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...

There was a fascinating one many many years ago where it was made from recycled materials and eco style, so walls were made with tyres and glass bottles.

Love this!

It's changed a lot, for the worst. I remember one years ago where the couple bought a water tower and spent weeks up scaffolding chipping the plaster off the brickwork, doing loads of it themselves because the whole thing was a labour of love to create a dream home without an eye-watering budget.
I caught an episode recently where the bloke had a heart attack or stroke part way through, they overspent by ONE MILLION and at the end he said he spent every day stressed about the mortgage and the pressure of his job keeping it all afloat.

I can’t watch it, it’s just disgustingly extravagant. I don’t get wasting all that time and money when you could be enjoying your life, working less if you kept that money. Sod’s Law the couple get divorced soon after anyway.

in that case OP mentioned. Just go to the cinema. Much cheaper and easier.

https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/interiors/grand-designs-kevin-mccloud-wowed-by-extraordinary-hobbitstyle-dome-house-on-a-herefordshire-hillside-a000115186.html

This on stuck with me more a hobby than a house build- youngest child was 17 and it still wasn't done bit it was fine as he envisioned his kids moving back in with their kids.

• One in an old violin factory in London, posh couple, he was in hedge funds I think so huge budget but fell out with an orchestra who had an adjoining space.

It looked great when finished that one - but yea they had to call police and dye the bricks the correct colour. DH thought the music school had their eye on the site for expansion and were miffed this couple got their first.

Omg yes! The child thing is always a given!

Definitely! It's a frustrating watch with this programme.

Was the wooden house with its own natural sewage system featured on Grand Designs? The budget was comparatively very modest if so.

@PreetyinPurple how funny that the waterworks one stuck in your mind too, if it's the same one.

The couple that had the falling out with (the London philharmonic I think) I really felt for the them as the LP were arseholes, they were bitter at not being able to buy the space. They even challenged them painting the bricks.

Love this!

Friends of mine were on it, I was at theirs the night the extended show went out, sitting in their kitchen with aga in cardboard boxes and no units, yet on the programme it was all cgi finished amazing kitchen!

It’s the way they always run out of money building their ugly house that looks like a modern leisure centre and then magically find some to finish it off during the last ad break. Usually they shiftily admit it was from “family” - oh to have a family who can fork out tens of thousands so I could live out my Mr Brittas dreams.

Was the wooden house with its own natural sewage system featured on Grand Designs? The budget was comparatively very modest if so.

There was a wooden house which I think had solid waste toilets - he couldn't pass the house and spent years living in his wood before building it. Then when they went back he had a partner and a child and they'd got permission for a extension. That was a lovely house.

There was a cave one as well that was good.

As soon as we get planning permission I am aiming to apply for Grand Designs. If we progress I'll let you know if they have a 'lack of common sense' criteria.

They did an open house here and I went and saw it. It was TINY in real life, the kids bedrooms had smaller than single beds in and barely any storage space. The woman had a whole wall of shelves of hats and was as batty in real life as she had been on the show (although of course you would be with a bunch of strangers traipsing through the house).

It's a bit like Escape to the Country - 99% of the homes featured on there are utterly out of reach for most of us mere mortals!

If they based these programmes around a 2-up 2-down terrace in the middle of a city, it wouldn't make half such compulsive viewing for some (I don't watch either - it turns me into a massive green-eyed twat)

We do a GD drinking game each episode (sadly, mostly with tea these days). The criteria for drinking are:

Project managing themselves
10% over budget (extra drink for every 10% over)
Window peril
Baby
Caravan
Trip to source materials
Roof peril
Water penetration of an open building
Snow
Move in with relatives
Second job to refinance build
Steels vs foundations peril
Flooding
Wind
Health scare
Divorce
Death of someone associated with build
Mysterious cash injection
Kevin dissing dubious green credentials
DIY an aspect of the build to save money
Issue importing an element of the build

We had to drop the disease/national disaster criterion as that's all builds for about 3 series now.

Last night's was a heavy drinking episode.
That open bedroom toilet was gross.

I remember her episode with great fondness.

I think one of my favourites was a chap (Ben?) who lived in woodlands - to do with his job - and built a beautiful cottage on a tiny budget. It was so well thought out and perfect for him. It looked like a HOME, rather than the car showroom style that's so popular on GD.

I've watched a few on the C4 on demand thingy with dd recently as she's fascinated by it, though a dozen episodes in she's becoming jaded with the boxiness of so many projects & the fact they all have the ability to drag the odd 300k 'emergency' funds from down the back of their sofa.

We saw one recently that was a Victorian folly conversion, the chap was in love with it but his wife, despite making all the right noises, was giving off a strong 'I'm going to divorce you' vibe by the end of it 😂

Ah, it's just a different sort of programme. They're building their dream.

I love Stacey Solomon Sorts Your Life Out for real-life stuff.

YANBU. I used to love these shows and it was always my ambition to build or do up a house, which we're doing now. We could have gone for the wow factor, but concluded that it would a) cost an absolute fortune b) we'd have to invest in furniture that no one would ever sit on and c) the heating bills alone would need their own mortgage (old house so heat pump etc not possible). Everyone from the builder to the architect told us to go bigger, but we rejected all designs based on how impractical they were on a day to day basis. We've opted for a smaller extension and pumped the money into better finishes and are so pleased we have. It's far less stressful when you know you've money in the pot should something drastically go wrong.

Your home made perfect is also worth watching ..... some of the ideas are shocking. I watched one the other day that had tiny bedrooms in wooden boxes.

😂

Couple with fairly low paid jobs (sky dive instructor, ordiologist and part time pick and mix packers) get a mortgage of £680k AND beg/borrow another few hundred grand from friends and family.
Had to look it up to find out what an ordiologist was.

i think I feel a lazy rainy Saturday coming on with Crisps. I can fast forward through the biting bits