of approval from him there.
House for two persons? LOL!
This "long house" can easily house 3 generations if not all the relatives in.
That is really quite an achievement. Kudos.
I liked them. Got stuck in, under budget and a couple of months early.
Started thinking "Oh yeah, this will be a car crash". Ended thinking "Nice work, well done" Doing that in 18 months under budget, very well done.
Really wanted to slag this one off, but the only thing I didn't like was the corten steel. <shrug>
Not sure Lincolnshire is going to hold their attention though.
If you want more info on tonight's house, they are members of the excellent Buildhub self build forum
https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/40692-were-featuring-on-grand-designs-next-week-%F0%9F%8E%A5/
And here is their Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/thefoxesmaltings/
As soon as I heard 'influencers' I wanted to dislike them/the project but fairplay, they did a great job with minimal drama. Only thing I didn't like was the weird cloudy paint finish everywhere. Loved the table too!
Ahead of schedule / under budget / she didn’t get pregnant ?
what nonsense is this ??
Really wanted to slag this one off, but the only thing I didn’t like was the corten steel. <shrug>
I can’t stand the stuff , but the rusty / retro look really helped them out there . There’s a reason why a decent survey is in the £k’s , along with fitting. Fair play for having a go though
Yeh, under budget, ahead of schedule, no pregnancy, and they didn't seem like total arseholes, and they appeared to put a lot of work in.
Obviously being multi-global IT guy pays off lol! Whatever other planets he worked on gave them GD super powers.
I think, as Kevin said, youthful energy had a lot to play in this. The only really 'meh' we had was the enormous pergola really .
I'm doubting the under budget bit, I suspect not entirely honest there, all for the clicks and likes.
Do GD check this or just take their word?
He works with multi global companies so it’s in safe hands.
and
As soon as I heard ‘influencers’ I wanted to dislike them
^^^ That and that. I immediately told my wife that I couldn't watch it so we ended up *finally* starting Sherwood. I might have to give it a go though now.
Great finished product, but I call BS on some of their comments / the impression they give. Especially the underbudget bit. Yes you can muck in to save a few quid but not 100+k. I didn't see any mention of an architect either? May have missed that bit as was half watching. Carrying a few thousand slates onto a roof in a nice shiny superdry rucksack whilst looking better than I do when I go out for a posh meal? Completely staged.
Several red flag BS moments - especially the multi global comment - the fact they left that it in was interesting. It is in these guys interest to portray themselves as superhuman / incredibly successful at everything they do, it is what drives their social media engagement, which in turns makes more money for them.
But, whilst not my taste, the final product looked amazing. So fair play for that.
Carrying a few thousand slates onto a roof in a nice shiny superdry rucksack whilst looking better than I do when I go out for a posh meal? Completely staged.
100% , especially with farmer Giles next door with his handy Telehandler 😉
Some money in them socials ! Thing is, these things don't last ! Loved the house, less impressed with the boring garden.
I’m doubting the under budget bit, I suspect not entirely honest there, all for the clicks and likes.
Do GD check this or just take their word?
He did mention he had a contingency built into his costings. Might have been a generous 10/20%
Apart from the extra £4k they paid on the groundworks ( probably offset by what they saved on the Corten) , it all appeared to go well.
Only thing that niggled me ,were the missing skylights. Why not just knock up some waterproof timber covers so they could get on with the inside with no danger of water coming in . ( rather than just stapling polythene sheets to the outside )
less impressed with the boring garden.
That'll mature in though.
They came across reasonably well. Presuming the relationship with the farmer was true and they kept him sweet for access to his son and equipment.
We caught it part way through. I immediately thought 'Apprentice meets Grand Designs' mashup... I bet the '£623k' was the bricks etc build cost. Excluding plot, architect etc. I don't believe an IT PM and a makeup influencer (gah!) could do that for £100k under unless the budget was inflated £100k over in the first place - specially when they seemed to forget to confirm where one trade ended and the next began eg groundworkers and brickies and to order rooflights that actually fitted...
Where was the log store and log basket for the nice woodburning stove ?
That gym was not a cost saving!
The bbq looked huge on the patio too!
That huge pond or swimming pool?
Its those smaller details makes you realize the money spent and add to that mortgage!
I missed the start as well.
The end product did look ok .
The garden feature did work and help the overall look.
Can't win with you miserable buggers on here.
Came in ahead of schedule and under-budget - no major SNAFUs.
Seemed like nice people - the chap was a bit too fond of the corporate jargon, but didn't find him as triggering as some of the absolute roasters they have on.
I quite liked the house - even the corten looked ok (on the outside) - not a fan of the decoration, but I quite liked the design. My only critisism is that the brickwork on the front should have been a bit more interesting - a few more buttresses or details around the windows, it just looked too much like a estate new-build.
I thought the garden looked great in the renderings - even the giant pagoda. Once it's all planted-out it'll look good I think.
Proof that a well managed build doesn't make a great episode.
Build cost of 1600 per square meter? Unlikely with handmade bricks, corten, slate roof, glazing sizes, garden structures, and the internal fit out, including the gym which you don’t fit out like that if you are tight on budget!
But good looking building, and despite my intense dislike of influencers and their type they seemed quite nice!
I’m currently building my own house. Huge for me, but relatively modest compared to most Grand Designs, 10m x 9m footprint, it’s looking like we’ll be all in , including internal fit out/furniture for less than £210k. We’re currently almost watertight (2 windows and the patio doors to be fitted, when we finally get them - the Company went bust 3 weeks ago), fitting out the inside now.
From my back of envelope figures, we’re currently at around £160k, the external brickwork is the only remaining large bill (£10-15k), possibly some tarmac at £5-7k too. Then its flooring, wall coverings and external landscaping to get rid of the piles of waste soil and raise the ground level around 300mm. That should take us to the £200-210k level, so if managed correctly I can see how they did their large build for £630k.
Oh, we’re not skimping too, really well insulated, ASHP, Neff ovens (note plural!), nice large bathrooms etc. If it was a budget build I could definietley do it for less than £200k for a four bed, 2 bath detached. Of course, I’m not taking wages out of it, so that would be a £30k cost on top, even then, its easily doable for well under £250k.
I dont watch Grand Designs but caught this one and I agree with some of the comments here, Kevin def warmed to them and surprised under budget, delivered quickly and no pregnancy or divorce/split!
Carrying a few thousand slates onto a roof in a nice shiny superdry rucksack whilst looking better than I do when I go out for a posh meal? Completely staged.
I mean, the whole show is somewhat staged, but I expect they filmed the first dozen runs to see if they failed or made it, looked like they would do it so filmed the clip and then left them too it, I bet by the time they finished there looked much worse being sweaty and mucky!
Couldn’t figure out why they didn’t just hire a Bumpa lift for the slates, one of them loading and the other unloading. Suppose the flaw is that they’d have needed another to film it for the Socials.
A minor quibble, as otherwise I liked it.
I imagine that they were quite savy and that a lot of the "featured" suppliers were assisting with the financing in some way. The we're influencers and are going to be on Grand Designs will certainly help in that regard.
Did anyone notice that the farmer's son's Tshirt getting blurred out in one scene - I wonder if it was just a swoosh or if he thought "I'll get a tshirt printed for GD"?
I've just caught up with the first one. I really liked it and I quite liked him. Sure he must have been infuriating to work with but he never blamed others for his mistakes which is why I guess his contactors have been able to work with him for years.
Couldn’t figure out why they didn’t just hire a Bumpa lift for the slates,
because they wanted to come in under budget. That’s how you make savings, lots of little areas, not one big one.
tomhoward
Couldn’t figure out why they didn’t just hire a Bumpa lift for the slates,
because they wanted to come in under budget. That’s how you make savings, lots of little areas, not one big one.
If you, for one minute, believe that they carried several tonnes of slates up that ladder, 10 at a time in a rucksack, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.
Unlikely with handmade bricks
It looked like they were mass-produced and then given a cosmetic overhaul to achieve the hand-made look.
The wolf logo on their hi viz looked familiar but I can't think what brand?
There was a whole segment on how the new bricks were distressed…
When they were delivered all the logos were smudged out. Always find that weird.
I always assumed that the smudge was for advertising "reasons" but it always annoys me that a large number of these builds are be architects or "builder" who get lots of free advertising by dint of its being their build.