Reply With Quote“A baby so hungry it will eat me”.
When I consider the rows the wife and I have had when we’ve done simple stuff like kitchens, I don’t think I’d even be tempted!
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I used to enjoy Grand Designs but haven’t missed it since giving up watching terrestrial. It became an all too often reminder of those times where a project would stall because of unrealistic cost estimates and aspirations. Of all the houses I’ve designed, only one followed the ideal sequence of brief/cost/design/cost check/tweak/submit for planning and that was a builder building his own house. He managed to bring it in for a smidge under £1850/m2. The others were for clients that ignored advice to reign in aspirations and utilise the skills of a quantity surveyor. I know architects come in for flak and there are some eejits out there that don’t run the project properly but this architect knows the value of a rigorous cost spreadsheet.
“A baby so hungry it will eat me”.
When I consider the rows the wife and I have had when we’ve done simple stuff like kitchens, I don’t think I’d even be tempted!
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Originally Posted by Tahiti
^^^ this ^^^
And garden design! Many years ago, two homes ago, my wife and I had a dispute about the final garden design plan. She was on a business trip when the landscape-guys arrived. I promised them a bonus when they would be able to complete the job (and my plan!!!) before my wife would return. They got the bonus, I the garden that I wanted - but I had to endure a lot of flak every time the weather was nice and we sat on the patio. In hindsight, pushing my plan was a bad move!
He had a massive contingency fund...
Which got swallowed up just putting the foundations down because it took months to dig out the bedrock.
He isn't bankrupt, so I assume his income from royalties etc is pretty substantial. I expect he'll get it built eventually though he'll have to sell it.
Wife and I are going to build in the next 10 years hopefully, but it'll be highly pre-fab, costed down to the last nail and a good chunk less than we could potentially afford just in case.
Last edited by Scepticalist; 13th October 2019 at 20:31.
Plus don’t forget he flattened a million plus house with no mention of a mortgage.
I felt sorry for his kids. He’d sold them a dream that ended up destroying the family.
What I can’t understand is why they never built on the plot for the eye and kept the original house to sell. It was worth a fortune after all
I surf the point where that house is being built and have a house up the road. Funnily enough Edward is on the council for the village next to Croyde and it’s no surprise planning got granted. I’m sure it’s a nice place to live in (when finished) but it destroys the headland.
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Interesting thanks - I was just going to post questioning about how he got planning permission for that structure, it's massive, hardly in keeping with the headland/coastal environment/profiles etc..
Whereas the low profile property he developed alongside was rather beautiful and a success in my book..Think theres quite a bit more to this tale than GD presented..
I wonder if he has any comeback against the professional services he used. Surely they should foreseen some of the issue such as the specialist equiment required to cut into the bed rock etc. Appreciate that is only one area of additional time and cost but it was substantial. But then potential litigation also costs time and money so most likely has other priorities.
I would suspect that any building company would only take on this job and price it as a 'per day' rather than 'per whole project' considering the geology and difficulties of the terrain. I still feel if he had gone for something more modest and lighter (needing less pilling) he would have successful. He came across as someone who wouldn't listen to advice - as someone who has worked in the music business met loads of similar characters - all fun and games until the money runs out - oh well...
I spent most of the episode saying ‘look at that right hander!’. Nice break.
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I read that both of Kev's property companies are facing liquidation.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
They are - but I understand Kev baled out a few months ago. Probably saw the writing on the walls
I built my own, i didnt have enough money to do it when i started,it was in the heady boom days prior to 2008, i worked by day building executive homes for a national earning a stonking amount and at weekends on my own "GD", then the crash, overnight my day job disappeared, prices for finished houses folded,i ran out of money,my missus and her kids, my family,left,i ended up living in the shell, not a single plasterboard on anywhere,on a campbed in the garage, i had electric, a washer, a dryer,a microwave, i joined a gym just for the showers and i ponced on wifi where i could.I had joined an internet dating site and thats where i met my current missus, after a few dates as we got into the car after a nice dinner she let fly,are you married?, you must be, you havent asked me back to yours yet, lol, she got a big surprise when i took her back. I moved in properly much later after funding the last 25% by applying for every credit card i could even capitol one. Took five years to pay it down bumping it from interest free deal to the next.
Just been riding round today looking at plots to do it all again.
Parts of this resonate with me & its easy to see how quickly it can slip away.
Contingency was insufficient & a little bit of over optimism and I ran out of money.
Great experience though & saved a packet vs buying a new build to similar spec.
The main problem was that up to first floor level, it was a job for civil engineering companies, not builders.
That rock cutting rig , which they found by googling ffs, was for trench bottoms not large areas no wonder it took so long to get formation.
In the early part of the programme, they showed a machine from Coles hire, they actually have all the gear needed, but it was never used.
Quite agree. Complete folly. Having been in construction nearly all my life, I’ve come across these chancers. Many like him in the 80’s \ 90’s. Also I’ve had contact with the music industry, too much money too young! An unhealthy amount of dope or booze and they fancy a yacht or a mansion after a hit single!
Did the builders get their money? Looking at how the job was left looks as though they just downed tools.
I hope his exwife and daughters are protected if he goes bankrupt.
Wreckless waste of energy and destruction of others lives.
I bet the architect laughed all the way to the bank!
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I feel sorry for the wife, but she agreed to the build. It was always a risk.
I’m not sure I’d comfortable if she was protected at the expense of the builders and construction firms going bust etc
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