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Thank you. We're pretty excited about it as well. Obviously, we're much further down the line now from this video as the last scene was in August. I'll be editing episode 6 this coming week. - Josh & Kalie

Yes, our new building construction here in Lisbon started at summer 2022 and we will have the keyes at the beginning 2025. This ”renovation” is practically 1) demolition of old building and 2) building a new building in very difficult narrow space. So my guess is that after demolition it will take minimum 3 years to get it ready to move in.

We hope not 2030! They did re-evaluate since this was shot and the timeline is pushed back but not by a year! :-) We'll fill you in in episode 6. Yes, the poor lemon tree. - Josh & Kalie

Would you be surprised if I told you that we're already doing construction? - Josh & Kalie

Us too! Thanks for hanging in there with this one. Life got really, really busy. We have footage for episode 6 and 7. We'll be preparing episode 6 and hopefully release it in 2 weeks. - Josh & Kalie

Thanks for sharing. We hope that you love ours. - Josh & Kalie

Thank you, we're finally back to editing the next episode! We have a ton of footage and no time to edit. LOL - Josh & Kalie

:-) No property rotation at this point. Thanks for watching and commenting. - Josh & Kalie

Thank you very much! It's cool to know what you know Alexandre Herculano. I was just up there filming a bit last week. Thanks for the subscribe. All the best with stuff in the UK. - Josh & Kalie

There was no façade to save, Luis. - Josh & Kalie

Thanks for sharing! We completely agree. We just moved apartments and have the same problem. The no towel hooks thing is a problem! - Josh & Kalie

;-) This is why we needed to put something there. Thanks for the comment. - Josh & Kalie

I've gotta say, this is a wild comment considering that the whole architecture firm is Portuguese. Porto-owned and Portuguese employees. Don't blame the Americans that simply show you a building that Pedra Liquida has done. Or...have you not watched the video to hear the 3 Portuguese people talk about the project? - Josh

We get that. - Josh & Kalie

There's no rethink to happen. This isn't the exterior design of our building and we're definitely not getting a new architect. - Josh & Kalie

Remember, these videos are a little behind what's happening in actuality. Updates to follow soon. - Josh & Kalie

There's some typos here and there. Can't edit it on my phone. Sorry. And also. I'm not an architect fyi.

Thanks for sharing your opinion. It's very true. If people look at all of the façades of this (Porto) city, they vary for sure and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. - Josh

Here's the difference, modern architecture does not build on the past, learn from what worked in the past, or appreciate what was in the past. They treat the past as something to get beyond, rather than as something to learn from. It ignores everything that was ever learned, and starts all over with novelty being the sole criteria. But, the novelty is banal, and uses the same boring materials, same boring motifs (being generous in calling it a motif) to the point that a modern building looks like it could be in any city anywhere. The Haussmann buildings still built based on knowledge of city living built up over hundreds/thousands of years. Still is based on human proportions and not arbitrary ones, and learned and improved upon the past. Older buildings used a variety of materials, many of them local and appropriate for the area. Modern ones use concrete. The making of concrete is one of the most environmentally damaging materials possible, and creates more pollution than the entire airline industry. It also makes for buildings that do not endure, and looks terrible in just a few years, certainly don't look improved with age. Architects are in a bubble that tries to convince themselves and others that they're innovating. But they're not. They're trying to show off to other architects with one single goal, as mentioned before, novelty. They consider aesthetics something of the past, and as arbitrary and subjective. So, the uglier, more sore-thumb-looking the better in their silly world. But aesthetics is not subjective as all that, even if most people don't have a very good understanding of what it is, they can recognise beauty and ugliness easily. Is a beautiful woman or handsome man made more attractive by adding a carbuncle to their face? Any rational person would say no, but modern architecture would tell us it's the height of beauty and that we're rubes for not seeing the improvement in appearance that they're claiming. I call that a form of gaslighting. The only question is whether they know they're full of crap or not. It's high time people call it for what it is, gimmick architecture that serves no one's needs, and makes the world an uglier, nastier place to live. And the biggest hypocrisy of all is that these ridiculous modernist architects tend to live in the older, more beautiful parts of their cities. They don't even want to live in the hideous monstrosities they dream up in AutoCad.

@@RonRobertson-lafrance Even though I agree with much of what you say, not sure I'm all in with your perspective. You see, "modern architecture" became modern mainly in the post WW1 aftermath. The reason for this has something to do with the availability of new materials like tensioned concrete that permitted a lot of freedom on construction, opening a vast world of new solutions to architects, but also, and more importantly, the desire of cutting ties with the past. The political veering to more autocratic regimes in Europe were fueled, by the masses desire of replacing the old established order that had brought them so much hardship and humiliation. This desire also permeated intellectual circles, and gave rise to movements like modernism (mainly minimalist, Bauhaus, republic of Weimar) and futurism (mainly Italian fascist) . The aesthetic of these movements were geared towards cleaner more functional and also more imposing architecture. This evolved between wars but after WW2 took hold because of the need in Europe of reconstruction. We needed housing fast and cheap, so a more cookie cutter approach was adopted. For more imposing public building structures brutalist and more volume based architecture evolved. Sleeker cleaner lines, use of concrete, glass, and metal, favored the use of simpler geometric solid design and absence of ornament, just the functional pattern repetition of glass and metal cladding. I'm not praising this approach, just understanding why it happened and the motivation behind it. If Europe needs were reconstruction, the US needs centered around transition to a car centric, suburb oriented policies, where old human sized city centers were demolished opening space for roads and high rise buildings. To cut this tale short, I'm just saying that society lines of force, economical forces and public spending favored up until the end of the 20th century this way of thinking architecture. The community centered movement to bring back to more human scale ways of thinking (mainly urban) construction, is still taking shape and making its way to mainstream societies. It's not the fault solely of architects, but also political decisors, market forces and the public at large that shape things. Times will be different, going forward, but I'm sure it will not be a revival of the past (although much has been made in old styles) but mostly a return to a more human scale architecture, the shape of it still is not clear (and I suspect will only be recognized in retrospect) and still evolving. My self opinions will have little (mostly none)impact on it, but are opinions nonetheless and need to be stated to paint a broader perspective, and contribute to the understanding and development of the future.

@@GLOBOLG I'm well aware of how modern architecture came to be, and that much of it is really fascist-oriented in its philosophy. I do not believe they "sip from the past" as you say, as they expressly broke from the past. I do agree that it's not just architects that have perpetrated this, city planners have a lot to answer for in not knowing the foundations for their work. There was plenty of literature on what makes for a liveable city, almost all entirely ignored now. But architects, architecture schools, and architectural "critics" (probably should be called enforcers of the modernist movement, rather than critics, because they're all in on the garbage being produced) are the main forces in this. It is not cheaper to build these buildings, particularly the ones that they rave about. And it should be a crime to build municipal buildings and public buildings not to last. The public would choose more human-scaled architecture if it were available, that's why nearly every truly desirable part of most cities is the parts with buildings built consciously to be attractive. People act like ornament is something to be avoided, yet think nothing of decorating the inside of their homes, and certainly don't see it as something to be avoided. The outside of the buildings should be thought of in the same way. While it's true that ornamentation can go too far, we are in absolutely no danger of that at this time and it's an overblown concern in any case.

You're welcome. Thanks for watching. The concrete has grown on us a lot although our place won't look exactly like this. This layout and structure will have similarities but the interiors will be different. We'll have range hoods :-) and built in closets. - Josh & Kalie

Thanks for sharing. Was there anything else that you liked about it? - Josh & Kalie

Don't do what? Some façades can't be saved, let's see what happens to ours. - Josh & Kalie

Who is he? - Josh & Kalie

Thank you very much! We're excited to see what Alexandra does. - Josh & Kalie

They've been decent. It seems like people don't like the façade. Is that your problem with the "Tree House". - Josh & Kalie

The real question Gerald, was that the original façade? :-) Our façade will likely need to come down. There were serious foundational issues that we have already discussed and will continue to explain in these videos and we might end up with a new façade but we won't have a "modern" looking façade like that. It's not on the drawings of what's approved. You're right about the name and Alexandra went even more into that in the speech she gave. A lot of new construction here in Porto is actually being done with concrete and some block but not brick. We'd certainly like some sheetrock or plaster walls on the inside, which is on the cards. The top unit felt very nice and we think that the top unit in our building will be even better as the space is divided a little more interestingly. We'll keep you posted. - Josh & Kalie

Remember this isn't our building so it'll be different. We haven't shown our façade in any videos yet, mainly due to security reasons. - Josh & Kalie

Why? - Josh & Kalie

Preserving the historical heritage is valuing the culture, history and identity of a city and the people who live in it. The Municipal Master Plan states that Porto's identity is the result of the dynamic interaction of multiple dimensions, as is the case with architectural and urban heritage. Thus, they intend to guarantee the preservation and appreciation of the cultural, tangible and intangible, architectural and urban heritage, affirming the history and culture of the City. In this case, this action failed because these facades are from historic buildings in Porto.

@@rikgomes What if we told you that there was no façade when they started? - Josh & Kalie

@@LetsGetBuildingWithJandK That a different story. Because the thumbnail of the video shows two different images in the same space.

We had to get creative because nothing was there and we had nothing to work with. The façade is from a few doors down. That building isn't in great shape but it's alright. The façade for our building is similar to this one (on the left) though. - Josh & Kalie

Thanks for sharing, Carlos. There are many things that are already fixed for our project because it is in the approved plans. It's more of the interior design elements that we'll get to use. - Josh & Kalie

Sounds like different taste, Cipriano. We do understand how or why people don't like the façade. It is different. - Josh & Kalie

Hi Rita, it's interesting you say that because last week, we had a meeting with Alexandra and Filipa and Alexandra said the same thing. She said looks wise, it's nice, but functionality, over the stove hoods are better and that's what we'll use for our units. We feel the same way about the concrete walls everywhere. It's okay for a hotel, it's actually interesting to us, but not for our house that we'll live in day in and day out. - Josh & Kalie

@@LetsGetBuildingWithJandK 100% - it looks nice, but steam rises. You need more downdraft than this style of downdraft hoods provide (because the amount of airflow you need actually means extra intake vents or open windows while cooking!). The best style for in-counter is the "riser" style built ins, where the extractor rises from the back of the countertop while cooking. This is an adequate style for a home kitchen. But, in this case it's honestly - overhead stove hoods are king.

The reality is we don't know what the old façade really looked like. We don't have any good pictures so we had a find a building a few doors down from the current one. It's possible the building didn't have a façade that they were able to save. - Josh & Kalie

@@LetsGetBuildingWithJandK The cover picture shows the old façade!!

It actually doesn't. That build is a few buildings down on the same street. PS is a heck of a thing and our thumbnail designer is good. :-) - Josh & Kalie

Don't you think to differentiate it from a typical house, it's okay? As you know, there's a wide mix of façades in this city and each come from different moments in time. This is that evolution right? - Josh & Kalie

@@LetsGetBuildingWithJandK No, I don't agree. I don't see the erasure of heritage as an evolution or as the right thing to do. That particular building was a total replacement, not a renovation. There is a reason why Urban Planning connected with Historic Architectural Planning exists. The Porto City Council failed here. Unfortunately, money and certain lobbies rule. Pedra Liquida has some other projects that I really like. This is not one of them.

But what is heritage? How far should we go back? When should we let go of something to create something new? We don't have the complete backstory of the building to know its condition. There are many buildings in Porto that are beyond renovating and in need of total replacement whether we like it or not. They weren't renovated in time and have fallen into complete disrepair. The building we bought was unfortunately like that too and had we not stepped in when we did, if nobody else did, it could have caused more serious damage to the buildings to the right and left due to foundational issues in our building that haven't been addressed in more than a decade. - Josh

@@LetsGetBuildingWithJandK Hummm... I've been reading the comments here, and not only many people think as I do, but also you seem to have some difficulty in accepting opinions that differ from yours. Is it a matter of engagement of the video, the more comments the better, no matter what, or is it a difficulty in yourself, to accept that people may think differently? Comment section is to comment, to give an opinion, politely, knowing that others may think differently and accept that fact (which I did, all items above), and life goes on. One of the reasons that makes Europe so attractive to visit is precisely the diversity in its architecture. From pre-historic paintings to the most vanguardist buildings, you can find a little bit of many, many centuries of History coexisting. And that only happens because, mainly, the architectural heritage was respected. How far back should we go, you asked. Well, Rome's Coliseum is a ruin. Most of the middle age European castles are ruins. Most of Amsterdam's channel houses are falling (just a few examples, historically centuries distant apart of one another) Should we take them down? At some point of history for sure many must have thought that was the best thing to do. To restaure and rehab a building, respecting the traditional façade and roof, in the city centre (specially in a historic European city centre), will always be the most intelligent option from my point of view. If not, most of the charming Europe as we know it, wouldn't exist anymore. As I referred, my opinion, given politely. If you have the money and the green light from the Porto City Council to do as you please, by all means, do it. I will keep walking in the Porto city centre thinking how could some replacements be allowed, and be extremely sad and disappointed about it. You can keep replying and questioning, I already politely (for 3 times now) gave my opinion, I'm off. Your video engagement is not my responsibility ;) Stay chill.

​@@LetsGetBuildingWithJandK When a house has been ruined due to time and "natural" causes, it's okay to replace it with something modern but to take a beautiful old facade in the city that's adding so much history and signature with a "modern" facade with no distinctive style other than "minimalism" this should be illegal. If everyone did like you do, we wouldn't have any historical buildings left and history and culture would be wiped off all major cities. Luckily people with more respect and understanding of European heritage and culture exists.

Hey Jon, they're not creating on our dime per se. We've paid them to complete the job based on the m2 in a certain amount of time. Cost overruns will be on them contractually. - Josh & Kalie

@@LetsGetBuildingWithJandK I would just encourage you to keep a log of every single delay and their excuse given. Also record any days that could be argued were weather related with your notes about them (i.e. they were already not on site the day before or after). At the end, after the project is completed and they come to you with cost over runs, they will simple argue (eventually in Portuguese court) that they were outside of their control (weather, you failed to make a timely decision, etc.). Foreigner in Portuguese court - not good. Good luck.

We are personally keeping a journal but also have hired a 3rd party engineer as seen in episode 3. At some point, we have to trust and not let skepticism control our minds. We believe that we've hired right from the beginning, which is where it should all start anyway. - Josh

Thanks for your continuing to follow this series, Eric. We really like the ideas they have for our building which are different than this one. There are some similarities though. Let us know when you pay us a visit. - Josh & Kalie

We can see it's not to everyone's taste and we're not sure we'd want a house with that façade, however, we do recongize it's an extension of the hotel and not residential housing so for it to look different and not just blend into the other buildings on the street makes complete sense to us. It can create the building as a bit of a landmark. Our façade should be much more traditional looking. - Josh & Kalie

@@LetsGetBuildingWithJandKwe loved the interior and the vibe the architect was able to give it. Just please don’t make the facade look that ugly 😅 👍🏽

No, our façade will be more typical let's say. There will be exterior walls right up to the street line with small front facing balconies. Let's see where this series goes. - Josh & Kalie

We agree. It's those attentions to details that really mark their work and get them recognized in the industry. :-) We're glad that you like it. - Josh & Kalie

Tomorrow! We just scheduled the video today. It goes live at noon Portugal time tomorrow (Sunday August 11). We hope that you enjoy it. - Josh & Kalie

We can always really on you, Roy, to be a voice for optimism. :-) - Josh & Kalie

@@LetsGetBuildingWithJandK I'm rooting for you'all. Those are my personal frustrations. Surely it won't happen for you.

:-) We definitely understand. We've heard some serious war stories and it's especially frustrating when it's seemingly simple things. So far the process has gone relatively smoothly. We now have 3 things going on at the same time (demolition, excavation and concrete). We're editing the demolition episode now, which will show about 70-80% of the demolition work. Some things can't be demolition without the concrete team re-enforcing the structure as it's brought down, which we got to witness part of that this week. We hope you like episode 4. Have a great weekend. - Josh & Kalie

:-) Thanks, Amy! - Josh & Kalie

It's really exciting for us on the ground. Have you seen the other two episodes by chance, Amy? - Josh & Kalie

Full steam ahead indeed! We have a meeting on site tomorrow. Pretty exciting. - Josh

Do it! If you can do it, do it. 😁 We can't do this work so we're having to rely on others. - Josh & Kalie

@@LetsGetBuildingWithJandK ha! I wish I had that skill. I'm retired military and currently a cop. Building a house myself is definitely not on my resume lol

Thank you! - Josh & Kalie

That's a hot take. We have milestones in our contract and if those aren't met, there are financial penalties. - Josh & Kalie

Come and get it! There are plenty of piece of land with a house here where you can get a citrus tree. - Josh & Kalie

Nothing uncommon...unfortunately. - Josh & Kalie

Moving forward for sure! - Josh & Kalie