Tonights Grand Designs

Surely someone with kids who has had such a stark reminder of his own mortality would think about what he would leave his family should the worst happen. In this guy’s case, crippling debt… 🙄

Also, what mos said, very disrespectful towards contractors livelihoods.

i dont even get how you can borrow that much money .
surely he must be earning a huge amount.

3.3 million and can’t afford a ping pong table.

Just watching it now. Is it a requirement to wear a hard hat at a jaunty angle to be on this programme ?

If slightly baffled, who can afford this type of debt…£ 15K a month mortgage FFS !

Per month, you repay
assuming your interest rate stays the same
£15,646
Total you’ll repay over full term
(Includes mortgage debt, £3,300,000 + total interest £1,393,892)
£4,693,892

There must be more to it than the programe let on, as surely they couldn’t borrow that amount of money without the resources to pay it back.

Not to mention the fact that he’s had a life threatening problem that may impact the ability to get a future mortgage.

They probably got critical illness payouts etc before and maybe had a million or so from the old house but even so to have that degree of arrogance and sefishness over not being able to pay and the effect on livelyhoods of others is disgusting.

Nice house, but far too big for somebody who can’t really afford it.

The one thing he wanted was a table tennis table. The one thing he didn’t get was a table tennis table.

The one thing she wanted was a big house.

Oh and a big kitchen.

Oh and the kid’s bedrooms’ to be a km away.

And a BMW.

And walls built from stones collected from the scummy public beach.

She wanted a private beach thrown in as well.

He kept talking money. She looked as though money wasn’t an issue.

The designer, fair play, had a touch of genius in him.

For GD give me a madman over a money bags any day.

Just did fag packet calcs …..

I dont earn a bad wage neither does the mrs …..

Earning potential over our working life time wouldnt clear that mortgage , let alone the term payment…..

Maybe they need to consolidate their loans into one easy monthly payment?

There’s a phrase you don’t hear much these days.

how much is the property worth?

maybe they’re thinking if things went tits up they could just flog it an be reet.

The financing is always interesting. They started with two large houses in Kent(?) which could easily have been worth a couple of million each. . I’d assume their own plus one inherited from parents. They sold the first to buy the land and presumably get started on the build but they were running out not long after the steel. so maybe they started with 1.4m in equity/cash. Maybe more – they must have thought they could afford the original build budget of 800k (so could have been 1.7m)

Then they remortgaged the second house (described as the “rental” and a buy to let mortgage). Assume they borrowed up to 50% of the value that could have been another miLion. Then mortgaged themselves to the hilt. 600-1m of mortgage?

A hell of a commitment for someone who you’d expect to be thinkin about working less. Live in it for a few years, service the debt, then sell up I reckon.

Can’t see what possible reason they had for going on the show – made them look irresponsible and arrogant. The architect (ish) is great though – a lot of interesting details and a good house (though not sure what they paid the inter.ior designer for – interior wasn’t exactly striking and the furniture was horrible. Does anyone really want an office like that?)

Boat guys house was lovely.

House in Surrey was quoted at £850k wasn’t it?

Well when I nearly died I spent a chunk of cash on therapy, rather than trying to bury my problems in the ground. Each to their own though.

therapy, aka coke & hookers !

the more recent series don’t go anywhere near the relationships between the builder/client/designer any more – notice that the window contractor was prepared to stand on site with the windows and bugger off on the ferry if he didn’t get payment, confirmation of their attitude to paying people

it was also seriously unfinished – no mention of the bedrooms/bathrooms/gym in the basement etc

the way they destroyed a beach for decorative pebbles was selfish and arrogant beyond belief, quite why IoW council let them do that is beyond me

does he have his own accounting business? maybe he used that as collateral?

Watched it just now.

As above, the husband in particular comes across as a smug ****, with regard only for himself/family and not those who have provided him with his dream home.

Can’t imagine how pissed off any contractors/suppliers are going to be while watching this if they’re still awaiting payment.

I wonder how many of his clients are getting someone to give their figures a look. Perhaps he is an accountant to people just like them. Remember he’s a tax accountant.

Paid for by the poor, sick, old and disabled.

#evisceratetaxaccountants

While it was obscenely large and expensive I quite liked the house. I assume the house had to be on a grand scale to get a planning concession to build on greenbelt. Houses that are deemed architecturally special can get exemptions from planning constraints.

The boat guy was ace.

boxer dog in high viz

Excellent stuff – looked like it meant business. Once again, the highlight.

Next week.looks good

Definitely. Appears to be the complete opposite to the IoW build but we’ll see.

Haven’t watched any of this series……

Is next weeks a rock house ? I volunteer for the NT at Kinver Rock Houses, the head gardener who I work with told me about his friend who’s house this is and that they’re going to be on grand designs soon, it’s somewhere near Bewdley/Habberley iirc.
They finished filming a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t realise they show them so soon after. They’re going to use the place as a holiday let, I can’t find the website to book it (and the owners are on holiday at the moment so I can’t ask them) as wanted to before it gets all booked up.

Thought it looked like Kinver! Kind of place you never forget.

The designer, Lincoln Miles, has been on before. They did his own house 5 or 6 years ago.

Brahm does come across as being thoroughly unpleasant though. I’d trust him about as far as I could comfortably spit a rat.

Liking this one tonight so far.
Nice bloke with a batsh*t crazy idea of modernising the caves.
The guy has MS and is beasting this so far. Hope he pulls it off.
Plus there’s about twelvety wood burners going in

Missed the start. How did he end up with the cave? Did he buy it?

Cost him £60k… I like it and him…

Yep he bought it for £62k including 4 acres.

Came across it years ago sheltering from a downpour while MTBing in the Wyre Forest! 🙂

Then bought it years later.

Seems he did buy for £50k. He used to ride mountain bikes, it’s how he found the place.

This is a good one hope it goes well

Edit, £62k then.

Cheers.

All good this week.

This looks great. Just stop with the posh interior now.

Need to arrange a visit

He’s quite chilled out, and likes coffee a lot…

Awesome job tonight.