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...

So the daughters have already lost a parent, having to share a bedroom with a step sister. And now don't have a room at all. Their selfishness is mind boggling. An that's before the trip to Marrakesh

Staircase won’t take a stannah stairlift any time soon…

Those red walls will be a magnet for spray painters.

It's horrible inside and out

More vast ceiling heights..how do they change a bulb.. assuming they have lights in them of course. Not liking the look of this one, an architect's vision but a home ..not sure...

@dingit because it's their happy place. And they couldn't possibly buy off the shelf.

This made me quite angry. Kevin was right about bereavement, why put anyone through what even if it had gone to plan would be a huge upheaval.

The couple should have been in the basement as they decided on the tiny plot and the design.

Those lovely traditional houses down there and then that monstrosity is given planning permission. We had to ask family and friends for money? Who the fuck is daft enough to give them more money.

And the guy specifically said at the beginning that they had no rich family or friends to ask!

I felt sorry for the house next to them. Months and months of living next door to a new build which still isn't finished.

This annoyed me too. They should have just bought a bloody house and settled their kids, if they had all the money to spunk up the wall on that monstrosity.

I liked it

The daughters were cheerily hilarious. It's all London madness, but still a lovely family.

I liked it! Not the interior design with the red and white, but I thought it had promise. I would have probably put the girls on the top floor with a shower room, then the parents could have been the first floor with a lounge, then kitchen and dinning in the basement. It’s tricky with such a small footprint. I don’t think it was out of place either. I don’t live that far from there in a Victorian house and I like it when you suddenly get something modern like that. Rather that than the garages. I felt for them(pointless trip to Marrakesh aside).

This week's episode is trending on twitter rather more than usual and its complete with the bingo card

Its not going down well

What selfish bastards those two were! It made me really angry on behalf of those girls.

Two bereaved girls, and the parents spent all their time and money on a house where the kids were relegated to a basement at best and ended up without any private space at all but nevermind because they got their shitty bespoke tiles. They both looked pretty unhappy.

Why didn't they just buy a normal house and enjoy the time with their daughters before they move out. They could have done the vanity project in 10 years when it is just the two of them.

And all that talk of the parents love. As if the late wife and husband didn't matter at all. Although I'd want my parents to be happy, I think I'd find their complete self absorption difficult to swallow at that age.

Well they wouldn’t have ever been able to buy a house in that area, given that street is probably 1-5-2 million a house and I assume they wanted to stay in the area they worked in and their children were at school in. Also, if it works the children will have that house as an investment.

It was one of those episodes where IMO the couple looked quite depressed at the end. The dad, had visibly aged by about 20 years! And I’d love to know if the remedial basement work ever gets completed.

I felt particularly sorry for Isla. Why couldn’t the selfish parents camp out in the lounge and give her the master (only) bedroom - at least until she flies the nest.

I felt it was a case of this couple wanting something in an expensive area that they couldn’t really afford.

I guess in the scheme of things a trip to Morocco wasn't a huge expense. I think they did set off with the best of intentions for their daughters but as any GD regular knows it never ever goes smoothly and two years is a long time when it comes to teens.
I didn't mind the house, better something new than a pastiche of the existing houses.
What I didn't get was if the contractor had screwed up on the concrete for the basement, rendering it unusable why weren't they being held liable? Same with the steel beams that weren't welded right. They were replaced but who footed the bill for the reworking and delays? The windows fitted though!
Loved the mad story of the Mole Man but glad he wasn't my neighbour.

I can’t understand how, after all the thousands of basements that have been built in London in the last decade, someone didn’t know to specify the right concrete mix and check it was being used. Surely it’s basic common sense.

The girls were the best part of the show: funny, cynical and endearing.

Exact what Jesus said. Selfish parents, poor girls.

The tiles were significant because it was 'their' house. He's an architect and designed the house, she's a graphic designer and designed the tiles. The tiles cost the same as ready made ones bought in UK.

The daughters seemed remarkably well-adjusted considering they had both lost a parent at a young age, I thought they were great and lovely seeing them seem more like friends than stepsisters

I didn't mind the look of the house - not my cup of tea, but not as bad as some. But none of the windows seemed to open! They all looked like single glass panes. Lovely from an aesthetic point of view, but where does all the fresh air come from?

Just watched it. I agree with a PP they should have waited a few years until the girls had flown the nest. They said themselves it would be a very different build if it was just them.

The girls must be 15 and 17 now so the elder one could be off to uni next year.

Every evening and weekend taken up during such crucial teenage years and even more so as they’re bereaved.

which episode was this?