Room to Improve.

jodaw

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

I just don't understand why everything (building work) is so costly in this country. You see guys building complete houses in places like Spain for the cost of an extension in Ireland.

Because you have knobs like Dermot wanting to drive round in brand new mercs for their other worldly design expertise. Anyone who has watched all of dermos past show could hack together a rough extension plan and get an engineer size the details.

Oh and red tape upon red tape... and tax

And builders still remembering the good ole days and wanting boom time profits back, and the government agreeing.

Quazzie

the_pen_turner wrote: »

i would agree with you in general but not here on that show. she clearly had no clue about how her dream would be built or what issues there were .

That's not her problem tho. She clearly stated early in the show that the reason she hired Dermot was because she didn't have time to be dealing with it day to day, and he was hired to be a project manager as well as an architect. She didn't care about how the house was built, of course she's only interested in the end product. That's the whole point of a client architect relationship. She says what he wants, and he delivers. When you get a takeway delivered to your house, do you care if they have to take a detour to get there because of roadworks, or do you only care that the food arrives hot, and it delicious?

Fattes

jodaw wrote: »

Because you have knobs like Dermot wanting to drive round in brand new mercs for their other worldly design expertise. Anyone who has watched all of dermos past show could hack together a rough extension plan and get an engineer size the details.

Oh and red tape upon red tape... and tax

And builders still remembering the good ole days and wanting boom time profits back, and the government agreeing.

He does not drive a Merc though!!

jodaw

Fattes wrote: »

He does not drive a Merc though!!

Well he was driving one last night when he was waffling in the car. Maybe he changed to a new car since!!!!!!

Hurrache

Call me Al wrote: »

My gut tells me she cut corners picking her builder, and went for the lowest price offer on the table, and didn't leave a contingency fund for structural issues,

We know all that from the show though, they discussed no contingency and how the tendering process was tight and tough.

GT_TDI_150

jon1981 wrote: »

I'm suggesting RTE edited this very negatively against this lady. She is very well educated and the title IT manager is just a generalised title used for TV. Her real title is not IT manager and a very senior position in the company.

Taking on this project on your own when you have a very busy job is going to be challenging for anyone so it's no surprise that she wasn't up on every little detail.

p.s. I don't know her and anyone related to her. Stumbled across her Linkedin profile.

Im worried about how budgets are run in the company she is "a very senior person" in if last night is anything to go by

Hurrache

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

Im worried about how budgets are run in the company she is "a very senior person" in if last night is anything to go by

She's not a senior person in a construction company though. Ask an architect and builder at what cost and how long it would take to develop and deploy an IT system and watch them flounder. Would you criticise them for not being able to do so?

jodaw

How unprofessional is Dermot that he can never design something to budget? I mean if you have 130K budget then a professional should be able to design something to that number. 5-10% contingency already built in to the 130K

Speaks volumes that he never comes in on budget

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

Im worried about how budgets are run in the company she is "a very senior person" in if last night is anything to go by

She is not the one that should be managing the budget. She is paying these professionals to do it. Look at one of the latest Grand Designs. A wonderful modern bungalow with curved concrete roof and insulation and heating built into roof. £200K and they managed the budget themselves and came in a little over.

GT_TDI_150

Hurrache wrote: »

She's not a senior person in a construction company though. Ask an architect and builder at what cost and how long it would take to develop and deploy an IT system and watch them flounder. Would you criticise them for not being able to do so?

A builder understands that spec X was costed at Y and additions/changes will cost extra ...

baldbear

jodaw wrote: »

How unprofessional is Dermot that he can never design something to budget? I mean if you have 130K budget then a professional should be able to design something to that number. 5-10% contingency already built in to the 130K

Speaks volumes that he never comes in on budget

Or maybe some fault lies with the client for having unrealistic expectations.

Hurrache

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

A builder understands that spec X was costed at Y and additions/changes will cost extra ...

She's not a builder, so what's the point you're trying to make, you're just contradicting your initial point. A builder wouldn't have a clue, it's not his job to.

jodaw

baldbear wrote: »

Or maybe some fault lies with the client for having unrealistic expectations.

No it does not. I go to an architect and tell him i have 130K and this is what i want. He proceeds to tell me want i can get. If i am not being real he can tell me then and there.

salmocab

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

I just don't understand why everything (building work) is so costly in this country. You see guys building complete houses in places like Spain for the cost of an extension in Ireland.

Your not comparing like with like though, different standards different needs due to climate etc higher cost of living here so tradesmen get higher wages, different materials.

Fattes

jodaw wrote: »

Well he was driving one last night when he was waffling in the car. Maybe he changed to a new car since!!!!!!

Has had an XC90 for the last 2 seasons including this one

jodaw

salmocab wrote: »

Your not comparing like with like though, different standards different needs due to climate etc higher cost of living here so tradesmen get higher wages, different materials.

Different standard alright, but in my experience it is the other way around. Bar selfbuild constructions, homes in a lot of Europe are much better built and warmer that Ireland.

We are always behind the curve with regards to insulation, heating, window installation, understading of condensation, hrv, air tigthness and general overall work standards. I suspect the only reason this is beginning to improve is the Eastern european construction workers opening the minds of there Irish counterparts to better standards.

Penn

jodaw wrote: »

No it does not. I go to an architect and tell him i have 130K and this is what i want. He proceeds to tell me want i can get. If i am not being real he can tell me then and there.

Initial design is always based on a wishlist, and many times the designer will go over a bit over the budget to include as much of the wishlist as possible. It's then up to the client to determine if they want to increase the budget to get that, or now that they have an idea on the design, what parts of the wishlist they're willing to take out of the project scope to bring it back down to the budget. But sometimes you need to see the proposed design in order to see what parts of the wishlist you can do without, rather than the designer just making that decision themselves.

The trouble last night was her inability to find the balance between wishlist and budget, for example spending so much on furniture and fittings and being largely unrealistic about the implications of some of her wants (eg. wanting an island despite the fact that if it had been installed, the kitchen would have been so tight as to be impractical for use).

Dermot didn't come out of this one smelling like roses (not too sure he often does imo), but she was very unrealistic in what she wanted and what she could afford.

jodaw

Fattes wrote: »

Has had an XC90 for the last 2 seasons including this one

I wont argue the point as I cannot be 100% certain but i could have sworn he was driving a merc last night.

Outkast_IRE

jodaw wrote: »

I wont argue the point as I cannot be 100% certain but i could have sworn he was driving a merc last night.

I thought the same, could make out the badge on the steering wheel i thought, and the leather interior and headrest looked merc to me.

Glebee

Fattes wrote: »

Has had an XC90 for the last 2 seasons including this one

Hes a brand ambassador for Volvo. Does that mean a free car??

GT_TDI_150

Hurrache wrote: »

She's not a builder, so what's the point you're trying to make, you're just contradicting your initial point. A builder wouldn't have a clue, it's not his job to.

Christ on a bike... someone asked how builders would fair in the it world....my point is theyd understand if it infrastructure was specd at a certain price, changes would affect the price.

I know nothing about nail salons but if i was setting one up id be getting a few costings to see where i stand...

The Princess Bride

I wonder does anyone in this programme get a quote and ideas from an other architect, before they engage with Dermot?
Or is it all about the TV attention?

I don't understand the need to get everything finished quickly and blow/exceed your budget, rather than in stages and finished the way you really want it finished.
I think the front garden would have looked better all paved, I'd have concentrated on the house and address the front garden in a few years when budget allows.

I don't think she should be criticised for having a wishlist, it makes sense.
But to expect it to be done just because, and despite a smaller than required budget, is unrealistic.

For the record I think the red brick would have looked too dark, for once I think Dermot was right to "encourage"* the different colour.


* I use the word lightly.

harr

Glebee wrote: »

Hes a brand ambassador for Volvo. Does that mean a free car??

Not a free car ... the use of a car as long as he is brand ambassador

loyatemu

I'd love to see an episode where the client fired Dermot (as he frequently deserves).

"These aren't windows I specified"
"Ah yes, I decided to change the spec without telling you"
"GTFO Dermot"

lawred2

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Electronic gates should need planning permission, they are my new pet hate having to wait for peoples gates to open.

and how often do you have to wait for people's gates to open?

jodaw

lawred2 wrote: »

and how often do you have to wait for people's gates to open?

I would imagine courier, posty, tradesman and estate agent might be doing it a fair bit.

Sleepy

For someone who'd be approaching 50 and is involved in project management professionally, the client seemed utterly clueless!

Her wishlist was excessive though to be fair that's not necessarily a bad place to start. Her inability to match it to her budget once the initial design was proposed was the major problem imo. Particularly highlighted in her insistence on an island when the house was too narrow to fit one: a clear sign of having read too many design magazines / watched too many of these programs and wanting to use in-fashion features in a house that they didn't suit / wasn't big enough for them.

Signing contracts and adding changes after the fact is always the expensive way to do things (no more so in construction than in IT), embarking on the project without a contingency was either (a) a means of hiding her true budget from Dermot or (b) collosal stupidity.

I'd wonder was some of her expectations on costings driven by having watched too many past episodes of Grand Designs / Building the Dream etc. and being either based on out-of-date / UK Costings or looking at the end cost of projects where the owners did a lot of the work themselves?

It spoke volumes that none of the construction team were at the launch party at the end tbh. According to posters on Twitter this project ended up in court after the initial contractor walked off the job and was eventually finished by another builder. Given the tantrums and tiaras behaviour they actually showed from her, you'd have to wonder what CocoTV edited out for fear of further litigation!

pilly

BettePorter wrote: »

In fairness you can't go over someone's head when it comes to what colour that want their kitchen

I would have had uproar over that!

Did anyone notice that the press the island went back into was black also? What was that about?

ted1

lawred2 wrote: »

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Electronic gates should need planning permission, they are my new pet hate having to wait for peoples gates to open.

and how often do you have to wait for people's gates to open?

Lots of times. They are a real pain

pilly

fmpisces wrote: »

I want a day bed with Dermot Bannon in it :D:D:D

You'd want to see a doctor about that issue you have.

pilly

RobertKK wrote: »

But where is the money for it coming from?

Why is everyone on this thread so concerned about where the money is coming from? It's really nobodies business.