What is wrong with people who go on Grand Designs?

[RobynRB]

Seriously, time and time again it's the same thing. Why do people feel they need to build a house the size of a cinema complex and then moan when they run out money. Most of these things could be 10-20% smaller and you wouldn't even notice. Don't these people understand that materials like wood and concrete cost money so buy less of them and the house will be cheaper.

Speaking of which, last night was a classic case... we haven't got any money, but we bought this copper bath for our bedroom and this (frankly disgusting but I'm guessing ridiculously expensive) gold and black marble for our kitchen.

It struck me the reservoir building was big enough to build a reasonable house in, maybe with a smaller extension to the side. It certainly looked twice the size of my three bedroomed house on it's own.

And of course five minutes after they started they announced they were having a child. What brilliant timing...

He is a cold blooded reptile in human clothing?

Or anticipating the baby Kevin :)

What always annoys me is when they moan they have run out of money and moved into a caravan they always find a relative that can loan them the spare half a million they need.....

a very close relative was on one of these shows, but not GD.

It was one where you built a home in another country as part of your plan to move and live overseas.
My relative's wife inherited a plot of land on a carribean island where her mum originally came from. They had decided to go and live there for a few years and build themselves as house, which they would live in for a few years and then let as a holiday home.
My relative is a project manager and builder.
They went on the program.
As a result about 80% of the stuff for their house eg kitchen was donated by sponsors and shipped out for free (very expensive buying things in caribean, and very expensive to ship, so this was great)
The program stressed all the way through how high my relatives standards were and how he wouldn't compromise or cut corners. They speculated all the way through about how he was going to do that on their budget.

Then last 10 minutes of the show
house is finished
it is high spec, and well build, no corners cut
it is beautiful, with many practical/thoughtful nice features
he finished on time
he finished it within budget.

as soon as the show aired the phone started ringing and he had enough project and building work on the island to last him the whole 5 years they lived there and through them also work when they returned to UK.
It was the best thing they ever did !

Agree @MrsLighthouse about heating when they all have a glass atrium that is 50ft tall or a room the size of an aircraft hangar.
And I'm probably being a pathetic softy here but I always think that all the modern "clean lines" and glass/marble/steel/concrete looks really hard, cold and quite child-unfriendly for all the mini-kevs just learning to walk! Lots of hard surfaces to fall over/bash themselves on!
And I remember when we redecorated our lounge and there was no rug, fewer cushions and no curtains...it was so much noisier! And that was a modest size lounge diner. Has anyone ever bought carpet on GD? Although I can't imagine the cost for a room the size of a football pitch!

He’s trying to impregnate you through the telly.

Just go with it, there’s no point resisting. We all must take our turn.

No one really wants to watch 'Medium Designs' but it is surprising how many seem to get caught out. When we did a fairly (to us) ambitious build my husband's costings were pretty accurate.

I actually would like to see medium designs as in people doing something unusual or different but with an average house and modest budget.

In the same way that I'd actually like to see people on bake off make things that look achievable instead of trying to make a lifesize polar bear out of meringue in 2 hrs and it all go horribly wrong....

Yes I would watch ‘medium designs’ tv programs are either Homes Under the Hammer style, renovating a whole house on a budget of 5 grand or completely the other end of the scale like Grand Designs.

Isn't that want shows like "Ugly House to Lovely House" and "Love it or List It" and "Your Home Made Perfect" are supposed to do? Relatively normal houses being remodeled?

The issue I have with those shows is that they also end up going massively over budget and seem to get vastly more work done for the money than anyone I know doing extensions/conversions in recent years. I'd love to have the number for some of their builders/tradespeople!

😂

The last few love it or list I've watched actually had to massively scale back their plans because either building costs had gone up or they had spend to than originally budgeted. In one case they basically had some shelves built - it was a fairly underwhelming transformation and didn't really address the main issue (which is almost always that there is only 1 toilet) and then they all have to be enthusiastically proclaiming how the shelving unit had totally transformed the way they lived! 🤣

He can get you pregnant via the tele now? 😳
I will watch Phil and Kirstie’s Love It Or List It instead so I don’t get upduffed.

I've not seen any of the recent series - perhaps I should catch up on them. Agree the commonest problem on that show is desire for an extra loo but also decluttering and a bit of organisation seems to feature a lot. My house could also have benefited from hard line decluttering when we seemed to be overrun by our kids and had time poverty.

I would struggle to look happy about some shelves in that disappointing situation 😅

OTOH the people on grand designs often have no space that we are shown for a hoover, mop etc. or a few real books. I also want to see the drawer for the random keys, stapler, Christmas cracker glasses kit and massive paper clip.

Bins - so, is there a secret bin store and door behind the kitchen. can you actually drive up to the gable end, park behind the ugly gabion wall and walk through a back door.

I'm thinking the whole thing would be a bit weird if you went to dinner. You'd rock up, park somewhere then either go through, my possibly imaginary, back door past a washing machine, the recycling and the dog towel. or scramble around the end of the gabion wall, walking through the courtyard, spotting the hosts quickly swapping their gardening shirts for dinner party smart.
Or, park, find the little footpath and walk 300m in the drizzle around to the top level entrance.

If I rode horses, the stench decontamination zone would be like something from James Bond. I'd want a conveyor belt and robots taking care of the boots & jodpurs.

Maybe they have a separate utility wing/locked building for such unslightly things! 😄 The mini kevs never seem to have any toys either, or spread their lego into every room of the house or even any space to store them in the tiny minimalist bedrooms that always seem to feature. I think I've been to travel lodges that have more personal effects in them!

Much like men and the Roman Empire, I think about this episode several times a week, and wonder how many fishing tours he's done to pay everyone back!

The last few love it or list I've watched actually had to massively scale back their plans because either building costs had gone up or they had spend to than originally budgeted. In one case they basically had some shelves built - it was a fairly underwhelming transformation and didn't really address the main issue (which is almost always that there is only 1 toilet) and then they all have to be enthusiastically proclaiming how the shelving unit had totally transformed the way they lived! 🤣
I've felt similarly underwhelmed by it.
One of the recent ones I saw, which might be the same one you've seen, it seemed like they were amazed that having a clear out of stuff gave them more space.

I agree.

He was a sky diving instructor pre Covid.
She was an audiologist.

I couldn't believe the amazing marble splashback and countertop and the copper bath despite, according to themselves, borrowing from friends and family as they went soo over budget and whinging about the huge mortgage repayments.
Quite extraordinary 🙄

😮😮😮

Haven’t watched the latest episodes as I got fed up with steel and glass boxes with no curtains and no soul, and the astronomical money spent to build them. delusions of grandeur.
My favorites were the the carpenter guy in the fens that built an octagonal house with just two beds, around a staircase in the middle of the house that was a tree. All open downstairs so they got the sun as it moved round, and all his lovely carvings over the humble house. Modest, unpretentious and utterly lovely.
the other was the single storey house in France built of old car tyres, they had a party and all their friends helped them plaster the walls. The folding glass doors all opened out onto the garden, and they used old,coloured bottles in the interior walls. And a round room at one end. Three beds, I think.Again, lots of recycling, practical and welcoming. Beautiful.

I guess total other end of the spectrum is Sort your Life Out with Stacey Solomon.
They do minor refurbishment, storage solutions etc to really make a difference to normal homes. Obviously alongside a huge declutter.

At the end of GD I always think are you really so much happier here than in a really nice but normal home you could have had instead?? Really, is it worth the years of your life and boat loads of cash??

Oh, well, he is a bit late on that😂and has not succeeded in 20 years of us watching his tongue movements😂

Ahahah, yes, please, just watch it. Any episode. He. Always. Does. It😳

I’m a big fan of “The Block” on Amazon Prime, and they all seem to build what they call a Butler’s Pantry which is a stud wall with the kitchen units in/on, and then behind that, effectively a second kitchen with all the bulky gadgets and a second sink and dishwasher and big bins…