The Great House Giveaway Channel 4

[LadyEloise]

Anyone watching.
I've enjoyed the 2 episodes I've seen.

First time watching today. It was very frustrating. I really hated the way the two participants claimed they were desperate to get places of their own but seemed completely unprepared to put in the work to do it. Just plain lazy. They got to ‘play’ with thousands of pounds and then just shrug at the end in an ‘oh well, we were a bit crap’ type of way with no recourse. Then the pregnant woman went in to announce she’d bought a house with her boyfriend so why even bother in the first place.

I just can't get to grips with how these participants were selected; they seem so lacking in commitment or motivation, or even any enthusiasm. Totally baffling that they seem to have expected to get a reward for doing absolutely zilch themselves.

Such a wasted opportunity today. It was a pretty easy straight renovation.

I don't understand why they pick strangers instead of selecting couples or friends. I guess they want something a bit different from Homes Under the Hammer.

Six months isn't really enough time to do a job worthy of a good profit around full time jobs (and holidays ). Nine months would be better.

Tonight’s was so frustrating and annoying to watch. What a total waste of a really great opportunity. I agree that most of the people selected talk the talk but then can’t agree and can’t work together and in some cases can’t be bothered doing much. Tonight’s couple were ridiculous. Book tradespeople to come in and do the work, don’t plan the work in a logical order anyhow and then bugger off on a 2 week holiday leaving them completely unsupervised. I was glad neither party got any money out if it as they completely took the piss.

Today's couple were awful. The silly woman and her boyfriend going on holiday, the holiday they desperately needed as they had not had one for 3 years! Oh poor things.

As for her pathetic comment that she was "baking a little mini me in my tummy"!!! I nearly threw up at that.

@snowspider

I just can't get to grips with how these participants were selected; they seem so lacking in commitment or motivation, or even any enthusiasm. Totally baffling that they seem to have expected to get a reward for doing absolutely zilch themselves.

Having watched every episode it seems everyone in Wales knows each other!

On paper the couples in theory do bring something to the project so I would have thought some of the pairings were based on that. Thing is when you're choosing people they can tell a good story and come across really well like the Leicester couple but when they started working together (or not as it turned out) it all fell apart.

I think it brings out peoples true personalities but I am surprised by the number of people who are frankly just lazy and lack common sense. However the Leeds couple and the Welsh couple were totally opposite to that. Both fab.

lynsey91 when she came out with the mini me comment I cringed. Why on Earth would you either apply to go on the show if you had a 2 week holiday booked or if it wasn’t already booked, why on Earth would you go on holiday when you are already running way behind on a project that could make you substantially better off financially? Bonkers. And someone else who could have made good use of that opportunity has lost out .

That's a good point @StillCoughingandLaughing - I have a feeling I would lose money on something like this! I really hope the girl got her own house eventually, she seemed to learn so much. I'm getting too invested in this

Just watched todays - what a loss! Can't believe they got less than they bought it for! Still can't get over them paying people to do the painting.
When the original man said that they really got a loss of 70k instead of 50k - well he shouldn't have dropped out of the competition then!

I wonder if the first two women went on to another project, they worked so well together and made a good profit.

I felt the presenter's pain when he was trying to chase up one of the participants who was a profession electrician ( I think ) and never got hold of him. Trying to get tradesmen to come and do a job or to come when they say they'll come is sooo difficult ( I'm in Ireland ).
I couldn't believe that after investing so much time and effort in the house he just walked away and left his partner( in the house refurb ) high and dry.

I could have cheerfully throttled the pair of them today. You know you’re in trouble when the before looks better than the after! One of the first things they said were how nice those original tiles in the hall were - then they rip them out!

We have enjoyed a few episodes of the great house giveaway but not fond of the lazy, can't be bothered attitude on some episodes.
As we have renovated 3 properties found it very interesting at times but the numbers don't make sense.
The programme borrowed a lot of money to buy the properties at a very high interest rate then put that in the costs section at the end, reducing the profit if any.
Some of the properties could not make any money which is very unfair.

That's really interesting @Juliebean - I was trying to work out why were the fees etc were so high. Is that bridging loans then?

Today's couple did well. Both were fully committed and good at communicating with each other and a few handy friends. Shame the house didn't sell for the higher amount. I guess covid could have been having an impact.

The only people that can do really well out of renovation are those in the trade with multiple skills and connections. Even then there's still risk.
Or those who buy a project as their own home.

I read that £3m was raised in a mortgage.
Just watched tonight's programme (14/10)and went from ecstatic to gutted in minutes.
£18,500 profit for genuine hard work but offer fell through and programme accepted a low offer reducing the profit.
Shocking!

I was so disappointed at the end of today’s too. What a shame that fabulous first profit ended up at less than half . They worked together so well and did an amazing job bless them.

Did anyone see today? They were all baffled about why the house sold for such a low price. They failed to notice that the garden was like a prison yard and it didn't even have a proper back door, yet they spent loads of time and money on a kitchen and bathroom that didn't even need totally replacing. It was so frustrating to watch. They should have put in a nice patio door or small french door and made the garden look like a useable space. The garden is just as important as the inside, or at least given some effort to clean it up and 'dress' it with some outdoor furniture and a bit of greenery.

I get that the show has deadlines but selling these properties at a massive loss because it has to be sold by a certain date is ridiculous.

I can't see why anyone would agree to do the show. Why not do a base award for the participants who get the project done in time, say £5,000 each. Then anything else they make on top of that is a bonus. Would motivate participants from dropping out at the very least.

I don't understand why the houses are sold at a loss either. It seems daft.
Why not hold out for a while ?

I suppose it adds an element of resolution you don’t always get on these shows. A lot of home makeover shows seem to end with ‘And Bob and Sonia are hopeful they’ll find the right buyer soon’ and you wonder why you bothered watching.

One thing I think would help is if they showed some examples of ‘finished’ houses in the same area for comparative purposes. A couple of the houses have had guide prices of £35 - 40k, which sounds incredibly cheap, but if they end up going for £55k, need £20k of work and the local ceiling is £90 - 100k, ten grand profit isn’t a bad result, whereas it doesn’t sound a lot split two ways.

Last night‘s was odd as no one seemed to factor in the yard at the back where a garden should/could be. That seemed to be the elephant in the room. It looked so grim and offputting. The original kitchen was absolutely fine and just needed sprucing up. Same for the bathroom. Considering the woman was in the house selling business that seemed odd. They could have worked on making the front more appealing too rather than just putting on a coat of paint. It was such a shame as they worked so well together and made the interior look very smart so to end up with nothing was very sad.

It seems a really common thing to make over the inside and leave the garden a wreck, looking at properties in my area this is quite common and I think short sighted. Seems to be a factor where the local house prices are low. Or sometimes the house has a lovely garden which has been a little left to its own devices but just needs TLC and they rip it all out and leave it a desert, such a shame.

Ahhhhh......a good programme concept gone awry. Why don’t the chosen renovators know each other previously, obvious stress. It says choose a property at auction......oh dear this bit doesn’t work either, stress levels increased. Why not have some properties on an extra list in case the three become unavailable? Oh one of the teams is unavailable.....oh stress up again. This show should come with a health warning. Even when finished the teams have no part in the sale negotiations. Oh I wonder if the proclaimed minor profit from the sale will fall through? There may be no swearing on the programme but there’s plenty here.

Today's one was good. It's nice to see some older people.

Shame the women had a few spats (producers must have been rubbing their hands in glee when the tears started!) but at least they managed to be grown up about it and pull together to get the job done. Colin was a star. There's no doubt they wouldn't have made the profit without him.

Thought today's one was good - completely agree that they would have made no profit without Colin. Felt sorry for the single lady, and don't think it's fair to have a couple and then someone on their own.

Felt gutted for Wednesday's couple when they lost the initial offer, they deserved more money. They worked so hard, and did such an amazing job.