Room to Improve.

Effects

ShamoBuc wrote: »

Cheek implants aswell I'd say , well the wife says :pac:

Your wife sounds like she's just jealous.

jodaw

Sebastian Dangerfield wrote: »

They get Dermots services for free,

The poster was asking about benefits not drawbacks;)

Water John

Only saw the start of the prog and things didn't seem to be shaping up well from get go.
Retrofitting UFH means digging out down to at least 15 inches, PITA but can be done. The dig out would cost, time and money.

Quazzie

Sleepy wrote: »

Well, presumably Coco television pay him for fronting the series?

No doubt whatever footage they'd shot of the foreman had to be edited out given the troubles the build ran into.

I'm not sure what else you think Dermot could have done jooksavage? He had a client with unreasonable expectations for the budget (and property) she had and who wouldn't listen to reality when presented with it. Given the trouble between the client and her builders (it'd be fascinating to know more about those but there's apparently legal action involved) and her delusions, I'd say he couldn't get out of this one fast enough!

Did she really have unreasonable expectations tho. She came to Dermot with some design ideas that she loved and wanted to work them into her home. She asked for a corner for her Buddha, a small place where she could go and meditate after coming home to calm down. Dermot dedicated half of the original extension to this area for some reason, when all she requested was a corner of a room. She asked for a kitchen with an island, but because he insisted on the kitchen being in the middle of the house (rightly or wrongly) this was made impossible. Why didn't he give her what she asked for by putting the kitchen in the extension?

He built an extension that has a massive gap in the floor insulation because he has existing pipeworks interrupting it. The will undoubtedly reduce the effectiveness of the UFH massively. She was told UFH was included in the price, but after an inspection site conditions required some reworking on the drawings, but rather than have a single step, they wanted to take out the UFH. I think she was perfectly reasonable to demand that they give her what she was quoted for. She hired Dermot to be a project manager, and architect, so it was his job to make whatever changes that needed to be done to make it possible, and removing a vital element like UFH should not be necessary.

The client was a bit naive in her understanding of the budget, but Dermot wasn't helping matters much either.

seamus

Dermot Bannon on Twitter when asked said that the project came in "Bang on budget".

I don't know if that's "what my PR team told me to say", or a genuine response.

Did she really have unreasonable expectations tho.

Well, yes. Certainly unreasonable expectations of what could be achieved on her budget. A manicured front garden with parking for two cars and electric gates is €20k right there.

And that's item 1 out of 25 on the wish list.

jodaw

Water John wrote: »

Retrofitting UFH means digging out down to at least 15 inches, PITA but can be done. The dig out would cost, time and money.

There are slim retro fit systems that require 18mm on existing floor and tile on top. Pipework into groved insulated boards. Full kit for that space would probably be about 1K for 45m2.

LirW

I had the questionable pleasure to have work related contacts with architects in the past in a few projects, my father regularly has and I have a hard time to not despise the whole lot.
Dermot Bannon is the pinnacle of rudeness and incompetence. If I'm hiring someone, give them a budget and they put plans up significantly over it, we're parting our ways exactly there. If I'm completely against one of the design ideas and he's pressing for it, I fire him. It's my money, if I don't want that stupid knee-height window, there won't be one, end of story, I don't care about your design idea.
His design ideas are mediocre, it all kinda looks the same in the end and he's a horrible primadonna to deal with.
I am fully aware that's TV and TV loves the drama but he just seems like an absolute eejit.

All I gotta say to yesterday's episode is that the two of them seem not compatible really. For once he respected a budget, yet she was absolutely oblivious. I appreciate she did her homework, that's what you should do. I really liked the house and I have to say I personally liked the transformation a lot more than the episodes before (minus the kitchen). She had a vision, her vision was pretty nice by the way, but she simply didn't seem like a pleasant client to deal with. I was also a bit shocked on how she presented herself on TV, she's holding a high position in a very well known company and she simply seemed completely unaware of the meaning of "No", "Budget" "we can't do that, it's too expensive". I believe that she earned her position and she seems like a well educated woman but she presented herself very unprofessional, which was such a pity.
But I genuinely hope, she enjoys her new house, I think it turned out pretty nice.

I agree it's annoying he doesn't say a word about insulation or common problems you have with such old houses to renovate, that's actually what people really want to hear, it's a huge topic here after all.
I prefer George Clarke's new transformation show, it paints the architect - client relationship in a more realistic light.

HeidiHeidi

seamus wrote: »

Dermot Bannon on Twitter when asked said that the project came in "Bang on budget".

I don't know if that's "what my PR team told me to say", or a genuine response.

Well, yes. Certainly unreasonable expectations of what could be achieved on her budget. A manicured front garden with parking for two cars and electric gates is €20k right there.

And that's item 1 out of 25 on the wish list.

I also saw that tweet, and wondered - what budget, exactly? 'Cos it certainly wasn't the one she started out with!

jodaw

LirW wrote: »

I prefer George Clarke's new transformation show, it paints the architect - client relationship in a more realistic light.

George is class in fairness. Always love his presenting style, very easy to watch. Dermot is a struggle

Water John

Aware of that kit, Jodaw. I would needed explained to me how that would provide anywhere near sufficient insulation? Reckon one would be heating the worms with a very high heating bill. Needs 150mm of Kinspan or Xtratherm or equivalent.

Addle

"seamus wrote: »

Well, yes. Certainly unreasonable expectations of what could be achieved on her budget. A manicured front garden with parking for two cars and electric gates is €20k right there.

And that's item 1 out of 25 on the wish list.

Did she get that though?

And btw-they often don't give a final figure.

HeidiHeidi

Addle wrote: »

Did she get that though?

And btw-they often don't give a final figure.

This is literally the first time I remember them not giving a final figure. (I didn't see last week's show yet, I think I saw it mentioned that there was no final figure in that either).

I always remember the QS being interviewed at the wrap party and giving the final cost.

jodaw

Water John wrote: »

Aware of that kit, Jodaw. I would needed explained to me how that would provide anywhere near sufficient insulation? Reckon one would be heating the worms with a very high heating bill. Needs 150mm of Kinspan or Xtratherm or equivalent.

It is a retrofit system that is suited to a sound groundfloor or ply/concrete second floor. Not suited to all applications. If you have a relatively modern house with insulated slab the the retrofit insulated panels are only used to help the heat upwards and not insulate the floor itself. Foil under these panels also.

It the case yesterday. Construct floor as normal and if slab can be make slightly thinner so be it. Then the retrofit system from finished floor

meeeeh

Addle wrote: »

Did she get that though?

And btw-they often don't give a final figure.

Ireland is a small country and I don't think people want others to know what they spent and on what. Besides if appliances or some design features are included they can completely skew the budget (for example Barcelona chair she owns can be bought for about 6k+ and it goes up).

Sleepy

Quazzie wrote: »

Did she really have unreasonable expectations tho..

Between bringing the existing house up to date and the exterior landscaping up to date she was already nearly at 90k of her budget.

Then she wanted an extension, a downstairs bathroom added, a "big kitchen island" in a house that couldn't take one, electric gates on a street-front property etc. etc. etc.

Expecting hand-crafted sash windows on her level of budget was hilarious too. It's a job I have to get done myself in the future (3/4 years away) and for high-end double-glazed sash windows you could be looking at well over €3k per window. Even the budget ones like those she ended up using are around a thousand a pop.

Champagne tastes on a lemonade budget.

Addle

I wonder could more have been done with the existing house?
It has a new kitchen so may not have been totally obsolete.
Probably wouldn't have fit into Detmots plans though.

Addle

Sleepy wrote: »

Between bringing the existing house up to date and the exterior landscaping up to date she was already nearly at 90k of her budget.

Then she wanted an extension, a downstairs bathroom added, a "big kitchen island" in a house that couldn't take one, electric gates on a street-front property etc. etc. etc.

Expecting hand-crafted sash windows on her level of budget was hilarious too. It's a job I have to get done myself in the future (3/4 years away) and for high-end double-glazed sash windows you could be looking at well over €3k per window. Even the budget ones like those she ended up using are around a thousand a pop.

Champagne tastes on a lemonade budget.

That's not fair on the client.
You've researched the costs.
She didn't.
She hired someone to do that for her.

seamus

Addle wrote: »

Did she get that though?

Since no mention was made of the gates again, I'm presuming not.

Now, you could say that it makes sense to come up with a dream wishlist first and then whittle it down to suit your budget, but it seemed pretty clear from her reaction that she expected to be able to land most, if not all of her list within her budget.

It seemed odd that someone who is as apparently as meticulous and obsessive as her about the entire matter of the design, would present a wishlist and say, "There, deliver that please", rather than take a run at trimming it down themselves first. It seems like she either costed it with the most optimistic mindset possible, or just didn't cost it at all and presumed that she could point the architect at a wishlist and a budget and have him "find a solution".

Addle

Addle wrote: »

That's not fair on Facebook he client.
You've researched the costs.
She didn't.

And it doesn't excuse dermot ordering without having a conversation with her.

Addle

seamus wrote: »

Since no mention was made of the gates again, I'm presuming not.
....

It seemed odd that someone who is as apparently as meticulous and obsessive as her about the entire matter of the design, would present a wishlist and say, "There, deliver that please", rather than take a run at trimming it down themselves first.

She had figures that were wrong.
There was no question or explanation of where she got them.
Just Dermot being condescending from the start.

Raisins

Sleepy wrote: »

Between bringing the existing house up to date and the exterior landscaping up to date she was already nearly at 90k of her budget.

Then she wanted an extension, a downstairs bathroom added, a "big kitchen island" in a house that couldn't take one, electric gates on a street-front property etc. etc. etc.

Expecting hand-crafted sash windows on her level of budget was hilarious too. It's a job I have to get done myself in the future (3/4 years away) and for high-end double-glazed sash windows you could be looking at well over €3k per window. Even the budget ones like those she ended up using are around a thousand a pop.

Champagne tastes on a lemonade budget.

That champagne tastes crap is all fuelled by the way she was presented. Even the sex and the city music at the start when she was just walking along, I thought was a bit strange but it made sense, in himdsight, overall they wanted to present her as a single prissy brat who didn't understand the value of anything.

It "wouldn't take" an island because dermot wouldn't put the kitchen where an island would fit. If I had 130k and really really wanted an island then it's not difficult to make that work. He didn't value it so he gave her a half assed version and mocked her.

She was confident but she was trying to take him on without any support and got thrown under a bus. Look at the couple last week: they put in a kids bathroom and dog door etc when that he hated but did it unilaterally when his back was turned. Dessie Dolan started moving the windows when he was off site. Dessie made dermot look the child.

If she acted like them she would have handed the builder the bricks she wanted and had them built while Dermot was off site. I think when you're single it's harder to do that. I'm not a woman but it's a lesson to any single person male or female that you can get burned badly by reality tv.

Birdsong

Sleepy wrote:

In both things he changed last night, he was right imho. Blue units on the top would have made that galley kitchen too dark and the house wasn't large enough for the red-brick not to overly dominate the room.

Agree with you on this. The blue would have dated very quickly also.

Greybottle

Few points on the house: It’s in Fairview, not Clontarf. Clontarf has extended a bit like Dalkey over the years, it’s the estate agents who push this crap. My brother lives 250m from the house and he’s Fairview/Marino, never any word about Clontarf. The accepted border was always the railway line. You see some houses on Marino Green advertised as “Clontarf”. Its rubbish, but each to their own. Marino is behind the houses on the other side of the road.

You can see the skip in the front of the house on Google Street View BTW.

The woodworm should have been spotted earlier, no excuse. He made the same mistake when he looked at Katherine Zapone’s wooden house. No proper assessment done on it. Bad mistake.

The extension was the wrong way round. The garden faces SE, so the brick wall should have been on the other side to soak up sunlight and heat during the day and release it at night.

The day bed is nonsense, there are loads of couches that utilize that function and this frees up space as well. Bad planning here Dermot.
Personally I would have gone for a ceiling to floor folding glass wall to look out on the garden on bright sunny mornings or evenings. It’s not often you could use it; maybe 50 times a year, but it’s a beautiful feeling when you can. She has a long garden, it wasn’t incorporated into the plan properly.

I liked her, I liked the fact that she didn’t put up with too much crap from them, as others were saying, a lot of builders (and I’ve worked in that game) regard women as a soft touch or just don’t like taking instructions from them.

Fair play to her, she got what she wanted at the end of it. And her age is easy to work out using LinkedIn. She's kept herself well, if she's had work done, then it's money well spent. Best of luck to her.

GT_TDI_150

Missus is watching it here now...

Where has the storyline come from that they changed builders 1/2 way through the build?

The builder at the start telling them of the woodworm in the floorboards is the same builder building up the sample brick wall and the same lad that is in shot when they see the final brick wall.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Greybottle wrote: »

Fair play to her, she got what she wanted at the end of it. And her age is easy to work out using LinkedIn. She's kept herself well, if she's had work done, then it's money well spent. Best of luck to her.

Yeah I was surprised by that. I thought she was only a few years older than me i.e late 30s. She graduated from university in 1993. Do the sums, I wouldn't have put that age on her at all.

Edit - before someone complains that information is in the public domain.

gmisk

I'm 30 mins in...she is a wreck the head...if I had to work with her it be tempted to bury her in that polished concrete!

pilly

Juan Dead Handshake wrote:

Edit - before someone complains that information is in the public domain.

How is her age relevant though?

Galwayguy35

IT must pay well.

She has a flat that she bought at the height of the boom, paid 435 k for the house and about 160 k on top of that for the build.

gmisk

Dermot and this lady are as bad as each other, he shouldn't be forcing a brick colour on someone and changing cabinet colour behind her back is very sneaky

gmisk

Hmm it was an ok house in the end...I wouldn't be too happy with it tbh looked a bit shoddy...