Grand Designs

[covetingthepreciousthings]

I couldn't find a Grand Designs thread for this new series...

Did anyone watch this weeks?!

Toddler- he thought he could sell house 1 for a big profit then use the profit to finance house 2, but he ran out of money before house 1 was saleable. What a waste though. House 1 was gorgeous and he can't even live in that.

Surely the wife has to take some responsibility for this huge vanity project too? The way the children mentioned saving money from car boot was desperately sad and all for their parents greed i.m.o

I think the saddest thing is his daughters lost childhoods. I can imagine a project like that would be all consuming and they clearly didn't protect their daughters from the financial struggles.

They could have called it quits and built a lovely house (they did with the Eye) and has a great life. Instead of which they have nothing. T
They were clearly pretty wealthy and could have really helped their daughter out etc. Instead of which they have nothing.

I can't work out why the Eye can't be sold. They alluded to a safety issue but I couldn't work it out

Doesn't the access work for the lighthouse have to be completed for the Eye to be usable? I didn't quite get the full details either

From an environmental point of view it’s a disaster. All that concrete, and for what?

I agree with pp’s that initial house could have been made into something amazing.

Hubris.

@NewYoiker my daughter and I literally made grand design bingo boards!
Over budget
Steel frame
Worst weather on record
Timber frame
Behind schedule
Stress
Fixings
Etc etc!!!
Thought we were the only ones in the world who thought up GD bingo

This is the first series I've ever watched of grand designs. Its absolutely brilliant. I couldn't believe the last programme, it was incredibly self indulgent. He could have done something similar but smaller and they would all be living there now. All be it with a tonne of debt probably!

Just found this thread and am thrilled to read it all (as the well behaved mumsnetter that I am). I've not stopped thinking about the latest episode.
An article from a newspaper popped up on my Facebook feed describing this as the saddest episode ever. I was preparing for horrendous illnesses in the show, I never expected what I saw.

What a pair of fools....the husband and the wife equally

I said to dp half way through the episode-'his wife will leave him' but I was really sad when it turned out she did.
The whole thing was inexplicable really. Wouldn't you stop when you were you say 2 million in debt? why would you carry on as they did? Madness.
The house would have been stunning had it worked I think.

From an environmental point of view it’s a disaster.

I was hugely about the environmental/ecological implications of pulling down a perfectly nice, liveable house just to replace it with something else.

Such a waste of resources, materials and energy

Surely the wife has to take some responsibility for this huge vanity project too?

As with so many GDs, it would be interesting to know the real background beyond the snippet we see on the show. So many of the women talk about how ‘single-minded’, ‘driven’, ‘determined’, etc, their partner is, and I always wonder what the reality is behind the united front they present for the cameras.

In this internet-connected era, six degrees of separation, etc, there must be someone who has a tangential connection to the couple and knows how pro/against this she was from the outset. Anyone?

This whole series is depressing and sad. The Lincolnshire couple are the only ones to have had it relatively easy in comparison. I bet they’re watching it on their 8 grand sofa going “ fccccckkkkkkkkkkk...”

I bet they’re watching it on their 8 grand sofa going “ fccccckkkkkkkkkkk...”

I feel so sorry for his wife and children.

If he’d built a far more modest house he would have had something to leave to those girls.
As it is now he just has a huge debt and a pile of rubble to show for it. He literally has nothing. No wife, no home, no money. Just because he wanted to build a great big cock to live in.

@avocadoincident

don't forget:
living in a caravan
Wife pregnant
Expensive windows made in Germany

I can't be the only one that read this thread and went to watch the episode, and then, when I saw the bloke's horrible little goatee thought "Ah, now it makes sense."

Expensive windows made in Germany

And that have only 1mm leeway, and must be fitted on the windiest day since records began.

These windows were £200k which has to be a record surely

The scale of the waste - financial, material, emotional, familial - was just unfathomable to me. Seeing the bloke sitting in the ruins of his own life was like something out of Thomas Hardy. And the conversation with his daughter at the end... There's definitely a tragic novel in there. (Maybe he can sell the film rights to his story and get the money to finish the build that way)

the ruins of his own life*

Excuse me. The ruins of his and his wife's lives. Presumably his ex-wife is also jointly liable for the debt?

The whole thing was inexplicable really. Wouldn't you stop when you were you say 2 million in debt? I think though you must be so in the middle of it, with no way out except to finish it, that it must seem impossible to do anything but plough on

Just because he wanted to build a great big cock to live in

That just about sums it up

I think it was his architects vanity that was the true problem. He designed an unbuildable house for the location and charged through the nose for it.
That's why Kevin laid so much stress on the professional fees. That architect made a lot of money from a vain man.

You’re absolutely right @northernlurker - that architect should be struck off. The access road (which admits was a squiggle and then they realised that they couldn’t build it so had to elevate it) should have been a clear red flag.

Why in God’s name did they not rework the plans??

It’s King Canute Syndrome, isn’t it? “I won’t be beaten by nature” - sadly he was.

I agree @Northernlurker that Architect really got up my nose but ultimately the family could've said no to all his fancy curves and pilings.