Has anyone been on Homes Under the Hammer?

[good96]

Just watching a load of episodes for inspiration. Just wondered if anyone had been on the show and what was it actually like?

Not us, but a property developer we almost bought a house from. He’d bought a complete wreck at aurction, they had been round to film a couple of times as he was renovating but he said he thought they’d lost interest as he hadn’t heard from them for a while. The purchase fell through (we lost our buyer) so we never got to hear the end of the story.

Not me, but I watched this every weekday morning on maternity leave while DD had her 10am feed.
It made me think I could get a "new kitchen and bathroom" for £10k. When the kitchen quotes came in I was brought back to reality.
Strikes me that you really need access to ready cash, to be handy at DIY plus have a team of trades ready to turn your hovel/house around in 6-8 weeks.
I wonder, out of all the auction lots that day, how they choose the 3 they are going to feature and how much project overrun buggers up their "reveal" filming schedule.

An acquaintance was on it.
I believe they film the auction and then ask afterwards who'd be interested to be on the show. I've attended an auction they filmed - they said if we didn't want to be on camera to move to one side. They then film the house before renovations start (so house has already been bought).
They often go back and things have either: not started; barely started; halfway through or finished.
The renovations tend to be pretty low standard as reflected by the price level they've bought and sold. I like it when they do the occasional up market one.

We saw an auction property that we'd viewed appear on an episode. It was a bungalow with a strange layout, and had a shared drive up the side so we didn't proceed any further with it. The people that bought it did a great job and had the vision to improve the layout in a way that was so much better than anything we would have come up with.

Can't speak to the specific programme in question, but from what I hear about the way this sort of programme in general works, the TV companies' involvement ensures that good deals are got. There are many aspects of this- publicity for suppliers and workers for example- that won't happen with us ordinary householders.

jam apparently they have huge whiteboards with all planned builds written on them. Nicknamed The Bayeux Tapestry apparently
I can't stand the bog standard "grey" reveals at the moment. I'll be glad when that fashion has well and truly ended.

Yes, my house was.

My father was asked at an auction but was too shy.

Yes, I went on it a few years ago. Was approached at the auction just after we signed the papers for exchange and asked, very politely, if we’d like to be on the programme. We agreed to a phone call and they followed up and filmed us a couple of weeks later. Lucy turned up and was very friendly, but professional. They followed up regularly and came back and filmed only when we were ready. Our finish was delayed as I got breast cancer - they asked if we wanted to include that in the finished programme and I declined. They were always pleasant and professional, never pushy. We got £100 for each of the two filming days, which are quite long. There were no other benefits or discounts on products or services. We were very honest about our costs. I very much doubt most people on there are.

Distant cousins who are a builders went on it at least twice. I've never asked the finer details, but assume they enjoyed it- to sign up again.

I know this is different, but I signed up to a programme that George Clarke would have hosted. They had 'Old house, New house' and another which was a similar- but I assume didn't go ahead as I've never seen it broadcast. They offered us nothing tangible for the time/effort of having a film crew around. They said that we'd need our own architect/builders etc, and implied that George would come in and film a scene where he made a suggestion- that we'd go with-clearly looking like it was HIS idea 🙄

They said they wouldn't pay us for our time, but IF we used one of their recommended suppliers, we MIGHT get a small % off say a kitchen or bathroom!!! I couldn't see the point!

A school dad was on an episode once. So cool! 😁

I just hope the tax office watches and checks everyone claiming to be making huge profits are paying tax properly.

I know someone who signed up to a similar renovation show but about gardens. As expected BC don't pay or contribute towards anything, they literally just come to observe and film and you aren't paid anything for contribution.

Some friends of ours were on one of the big C4 garden renovation shows probably 15 years ago. Might have been with Dermott what’s his name. They loved being on it and phoned everyone in readiness to watch it ! Not sure whether they were compensated for it financially though but they did a great job.

Have to confess on some of these property shows I am often staggered by the disconnect between the sums of money involved and the seemingly low income careers of some ot the participants.

"Tom and Sarah have a budget of £850,000 and are looking for a cottage in the Cotwolds. Tom is a barista at an independent coffee shop and Sarah sells painted shells on eBay"

🤣

This every time, so funny!

lol I also can’t get over the disconnect between the sums involved to get work done& my own experience.

Whole house needs rewiring, replastering, decorating, new kitchen, bathroom, maybe a new roof. That’ll be about 20k then! It’s mind boggling.

Don’t you think that most of them are moving out of the south east so have hefty collateral from the sale of their homes ? Show should be called ‘Escape from the South’ really 😂