Grand Designs – full commitment again…

Well that’s impressive.

Snatched success from the quagmire of OCD.

And it’s stunning.

(Although they won’t say, I bet they’re £500k over)

Well that was one of the best GDs ever for me. I thought they were a pair of lunatics at the start but they grew on me and I love the house when I had expected to hate it. You have to give him respect for the monumental achievement. Christ knows how much it cost in the end though.

I hadn’t anticipated that he was Thunderlips: the ultimate man, who can turn his hand to particularly difficult plastering, joinery and electrical work and do it to a high standard in his spare time Silly me

It’s a very nice hole in the ground. I’m not sure I could live without more of a changing view out of most of the windows.
But it’s impressive.
No mention of the tech behind the house; I wonder what the heating system is? Hopefully not just a dirty big gas boiler…

Monumental effort, commitment and skill. Credit to him and them. Bet it’s 500k over, but truly stunning. Great result.

Impressive, but horrible.. But I couldn’t live there.

I suspect he must be a nightmare to work for

It’s a very nice hole in the ground. I’m not sure I could live without more of a changing view out of most of the windows.
But it’s impressive.
No mention of the tech behind the house; I wonder what the heating system is? Hopefully not just a dirty big gas boiler…

Ground source heat pump possibly based upon a brief section when he was unravelling the black pipework with 2 other guys. Certainly had the space available and I think it was a horizontal system, not vertical. Looked like a mvhr system in place too judging by the ductwork shown on the ceiling before it was boarded over.

I’ll echo davosaurusrex, I really enjoyed it. The guy seemed quite cold to begin with but when they showed the family moving in and his kids were hugging him, he very much showed his warmer side.

when they showed the family moving in and his kids were hugging him, he very much showed his warmer side.

For me, he showed his ‘really awkward at giving hugs’ side 😄

House was nice. I didn’t like their attitude that all trades are incompetent. The builder’s right to reply piece was interesting.

The builder’s right to reply piece was interesting.

Indeed. It suggested that the client had directly said ‘no’, causing the roof covering issue (and others?).

Good episode but didn’t like the end result much. Which is unusual, most houses end up with some kind of wow even if grudgingly. That one I just kept thinking what they could have had with £1m+. Something with more going for it than that hole in the ground.

Wonder how much ch4 pays folk to be in programme. Surely something to compel folk to share on TV.

Not that it would go far in compensating for some of his poor and expensive decisions. Glad the contractor got right of reply.

We will never know the truth re the original membrane, it certainly didn’t look good, but I respected the builders point. Either way, as capable as the owner is, I don’t believe he did it all himself. As said before, finishing the electrics was extreme in such a big project. He must be almost impossible to work for.

Wonder how much ch4 pays folk to be in programme. Surely something to compel folk to share on TV.

They didn’t used to when I was selling kit to a few.
We as a company even got so fed up of GD builders phoning up and a) demanding huge discounts so we could be on the telly and b) because they choose nutters to make good telly, they were usually a risky total nightmare to work with, that we all but instigated ‘no’ to any GD…

Bless her, she was still sticking to her guns until we asked her to imagine rolling over one morning and coming face to face with my dad laying cable about 15ft away.

🤣

My wife is asking me why I’m laughing so much. I suspect there will be eye rolling.

Actually I didn’t like it!
If I was paying that much money to live in the countryside then I’d actually like to see it rather that live in a hole with just one window to look over the grass [that was too high].

I wonder how long it took for the car lift to break so that they were stranded?

Whilst I was impressed with his skill and commitment I couldn’t warm to him.

The house was pretty cool in a retro sci-fi sort of way in a future where everything is perfect… a bit like Logan’s Run.

I thought the finished building had huge wow! Factor, although I’ve no idea what it’s like to live in. The guy’s OCD was the driver for the cost and schedule overrun and nearly broke them I thought. They did well to survive. I’m pretty sure there was a magic money tree and a magic helper team and lots of other stuff were weren’t shown, but…. Wow.

I agree with sharkbait, I didn’t like it. Although I’m sure the garage lift would get its own bullet point if it’s ever put on Rightmove.

The outdoor seating was very much sitting in a shady concrete ditch

The low profile though would get you Kudos from the neighbours I suppose

I’ve just found it on Google maps if anyone’s interested:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2771185,1.0358277,236m/data=!3m1!1e3

As others have said, a complete nightmare to work with/for – completely unrealistic expectations of quality for the trades he’d employed/money he was paying, seemingly wanting Rolls Royce finish for Ford money.

Given that, I quite liked the result. it did seem well finished but I doubt the extra quality will ever be realised in a sale.

one thing I couldn’t get over, given his OCD, was the square window in the oval hole. It looked absolutely shocking from the outside. Surely it was designed for a custom shaped window?

Wonder how much ch4 pays folk to be in programme. Surely something to compel folk to share on TV.

Sweet FA, and having spoken to someone who’s been on it also adds a level of extra stress and complexity to the process. Having a film crew on site is disruptive (with some re-shoots – ‘can you do that again’) and you also end up with a deadline if they want to show the finish house (which is why you fairly often end up with, as someone mentions above, some turf badly thrown about to make the garden look less like a building site).

I always ponder the motivation of the people who are on there – if they’re an architect then it’s clearly got potential to be good exposure (and I’d guess maybe it’s the architects that suggest/persuade some of the others) but for a lot it’s a bit of a puzzle

For all his obsessive attention to detail i could see plenty of things that were not 100% at the end of the program, the plastering of the ceilings was all over the place and the curved looped terracing was all wonky and you could see where the shuttering for the pour was done in curved stages with a variable radius and straight bits, i bet there’s more little annoyances that the camera doesn’t show.

I had a wow factor but the place left me cold, not sure why but i have seen more impressive places that cost a lot less, i would imagine the cost of unnecessary digging down ate up a lot of money which could have built a stunning above ground dwelling.

Imagine having to work with him? i bet he gets off the ship and gives all the ropes a tug as he doesn’t trust anyone to do the job properly.

What I couldn’t fathom (hehe) was why they went with a design that someone else had commissioned. All that obsession over executing someone else’s ideas! For the money they could have had their own dream house designed.

Agree with Mr Smith I thought I saw poor, or at least not outstanding, finishing at the end. I commented to my wife that his of OCD had gone into’quality’ where it wouldn’t show and probably wouldn’t make any functional difference and although he had the skills for that, when it comes to visible quality of the finish could be match the pro trades people or would his inability to step away leave him with a poorer final finish?

I’ve just found it on Google maps if anyone’s interested:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2771185,1.0358277,236m/data=!3m1!1e3

looks like a giant lady garden from above!

As others have said, a complete nightmare to work with/for – completely unrealistic expectations of quality for the trades he’d employed/money he was paying, seemingly wanting Rolls Royce finish for Ford money.

He had a very condescending manner about him, especially when he was with the guy on the roof nailing down the strip.
His job appeared to be him overseeing installation of equipment that is built to a high tolerance in a factory.
I bet everything on that site was within building tolerances, just seemed he was looking for mm tolerance rather than what is actually achievable. Had a chippy like him who moaned our 10 ton steel structure was 3mm out of tolerance on a job. Wasn’t best pleased when the grownups told him to STFU and get on with it after he had tried to complain higher up about it. BTW erected steel tolerance is generally +-10mm

What I couldn’t fathom (hehe) was why they went with a design that someone else had commissioned. All that obsession over executing someone else’s ideas! For the money they could have had their own dream house designed.

I would guess the land was sold with planning permission for the design built. Obviously, he could get a new design and re-submit for planning but that would take months. I assume they thought the design was ok so went with it.

There’s a couple of plots near me at the moment, both with planning permission for designs I wouldn’t build!

The building looked cool at the end, but i wouldn’t want to live there.
Like others i wondered on the finishing of the roof, would be annoyed if a plasterer left that at my house.
I think he was a royal pain in the arse and surprised no one lamped him during the build. His wife must be either mental or have the patience of a saint

Fair play the guy wanted it done his way and stuck to it !! I mean it was his money 🤷‍♂️

If Hambini built a house…

I thought the house was amazing but living in a hole in the ground has too many disadvantages for me. Primarily the lack of a view.

The interior level of the living area was significantly below the only outwards facing window they had. When you sit at the dining table all you see is the sky. The guy must’ve been a nightmare to work for but, fair play to him, he was able to turn his hand to absolutely everything. Quite admirable.

Looking at the google maps link I don’t know why they didn’t just build a more conventional house on the hill rather than in it.

Looking at the google maps link I don’t know why they didn’t just build a more conventional house on the hill rather than in it.

plannign permission was only granted for something in the ground, rather than on the ground – the house next door looks much nicer.

grahamt1980
His wife must be either mental or have the patience of a saint

She seemed a less enthusiastic at the start of the programme but was as bad as he was by the end – #stockholmsyndrome

I didn’t really believe the planning restriction. Ok, that is the plan that land was sold with, but we don’t know which nimby sold the land. Looking at Google maps I reckon it was the one behind with the South facing gable end with a gap in the trees for their view.

It was supposedly to retain the levels of the hill fort that was on the site

Not for me I can’t see how they have got away with trashing an Iron age hill fort.

Wasn’t the hill fort dug up when it was a quarry? That’s why it was just sand there were digging into. But I may have mis-heard.

Yes, already dug up and full of sand. There are quite few houses along that edge of the hill. Presumably if the site was intact enough to be of much value then there would be no building allowed at all.

I’ve just watched the second one, I love the idea of building a house. I’ll never do it, but if I do it’ll be a few modules that get bolted together on site.

I think that’s the smoothest GD I’ve ever watched and I really liked the end result 😎

So, most cost effective way to the house they want is to flatten a £800k house🤣

Can’t see £550k building that either when they were quite double 🤣

Might be nice..

Well this series has given me confidence that brexit hasn’t scared off foreign trades👍👍👍👍