Thread: Grand Designs

Originally Posted by pawnhead

I thought that was a bit odd as well.
Good excuse to take a holiday anyway.

I expect that the trip to Canada was paid for by the TV show as their cameraman went with them.

Anyway the airfares from Scotland to Canada isn't expensive.


Peter.

I watch it whenever I can, however I tend to agree with Burraboy that the external design on the last couple of projects were bloody terrible, just a series of boxes. The open plans would create an expensive headache to heat/cool. The massively high ceilings would be about as cosy as living in a concert hall.

I chuckle at the unrealistic time limits, that are never reached, by owners who have zero idea about building and just grumble into the camera. It Should be compulsive viewing for those who think they can simply breeze through being owner builders.

Originally Posted by Jacksin

The open plans would create an expensive headache to heat/cool. The massively high ceilings would be about as cosy as living in a concert hall.

It's a bit ironic considering how much they kept stressing that the place was sustainable, and eco-friendly. Especially when you consider the footprint they left across the Atlantic when they checked out their 'eco-shingles'.

Reminds me a bit Al Gore, our latest Nobel Peace Prize winner for his 'environmental achievements'.

The whole idea od avante garde architecture is that its not following but leading design and taste. Even Federation homes were very modern when they came out as a style - buggared if I can understand why anyone would want to build something like it now, but each to his own...

dingo - finding an architect that has experience in res is a key, and one that understands costs and what causes them -= the tough part is if you want to spend 250k on a building is paying 10, to 20 k in architect fess seems like a waste of money - well it is if sq meters per dollar is your only criteria.

Secondly, you have to be confident in yourself, and not care for others opinions, given that a modern home will invariably be hated and considered ugly by a good percentage of the population who are still happy to build circa 1950 style bungalows.

As to grand designs, I think the most disapointing thing is how much interference they seem to get from planning authorities on matters of asthetics - having to build within the style of an area whne you are nowhere near anyone else is a truly bizarre and backward concept

Originally Posted by pharmaboy2

As to grand designs, I think the most disapointing thing is how much interference they seem to get from planning authorities on matters of asthetics - having to build within the style of an area whne you are nowhere near anyone else is a truly bizarre and backward concept

Now that quote is a whole new thread! Planning authorities have a part to play but sometimes they can be a tad non-sensical. I have found that it is quite dependent on the town planner that you engage with.

My first round of renovations went through town planning without a hitch (and in record time I might add - the female town planner I had was brilliant).

The second round of renovation, which was much less impact than the first, ran into an obstacle - the idiot town planner (a male). How much of an idiot was this guy? read on...

The planning submission I presented for a new carport was sympathetic to the character of the house (replacing an extremely ugly 1960's wrought iron job). The submission had a number of pictures of other houses in the area that had done similar, house-sympathetic carports. The town planner told me that there was no such thing as precedent when it comes to getting a planning submission through. After more discussion he said "if I let you build this then it will set a precedent"...but...but...oh forget it...I hung up the phone after that and called my psychiatrist.

The video walk-thru shown at the beginning of the program of how the house will look when finished is amazing.
Does anyone know what software they use to make that or do you need a degree in computer science??

Hi,

This may be the wrong place to post this. I'm sorry if it is. I looked and couldn't see an obvious "off topic" area, and it's kind of on topic.

In the ABC, Thursday evenings at 6:16 pm is a series called Grand Designs. It's an architect following the building of custom houses in Britain. E and I find it funny because the owners are often hopeless and, well, there's an architect involved which has got to be funny.

The reason I'm posting this is last Thursday's program. The chap building was a carpenter, but not just any carpenter. He kneeled down on a door he'd just made and with a router and carved out a superb likeness of 3 heads of wheat, as good as anything I've ever seen done with a chisel. The whole house was a bit "hobbit" so not necessarily to my taste, but the execution, the details, the handwork was astounding. All through the show I saw again and again him doing framing etc to cabinet maker standards.

So if you get a chance to see the show for anyone interested in woodwork that episode would be a joy to watch IMO.

it was a work of great skill. and was with in his budget
i always watch the show. to me it was the best one i have seen on the program

I saw him do the door, some of the workmanship was very good. Not to my taste, but well constructed.

Robert

First things first. Thank you to the admin who moved my post. I'm sorry I hadn't found the existing thread nor the correct area to post. I did try

Couple of things.

First there is plenty of house design software around. My personal fav is 3D home architect version 4 (I think). Version 5 and on changed system and aren't well thought of. V4 and earlier use similar systems to Chief Architect which is an expensive professional system. The simpler version comes up on ebay very occasionally and is very cheap. If you buy it PM me and I'll give you a quick start.

I have to say I'm surprised by many of the previous comments. Some of the owners on Grand Designes are awful people who happily abuse the tradespeople and make their neighbours lives miserable. The Architect like most Architects is an idiot, pretentious and clueless. Some of the owners mean well but are just so stupid I can't feel for the problems they create for themselves, and some of the resulting houses are both ugly and impractical. However amongst this chaos and awfullness there are some really talented people and some great stories.

Typically about 2/3 the cost of a conventional house is labour. 1/3 is materials. Beautiful quality homes needn't be that much more labour intensive than spec homes, but you have to have a design that's quick to build and materials that are sensible. Then a great team of tradespeople can build you something wonderful. It can be different but it has to be thought through, and since nearly all Architects are arts fags who couldn't hammer a nail straight they tend not to consider the practicalities.

I'm sorry that's so negative, but this is something I feel strongly about. I'm a mechanic by trade and engineer by profession. I've never built a house but I've had to deal with idiots like this all my working life. My girlfriend comes from a family of cabinet makers and builders. Her father and friends can throw up a house in a couple of weeks that would stun you in it's quality. We sit up in bed together just reeling from horror to laughter watching this show. A few of the clients have been really inspiring, like that carpenter, but gee it's not hard to pick people who've had some experience and actually respect the skills that are required to build a house.

Anyway...

Damien, perhaps there is a message in the shows title - its not about building houses well, or people who understand the building process etc, its about houses that are out of the oprdinary and mundane.

Sometimes that throws up different people and professions - but that is a necessary part of the shows reason for being. Average people of average tastes arent going to make for an interesting building let alone TV show I suspect.

The only one I've seen where the neighbours have copped it was in the roof top conversion a few weeks ago, the rest of the neighbours in other projects are effected jus6t as any new building does, and often their sensibilities as well (after all avant garde design isnt avant garde unless most dont like it really?)

I just completed a ceiling that I panelled in hoop pine ply sheets with revealed joints and stainless steel downlights - the conservative vistiors to the house dont know what to make of it, and the modern lovers are excited - if the cleaning lady loved it I would have been concerned, so all is as it should be, if a good number say "eeeew, it looks like an office!" (OK they say it much nicer than that, but i know what they are thinking) LOL!

Your right of course, but one episode that sticks in my mind was a nasty little man who thought he could overcome any obstacle by abusing people. That flat was another example, the house boat, even the chap who built the low house between two others on a narrow block. The inspector kept comming back expecting drawings and getting nothing. Here he would have just shut the site until the engineering was done, end of story.

Your roof sounds nice, and besides I'd be an arrogant sod to dictate style to anyone, but I get rather annoyed when someone has specified some hairbrain idea then complains when it costs the earth or goes wrong, or they change their minds half a dozen times through the project, whinge because (what appears to me to be) a perfactly reasonable heritage or structural inspector won't let them have their way.

It's one thing to have an imagination, it's another to trample everyone around you. I know people who do most creative things with house building/renovating and others who just do magnificent quality. They achive this with planning and consideration, and I don't see enough of that in the show.

Anyway to each their own

LOL the house boat was stunningly ugly, and could easily be used as the prime example of why a archititect should be mandatory for some peopel! LOL

If you are talking about the low house as the one with the opening roof, personally I thought it was a great outcome, but there was a major lack of plans - though he seemed to have an idea of how it was to be finished. i must admit having totally renovated and changed our home, I got a set of plans drawn up for council, but all the detailing was done on the run with the end look in mind - things like deciding how to mount 5m wide sliders that have a 230mm frame - there's a std way that has reveals attahced and architraving etc, but I wanted a flush finish - those sorts of problems are only sorted once the frame is delivered, and you have to try and figure out water proofing methods to get the finished detail to match the perfromance side of things.

I agree about the changes, sometimes for change sake, but it seems to me they deliberately choose people who are owner building, thus creating astory behind it, and owner builders have the flexibility to change things as they go, but these people arent actually doing the work, so they are changing things after they have been done, which is simply a recipe for blowing the budget.

It would be a bit boring if they simply chose good designs where the builder tended to the architect a fixed price, the architect oversaw the project and delievered the finished product to the client! Interesting for me still, but probably not for lots of people who like to see the odd barney, and stupidity of normal people delving into things they know little of.

PS - have noticed that the latter shows have a whole let less of the smart house wiring going in - I suspect that might be a short lived trend, of 1000 miles of cable going into a home so you dont have to switch off the light s with your forefinger!

Last night was a classic example of what I mean. That guy had real vision and was doing it himself and haddn't built a house before, but all through the process he was considering how stuff would be done rather than just the result, he went out of his way to consider his neighbours, he never lost his temper (got cranky with himself but..), abused anyone etc. THAT is the difference between a tradesman and an arrogant onlooker.

I guess what I was trying to say is some of the previous people didn't seem to respect the skill and experience of the people they were hiring to build the houses. They didn't anticipate the problems that were pretty inevitable, nor the additional ones they created, nor often did they seem to care. The houseboat guy casually wandered in with oversize windows after the frame was built, then he wonders why his builder dropped him. Then he wonders why he gets kicked out of the dock when his second builder MOVED SOMEONE ELSE'S BOAT WITHOUT PERMISSION. I wasn't surprised when he ended up in an ugly standoff with the second dock owner.

The cabinet maker last night was just a joy to watch (of course! he is a cabinetmaker ). Sure he had issues, but he dealt with them, and all the while considering people around him. I wasn't impressed with the architects was it 2 months to do calcs ? seriously ?

As I said in my origional post, E and I find the catastrophies amusing, and I'm sure others do also, I just don't like a lot of the people driving the builds.

Anyway, good fun.