From memory, there were 7/8 rooms to be refurbished (depending on if you count the kitchen as a seperate room or not) ... plus hallways...

All had to have the ceilings replastered .. and the walls were actually done twice because of the "illegal" plaster that had been used when they did it the first time around.

I have to admit, I thought that the labour charges were high, but the state that the house was in, I don't agree that it could be done for £20k...

We are spending £8k doing a flat... with 5 rooms (plus hall) and no building work... no plastering... no expensive resoration of sash windows... no labouring... no furniture (we already had most of it, and anything else isn't included in our budget)..

B

Sarah was putting alot of emphasis on the fact that they'd only had a basic survey done and not a structural one - but SURELY just a walk through the building would've flagged up the fact that there were HUGE structural problems with the house!!!! We could SEE them from our armchairs!!! I don't see how they could've been SO surprised at the level of work that was required!!!

Wasn't his idea about half way though to just have a kitchen/diner and study downstairs, a lounge and bathroom upstairs - with a massive landing of course, and then a bathroom and just ONE bedroom on the third floor!

.... and why on earth did they put the electric heaters right under the window where the curtains billow over them and set light and not to mention where your eye is instantly drawn to them?

I thought that the fireplaces were hideous - what on earth was the matter with them that they didn't even instal one georgian fireplace in one of the rooms - I would have put one in the sitting room at least for impact.

As for the kitchen - did you notice that the units went right up to the glass panels on either side of the french doors and they weren't even finished off nicely so you could see all of the raw edges from the garden? Not to mention the fact that the kitchen ended up "the wrong way around" with the cupboards by the doors and the table in the inner part.

Don't even get me started on the eaves room - what a terrible way to present it - they could have easily made it a good sized study area! They made me really angry watching it and I thought the garden had more potential as an overgrown jungle than that bland flat space they were left with in the end.

... and I say SLAP - HARD!

I'm sorry I didn't tape this - I'll have to wait for the Saturday repeat. It's incredible the mess that people on PL get themslves into whereas you watch Grand Designs and are astounded by what amateurs can achieve when driven by their desire to create a unique home

quote:

Originally posted by wandapops:
Sarah was putting alot of emphasis on the fact that they'd only had a basic survey done and not a structural one - but SURELY just a walk through the building would've flagged up the fact that there were HUGE structural problems with the house!!!! We could SEE them from our armchairs!!! I don't see how they could've been SO surprised at the level of work that was required!!!

Exactly my thoughts wanda.
As Mel says, this couple were completely out of their depth, but evidently they had the money to prop up their lack of knowledge - they never said where they got the extra £60K from, but it didn't seem to be a problem.

If the guy had thought about it, he would have realised the reason it was relatively cheaply priced was that it would cost £80K to renovate, which brought it more or less to its resale value. Did he think the property was being given away just so he could make a fat profit?

The CH issue was just ridiculous. As another poster said, it's one thing to put in CH if you are buying a wreck, but quite another if it's a freshly renovated property with a price tag to match.

Very sorry about the loss of their son - he was briefly interviewed and his thoughts about his dad buying the house were "I think he's mad"

Although I agree with all the comments regarding the garden, the silly decisions, the hideous kitchen etc, I did enjoy last night's PL simply becuase the people involved were likeable and enthusiastic.

Sometimes I think that SB (and posters here) can get pretty angry about developers wasting money and making poor decisions when developing, but we should remember that their project is a private one, ie not for charity or funded by our taxes!

That couple obviously weren't short of a bob or two, and they weren't looking to the developing project for their livelihood. Any mistakes they made will simply narrow their profit, which is entirely up to them.

It is clear that PL has turned a corner in this latest series, showing the 'other side of the coin' to the get-rich-quick projects we see in a rising market. Surely this alone will educate the developers of the future.

(and did anybody stay tuned for Supernanny?? )

Picking up on wandapops comments on the state of the property when they bought it last year – the old primelocation.com photo from early 2004 is till on the web, and asking price at the time was £112,000, so it must have been negotiated down to the £92,500 purchase, recorded in May/04, when the market was supposedly still strong. And without doing survey.

I agree with the comments said earlier about the ideas/decisions, but even I had to tone it down when I saw that their son had died - puts everything into perspective, really.

My favourite part of last night's show was to actually see La Beeny getting so involved by going into detail with the budgeting. She normally doesn't, and must have taken pity on the couple (who were likeable, if a bit frustrating). Also, when she gave her estimate of £80k, I don't remember seeing any builders present, and it would have been foolish of the couple to have told the builders what Sarah had estimated...

Finally, someone asked earlier for builders' comments about builders leaving the job. In 'normal, everyday life' would the homeowner have any comeback on a builder that walked off a job (albeit for 'personal reasons')?

quote:

Originally posted by ShoppingGirl:
Although I agree with all the comments regarding the garden, the silly decisions, the hideous kitchen etc, I did enjoy last night's PL simply becuase the people involved were likeable and enthusiastic.

ShoppingGirl, I agree with your entire post and couldn't have put it better myself. I enjoyed the show, yes, they were a bit silly - sort of playing houses, making some daft decisions but learning along the way too. I quite liked it by the end bar the kitchen and one or two little things like the blanked fireplaces (although the house next door - drool, drool, that was gorgeous!!!)

I might not necessarily have them round to do my house but I'd have them round to dinner - they seemed like really nice people. And I thought that before the end credits rolled, so I'm not being hypocritical and toning it down.

quote:

Originally posted by jray:

My favourite part of last night's show was to actually see La Beeny getting so involved by going into detail with the budgeting. She normally doesn't, and must have taken pity on the couple (who were likeable, if a bit frustrating).

I agree, it was good to see SOMEONE actually listen and learn from her for a change!!!

My favourite bit of the whole show was when he was describing the outside toilet idea - David said "oh it'll be a flushing toilet" - Sarah goes "Oh WELL, what LUXURY" and makes a silly gesture!!! Brill!!!!

The thing I found most depressing about the programme was that the couple did not seem to have any real empathy with the building. The guy said he fell in love with it - yet he was prepared to do some horrible things to it (like the non-chased-in electrics, which fortunately he was not allowed to do). And they left ALL the fireplaces boarded over. I couldn't understand the mentality of that - someone buying a renovated 200 year old house would expect at least one grate to be in working order (I would anyway) especially as there was no central heating!

I was just comparing it with the Grand Designs couple (who had a revisit) - the ones with the Georgian town house which they lovingly renovated over years. But then again, they were doing it to live in, not as a profit-making scheme. I felt that despite the £80K, the PL house still needed quite a bit of money spending on it.

Car Crash TV - I LOVED it! Lets have more!

BTW, everything they said about GII listed houses is true - only thing worse is GII* or GI (now you really can't change a lightblub in there without asking).

...saw one property last year which had GII listed GARDENS.....

quote; The kitchen was nothing more than a few cabinets screwed to the wall, and they were even preassembled so you are looking at about a day or two installation time. end quote

Rubbish. When our kitchen was fitted, it took 3 weeks to install (also pre-assembled cabinets). If a job is done carefully and properly, it takes a lot longer than "a day or two".

PS: the other thing which wasn't talked about was, if this house is freehold, it had flying freehold over next door on the third floor, but next door had flying freehold over them on the 2 floor........

ooooooooooooooooh try and sort that mess out..........

Well after our "skirmish" in the damp course thread, and you might find this hard to believe, but I agree with lee33 on the kitchen bit. From what I could see, and I'll stand corrected if I'm wrong because I didn't watch the whole programme, the fitting of the cabinets and worktops should have taken a maximum of two days for a good kitchen fitter. There was nothing special there, I can't recall seing any mitred joints on the worktops, which can take a while. The walls should have been nice and flat if they had just been plastered, same with a newly tiled floor. Trying to fit a kitchen when the walls and floors are like a relief map of the moon is somewhat more challenging though. The two days isn't for new electrics, plumbing, tiles etc, just the cabinets, worktops, hob and oven.

Even I could do it in two days, and Lee already knows that I do everything "long way round."

I can't comment on the budget because I didn't see it all, however, for three coat lime plaster work in London and the home counties, you could be quoted anything between £50 to £80 a square meter. Yes, very expensive, but if you've got a listed building, they've got you over a barrel, haven't they?, because there aren't a lot of people who will do lime plaster, or even know what it is. And you've got to put back what's there, or else you'll be in trouble with the authorities, so cheaper gypsum isn't an option, even if it were right for the job, which it isn't.

Take my advice and switch this rubbish off and put on BBC2 and the late Fred Dibnah,a far more enjoyable realistic programme.

I thought I was watching a celebrity Gotcha!!

quote:

Originally posted by wayne zab:
Take my advice and switch this rubbish off and put on BBC2 and the late Fred Dibnah,a far more enjoyable realistic programme.

That man is/was so completely annoying. Obsessed with engineering to the cost of his own marriage. I'd rather watch the test screen

Is that why you watch this contrived made up nonsense complete with the weekly muppets

quote:

Originally posted by wayne zab:
Is that why you watch this contrived made up nonsense complete with the weekly muppets

You don't watch it though do you????

Do you know something, I said it after last weeks programme that some statements on here re the people in the programme are nasty. So now you know someone's dead you feel the need to tone it down. At least you were being your honest selves before. At the end of the day these are people doing their own projects giving us some entertainment. Don't get so het up about it and chill. They have done stupid things that doesn't make people stupid or "dumpty". just chill.

Lacking a sense of humour, Janet?

I think it's you who need to "chill".

With respect janet, this is a forum of people who are avid property show watchers, and who know muppetry when they see it.

We're not getting 'het up', we are merely indulging in a pleasureable pastime, slagging of people on the telly.

What would be the point of a forum where we all just said 'well, that was entertaining'?

I decided last night to give this programme a miss after watching it on a regular basis,most recently though i have watched the first and last ten minutes.Didn't watch at all last night,has one of the people on it died ???