Grand Designs – full commitment again…

Interesting that last week’s build was 25% over budget, and they got grief on here…this week, 25% over budget…”didn’t he do well” 😂

ok I will bite. One was £75k and it was fairly easy to see how he could afford to cover it with what is presumably quite a well paid job and he only has £175k of debt to service. One was nearer £500k over spent with debts coming out of thier eyeballs and absolutely no apparent way they would ever be able to service the debt. 

I know it’s grand designs, but depending on how pokey the bungalow was you’d think that keeping the whole lot & building a jetty and simple garden room by the pond would have been money better spent. Didn’t warm to the guy myself, wonder if there was a bit of tempting the younger kids away from mum was part of the reasoning behind it all, but I’ve been on the receiving end of that sort of thing so maybe I’m biased.

you’d think that keeping the whole lot & building a jetty and simple garden room by the pond would have been money better spent.

If you can build the forever house of your dreams for just a £175k debt then it sounds like money well spent to me.

Didn’t warm to the guy myself,

Agree there.  There was clearly a lot of issue from his childhood carried over …. the stark comparison between his minimalistic life and the clutter of his Mum’s house, perhaps over compensating to his kids for not having his Dad around and as you say, maybe a little competing with his wife.

Still a cracking house for the money.

wonder if there was a bit of tempting the younger kids away from mum was part of the reasoning behind it all, but I’ve been on the receiving end of that sort of thing so maybe I’m biased.

ooof that doesn’t feel a nice thing to say. Personally I thought he did a great job, clearly loves his kids and there would be a million other easy ways to ‘tempt the kids away’ than pouring two+ years of your life into a project like that.

The juxtaposition of this weeks with last weeks was deliberate – they have done similar in previous series.

I thought he seemed genuine and sincere…. again the opposite of last week.  Yes there was obviously a ton of baggage there re: his own childhood, and his past relationships, but his: “I just want to be the best dad to my kids that I can be” really got me in the feels.  My wife thought he was a bit wierd though (for balance).

Kevin was good this week too – maybe because he didn’t have any impregnating to do?

I found the design a bit fussy – I would have preferred cleaner lines/levels, but thats a personal thing.  I would rather he had copied the simpler aestehetic of the (really expensive) Berkshire version.  It wouldn’t have been any more expensive, and I just think it was just better designed.

I couldn’t really understand the heating either

Overall, a good one I think.

I liked it – was nice to see someone design something to a budget.  Not sure I get the raised bedrooms thing but certainly as a house it worked and it seemed to fit the brief.

I did think that design cock up with the levels was inexcusable though.  I can’t believe they were all so chilled about, I would have properly kicked off and the architect or whoever would have been paying to make good. There is no way it was either the client or the project manager’s fault, can’t quite fathom how he came to be paying for it.

Normally Kevin doesn’t annoy me at all but the way he kept on snipping about “penny pinching” etc.. got waring. The guy was clearly careful with his money but knew he had a tight budget with challenges, which given everything outside his control like our recent inflation / increasing building materials costs, he did well to mitigate.
The house? I’m not a fan of the raised part, it seemed to be there for design reasons – to look different – rather than any other reason. Very different to the “flood plain house” that Kevin visited. Also the extension without facilities seemed odd even if it was a cost saving issue. One bathroom in a new 4 bed house seems would be viewed negatively in today’s new houses

True about the lack of services in the bedrooms – I guess he’s not interested in selling up any time soon but seemed a bit of a shame not to put them in now while it’s cheap as there’s almost certainly no cost effective way to retro fit them.
Was also a bit confused about the raised area, it wouldn’t have been a huge amount more to actually fill it in but then this was designed to a budget and the compromise was he wanted to feel like they were up in the tree and this was the most cost effective way of achieving that.  It was no bigger than necessary and has no room for clutter.

Normally Kevin doesn’t annoy me at all but the way he kept on snipping about “penny pinching” etc.. got waring.

I agree. It came across as Kevin being a bit snobby because the guy had the audacity to want to try and stick to his budget. 

It dies make less interesting TV when things go to plan . . .

I think it had a en suite and family bathroom in the main the block plus cloakroom downstairs. I think that is sufficient in 4 bed house!

I liked the raised element it was part of the design and allowed you to look through the site from front to back. Plus the novelty of living in the tree canopy. 

Overall the best one in a while for me and nice it was a realistic budget. 

But it was 25% over!! 😂

If he was so limited in his funding, where did suddenly find another 25%?? It’s just the same as last week but on a smaller budgetary scale….

Apparently I’ve got to watch last weeks, my mates in it for a few milliseconds 🙂

If he was so limited in his funding, where did suddenly find another 25%??

Oddly, no suggestion of Only Fans…

[Twodogs]

Twodogs

Full Member

But it was 25% over!! 😂

Third time lucky egh!

as you’re obviously a fan of repetition:

25% of a smaller number is less money than 25% of a bigger number.  It may be that he had to borrow slightly more to cover it, but given his job, it seemed like it should be manageable.

And: as was repeated ad-infinitum in the episode: his build and fit/finish was very modest, and was working very hard to control costs.  Less so the previous week… in fact the oposite.

Also, the couple last week didn’t go over-budget (I don’t think?) – the house was always going to cost that much (as evidenced by the original quotes)…. They just ignored the fact that they didn’t have enough money, then acted all surprised when it actually cost as much as they were told it would cost.

But it was 25% over!! 😂

Third time lucky egh!

as you’re obviously a fan of repetition:

25% of a smaller number is less money than 25% of a bigger number.  It may be that he had to borrow slightly more to cover it, but given his job, it seemed like it should be manageable.

Also, the couple last week didn’t go over-budget (I don’t think?) – the house was always going to cost that much (as evidenced by the original quotes)…. They just ignored the fact that they didn’t have enough money, then acted all surprised when it actually cost as much as they were told it would cost.

IdleJon
Full Member
But is there another Stormy Castle? (The one up on the left off the Llangennith lane rings a bell)

I’ve just checked my OS map and you are absolutely right – it’s the same place. (Of course it is, I’m being a dumbass!) But what’s the one near Hillend called? I can’t be bothered to go down there today! 😁 (I was thinking of walking from Cwm Ivy tomorrow, maybe I’ll head down that way.)

So there are 2 stormy castles on Gower…the one on the left on the way to Llangennith is indeed also Stormy Castle…

So there are 2 stormy castles on Gower…the one on the left on the way to Llangennith is indeed also Stormy Castle…

Thankfully it’s not just my ageing brain getting frazzled… 😀

Anyone watching the bonkers Hackney house with the grumpy teenage girls watching on in horror?

I was waiting for something to go wrong. The basement / concrete contractor was blurred out earlier.

Oh good grief. That’s horrendous.

Yep, it’s pretty disastrous. They have lost a third of the space!
Mum & Dad should take it on the chin and have the Mezzanine and give the girls the bedroom!

Just catching up. Another recurring theme for the bingo card is building a home for your family then missing a big chunk of family life getting it built.

What a mess they have got themselves into. A tiny tiny plot!
They could have moved to the commuter belt and got a lovely house.

If I remember correctly…..

£270,000 for two garages?

Then a last minute £15,000 for the 3rd one!

£440,000 mortgage before going over budget…wow.

I think his dress sense in Morocco explains alot…lol!

Yes. One of the worst results I’ve seen. Externally an eyesore (IMO of course). Massively over budget. Unfinished. More money needed to sort out the basement.

Amazed it got planning permission . Completely different style to the rest of the street. Wonder  how the neighbours  reacted to it.

Edit – they didn’t like it. Before and after pics from neighbour’s garden here.

@granddesigns I can honestly say this experience has been the worst of my life. It has removed our entire view of the sky and now all we have to look at is a giant red concrete wall. This is located in a conservation area and zero consultation was done with the neighbours. pic.twitter.com/zV1rX9fJ0S

— nellenagem (@nellenagem) October 26, 2023

Was trying to work out what was wrong with the steel. They said the welds were bad. Could have been rectified in situ . I wonder if the timber company supplied them and used a fabricator who didn’t have the correct credentials.

Wow. What a car crash. I didn’t really mind the external design but I think the £450k was build only so with the plot as well they are £720k in for an unfinished one bedroom house. Crazy stuff. No wonder they don’t want to sell, they’d lose a fortune.

It’s bogging !! How did it get planning permission?

That neighbour tweet says no consultation with neighbours. I would be very surprised if council ignored their statutory responsibility for planning consultation.

They had to get part of the exterior rendered rather than brick, for expedience. I presume that was the bottom part of the walls? I quite like the fibre board upper walls, but the red render just didn’t work. I can see if it sat on brick (same sort as the neighbouring houses?) then I think it would have worked better.

unfinished

They seem to be lashing some stuff together this series. Maybe they’re committed to a series and didn’t quite have the body of work to make it happen, so they’ve had to rush some stuff?

Just watched the red blob episode – what an ugly POS. Totally out of place in that street, same basic design in just crisp white render would have been better. Architect trying to create something fancy for his “portfolio” and media exposre. The teenagers clearly not happy,  when they first saw the basement hole….”We’ll never see daylight again” lol.

In that situation, could the neighbours have refused point blank to allow scaffolding access in their garden?

I like these people and potentially the house too – hope it doesn’t go too wrong…

oh

Seriously. Zip ties!

I’d love to have seen more of the build on this. The finish is excellent. Shame it’s not yet complete. An enjoyable episode

A talented family. 

Great house design, maybe a bit too near that tree!

I hope those concrete columns are up to the job, esp with frost action etc  

Not sure about her future and how she will complete it though, 

I wonder if she sold the other place or needs the rent income.

Nice looking storage shed (1st Nov episode) – all be it empty !

Wanted to like it but much preferred the architects house than inspired it, think I was hoping for something more organic and in keeping with the surroundings.

I really liked last nights house, but have major envy of the architects house they went to in the middle of the programme. Anyone have a link to it?

 Anyone have a link to it?

https://www.passivhaustrust.org.uk/projects/detail/?cId=887

That was possibly the nicest looking architect design I’ve seen in a long time on GD. Particularly the overhangs that didn’t scream “I’m an overhang!”

And what P20 said.