These type of conversions are hard and expensive, because you never know what you are getting into until you do, but I cannot imagine wanting to live in this kind of interior design with all those stairs with children around.
How people can be so indecisive about a project to become a hostage of a horrible professional?Horrible project, they bought the architect's dreaminess instead of a satisfying place to live. They took a wonderful building to fill it with stairs.
Exactly. Those stairs were neat, but they weren’t worth the money and trouble. Making the whole thing about the stairs was a mistake. They could have had the stairs on only one side and it still would have been dramatic while creating a bit more space and less compromised rooms.
I don't think this young couple will ever build again. All involved parties appear to be playing the blame game. The husband is acting like he's the baby in the house...whining during the last interview with Kevin about the budget problems. The wife just rolled her eyes under her breath (so to speak). I thought the chapel conversion was majestic but we didn't get to see it finished. 😁Thank you for sharing with the USA viewers❣🇺🇲
I have to agree the husband came off as something of a jerk, and she has very pretty eyes. However, I wouldn't call this conversion majestic, to my mind it's more like a travesty considering they were drawn to the open space and the wooden rafters. Yet rather than having those features enhanced, they now have a space completely dominated by that monstrous staircase. Not to mention I'm doubtful about just how well it's going to function as a family home for them. I feel really bad for them but this is a good lesson for everyone in the reality of the process of building.
I think this was a woefully managed project from all parties involved the unfinished product speaks volumes. I'd love to see it finished. I'd love to see a retrospect series from Kevin !
@@voicezful Complete bollox. Bankers playing Las Vegas in the stock market while not having a clue as to what they were doing caused the banking crises. Read 'The Big Short'.
@@voicezful You mean deregulation of mortgage lenders during the Bush Administration which allowed lenders to sell variable rate, sub-prime loans to people who should have gotten traditional mortgages with fixed rates, causing them to default and the subsequent spreading of those loans into investment vehicles all over the world didn’t cause the recession? People going a bit over budget on their home builds did not cause the recession; that’s completely absurd. There’s nothing about having to borrow a bit more money that would cause a worldwide financial crash; people have been doing that since the first interior decorator was contracted to redo Gruk the Caveman’s luxury cliffside cave. For most of the last century, mortgage lending regulations in the US dictated that mortgage lenders could only sell traditional fixed rate loans to home buyers; which provided protections for middle class and poor people buying homes. But lobbyists for the mortgage lending industry successfully lobbied (i.e., “bribed”) the government under Bush to deregulate mortgage lending and allow lenders to much more easily talk home buyers into variable rate loans that have a low initial rate with a decreased mortgage payment that resets to a much higher rate after a set period of time. Variable rate loans would have been fine if they were only sold to people who intended to flip properties before the rate changed and the monthly bill increased massively; but lenders targeted people they knew would not be able to afford the payments when the rate reset and inappropriately sold those loans to those people because the initial rate was low enough for the person to afford it initially. The old rules before deregulation prohibited lenders from selling such loans to people who certainly could never afford the adjusted rate; which protected the middle class from such unscrupulous practices. But deregulation allowed the lending agents to focus on their own short term commissions and push the variable rate loans on people they knew for a fact would be foreclosed upon when the initial low rate ended and the rate changed to a much, much higher rate. So the lenders took the equity in the meantime and ended up owning the homes after so many home buyers ended up being foreclosed upon when that interest rate reset and the monthly mortgage payment skyrocketed. Do this to millions of people and suddenly, not only have many, many billions of dollars been extracted from the middle class and poor (money they will never see again because it’s essentially been stolen and moved to the Cayman Islands), but the banks ended up with millions of homes that no one could afford to buy because so much wealth was already extracted from the middle class and poor. There just weren’t enough people who could afford those homes without the banks lowering the prices massively. Meanwhile, with those loans that will never be repaid having been mixed in with better quality loans and sold to banks around the world with the hope that they will get lost in the shuffle with the better quality loans and it won’t get noticed that they were actually worthless and not getting repaid, suddenly banks all around the world have unpaid debt they can’t collect and have no way to remedy; causing mass bank failures. It was an attempt to hide the results of really bad government policy that took away protections for average people and really shady mortgage lending practices that allowed a massive theft of wealth from the American people, and it backfired on them spectacularly when they tried to cover it up; almost destroying the entire world’s financial systems. Deregulation and “small government” sounds good in theory since it promises to reduce bureaucracy; but the reality is that these deregulation schemes are most often just ways that wealthy people game the rules and take away protections for the average people so that they can “extract” (i.e., “steal”) wealth from those average middle class and poor people. They knew exactly what they were doing when they hired lobbyists to coerce Congress and the Executive Branch to change the rules to allow them to steal that wealth. It was no accident. The only thing they didn’t foresee was how far it would go, how many home buyers they would screw over, and how all that bad debt would be spread all over the world to cause far greater problems everywhere. They knew they would be taking the equity paid as well as the home at the end, but they thought they would be able to sell the foreclosed homes and move on; they didn’t expect that it would occur so widely that there would be no one that could afford the homes they took. And they certainly didn’t initially expect that someone would come up with the schemes to get rid of the bad debt; which they of course later realized they could use it to try to hide their massive mistakes and crimes, with disastrous consequences. In the end, everyone pays for it because “too big to fail” banks end up getting bailed out by taxpayers; many of the same people ripped off by these schemes in the first place. When someone tells you “small government” and deregulation are good things, explain how those ideas almost crashed the entire world’s economy; all caused in large part by one country in the world. So a few people going over budget on their builds cannot be the cause of a worldwide economic crisis; especially when the increased value of the homes still means the cost overruns aren’t bad enough to screw everything up (the cost overruns would have to far exceed the finishing worth of the homes and that would have to happen millions of times for it to have larger effects on the economy). It was a perfect storm of greedy lenders with the power to lobby Congress and the Bush Administration, and the advent of these financial instruments that spread the bad debt all around the world that caused the Great Recession.
@@swanvictor887 That’s partly the cause, but there’s the additional issue of the deregulation of the mortgage lenders before Wall Street spread the bad mortgage debt around the world that was the main problem causing the Great Recession. This is my answer to the guy you also replied to: You mean deregulation of mortgage lenders during the Bush Administration which allowed lenders to sell variable rate, sub-prime loans to people who should have gotten traditional mortgages with fixed rates, causing them to default and the subsequent spreading of those loans into investment vehicles all over the world didn’t cause the recession? People going a bit over budget on their home builds did not cause the recession; that’s completely absurd. There’s nothing about having to borrow a bit more money that would cause a worldwide financial crash; people have been doing that since the first interior decorator was contracted to redo Gruk the Caveman’s luxury cliffside cave. For most of the last century, mortgage lending regulations in the US dictated that mortgage lenders could only sell traditional fixed rate loans to home buyers; which provided protections for middle class and poor people buying homes. But lobbyists for the mortgage lending industry successfully lobbied (i.e., “bribed”) the government under Bush to deregulate mortgage lending and allow lenders to much more easily talk home buyers into variable rate loans that have a low initial rate with a decreased mortgage payment that resets to a much higher rate after a set period of time. Variable rate loans would have been fine if they were only sold to people who intended to flip properties before the rate changed and the monthly bill increased massively; but lenders targeted people they knew would not be able to afford the payments when the rate reset and inappropriately sold those loans to those people because the initial rate was low enough for the person to afford it initially. The old rules before deregulation prohibited lenders from selling such loans to people who certainly could never afford the adjusted rate; which protected the middle class from such unscrupulous practices. But deregulation allowed the lending agents to focus on their own short term commissions and push the variable rate loans on people they knew for a fact would be foreclosed upon when the initial low rate ended and the rate changed to a much, much higher rate. So the lenders took the equity in the meantime and ended up owning the homes after so many home buyers ended up being foreclosed upon when that interest rate reset and the monthly mortgage payment skyrocketed. Do this to millions of people and suddenly, not only have many, many billions of dollars been extracted from the middle class and poor (money they will never see again because it’s essentially been stolen and moved to the Cayman Islands), but the banks ended up with millions of homes that no one could afford to buy because so much wealth was already extracted from the middle class and poor. There just weren’t enough people who could afford those homes without the banks lowering the prices massively. Meanwhile, with those loans that will never be repaid having been mixed in with better quality loans and sold to banks around the world with the hope that they will get lost in the shuffle with the better quality loans and it won’t get noticed that they were actually worthless and not getting repaid, suddenly banks all around the world have unpaid debt they can’t collect and have no way to remedy; causing mass bank failures. It was an attempt to hide the results of really bad government policy that took away protections for average people and really shady mortgage lending practices that allowed a massive theft of wealth from the American people, and it backfired on them spectacularly when they tried to cover it up; almost destroying the entire world’s financial systems. Deregulation and “small government” sounds good in theory since it promises to reduce bureaucracy; but the reality is that these deregulation schemes are most often just ways that wealthy people game the rules and take away protections for the average people so that they can “extract” (i.e., “steal”) wealth from those average middle class and poor people. They knew exactly what they were doing when they hired lobbyists to coerce Congress and the Executive Branch to change the rules to allow them to steal that wealth. It was no accident. The only thing they didn’t foresee was how far it would go, how many home buyers they would screw over, and how all that bad debt would be spread all over the world to cause far greater problems everywhere. They knew they would be taking the equity paid as well as the home at the end, but they thought they would be able to sell the foreclosed homes and move on; they didn’t expect that it would occur so widely that there would be no one that could afford the homes they took. And they certainly didn’t initially expect that someone would come up with the schemes to get rid of the bad debt; which they of course later realized they could use it to try to hide their massive mistakes and crimes, with disastrous consequences. In the end, everyone pays for it because “too big to fail” banks end up getting bailed out by taxpayers; many of the same people ripped off by these schemes in the first place. When someone tells you “small government” and deregulation are good things, explain how those ideas almost crashed the entire world’s economy; all caused in large part by one country in the world. So a few people going over budget on their builds cannot be the cause of a worldwide economic crisis; especially when the increased value of the homes still means the cost overruns aren’t bad enough to screw everything up (the cost overruns would have to far exceed the finishing worth of the homes and that would have to happen millions of times for it to have larger effects on the economy). It was a perfect storm of greedy lenders with the power to lobby Congress and the Bush Administration, and the advent of these financial instruments that spread the bad debt all around the world that caused the Great Recession.
Blaming an architect for cost overruns is pathetic - architects don't know costs. The owners simply had stars in their eyes - they thought they could get a custom home on the cheap and found out the hard way. Most people should avoid custom homes unless they have deep pockets and can absorb large overruns. Having a baby, plus full-time jobs and expecting to 'oversee' the work every two weeks was an absurd expectation. If you want a custom, you need to be onsite on a daily basis.
And pull back on the architect’s vision. They didn’t need the stairs on both sides; it was redundant. Stairs on one side would have been perfectly dramatic and they could have had a little more space for rooms upstairs or some more open space. It was stair overkill.
Plus it was an old building where one should expect surprises. Without the surprises the cost would have been ok. The architect may have been too nice helping them cutting the cost of a surveyor to fit their low budget. However, their low budget should have been a red flag for the architect.
I agree with all the comment about the overkill on stairs etc., but also when you take on a project of this nature you have to be prepared to roll up your sleeves and put in the hours yourself. Apart from this, how many projects do you see unfinished with the plan to finish at a later date when more money is available. So many people want it all immediately and just aren’t prepared to wait, they get caught up in the inevitable stress that self builds always produce and cant think straight.
The architect has a lot more experience at this than the customer so he should be able to give a realistic estimate, otherwise the builder should be able to. The customer is also naive to not expect a lot of unforeseen costs on a building like this but that also is something the architect knows and could have warned them about.
Everyone knows that you never tell an architect the amount you can spend or you’ll get something you can’t afford. Always tell them a lower amount and keep a good contingency (you will use it).
I'm amazed how silly things like door knobs taps sinks pans cost I my self find cheap second hand fittings glass windows door baths free on line or low cost loads of thing folks sell or give away on line at your local sites. mate pulled up the architect propose tapes worth $270 each door handles $300 each light switch $100 he talked to me and looked it up found brass light switches $25 each and 10 wood doors with handles and fittings in brass to a good home. That got him hooked saved thousands. JS
it doesn't seem like these folks really understood what they were getting into. they bought an almost 100 year old building! how can you not expect that there will be unforeseen issues that show up in demolition?! of course there are going to be structural issues. it's an almost 100 year old building that you bought at auction, that's been sitting unused and not being maintained for who knows how long. even a separate project manager couldn't have stopped that from happening.
They had a big dream that would cost big dream money that they didn't have. I don't know any project that I've done that hasn't gone over budget for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes when you want to do things to keep the cost down you end up with a higher cost in the end. Labor costs are not joke.
I've found that projects usually go over budget because the person making the budget is expecting nothing to ever go wrong and no one to make a mistake.
Those bedrooms are ridiculously small and those stairs are tight to pass someone...By now, I hope they've installed camera's so if someone knocks on the door it won't take 10 minutes just to get downstairs.
Even though the house is very intricate and very interesting it is absolutely not built for living in it. In the very last moments of the interview it is obvious architect does not care about the clients and clearly doesn’t understand the difference between having his own ego fulfilled and building something that clients can actually afford and what it means to be a project manager because he thinks that architecture is above everything. I fell in love with the idea of their garden inside the house but the size of those bedrooms was absolutely ridiculous. Also I didn’t see a master bathroom or any kind of bathroom for that matter. The windows are stunning but as far as the whole conversion course it’s just an atrocity
Yes, the process was painfully arduous, but the result particularly because of that visionary staircase created a full-scale interpretation of an M. C. Escher print. Amazing.
To each their own. I personally think that the horrid staircase is hugely responsible for absolutely destroying everything that they found appealing about the building in the first place. They liked the sense of open space and the wooden rafters. They should have had a design that enhanced those qualities. Instead, they've ended up with a space completely dominated by that monstrous staircase and a home that doesn't really function very well. I feel sorry for them, they're clearly not happy with how things turned out and I don't blame them. Live and learn.
Season 1 to season 21, Uk, Australia or New Zealand, whichever series you watch, there is a common thread: most people not only insist on building just beyond their means, but if they have a budget of, say, £350,000, they design a £350,000 home instead of £275k or £300k. It's the rare client who can actually afford what they decide to build. But I love all the series from all the countries anyway. And the way in which Kevin doesn't hold back. 😂
I love the look of this place and the brief not to put walls across windows is right on the mark, but what about the practicality. Anybody who has spent any time in a church knows how cold they can be, there is no mention of insulation. I see the under floor heating, but what a space to heat. In two minds about all those stairs, no need for a stair master! Will keep you fit living there, but I guess could be a little tiring at at times. I personally use the playroom as the main bedroom, and give the main bedroom to the kid(s).
The husband's profession gives the biggest hint. I am sure we have all lived with analysts and business consultants that come in change everything and leave and not have to live with the results. This is Karma.
thats too real, you hit the nail on the head. The rich annoying business analyst, cant build himself... and gets fucked for trying to fuck over the actual talented people... the real builders, an d those who build their own homes. Karma indeed.
The sum up at the end of this program is so much more honest than what they do now. Real numbers in print on screen. (ETA: they were fudging $$ back then, but at least they were trying...) Latest build? Estimate 250K, final cost 420K but it's OK because the dog got cancer and the view is spectacular. Still wound up with a very interesting house but the money came out of thin air.
Really awful asymmetrical new windows; the 30ft staircase posts 'look' undersized; the bedrooms are tiny; and heating will be expensive. The build seems to have broken Gavin emotionally, and the architect continues to be in denial.
I know the Chapple very well I used to live nextdoor to it my dad supply the workers water from our house when I was just seven mum and dad and I used to inside there for church services on Sunday and afterwards we had a pasty This was first time for chilsworthy cornwall program in history and british saving pubs the white hart aswell
I fail to understand why these people always seem to bite off a chunk they cannot swallow. I have built 5 houses in my life and my overspent never exceeded 5% - usually less than my contingency I had accounted for. I did spend a lot of time making water tight contracts with my contractors, having included everything down to the last nail!
The poor architect!!! They - well, the male especially - were moaning and miserable from the get-go. The architect is a creative genius, then you need a project manager who is miserly by nature and as it's not their money, many are not frugal enough. The basic construction materials' costs also rise unpredictably: especially, glass, timber, cement and steel. They didn't encounter too may problems, in actual fact, with the building's integrity. But this couple were clueless and joyless from the start!!!
Just the Douglas-spear staircase on that thickness is almost impossible today. And that just to make small bedrooms in a massive space.... Okay they got it all except a clear mind, what a fuck up
Don't rely on an architect to run your costs! You really need a good buffer on your budget when taking on projects like this. So many unforseen problems potentially
😱 this new house for this couple is terrible. It has too many stairs it can be very dangerous for little Sam and on top of that two rooms are small. Not good!
I have watched 20 or so of the later shows and noticed a common plot line in all of the later shows that were not in the shows to this point in the first season. This seems to be the foundation of the "We have run out of money and don't know how we will finish the job" plot line which often includes firing the project manager. Does everybody in Britain start construction projects without the money to finish the project or sufficient funds to cover contingencies?
The guy talks about having control but he doesn't once mention having restraint; sounds like it's more about ego than benefiting the couple. The thing is in the industry architects are primarily concerned with the finished look and budget is secondary. Not all, certainly, but going over budget has no real repercussions for an architect even if they didn't design according to the budget. This guy paints himself as being all about the holistic approach but if you can't follow through then just acknowledge it was too much for you.
All the rooms for living, cooking and sleeping are tight, and the one grand, huge area is only for stairs!!!!!? This may satisfy the architect's ego, but what a waste of space! Shame.
Agreed, this has to be one of the absolute worst outcomes I've seen. I feel sorry for the couple, but this serves as a really good example for others of how things can go terribly wrong.
That was an ignorant comment. They chose both the architect and certainly one of the many designs presented to them. Why would a larger staircase profit HIS ego????? He designs every space in that building and, thus, is invested in all of them, surely. This is also 'pre' the era of monster GREAT rooms and vast cavernous spaces. Ultimately, the buyers bought 'blind', chose him as an award-winning architect (happy to spend money on his services to satisfy their EGOS) but then TIED his hands with their constant regrets, indecision, blame and insistence that HE run their budget. They must take responsibility.
It was they, who said they did not want to cut through the windows or the back wall therefore restricting the space. What episode are you commenting on you fool?
This build was sad. So much potential and promise yet they built a house that was the arhitect's dream instead of a place to really live. Indoor plants? Is indoor gardening really this couple's interest? How to keep those plants alive? Stairs... OMG what a workout! I've seen other church rebuilds and they were much more livable than this.
this may be unfair to the architect. Working with a construction manager might have been more predictable for the owner builder but may have (probably would have) led to less satisfactory design results? Is this a case where the investor is crying all the way to the bank?
Architects by nature likes to play around with other people's money to satisfy their one ego. It's part of the job description. The blame is split in this case with the architect being too selfish and the owner being stupid enough to trust an architect with money
Big expectations cost big money low budget to start with such a huge project was always going to be a problem costs of materials labour are not cheap blaming everyone for under quoting and over costs were inevitable with a property in this condition and with what the end result was going to be moral of the story don’t expect a mansion for a few pound
After speaking to several church conversions is heating the space many found the floor wall anf roof needed insolation then heating costs are high regardless what you use only one ones zI know to be successful sre turned onto none religious wefing venurs fotr Asia Tourist and linked to sttire hire ie the complete wefding package. Home never Really work especially if you involve architectures some just dont get basics.
Architect is not a project manager. He had no control what so ever but to draw up plans and dream .......Its sad for the client to see hard earned cash thrown down a pit. The galary I thought was far too big and the rooms upstairs too small, so its wrong there.
I know there are other sad endings among Grand Designs episodes, especially the Lighthouse project (I haven't watched it yet but I read that it was pretty sad). But Gavin Allen is one of the saddest fellows among all builder-owners on this show. I do hope they found it was all worth it after all.
This isn't remotely a 'sad ending' compared to the Lighthouse project. I actually think the saddest one is when this guy builds a new, accessible house due to MS. Not the MS itself(tragic sure, but I've seen other people with disability be empowered by new builds too) but how it ends. Won't spoil it for you.
@@itorapadas I was more referring to the fact he and his wife split during the build and he ends up moving into the house by himself. Self managing a build can be a huge stressor on people.
Glass stairs is ok for a retired couple who have a few grandchildren, but for people who have Kids! unless you have a few maids from Asia, forget them looking clean and sterile, when you build a house make sure you can paint above the stairs, STROUD MT MC'CLOUD make sure what you use is practicable and make sure you have nothing to do with Collin McChead in the clouds.
So strange to see the large amount of winning which was in the pre-days of financial glory. Computers changing the world an in ten years the loan holds half the percentage and so many years later half again. To see this now without their knowledge of being millionaires is almost funny. Although up-to the mid-nineties people were still scared. The only idiots in loans were those who sold in 2009-2014 when buying at 2008 or after... Bottom-line you usually you can only win on a well bought buy or build dh
These type of conversions are hard and expensive, because you never know what you are getting into until you do, but I cannot imagine wanting to live in this kind of interior design with all those stairs with children around.
please revisit this & lets see how it turned out 20 years later...
I agree, but I bet most of those people don't live there anymore... Still would be interesting though! xD
I like the old episodes. More please.
How people can be so indecisive about a project to become a hostage of a horrible professional?Horrible project, they bought the architect's dreaminess instead of a satisfying place to live. They took a wonderful building to fill it with stairs.
Exactly. Those stairs were neat, but they weren’t worth the money and trouble. Making the whole thing about the stairs was a mistake. They could have had the stairs on only one side and it still would have been dramatic while creating a bit more space and less compromised rooms.
I don't think this young couple will ever build again. All involved parties appear to be playing the blame game. The husband is acting like he's the baby in the house...whining during the last interview with Kevin about the budget problems. The wife just rolled her eyes under her breath (so to speak). I thought the chapel conversion was majestic but we didn't get to see it finished.
😁Thank you for sharing with the USA viewers❣🇺🇲
I have to agree the husband came off as something of a jerk, and she has very pretty eyes. However, I wouldn't call this conversion majestic, to my mind it's more like a travesty considering they were drawn to the open space and the wooden rafters. Yet rather than having those features enhanced, they now have a space completely dominated by that monstrous staircase. Not to mention I'm doubtful about just how well it's going to function as a family home for them. I feel really bad for them but this is a good lesson for everyone in the reality of the process of building.
I think this was a woefully managed project from all parties involved the unfinished product speaks volumes. I'd love to see it finished. I'd love to see a retrospect series from Kevin !
Too much emphasis is placed on the construction so all episodes look virtually identical until the final reveal.
defaulters on these types of projects caused the banking crisis and prevented millions from buying a normal house.
@@voicezful Complete bollox. Bankers playing Las Vegas in the stock market while not having a clue as to what they were doing caused the banking crises. Read 'The Big Short'.
@@voicezful
You mean deregulation of mortgage lenders during the Bush Administration which allowed lenders to sell variable rate, sub-prime loans to people who should have gotten traditional mortgages with fixed rates, causing them to default and the subsequent spreading of those loans into investment vehicles all over the world didn’t cause the recession? People going a bit over budget on their home builds did not cause the recession; that’s completely absurd. There’s nothing about having to borrow a bit more money that would cause a worldwide financial crash; people have been doing that since the first interior decorator was contracted to redo Gruk the Caveman’s luxury cliffside cave.
For most of the last century, mortgage lending regulations in the US dictated that mortgage lenders could only sell traditional fixed rate loans to home buyers; which provided protections for middle class and poor people buying homes. But lobbyists for the mortgage lending industry successfully lobbied (i.e., “bribed”) the government under Bush to deregulate mortgage lending and allow lenders to much more easily talk home buyers into variable rate loans that have a low initial rate with a decreased mortgage payment that resets to a much higher rate after a set period of time.
Variable rate loans would have been fine if they were only sold to people who intended to flip properties before the rate changed and the monthly bill increased massively; but lenders targeted people they knew would not be able to afford the payments when the rate reset and inappropriately sold those loans to those people because the initial rate was low enough for the person to afford it initially.
The old rules before deregulation prohibited lenders from selling such loans to people who certainly could never afford the adjusted rate; which protected the middle class from such unscrupulous practices. But deregulation allowed the lending agents to focus on their own short term commissions and push the variable rate loans on people they knew for a fact would be foreclosed upon when the initial low rate ended and the rate changed to a much, much higher rate. So the lenders took the equity in the meantime and ended up owning the homes after so many home buyers ended up being foreclosed upon when that interest rate reset and the monthly mortgage payment skyrocketed.
Do this to millions of people and suddenly, not only have many, many billions of dollars been extracted from the middle class and poor (money they will never see again because it’s essentially been stolen and moved to the Cayman Islands), but the banks ended up with millions of homes that no one could afford to buy because so much wealth was already extracted from the middle class and poor. There just weren’t enough people who could afford those homes without the banks lowering the prices massively.
Meanwhile, with those loans that will never be repaid having been mixed in with better quality loans and sold to banks around the world with the hope that they will get lost in the shuffle with the better quality loans and it won’t get noticed that they were actually worthless and not getting repaid, suddenly banks all around the world have unpaid debt they can’t collect and have no way to remedy; causing mass bank failures.
It was an attempt to hide the results of really bad government policy that took away protections for average people and really shady mortgage lending practices that allowed a massive theft of wealth from the American people, and it backfired on them spectacularly when they tried to cover it up; almost destroying the entire world’s financial systems.
Deregulation and “small government” sounds good in theory since it promises to reduce bureaucracy; but the reality is that these deregulation schemes are most often just ways that wealthy people game the rules and take away protections for the average people so that they can “extract” (i.e., “steal”) wealth from those average middle class and poor people. They knew exactly what they were doing when they hired lobbyists to coerce Congress and the Executive Branch to change the rules to allow them to steal that wealth. It was no accident. The only thing they didn’t foresee was how far it would go, how many home buyers they would screw over, and how all that bad debt would be spread all over the world to cause far greater problems everywhere. They knew they would be taking the equity paid as well as the home at the end, but they thought they would be able to sell the foreclosed homes and move on; they didn’t expect that it would occur so widely that there would be no one that could afford the homes they took. And they certainly didn’t initially expect that someone would come up with the schemes to get rid of the bad debt; which they of course later realized they could use it to try to hide their massive mistakes and crimes, with disastrous consequences.
In the end, everyone pays for it because “too big to fail” banks end up getting bailed out by taxpayers; many of the same people ripped off by these schemes in the first place. When someone tells you “small government” and deregulation are good things, explain how those ideas almost crashed the entire world’s economy; all caused in large part by one country in the world.
So a few people going over budget on their builds cannot be the cause of a worldwide economic crisis; especially when the increased value of the homes still means the cost overruns aren’t bad enough to screw everything up (the cost overruns would have to far exceed the finishing worth of the homes and that would have to happen millions of times for it to have larger effects on the economy). It was a perfect storm of greedy lenders with the power to lobby Congress and the Bush Administration, and the advent of these financial instruments that spread the bad debt all around the world that caused the Great Recession.
@@swanvictor887
That’s partly the cause, but there’s the additional issue of the deregulation of the mortgage lenders before Wall Street spread the bad mortgage debt around the world that was the main problem causing the Great Recession.
This is my answer to the guy you also replied to:
You mean deregulation of mortgage lenders during the Bush Administration which allowed lenders to sell variable rate, sub-prime loans to people who should have gotten traditional mortgages with fixed rates, causing them to default and the subsequent spreading of those loans into investment vehicles all over the world didn’t cause the recession? People going a bit over budget on their home builds did not cause the recession; that’s completely absurd. There’s nothing about having to borrow a bit more money that would cause a worldwide financial crash; people have been doing that since the first interior decorator was contracted to redo Gruk the Caveman’s luxury cliffside cave.
For most of the last century, mortgage lending regulations in the US dictated that mortgage lenders could only sell traditional fixed rate loans to home buyers; which provided protections for middle class and poor people buying homes. But lobbyists for the mortgage lending industry successfully lobbied (i.e., “bribed”) the government under Bush to deregulate mortgage lending and allow lenders to much more easily talk home buyers into variable rate loans that have a low initial rate with a decreased mortgage payment that resets to a much higher rate after a set period of time.
Variable rate loans would have been fine if they were only sold to people who intended to flip properties before the rate changed and the monthly bill increased massively; but lenders targeted people they knew would not be able to afford the payments when the rate reset and inappropriately sold those loans to those people because the initial rate was low enough for the person to afford it initially.
The old rules before deregulation prohibited lenders from selling such loans to people who certainly could never afford the adjusted rate; which protected the middle class from such unscrupulous practices. But deregulation allowed the lending agents to focus on their own short term commissions and push the variable rate loans on people they knew for a fact would be foreclosed upon when the initial low rate ended and the rate changed to a much, much higher rate. So the lenders took the equity in the meantime and ended up owning the homes after so many home buyers ended up being foreclosed upon when that interest rate reset and the monthly mortgage payment skyrocketed.
Do this to millions of people and suddenly, not only have many, many billions of dollars been extracted from the middle class and poor (money they will never see again because it’s essentially been stolen and moved to the Cayman Islands), but the banks ended up with millions of homes that no one could afford to buy because so much wealth was already extracted from the middle class and poor. There just weren’t enough people who could afford those homes without the banks lowering the prices massively.
Meanwhile, with those loans that will never be repaid having been mixed in with better quality loans and sold to banks around the world with the hope that they will get lost in the shuffle with the better quality loans and it won’t get noticed that they were actually worthless and not getting repaid, suddenly banks all around the world have unpaid debt they can’t collect and have no way to remedy; causing mass bank failures.
It was an attempt to hide the results of really bad government policy that took away protections for average people and really shady mortgage lending practices that allowed a massive theft of wealth from the American people, and it backfired on them spectacularly when they tried to cover it up; almost destroying the entire world’s financial systems.
Deregulation and “small government” sounds good in theory since it promises to reduce bureaucracy; but the reality is that these deregulation schemes are most often just ways that wealthy people game the rules and take away protections for the average people so that they can “extract” (i.e., “steal”) wealth from those average middle class and poor people. They knew exactly what they were doing when they hired lobbyists to coerce Congress and the Executive Branch to change the rules to allow them to steal that wealth. It was no accident. The only thing they didn’t foresee was how far it would go, how many home buyers they would screw over, and how all that bad debt would be spread all over the world to cause far greater problems everywhere. They knew they would be taking the equity paid as well as the home at the end, but they thought they would be able to sell the foreclosed homes and move on; they didn’t expect that it would occur so widely that there would be no one that could afford the homes they took. And they certainly didn’t initially expect that someone would come up with the schemes to get rid of the bad debt; which they of course later realized they could use it to try to hide their massive mistakes and crimes, with disastrous consequences.
In the end, everyone pays for it because “too big to fail” banks end up getting bailed out by taxpayers; many of the same people ripped off by these schemes in the first place. When someone tells you “small government” and deregulation are good things, explain how those ideas almost crashed the entire world’s economy; all caused in large part by one country in the world.
So a few people going over budget on their builds cannot be the cause of a worldwide economic crisis; especially when the increased value of the homes still means the cost overruns aren’t bad enough to screw everything up (the cost overruns would have to far exceed the finishing worth of the homes and that would have to happen millions of times for it to have larger effects on the economy). It was a perfect storm of greedy lenders with the power to lobby Congress and the Bush Administration, and the advent of these financial instruments that spread the bad debt all around the world that caused the Great Recession.
the old episodes are by far the best
Blaming an architect for cost overruns is pathetic - architects don't know costs. The owners simply had stars in their eyes - they thought they could get a custom home on the cheap and found out the hard way. Most people should avoid custom homes unless they have deep pockets and can absorb large overruns. Having a baby, plus full-time jobs and expecting to 'oversee' the work every two weeks was an absurd expectation. If you want a custom, you need to be onsite on a daily basis.
And pull back on the architect’s vision. They didn’t need the stairs on both sides; it was redundant. Stairs on one side would have been perfectly dramatic and they could have had a little more space for rooms upstairs or some more open space. It was stair overkill.
And surprising how often this is done!
Plus it was an old building where one should expect surprises. Without the surprises the cost would have been ok. The architect may have been too nice helping them cutting the cost of a surveyor to fit their low budget. However, their low budget should have been a red flag for the architect.
I agree with all the comment about the overkill on stairs etc., but also when you take on a project of this nature you have to be prepared to roll up your sleeves and put in the hours yourself. Apart from this, how many projects do you see unfinished with the plan to finish at a later date when more money is available. So many people want it all immediately and just aren’t prepared to wait, they get caught up in the inevitable stress that self builds always produce and cant think straight.
The architect has a lot more experience at this than the customer so he should be able to give a realistic estimate, otherwise the builder should be able to. The customer is also naive to not expect a lot of unforeseen costs on a building like this but that also is something the architect knows and could have warned them about.
When you take on a project like this you better have deep pockets because you have so many unexpected things that will shake you to the core.
Everyone knows that you never tell an architect the amount you can spend or you’ll get something you can’t afford. Always tell them a lower amount and keep a good contingency (you will use it).
I'm amazed how silly things like door knobs taps sinks pans cost I my self find cheap second hand fittings glass windows door baths free on line or low cost loads of thing folks sell or give away on line at your local sites. mate pulled up the architect propose tapes worth $270 each door handles $300 each light switch $100 he talked to me and looked it up found brass light switches $25 each and 10 wood doors with handles and fittings in brass to a good home. That got him hooked saved thousands. JS
it doesn't seem like these folks really understood what they were getting into. they bought an almost 100 year old building! how can you not expect that there will be unforeseen issues that show up in demolition?! of course there are going to be structural issues. it's an almost 100 year old building that you bought at auction, that's been sitting unused and not being maintained for who knows how long. even a separate project manager couldn't have stopped that from happening.
The first rule of converting a historic church into a private home:
Don’t
They had a big dream that would cost big dream money that they didn't have. I don't know any project that I've done that hasn't gone over budget for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes when you want to do things to keep the cost down you end up with a higher cost in the end. Labor costs are not joke.
I've found that projects usually go over budget because the person making the budget is expecting nothing to ever go wrong and no one to make a mistake.
Those bedrooms are ridiculously small and those stairs are tight to pass someone...By now, I hope they've installed camera's so if someone knocks on the door it won't take 10 minutes just to get downstairs.
Every parent knows that kids LOVE stairs, the steeper and harder and railingless, the better....
Eschler would love the stairs
Exactly.
Even though the house is very intricate and very interesting it is absolutely not built for living in it. In the very last moments of the interview it is obvious architect does not care about the clients and clearly doesn’t understand the difference between having his own ego fulfilled and building something that clients can actually afford and what it means to be a project manager because he thinks that architecture is above everything. I fell in love with the idea of their garden inside the house but the size of those bedrooms was absolutely ridiculous. Also I didn’t see a master bathroom or any kind of bathroom for that matter. The windows are stunning but as far as the whole conversion course it’s just an atrocity
This little baby will be celebrating his 21st birthday 2019 hopefully in the grounds of this building...
Yes, the process was painfully arduous, but the result particularly because of that visionary staircase created a full-scale interpretation of an M. C. Escher print. Amazing.
To each their own. I personally think that the horrid staircase is hugely responsible for absolutely destroying everything that they found appealing about the building in the first place. They liked the sense of open space and the wooden rafters. They should have had a design that enhanced those qualities. Instead, they've ended up with a space completely dominated by that monstrous staircase and a home that doesn't really function very well. I feel sorry for them, they're clearly not happy with how things turned out and I don't blame them. Live and learn.
Season 1 to season 21, Uk, Australia or New Zealand, whichever series you watch, there is a common thread: most people not only insist on building just beyond their means, but if they have a budget of, say, £350,000, they design a £350,000 home instead of £275k or £300k. It's the rare client who can actually afford what they decide to build. But I love all the series from all the countries anyway. And the way in which Kevin doesn't hold back. 😂
And in AUS and NZ, going over budget is much less of an issue than in the UK.
You are correct...
@@jody024 Why is that?
The husband always seemed, since the very start, that he had no idea what he was doing or what he wanted.
I love the look of this place and the brief not to put walls across windows is right on the mark, but what about the practicality. Anybody who has spent any time in a church knows how cold they can be, there is no mention of insulation. I see the under floor heating, but what a space to heat. In two minds about all those stairs, no need for a stair master! Will keep you fit living there, but I guess could be a little tiring at at times. I personally use the playroom as the main bedroom, and give the main bedroom to the kid(s).
That was my thought too! We are talking space needed for functional living.😮
The husband's profession gives the biggest hint. I am sure we have all lived with analysts and business consultants that come in change everything and leave and not have to live with the results. This is Karma.
thats too real, you hit the nail on the head. The rich annoying business analyst, cant build himself... and gets fucked for trying to fuck over the actual talented people... the real builders, an d those who build their own homes. Karma indeed.
The sum up at the end of this program is so much more honest than what they do now.
Real numbers in print on screen. (ETA: they were fudging $$ back then, but at least they were trying...)
Latest build? Estimate 250K, final cost 420K but it's OK because the dog got cancer and the view is spectacular.
Still wound up with a very interesting house but the money came out of thin air.
Really awful asymmetrical new windows; the 30ft staircase posts 'look' undersized; the bedrooms are tiny; and heating will be expensive. The build seems to have broken Gavin emotionally, and the architect continues to be in denial.
Ridiculously large house for 3 people.
Unnecessary grief
There is an old a saying where I'm from for people like these....... Ten bob millionaires, this is a great example.
I know the Chapple very well I used to live nextdoor to it my dad supply the workers water from our house when I was just seven mum and dad and I used to inside there for church services on Sunday and afterwards we had a pasty
This was first time for chilsworthy cornwall program in history and british saving pubs the white hart aswell
This gives new meaning to grow up in a Christian home ^)^
Gavin and Jane, they sound like a sitcom couple.
I fail to understand why these people always seem to bite off a chunk they cannot swallow. I have built 5 houses in my life and my overspent never exceeded 5% - usually less than my contingency I had accounted for. I did spend a lot of time making water tight contracts with my contractors, having included everything down to the last nail!
Well done you!! That's laudable.
Narcissism and self-aggrandizement drove this build.
Watching from Cavite
The poor architect!!! They - well, the male especially - were moaning and miserable from the get-go. The architect is a creative genius, then you need a project manager who is miserly by nature and as it's not their money, many are not frugal enough. The basic construction materials' costs also rise unpredictably: especially, glass, timber, cement and steel. They didn't encounter too may problems, in actual fact, with the building's integrity. But this couple were clueless and joyless from the start!!!
4:00 I had thought the same.. good for a wineseller.. lol
Одна из лучших серий ! Ещё смотрел по спутникову телевидению а не на ютубе спасибо!
Just the Douglas-spear staircase on that thickness is almost impossible today. And that just to make small bedrooms in a massive space.... Okay they got it all except a clear mind, what a fuck up
Don't rely on an architect to run your costs! You really need a good buffer on your budget when taking on projects like this. So many unforseen problems potentially
😱 this new house for this couple is terrible. It has too many stairs it can be very dangerous for little Sam and on top of that two rooms are small. Not good!
I have watched 20 or so of the later shows and noticed a common plot line in all of the later shows that were not in the shows to this point in the first season. This seems to be the foundation of the "We have run out of money and don't know how we will finish the job" plot line which often includes firing the project manager.
Does everybody in Britain start construction projects without the money to finish the project or sufficient funds to cover contingencies?
It certainly seems like it.
erm...yes. We Brits are piss-poor.
The guy talks about having control but he doesn't once mention having restraint; sounds like it's more about ego than benefiting the couple. The thing is in the industry architects are primarily concerned with the finished look and budget is secondary. Not all, certainly, but going over budget has no real repercussions for an architect even if they didn't design according to the budget. This guy paints himself as being all about the holistic approach but if you can't follow through then just acknowledge it was too much for you.
why they not can't see before the beginning to built, that the budget not cover the costs.. omg
All the rooms for living, cooking and sleeping are tight, and the one grand, huge area is only for stairs!!!!!? This may satisfy the architect's ego, but what a waste of space! Shame.
Agreed, this has to be one of the absolute worst outcomes I've seen. I feel sorry for the couple, but this serves as a really good example for others of how things can go terribly wrong.
That was an ignorant comment. They chose both the architect and certainly one of the many designs presented to them. Why would a larger staircase profit HIS ego????? He designs every space in that building and, thus, is invested in all of them, surely. This is also 'pre' the era of monster GREAT rooms and vast cavernous spaces. Ultimately, the buyers bought 'blind', chose him as an award-winning architect (happy to spend money on his services to satisfy their EGOS) but then TIED his hands with their constant regrets, indecision, blame and insistence that HE run their budget. They must take responsibility.
It was they, who said they did not want to cut through the windows or the back wall therefore restricting the space. What episode are you commenting on you fool?
This build was sad. So much potential and promise yet they built a house that was the arhitect's dream instead of a place to really live. Indoor plants? Is indoor gardening really this couple's interest? How to keep those plants alive? Stairs... OMG what a workout! I've seen other church rebuilds and they were much more livable than this.
That was hard to watch.
this may be unfair to the architect. Working with a construction manager might have been more predictable for the owner builder but may have (probably would have) led to less satisfactory design results? Is this a case where the investor is crying all the way to the bank?
Architects by nature likes to play around with other people's money to satisfy their one ego. It's part of the job description. The blame is split in this case with the architect being too selfish and the owner being stupid enough to trust an architect with money
TOO MANY ADS!
Better stay on top of that bamboo
Why is in the introduction they have the stolen music of R&J Stone's We Do It from 1976 playing in the background without accreditation.
i went to school, Okehampton Comprehensive, with a David Shepard . I wonder if this is the same guy ?
This design is an ode to stairs. So strange.
I'd need an elevator in that house.
15:10 OMG
Big expectations cost big money low budget to start with such a huge project was always going to be a problem costs of materials labour are not cheap blaming everyone for under quoting and over costs were inevitable with a property in this condition and with what the end result was going to be moral of the story don’t expect a mansion for a few pound
After speaking to several church conversions is heating the space many found the floor wall anf roof needed insolation then heating costs are high regardless what you use only one ones zI know to be successful sre turned onto none religious wefing venurs fotr Asia Tourist and linked to sttire hire ie the complete wefding package. Home never Really work especially if you involve architectures some just dont get basics.
That American Horror Story music!
What a terrible dising. To many stairs The house is not for kids or old peple
No mention of unexpected over spends then. What a pair of doughnuts.
Architect is not a project manager. He had no control what so ever but to draw up plans and dream .......Its sad for the client to see hard earned cash thrown down a pit. The galary I thought was far too big and the rooms upstairs too small, so its wrong there.
Thank goodness churches are being used properly as habitable spaces.
I know there are other sad endings among Grand Designs episodes, especially the Lighthouse project (I haven't watched it yet but I read that it was pretty sad). But Gavin Allen is one of the saddest fellows among all builder-owners on this show. I do hope they found it was all worth it after all.
This isn't remotely a 'sad ending' compared to the Lighthouse project. I actually think the saddest one is when this guy builds a new, accessible house due to MS. Not the MS itself(tragic sure, but I've seen other people with disability be empowered by new builds too) but how it ends. Won't spoil it for you.
I think I've seen the guy with MS but he had a positive attitude. Unlike Gavin who exhibited a heavy and sad vibe throughout the episode.
@@itorapadas I was more referring to the fact he and his wife split during the build and he ends up moving into the house by himself. Self managing a build can be a huge stressor on people.
@@zacdredge3859 they split up??
No money No honey..It's always about money...SAD.
Ohhh. So if her baby was in 1998. The American Horror Story song was after this was filmed.
Good stuff 👍 Jesus loves you and God has a plan for your life ❤️💕🧬🧬😊😊
This couples attitude stinks!
Glass stairs is ok for a retired couple who have a few grandchildren, but for people who have Kids! unless you have a few maids from Asia, forget them looking clean and sterile, when you build a house make sure you can paint above the stairs, STROUD MT MC'CLOUD make sure what you use is practicable and make sure you have nothing to do with Collin McChead in the clouds.
I had to indicate I didn't like this episode as there is no sound. I have no idea what is being said.
Awful design all for a staircase - so dated 10/10
House us useless.
So strange to see the large amount of winning which was in the pre-days of financial glory. Computers changing the world an in ten years the loan holds half the percentage and so many years later half again. To see this now without their knowledge of being millionaires is almost funny. Although up-to the mid-nineties people were still scared. The only idiots in loans were those who sold in 2009-2014 when buying at 2008 or after... Bottom-line you usually you can only win on a well bought buy or build dh
Ad Overkill. Not worth watching
Oh god. I haven't seen so many British people. That's how it looks when Europeans lived in England. Beautiful. Now auctions full of refugees
With a name like Vaidas Gudonis you are one of those refugees. What a racist comment.