Don’t know why but last night’s just didn’t grab me.

Maybe it was the unrealistic budget and the inevitable massive overspend, or the lack of landscaping and furnishings. Perhaps if they go back in a year it will have “bedded in”.

I switched it off because it just didn’t have a “real” feel to it. From what I saw he was a fantastically driven guy who was destroying his disabilities. However something didn’t just sit right how the big boys were getting “on board” to “help” out. And also the budget was hugely unrealistic purely for the underground build itself and what that undertakes. How much did it cost in the end?

I hope that all who suffer injuries in the forces (and indeed elsewhere) have the support network that he seemed to suddenly receive. He seemed to be a very driven bloke determined to overcome but the whole build was unrealistic from the off. How often would Bryant turn up on one of his own sites?

How much did it cost in the end?

Around £500k – ouch!

Nice house for an ex-serviceman to be able to afford – did they say how he financed it? (I missed the beginning).

They were selling both their houses to finance it, plus a ‘bit’ of compo apparently.

Around £500k – ouch!

They never actually said at the end, they gave an estimate of 500k part way through but when uncle Kevin (noticed he was back on baby making form last night) asked them at the end how much it had cost they just said “it had cost what it was worth” or something very similar.

did they say how he financed it?

They had a property each to sell, he got a compensation payout related to his injuries and the rest was on a mortgage.

As a project for them to have a better life it looked like a success but as a piece of architecture it left me unimpressed. losing the full length of windows from the roof was a real shame and the off the shelf windows and doors had massive frames on them so his original ideal of a wall of glass never really materialised. It all looked a bit clunky which might be down to the second architects (necessary) cost cutting and use of off the shelf components.

The back story was of course worth listening to, as was how the house is being designed for his specific needs, but overall it was a bit of a struggle to keep watching from a general architectural point of view as with a few have recently.