Grand Designs – full commitment again…

This weeks was one of the best episodes in a long time. That lad worked so hard and they created an amazing home for themselves. She had such a positive outlook on life.  I wish them well

large number of these builds are be architects or “builder” who get lots of free advertising by dint of its being their build.

The programme is no advert for architects. Most episodes seem to involve the architect making some major blunder that can’t be built out doesn’t work for one reason or another

I’m not getting good vibes on this one so far. I’m not sure he’s got the right reasons for doing this or the capabilities to execute on it.

Agreed, seems to be needing to deal with his daddy issues. Surely would have been more eco to retrofit insulation, solar etc and rejig the internals?

this one has car crash written all over it

There was nothing in that case. I’m not feeling thee love for either of them, he can’t be told anything and she’s a bit of a drama queen.

This “U” shape house is nice.

£200k over budget…

I wonder how much he would have saved if he had just paid for the drawings and got it done the way the architect envisioned. What did building control have to say about it all ? My mate had nothing but hassle from them about the insulation in his eaves details when he converted a detached garage into a small dwelling.

Fair play to him though if he has done all that finishing by himself , that’s a lot of work. At least it kept him from gluing his hands to the M25 😉

The case was definitely empty!

“Do the drawings” has to be lesson 1 of these projects…

First time in years I’ve watched it – I’ll leave it for another 3 or 4 years to let my blood pressure reduce!!

For the same reason I can no longer watch Location, Location, Location.

And aren’t open tread stairs now banned under building regs?

I cannot fault him for effort.

But was it worth it?

For the same reason I can no longer watch Location, Location, Location

I can’t watch that programme because the two presenters are just so bloody irritating, so patronising. But that’s probably another thread in itself, or for the Disproportionately Cross one at any rate.

Just weird, and weird over wealthy people, odd relationship.

They essentially built a complex of four 1 bed apartments in the middle of a massive green lawn for at least£1 million build cost. I find it impossible to believe that after the initial basic structure and roof build he did it all himself even given the timescale.

I’m not seeing how it’s ‘eco’, or how either of them are going to run retreats or wellness things.

Such a wasted opportunity. Didn’t do anything for me. Tbh I nearly turned it off.

Another water tower conversion next week, could be more interesting.

I liked his approach to life. I’ve got all this work to do to finish my partner/wife’s apartment for the sake of her health but **** it, I’m spending half my day relaxing on the lawn 🙂

Among other things stressing me out about that very weird episode were the shots of him building away with only the barefoot running shoes on his feet.

Sometimes barefoot shoes or sandals and shorts, but a hard hat lol!

Yet again, there’s no barriers on the balcony, how do they get away with it?????????????/

Yes, build a house to reduce stress, by getting your wife to lay on her back painting the gutters.

The whole thing was a bit weird and he obviously had father (dis)approval issues that he was trying to resolve.

I can’t be the only one who tracks Kevin’s jackets throughout the episodes, not sure if he really feels the cold, or if he’s always in freezing locations, but that man loves to layer! Decent Patagucci collection.

Mixed feelings about this one. Its the village I grew up in so know the site and especially those woods incredibly well and would love to able to live someday so I took it a bit personally that he built something rather underwhelming on such a lovely site.

Also from a professional perspective have some slight questions about a raft foundation on what’s typically a fairly high plastic clay. The wifes an architect and she started rolling her eyes at the lack of drawings.

Had both of them accidentally swallowed The Little Book of Calm, or were they really completely hyper, anger filled people who had to behave weirdly placidly in front of the camera?

Be interesting to see it after 5yrs. Can’t help but thinking it’ll look tired, especially that 650mm roof border/guttering he fell out with the architect over. Looked pretty poorly finished new.

Kevin’s jackets

He has a Mk1 TNF McMurdo that gets a lot of screen time (I have the same jacket but in brown – jacket buddy’s!!!!)

I started watching where the designer and him fell out over the roof capping, and I thought the designer was a stuck up person. I think he was right though, the finished product reminded me of school reports – unfulfilled potential!

Then when she got her Cancer diagnosis and saying that it makes you reflect on the important things in life – I expect starting that bloomin project felt like the least important thing in the world!

The wifes an architect and she started rolling her eyes at the lack of drawings

Oh the irony! 😀

Cripes that was awful, yeah he got it finished but in a sort of 5 years old crayon drawing version of the original design.

I find there’s normally only one or two good homes per series and it’s the Yorkshire one from last week by a mile so far.

I missed the start and couldn’t work out if they were brother and sister or married. Very strange dynamic all round.

I can just imagine the guys on site ripping the piss in the early stages, reminds me of the phase “a bit naive with a shovel” what a self indulgent arsehole – bet you £5 he’s an only child.

I’m not sure why as a married couple you would want to live in separate apartments. I can understand e act having a study or room to escape to but not separate homes. I do wonder if this was an excuse to build 4 flats that can be split and sold off separately.

The designer seemed to have done a lot of pretty drawings of the house. Perhaps less of them and some decent drawings of the roof may have been better value

couldn’t work out if they were brother and sister or married. Very strange dynamic all round.

I’m not sure why as a married couple you would want to live in separate apartments.

Modern slavery. That’s why they spoke so weirdly to camera as well. I’m assuming he was her slave, but who knows. They didn’t show much of the house in the round-up because most of it is a secure dungeon. Kevin may still be there.

Kevin may still be there.

Let’s face it, they could breed from him. He seems to be unstoppable given all the gossip on this thread 😀

I didn’t really understand how that worked out, he had an initial budget of 800K, then fell out with the architect over the design details. Then he seemed to complete it himself, but still  200K over budget.

They seemed to miss out a lot of details and didn’t show much of the finished house. I think the original had more character and could have been altered.

Seems as if he wanted to erase his past somehow, very odd episode…

Given the costs reported by others, I really couldn’t see where £1m went, especially since he spent years doing it himself. Although those false skylights might have cost a lot – small fusion reactors are really expensive.

The architect was quite right about those fascias (or whatever). Waaay too phat.

I preferred the cool 70s house that his father had built.

🙂

Talk about biting off more than you can chew…

I’ve found this water tower pretty uncomfortable to watch to be honest. Think they’ve pushed it a bit far here, and at what cost to them and their kids. The slides will be ready when they’re at uni!

Can’t see how they’re going to finish it.

Agree. I can appreciate their single-minded approach and tenacity but lost all perspective.