Ugly house to lovely house

[longearedbat]

Just watching this. They had a budget of 150k, but the final cost was 350k! Aargh, what? And George Clarke said the architect did a good job. Lovely build it may be, but how can being so much over budget be a good job?
I never know where people get the extra money they suddenly have to unexpectedly fork out.either.

Oh my god, that poor couple were so railroaded! The whole programme was trying to justify forcing them into a grand design architect indulgence and they more than doubled their budget! It looked great but gosh it wasn't what they asked for!

Was it worth it given the road outside and the value of houses in the area. It wasn't discussed, if the house is now worth say 70k then well worth it but at 20k then no. The family never said they planned to stay. Still they "inherited" the house so hadn't had to fork out for it. The woman didn't seem that grateful (wish someone would gift me ahouse!) but it could well be how her comments were edited.

Does the house only have one bathroom still?

I was shocked too at how much the costs went up and up.
Loved it inside but really didn't like how it looked from the outside. Reminded me of these industrial units I pass on the way to work...

Trust me, Claverdon is very naice indeed....

I really felt like the architect had one design (industrial slaughterhouse with random glass corridor) and wanted to reproduce it everywhere
The other one he'd done on the beach was stark & awful too, but slightly more in keeping.

I got the impression the woman was thoroughly fucked off by the end. £350k though...

I also got impression that the woman was not impressed with the architect and can not believe the overspend. They obviously fell out with the architect as it was alluded to a few times and at end they could barely look at each other. Interesting body chemistry 😯

Remonded me of N industrial unit, too.

And I bet that glass roof gets covered in birdshit.

Same here, reminded us of industrial business unit.

That overspend was ridiculous. You wonder if they'll ever see a return on that investment as she stated at the beginning about the house price cap on that road.

These programmes must give architects a bad name as so many don't stick even remotely to the brief. The external appearance is going to look very dated in its turn, I suspect.

It did irritate me at the start when the couple were saying how ashamed they were of the house. A bit of basic maintenance when they first moved in would have made it look less scruffy.
Even if I wanted to do a big renovation I don't think I could have lived with the rotting timbers for eighteen months.

Most often, it just needs a, 'Homes under the hammer' style renovation, not a crazy money make over.

I wonder how much those renovated houses sold for over the years and several home make over shows.

Did any of the houses get sold, and if so, how much more was the value in shows like:

Changing Rooms
Sixty minutes make over
Grand Designs
Any of the George Clarke make over shows
Plus any other property make over show that I've not listed that does not show the post renovation value.

At least on Love it or List it there's not the unlimited budget that has gone on here.

I thought this was a terrible episode. Clearly the couple didn't want to spend that much money and I don't really think that they got their money's worth.

Having seen that it would completely put me off getting an architect if they just going to completely railroad people into carrying expensive work out that the couple do not in fact want to take place.

Surely being a good architect is taking into account the wants and needs of your clients and working within their budget?

The overspend on the original budget was ridiculous & the house is now so out of keeping with the rest of the road. It would put me off ever using an architect for a renovation project.

I haven’t seen it but any architect that spends 350k with an original budget and brief of 150k is shit. He should have been sacked before things got so out of hand. Their vanity and ego gets the better of them sometimes and they forget this is not a game with Monopoly money but a major life investment for most people.

I bet they’ll never see all that money back in added value. No wonder she was pissed off.

I wish they would do a rundown of what the money went on! We are looking to do a good-size extension next year including new windows, new render etc. I thought we had a decent budget to get it done but it's peanuts compared to some of these programmes-wtf did they spend the money on! There was a lot of talk about the quality of the design but for me I'm not sure that would be enough to make up for owing that much money. I prefer George's other show Old House, New Home. Bit more down to earth.

I really liked the original house including the kitchen and bathroom.
For the money they spent the house was incredibly dull.

On a different note anyone else hate the way George says "artitect"

Yes it was almost as if they'd got somebody who just wanted a revamp of the house to make it work for them as a family and persuaded them to go down a Grand Designs architectural route which was not at all what they wanted to spend their money on. I bet a lot of the money was spent on the look of the house from the outside which at the end of the day nobody ordinary really cares about and it's certainly not worth having a huge mortgage.

For £350k they could've built a massive new house. It practically was a new house anyway!
I agree that the architect knew the bloody budget and his job is to find ways to stick to it.
200k overspend is absurd for whst they ended up with.

A rural factory unit I preferred it how it was

I really didn't like it, it looked like a commercial building, not a home. I also couldn't see the point spending all that money on a house that sits on a main road opposite what looked like a factory.

It looked very wrong where it was. It would of been reasonably ok if it was on its own but on that street just way out of place.

I watched it and thought they probably could have demolished the original house and started again for that price. Ridiculously oved budget and went from being the ugly scruffy house in the street to making the neighbours look like the poor relations.

I was scratching my head, for ages, trying to work out what one of the houses up for the RIBA house of the year reminded me of, until I went shopping and realised it looked like the markses in our local retail park.

It struck me too that she wanted a blue kitchen in a galley style, but ended up with a dark red one with an island. I thought was ugly and made the space looked cramped. She certainly looked annoyed. They got the house the architect wanted, not what they wanted. Did we get to see the master bedroom even? I can't remember.
I think I would have sold the plot with planning permission for a couple of houses and moved away from that busy road. It would certainly have been cheaper to have demolished it and rebuilt anyway.
I am still wondering where the extra money came from. As they had inherited it they can't have had a mortgage on it - I bet they've now got a massive one!

It's the windows.

I didn't like the inside of that house, either.

I often don't like the designs in this series. There's always some sort of grey cladding that looks cheap and like an overgrown beach hut. I'm old fashioned - lovely bricks or stone for me, no render or cladding in sight. Also hate massive bi folding doors. Yuck. Imagine the insects in the summer . We only have bog standard patio doors and get birds and bats flying in!

I much prefer the up-do's on Love it or List or and Homes under the hammer.