Room to Improve (v2)

I viewd it again today and as other posters have said it was clearly being lived in all the rooms had items you would expect to see in a house, kids toys would you bring your kids into a so called derelict house, it's a joke

I agree they are very nice people but if a person gets money and it turns out they weren't entitled to it then it needs to be paid back.

Not saying that happened in this case but if there are questions to be answered then it should be looked into.

Couple of points:

couple are young and like the bling. Fine.

Builder funding the build while waiting for grants? Totally unrealistic!

Budget or lack thereof…it was said our max budget was 220k suddenly it’s 330ish? Ok I don’t know about their finances but purchasing a 300k house and spending another 365k on it makes that house underwater straight away.

grants, think we all can agree it wasn’t derelict…end of!

They seemed to just be lead by Bannon. No personal imput into that build at all.

if Bannon wanted a proper challenge I’m game. Have a property that could do with some work. Have the budget too… but I know what I like and I’m sure I would cause him no end of issues.

They may not have gotten planning on a greenfield site which is the issue with many such greenfield sites.

I doubt very much you'd spend 30K on an architect for a new build, even with sign off fees. You'd probably spend 30K before you had laid a block in third party,council, utility fees etc alright.

Architects fees can easily be that - many levy a percentage of the build cost.

Maybe in different parts of the country but I’ve certainly never heard of anything remotely close to that for a house especially one the size last nights one. Highest I’ve heard of around here was €13.5k that included planning, construction drawings and sign off for stage payments. Anyway

Architects fees can easily be 30K an a private house? That's just mental.......I would have thought 10 at a push and generally lower.

If you know what you want get an architectural draughts-person. Why torture yourself and Bannon.

I was disappointed with the inset dormer window up stairs. I thought that more could have been made of it the window itself was only half of the with of the structure housing it and it was nearly A yard back room the front of the structure ‘housing it. I do not know what its purpose was apart from letting light in . It sticks out like a ‘ sore thumb’ when seen from the outside.

the stairs servicing upstairs looked quiet narrow I was disappointed also that there was no mention of the heading system used eg radiators , underfloor heating, air to water, , gas,celectricity or oil, external wall insulation or slabbed inside. The house was very suited to outside insulation because the external walls probably were of mass concrete and the new roof re overhang could allow for the external insulation system.

I thought the dormer was very clumsy and the front facade treatment didn’t work. Liked the kitchen living area

Nah Dermots first plan was over by 30k,

They then said they wanted a bigger extension, an extra en-suite, and to move the master bedroom downstairs. That ballooned it to the 320k figure.

They did the same with the extra 20k they got from him being promoted to Prinicipal, Clare said the comically large list they gave her for landscaping cost 46k of the 20k they had for it.

They had no concept of money.

Nothing unusual with the fee structure there, Architects fees can range from 7%-10%, usually decreasing as the construction build increases. All depends what client agrees at start of discussion with Architect.

DB's fees are free for the people who appear on RTI, so the structure is irrelevant.

Most architects will fixed price the work; if costs rack up as the clients want a new en-suite or a bigger extension then its fair enough if the architect looks for more money.

From experience its almost impossible to not go over budget on a house renovation, the estimates included in the tender are for the cheapest fittings and fixtures; e.g. white plasic sockets and if the Home Owners want to upgrade to chrome sockets it costs extra. The quote we received for the splashback in the kitchen was a joke - there were literally no splashbacks for that price.

I'm an Engineer involved in house building and a client recently told me he was quoted 12 percent of project cost by an architect to cover design, planning and construction stage which included Engineers fee as well.

This was on a 450k build. So 54k..... and they wonder why only a tiny portion of house builders actually use an architect.

I’m an Engineer as well but haven’t worked in housing for a while, Time to go back into it if that’s the case. That is absolutely insane. I’d actually have to see it to believe it to be honest.

Didn't hear the whole promo piece but Liveline is covering something about the show today. Not sure what.

So it seems all they had to do to qualify was get an affidavit signed by a solicitor or commissioner of Oath and say on telly that they are not living there!

Yeah but a school principal could be trustworthy.

It'll be interesting to see what comes of all this but I wouldn't be in the slightest bit surprised to see a few of the owners coming out in the near futures to say they didn't get the grants that DB had informed them of / led them to believe they would get.

The way this show is edited can be very different from reality. I know that for certain, as I know of one couple who had an absolute nightmare and a lengthy legal battle coming from one of the episodes.... and you wouldn't have had a clue while watching it.

I would certainly hold off on any anger at either of the couples so far this season. The grant talk is all on the side of DB / RTI. And it seems that some of it was very poor / reckless advice.

If an episode of RTI is making people that angry then those people should take a step back imo.

We haven't a clue about the couples real financial situation.

Some people seem to think that the budget is all that the couple should or do have. It would be very foolish if your budget was indeed all the money you had to play with, with DB around.

There could be inheritances, land to be sold etc. etc. sitting outside of budgets.

I am very fortunate not to have any inheritance yet and I wouldn't dream of spending the money the couple did on their home... but that's their own business. And it's their own business not to disclose if they're sitting on loads of money.

What backlash? A load of whingers online moaning and saying "its not fair its not fair". I dont think Bannon will be in front the Oireachtas any time soon.

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People saying they didnt do this and they didnt do that and its fraud this and fraud that. How do you know? You are aware that this is a TV show and there is a lot of clever editing in place, yeah? Maybe this all was explained but they didnt show it, cos it would be pretty boring for us to see DB explain step by step how to apply for a grant and how to get one. This isnt a youtube tutorial, its a TV show in a prime time slot. These people getting grants are not what stop you getting grants or stopping you from getting on the housing ladder. Thats a government issue. A bit of perspective here folks.

I'll go out on a limb here and say these grants are going to be a feature of every episode from here on in. So if its gonna annoy you, dont watch it.