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...

Exactly what I said upthread.

I definitely think it has a factor as I can't remember a series with so many unfinished houses. Maybe the production company have a 3 year cut off?

It also gives them future episodes to do revisits

Insane house.

It's clear COVID completely overwhelmed home building projects over several years. Must also be effecting casting subsequent series of GD, might be a bit thin for a couple of years.

I really liked the couple this week, really looking forwarded to a revisit. We did a big self build years ago, I look back and think I should have had some professional counseling to let some of the feelings go.
A sense of humour and deep pockets can get you only so far.

Totally agree re the ‘green’ credentials of this week’s marvellous top flight eco passivhaus. Plus, the fact that is was built on green belt land in the Cotswolds, so far from ideal from that point of view either. All round just another vanity project for the guy who was some sort of ‘environmental consultant’. Kevin even said that the guy would be very upset if the delays meant that the house ended up not being the first ever UK domestic property to achieve Passivhaus Premium status. It was all about the ego massage.

I liked her though. She seemed to have her head screwed on re his shit. She seemed very sad and candid about the 3 years and the effect it had on their relationship. He didn’t say much in response to that. I wonder whether it will recover when they move back in together, if they do. She might well have decided that the damage is done and she wants her investment back. Then he’d be right up shit creek.

I liked her a lot. She was great and very understanding of it all.

I'm always a bit wary of the voiceover. It always sounds like the Producers are desperate to have a strong but often very basic phrase they constantly repeat - so this week passive house plus, last week was sustainable timber....I think often the people aren't really that fussed, it was just something nice to head in the direction of whilst building a home.

Kevin would really have to turn up the emotion to get 'utility room with convenient dog towel' to carry the jeopardy for 50 minutes. I suspect we'd also get a sneaky cutaway and reference to me buying an overpriced bit of canine equipment. And I d be here bitching about how she can afford to spend £50 on an Alessi dog bowl but not put the effort into finishing two bedrooms plus ensuites.

I agree about the windows/airtight house thing too - I remember seeing something on the news, years ago, saying that this was actually unhealthy, because if your house isn’t breathing/ventilated, then all the fumes from plastics, paints, varnishes etc from all the stuff we have in our houses can’t escape, and people end up breathing it all in.

I thought the cat flap was madness too - CatBastard would definitely not want to use that. Mind you, he only uses his ordinary cat flap if one of the staff (dh and I) is not available to let him or out of the front door!

I am sure I could have built a lovely house well within their budget - and finished it!

Yep, it's similar to a couple of previous episodes where the home builder had been starting their own business and building a house, more of a showcase for their business, than as a functional home for themselves.

Certainly been a couple of architects who've built a house mainly to try to win an architectural design award rather than a home for themselves.

So either an ego boost or marketing their own business.

Having watched GD since it first began it seems to me that female self builders actually build homes that suit their circumstances.
For male self builders it just seems to be a willy waving exercise.

I agree about the airtight house. I’d want the windows open. I find that regular new builds are too stuffy for me so something like that seems like a nightmare.

The corridor on the ground floor had a giant hole in it. He is a total pillock but she should have taken more ownership. Really no idea what she sees in him. I like my house well aired. Build a small house and open windows to make it less stuffy

i remember kevin sneering comment to a couple that bought their own old furniture to their new house, so scathing about it

@MyCircumference, given that Kevin’s thing was always ‘eco’, it seems counterintuitive to sneer at people for not getting rid of everything they own and buying a whole house full of new stuff just because. Mind you, ‘Mr Eco’ has about 6 kids, so [shrug].

Disclaimer- I’m not particularly bothered re eco but do get the hump when people make claims or point the finger at others for not being as virtuously green as they are when actually, they are hypocritical gits. There are a fair few on my local FB group.

given that Kevin’s thing was always ‘eco’
Was it? I thought he was a tv presenter and before that a designer. He has 4 children

He definitely had an ‘eco’/ sustainability interest right from the start. In fact, started an eco building company (HAB) a few years ago.

https://amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/nov/19/kevin-mccloud-housing-triangle-swindon

Apparently it went tits up though. Lots of financial issues.

800 square meters for two of them to live in! I don’t understand this need for huge houses.

Mind you, ‘Mr Eco’ has about 6 kids, so [shrug].

Is that including all the ones that are born after Kevs first visit of each programme? 🤣

I always wonder how/why people who have usually gone massive over budget and or into debt always seem to have a home full of new furniture, did they not have a bed/sofa in their old house??

And why does no one say "we were going to a bespoke fitted kitchen with Italian marble floor and worktops....but as we're over budget we decided to get an IKEA kitchen and plan get the other one in 5 years when we've saved up"

@Fizbosshoes

Didn’t someone up thread say the grand designs production company put furniture in temporarily for filming.

Fair point, but plenty of people do buy new furniture when they buy/build a house. We are selling/giving away all of our furniture before moving as the furniture we currently have is nowhere near nice enough for our new house. So it does happen.

Also, putting in an entire, low quality, IKEA kitchen just to rip it out in 5 years to put in something better not only seems like a waste of money but wasteful in general.

It's the 'eco' houses which get me. Always absolutely massive, made using tonnes and tones of concrete and an over complicated roof which requires masses of steel, but stick a bit of insulation in the walls and some solar panels on the roof and suddenly it's environmentally friendly.

The Devon cliffs lighthouse one was the worst. I was screaming at the tv in the first part with the amount of money they were planning to borrow. They had knocked down a perfectly serviceable family home. Sure enough they couldn’t borrow enough, it took over 10 years to finish and ended their marriage. It wasn’t a shock to me. I think it is currently on the market for 10 million which might at least pay back the loans but it won’t repair the broken relationships.