Grand Designs returns....

[BiggestNizzy]

http://www.adaptahaus.co.uk/

hope he does well

[woody]

Good build again this week, top effort. The only thing that let it down for me, as with martin, was how some of the grid work inside was presented. I'd be interested to see what he could do with a more ordinary size & style of build in production numbers, say 1000 units. You could really set up some efficient & lean production then. Cracking advent for his business at the same time.

Noticed it was an Ikea kitchen as well; spent most of this week fitting one.

[Mike Scib]

Anyone else notice the internal walls were built to short, packers under the feet with 1ft skirting boards

[kenny]

They were all built with adjustable steel feet, the walls are all designed to be moved to suit different layouts.

[Mike Scib]

yes i worked that part out Kenny, but i don't think the plan was to put 2 bits of 3x2 under the feet somehow.....do you?

[Dominic]

I spotted that too, and thought that there must have been a fault in the measurements. Doh! (Unless there was also an adjustable floor/ceiling height that we were not told about )

[j2 lot]

Is it just me that took an instant dislike to this weeks bloke?
Not enough money and trying to build / live his dream no matter what his family go through to get there. I think his first sentence on camera included sustainable and Eco friendly.
I don't get why you would struggle with a build you can't afford knowing you intend to close half of the house down in winter to save on costs !!

[kenny]

Missed it, will watch later.

[BiggestNizzy]

Alot of house for the money even though it wasn't finished.

the fancy roof was a mistake, he didn't have the money to build something so big and in the the end the £115k shortfall was noticable.

Guy came across as a bit of a twat, and I hated his "pod's" especially for a school

There wasn't enough thought put into any of the features of the design. if he had spent another year planning it taken out all his big idea's and all the eco rubbish that I think everyone adds to get on grand designs it would have worked so much better.

[MacK]

I didn't get why he didn't finish the part they are going to live in when he knew he was going to run out of money. Now they still only have a part finished part of the house to live in and the rest is still a bit of a site.

I actually quite liked the 'pod' design.

[BiggestNizzy]

I actually quite liked the 'pod' design.

My issue with the pods was they where used as schoolrooms more than anything, Used for Glamping or something similar they would have been ideal. but £200k for 3 pokey classrooms seems a bit steep.


I am in the big box camp of house design

[Shug]

I actually felt pretty sorry for the guy - had a real dream and perhaps was too daft to take a step back and think. But who's never had something planned and wanted to bash on with it regardless? Seems he did originally have it well thought out, but the kicking he took with the property situation really told. The roof did smack of bloody-mindedness with no reason though. Got the impression that he was all about the big ideas and had a little too much faith that 'it'll work out'...

When finished, it will be great, so I hope the guy can stick with it and maybe we'll get a 'revisited' in 5 years with them a good deal better sorted and happier. Didn't dislike him, he was a misguided fool, but not unlikable.

As a show, it was a nice change to have something that was obviously a labour of love and didn't miraculously come together towards the end.

[Lazydonkey]

As a show, it was a nice change to have something that was obviously a labour of love and didn't miraculously come together towards the end.

It was also nice to see one where they werent able to magically absorb the budget doubling !

[j2 lot]

As a show, it was a nice change to have something that was obviously a labour of love and didn't miraculously come together towards the end.

It was also nice to see one where they werent able to magically absorb the budget doubling !

It was not the budget doubling that was his downfall it was his ability to finance it in the first place as his budget decreased with the downturn in house prices.
Even so it was quite impressive just how much house he had achieved for less than £200k.
Have to agree with MacK - before he started he knew he was £150k down, why didn't he finish the original house part so he had a place for the future - he started everything and didn't really finish anything To me it looked like the design would have allowed him to build everything to the old house side of the giant wall and not even started the 'new' side until funds allowed.
As I said above I took a dislike to him and was getting wound up by what he was putting his wife and kids through to fulfil his dream.

[Mike Scib]

Just watching the now....so why did he sell the motorhome to live on a building site?