Room to Improve (v2)

Addle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118780948#Comment_118780948

An post should sponsor a show like that I think, given its ‘green hub’.

the_pen_turner

no gutters and 25+feet sheeting . it wil be some waterfall . distroy any flowers

Addle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118781025#Comment_118781025

Participants do get more bang for their buck to

the_pen_turner

why doesnt dermot take them to a house he designed .

PsychoPete

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118781080#Comment_118781080

And the garden be flooded in no time

Shelga

Just turned this on for the first time in years, only to see a woman say “I’m not good at the flicking”, accompanied by enthusiastic flicking motions?? Methinks the editing team enjoyed that one 🤣

touts

She's the first woman I've ever come across who wanted LESS storage in the bedroom.

touts

41k for the "outside room" aka patio????

CH3OH

Heading towards 250K

the_pen_turner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118781109#Comment_118781109

definetly . terrible idea

Samsgirl

This is so slow..... they can not make a decision to save their life!

Quazzie

€210k and the pergola is tiny. The original plan showed it covering the whole garden. Now it's less than a third that.

Addle

The kitchen is fab.

And the sitting room is fab.

Addle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118781196#Comment_118781196

The En suite is a dream.

Mr.Crinklewood

Where has the dog gone?

lawred2

Lovely job

CH3OH

"Have your dinner outside 365 days a year"

Dermot has lost it

Samsgirl

It's lovely

Lisha

I love it

the_pen_turner

nice house.

that kitchen cost a nice few pound. savvy is not cheap for kitchens. we spent 30 k on a kitchen last year and its only half the size of that and i fitted it and did loads of work in other areas .

Pussyhands

I think Bannon/RTE are gearing up for giving him a full time presenting/radio gig.

Sunny Dayz

I have to say I really enjoyed last night's episode and some of it resonated with me. My parents are empty nesters, and built their own house in the 80s. They have been doing bits and pieces over the last few years to update it and change it for the next stage of their lives.

I wasn't impressed though at Dermot laughing when they said their initial budget, €140k is still a lot of money.

Deeec

Last nights finished house was lovely - very well finished.

I would love to have seen a breakdown of the costs though. There was no actual extension - they just got the back wall removed and replaced with glass, and a retrofit and refurbish of the existing house - a breakdown of costs would have been useful. I would love to have known how they updated the heating system and insulation. There was a brief mention of solar and that was it. There are alot of people in similar properties who want to learn more about getting their house up to modern systems heating wise.

I love room to improve but I think its time to replace Dermot with a new architect. I feel Dermot thinks he is more of a celebrity now and plays up for the cameras. Hes grating on me the last few series. It needs new blood I think.

Addle

It’s like you have to fork out for multiple new homes in your life time. Will upgrades always end required? Unless I win the lotto, I’ll never have access to that kind of money.

Deeec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118782325#Comment_118782325

My husband and I also said the same last night. No way will we ever be able to afford to do a full refurb of our house like they did last night unless we win the lotto!

KevRossi

The energy refurb was nonsense. It doesn't cost near to €140,000 to do a retro fit of that. There was probably a lot spent on the underfloor heating. It makes no financial sense to do it in a building like that, far better off with electric rads, or just bigger rads running off solar water heater or air source heat pump. You need to work out annual savings against outlay and take it from there. This is the 3rd or 4th house where they've spent enormous amounts of money on an energy upgrade and it will put many people off. I find it disingenious at best.

Apart from that, the garden was initially €6K-€8K and ended up at either €21K or €41K. I don't think they got value for it. It looked too sterile whereas the older garden looked used and loved.

I doubt they'll use the front room much if they weren't using it in the past, they'll spend a lot of their time in the new kitchen-dining-living room as it will retain heat a lot more.

I actually loved the room from the other house that they visited. A mate of mine in Asturia has the exact same set up with the sliding windows and bench and it works incredibly well. I also love the corrugated roof, I love the sound of rain on it. I also get what they were doing with the rain falling onto the garden and although some said it doesn't work, it actually does. As long as the garden is sloped away from the house very slightly. It doesn't always work, but on certain days in the year it's all worthwhile.

I know they are very attached to the house and I'm not in their shoes with all the memories they have. But the house was probably worth €350K. Add in €200K for the renovation and it's over €550K. I know that at their age I'd buy something smaller and use the savings for travel.

gooner99

I think the homeowners in this series are getting good value when you factor in the price increases that have been. The new QS would appear to be doing a great job with the budget. In comparison the first two houses on my bungalow bliss seemed to get terrible value for money, especially when you take into account they also got deep retrofit grants. They certainly could have benefitted from such a value for money minded QS. I bet they are wishing they applied to room to improve instead.

Limerick91

That cost would have been much more expensive for the average Joe/Josephine Soap.

The lady of the house is related to the owners of biggest hardware store in Thurles, I'm sure there were decent discounts!

Deeec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118783246#Comment_118783246

Interesting - imagine what the cost would have ended up at if they were paying full price.

The average Joe/Josephine Soap wouldnt even have €200K+ to spend on updating their house. Alot of people would have been very happy to have the original house of the couple last night - dated but still a very nice house. Its frightening the way construction costs are increasing and the government want us to retrofit our homes!!!

harr

To be honest losing interest in this more and more .. loved the finished house but with no extension and that with that cost it seems its not a show for the average joe soap .

When you have a couple with 140,000 to spend and that didn’t even cover it and they probably doubled that budget last night.

I can see why a young couple with young family might spend big for a dream house but for a couple nearing retirement I could probably think of better things to spend my money on … by all means make the house more comfortable and warmer.

I honestly can’t see how that garden cost as much as it did 😬