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Grand Designs - What's it worth?
Missed a couple of minutes of tonight's Gloucester lawyers prog. So I went
to the GD website and was astonished to see even the supplier of "Tolietries (small bathroom)" (sic) credited. This suggests that the people who appear can scrounge all sorts of stuff 'for the publicity'. No big surprise but it set me wondering. Assuming that they get some sort of appearance/co-operation fee from GD - how much can you make, all in, by being filmed? -- Rod |
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Rod writes: Missed a couple of minutes of tonight's Gloucester lawyers prog. So I went to the GD website and was astonished to see even the supplier of "Tolietries (small bathroom)" (sic) credited. This suggests that the people who appear can scrounge all sorts of stuff 'for the publicity'. No big surprise but it set me wondering. Assuming that they get some sort of appearance/co-operation fee from GD - how much can you make, all in, by being filmed? I doubt they get any fee from GD. They might get a discount on some of the fixtures and fittings in exchange for a mention on C4's website. -- Andrew Gabriel |
In message ,
Rod wrote: Missed a couple of minutes of tonight's Gloucester lawyers prog. So I went to the GD website and was astonished to see even the supplier of "Tolietries (small bathroom)" (sic) credited. This suggests that the people who appear can scrounge all sorts of stuff 'for the publicity'. No big surprise but it set me wondering. Assuming that they get some sort of appearance/co-operation fee from GD - how much can you make, all in, by being filmed? Dunno, but when my sis and bro' in law contacted Property Ladder, there was no fee from the programme makers involved; though they did promise a bottle and a copy of the programme on tape. I suspect that with the proliferation of this sort of programme most suppliers wouldn't do anything too special. If I had the chance of working on a building while being filmed, I wouldn't offer any special deals because if you get on camera at all, it's for two or three seconds, they usually say something like "and the bill for the electrics is twice as high as expected" and even if your logo is emblazoned across all available area of your shirt, it's rarely seen for long enough or clear enough to make an impact. Mentions on the website are ok, but I can't see it's going to make much of an advertising impact unless you are perhaps a national supplier of some hard-to-get niche product, in which case you can charge what you like anyway because people are willing to pay. Note adapted subject line: have you any idea how many "Grand Designs" threads Google has archived over the years? Hwyl! M. -- Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/ Two free issues: http://www.livtech.co.uk/ Living With Technology .... Hire teenagers while they still know everything. |
Martin Angove wrote in
: Note adapted subject line: have you any idea how many "Grand Designs" threads Google has archived over the years? Yes - I know but although I mentioned it, I really wasn't commenting just on tonight's edition. It is also amazing how many times the featured people just manage to do something extra at the end of filming - something that they had earlier deemed too expensive. Examples include doing the landscaping or getting new furniture. -- Rod |
Martin Angove wrote:
Note adapted subject line: have you any idea how many "Grand Designs" threads Google has archived over the years? Follow on question... what the hell have they re-mortgaged it for? All that hidden I.T. work and lighting etc etc couldn't have come cheap. Considering they were stuffing chillis into bottles to earn a few quid and doing very little (evident) work themselves ! |
On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 22:47:22 GMT, GymRatZ
wrote: Martin Angove wrote: Note adapted subject line: have you any idea how many "Grand Designs" threads Google has archived over the years? Follow on question... what the hell have they re-mortgaged it for? All that hidden I.T. work and lighting etc etc couldn't have come cheap. Considering they were stuffing chillis into bottles to earn a few quid and doing very little (evident) work themselves ! Well the restoration budget started at £65,000, then went to £120,000 then finished up about £300,000 ...Must have damn good jobs I say and they also cashed in their pensions to help out . Stuart Shift THELEVER to reply. |
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Paul Mc Cann wrote:
I got a feeling da-da or mummsy where around somewhere with deep deep pockets LOL. I kept seeing what looked like a jar of "ashes" in the fireplace and wondered if it was a late grand-parent that contributed substantially to the costs upon their departure. |
In message ,
GymRatZ wrote: Martin Angove wrote: Note adapted subject line: have you any idea how many "Grand Designs" threads Google has archived over the years? Follow on question... what the hell have they re-mortgaged it for? All that hidden I.T. work and lighting etc etc couldn't have come cheap. Considering they were stuffing chillis into bottles to earn a few quid and doing very little (evident) work themselves ! My thoughts exactly. It would surely have saved a five figure sum easily to have put in the cabling, but left off buying the kit for a year or two? Having said that, I suppose they probably thought "in for a penny..." because if they are already mortgaged (or whatever) beyond the hilt, a couple more quid on the repayments isn't going to make much difference, but getting the money together for the kit later on might be difficult with such a large existing commitment. Hwyl! M. -- Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/ Two free issues: http://www.livtech.co.uk/ Living With Technology .... Please think when you drink.... |
In message ,
Martin Angove wrote: In message , Rod wrote: Missed a couple of minutes of tonight's Gloucester lawyers prog. So I went to the GD website and was astonished to see even the supplier of "Tolietries (small bathroom)" (sic) credited. This suggests that the people who appear can scrounge all sorts of stuff 'for the publicity'. No big surprise but it set me wondering. Assuming that they get some sort of appearance/co-operation fee from GD - how much can you make, all in, by being filmed? Dunno, but when my sis and bro' in law contacted Property Ladder, there was no fee from the programme makers involved; though they did promise a bottle and a copy of the programme on tape. I suspect that with the proliferation of this sort of programme most suppliers wouldn't do anything too special. If I had the chance of working on a building while being filmed, I wouldn't offer any special deals because if you get on camera at all, it's for two or three seconds, they usually say something like "and the bill for the electrics is twice as high as expected" and even if your logo is emblazoned across all available area of your shirt, it's rarely seen for long enough or clear enough to make an impact. Just realised that the obvious exceptions to this were both Grand Designs programmes: the one about the Huff Haus which spent the whole programme talking about these fantastic Germans and their brilliant system (but Huff have a huge waiting list, so they hardly need to offer incentives for extra publicity), and the one about that girl with the funny name (Melody?) and her bloke who built an "experimental" half oak-framed house. Not so many mentions, but not difficult to work out that said girl's daddy runs Border Oak who designed and built the house and so there would have been *loads* of freebies available, not only for family reasons, but also because of the mentions in the programme and the articles in the magazines (it was definitely in Homebuilding and Renovating, and I *think* I saw it in Self Build & Design too). On the other side of the argument, I saw a DIY SOS last night; it was at completely the other end of the scale; "here are Bill and Ben" (or whatever their names were). "They are hand crafting this lovely oak kitchen..." but not a mention of the supplier's name. Probably on the website, though I haven't checked. Hwyl! M. -- Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/ Two free issues: http://www.livtech.co.uk/ Living With Technology .... Blessed are the Greeks |
Martin Angove wrote:
In message , Rod wrote: snip question about GD Dunno, but when my sis and bro' in law contacted Property Ladder, there was no fee from the programme makers involved; Did they have to fill in a questionaire, which I imagine goes something like this: 1) Are you an arrogant pair of freaks, who can agree on nothing? 2) Do you commit to ignoring all advice when given by a professional? 3) Do you consider your own 'research' (asking two of your freakish friends and glancing in one estate agents window) to be far superior to say 15 years experience in the building trade? 4) Are you colour blind? 5) Will you commit to buying a second property wihtout a survey half way through renovating your first, despite it being a royal **** up on which you will make no money? 6) Are you 'living the dream'? 7) Will you put your property on the market based on your own (ludicrously high) estimates rather than listening to the guest estate agents, who will over value the place anyway because they want lots of commision? Answered yes to all questions? We'll be in touch. Answer no to any and it's bad luck I'm afraid, you're far to likely to actually do something sensible which makes for terrifically dull television. Although answer our bonus question with a 'yes' and you can go on Grand Designs: Bonus Question: When you have exhausted all forms of savings, investments, credit and indeed all fiscal avenues open to you 3/4 of the way through your build are you able to 'dig a little deeper' or 'look really hard' and magiaclly find another =A350,000? Of course despite this I still watch the flippin programs... --=20 Steve F |
On the other side of the argument, I saw a DIY SOS last night; it was at completely the other end of the scale; "here are Bill and Ben" (or whatever their names were). "They are hand crafting this lovely oak kitchen..." but not a mention of the supplier's name. Probably on the website, though I haven't checked. Hwyl! M. -- Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/ Two free issues: http://www.livtech.co.uk/ Living With Technology ... Blessed are the Greeks They had there company name on the back of there overalls and on their van in the last shot. Trevor Smith |
In article ,
Martin Angove writes: In message , GymRatZ wrote: Follow on question... what the hell have they re-mortgaged it for? All that hidden I.T. work and lighting etc etc couldn't have come cheap. Considering they were stuffing chillis into bottles to earn a few quid and doing very little (evident) work themselves ! My thoughts exactly. It would surely have saved a five figure sum easily to have put in the cabling, but left off buying the kit for a year or Also, it adds nothing to the value of a house. Indeed complex home automation often subtracts value because it scares buyers off, sadly. -- Andrew Gabriel |
Also, it adds nothing to the value of a house. Indeed complex home automation often subtracts value because it scares buyers off, sadly. Agreed, but they had "fallen in love with the space and would live here forever". Umtil they split up, that is. He would then have to take his boys toys to a rented garret. Bruce |
I got a feeling da-da or mummsy where around somewhere with deep deep=20
pockets Paul Mc Cann No - there was something really speciall about those chillies in oil. But let's not worry about where the money came from. The important lesson is that one should not destroy historic fabric, one should never use Portland cement and that lime and oak are the best building materials. |
Check out the website and see a credit for the PR company who blagged
the home cinema system - although the word they used was 'sourced'. |
"Martin Angove" wrote in message My thoughts exactly. It would surely have saved a five figure sum easily to have put in the cabling, Although the guy did explain it, I can't believe there wasn't a simpler way of doing all that cabling with some sort of multiplexing. I think the new Airbus A380 has a lower cable density than thay house. |
Martin Angove wrote:
... If I had the chance of working on a building while being filmed, I wouldn't offer any special deals because if you get on camera at all, it's for two or three seconds, they usually say something like "and the bill for the electrics is twice as high as expected" and even if your logo is emblazoned across all available area of your shirt, it's rarely seen for long enough or clear enough to make an impact. However the value possibly lies not in the advertising on GD itself, which as you say is negligible, but in the press release you send to your local papers "Local tradesman featured on telly programme", etc. Owain |
Biff wrote:
I got a feeling da-da or mummsy where around somewhere with deep deep=20 pockets Paul Mc Cann No - there was something really speciall about those chillies in oil. But let's not worry about where the money came from. The important lesson is that one should not destroy historic fabric, one should never use Portland cement and that lime and oak are the best building materials. Indeed. So superlative are they that aircraft use them almost exclusively ;-) |
On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 00:44:45 +0100, Stuart
wrote: Well the restoration budget started at £65,000, then went to £120,000 then finished up about £300,000 That was the bit I couldn't understand. One glance at it must have told anyone it would cost more than 65k. You must be looking at pretty well that (or more?) just for the kitchen extension, with glass link, and fitted kitchen, surely? -- On-line canal route planner: http://www.canalplan.org.uk (Waterways World site of the month, April 2001) |
Why is everyone obsessed with the money but no-one mentions lime, oak
and hand-made glass. |
Martin Angove wrote in
: I suppose that *if* the house had been structurally sound, and *if* none of the timbers had needed replacing then £70k would have looked a little more realistic, but you only needed two facts to be able to guess that this wasn't the case: the house was several hundred years old, and had had no work done on it within living memory. Good answer, Martin. There have been many GD programs where money has not been splashed around (classics being the Welsh hillside and the wooden house in the woods). But did you really feel that these Gloucester lawyers would have appeared at all for nothing? (Remember, lawyers simply don't appear for nothing.) Over the years I have seen several GD houses in various places (GD's own website and magazine as well as other 'style' publications). I reckon that the total exposure achievable is quite significant. I totally agree with Martin that 70k was a joke in the circumstances. That the extra money was found was not a surprise. But from where? Their resources? Or payments of various sorts, possibly including knock-down prices on some items? OK, so lime and wood are classics. It is nice to seem them being used. But I am damned sure that the house is riddled with copper, plastic, plasterboard, etc. It is no purist's dream house. -- Rod |
I suppose that *if* the house had been structurally sound, and *if* none of the timbers had needed replacing then £70k would have looked a little more realistic, but you only needed two facts to be able to guess that this wasn't the case: the house was several hundred years old, and had had no work done on it within living memory. I totally agree with Martin that 70k was a joke in the circumstances. That the extra money was found was not a surprise. But from where? Their resources? Or payments of various sorts, possibly including knock-down prices on some items? OK, so lime and wood are classics. It is nice to seem them being used. But I am damned sure that the house is riddled with copper, plastic, plasterboard, etc. It is no purist's dream house. Well I thought he had a twinkle in his eye and tongue firmly pressed in cheek when he mentioned the &70k, but their personal finances are their affair and we shouldn't be interested. The point of the programme was about how to make a historic house function in the 21st century with minimal damage to historic fabric. Kevin McCloud has been quietly pushing the case for lime over cement and gypsum for many years and this house was a great showcase for appropriate building materials and techniques. Sure the electrics use copper and plastic - this is a house to be lived in with all mod cons not a 16th century museum piece but I doubt if any plasterboard or Ordinary Portland cement was used on the site. |
Rod wrote in message .4...
I suppose that *if* the house had been structurally sound, and *if* none of the timbers had needed replacing then £70k would have looked a little more realistic, Still no banana. The fitted kitchen alone would have run to 20k plus probably that much for the extension and a few grand for the glass link. That leaded glass window would have been in the thousands, probabably 10k for heating and electrics on a 'normal' house. The initial budget was woefully inadequate but seemed to basically be a joke - as was the chilli bottle stuffing. "We're £120,000 short so i'm going to raise £100 selling chilli's in oil." I rather suspect that all of the two lawyers "working on it themselves" was just for the cameras and they actually did next to nothing. Either they started with far more than they said (and the initial figure was for 'dramatic effect') or there was an advance on inheritance from some very rich parents. There have been many GD programs where money has not been splashed around (classics being the Welsh hillside and the wooden house in the woods). But did you really feel that these Gloucester lawyers would have appeared at all for nothing? I don't quite understand that either. I know that there are kickbacks on fixtures and fittings (it's not just GD but newspaper and magazine features in the future) and I can see that architects have a lot to gain from their designs being featured but i think a lot of it must just be showing off. People generally come across well on GD compared to most reality TV. |
"Mike" wrote in message ...
"Martin Angove" wrote in message Although the guy did explain it, I can't believe there wasn't a simpler way of doing all that cabling with some sort of multiplexing. Indeed - Surely they should be fitting a full CAT5 structured cabling system running everyting over IP. Far more flexible and upgradable. |
In message ,
(Biff) wrote: Sure the electrics use copper and plastic - this is a house to be lived in with all mod cons not a 16th century museum piece but I doubt if any plasterboard or Ordinary Portland cement was used on the site. They sure were - most of the partitioning in the attic was bog standard plasterboard (it was specifically mentioned at least twice) and skimmed, no doubt, with bog standard plaster. Apart from the one end of the attic, I don't think they even managed to use Oak floorboards. I got the impression that the partition they moved (living room) was also built as a normal stud-plasterboard wall, but I can't recall that being mentioned quite so specifically. Lastly, the extension (inner leaf at least) was built using standard blocks and cement as far as I could tell. Hwyl! M. -- Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/ Two free issues: http://www.livtech.co.uk/ Living With Technology .... DOS is just an operating system that runs Windows 3.1 |
In message ,
(Anthony James) wrote: "Mike" wrote in message ... "Martin Angove" wrote in message Although the guy did explain it, I can't believe there wasn't a simpler way of doing all that cabling with some sort of multiplexing. I just wish to point out that, although I agree with the above statement, it wasn't actually me wot said it; it was the aforementioned "Mike". Indeed - Surely they should be fitting a full CAT5 structured cabling system running everyting over IP. Far more flexible and upgradable. Have you tried running distributed TV over IP? Hwyl! M. -- Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/ Two free issues: http://www.livtech.co.uk/ Living With Technology .... 1024x768x16M - sounds like one *mean* woman! |
In message ,
(Anthony James) wrote: Rod wrote in message .4... I suppose that *if* the house had been structurally sound, and *if* none of the timbers had needed replacing then £70k would have looked a little more realistic, Come on, you've misquoted again. That bit above *was* me this time! [snip cos I have nothing sensible to add at this stage] Hwyl! M. -- Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/ Two free issues: http://www.livtech.co.uk/ Living With Technology .... Hold on - wait, maybe the answer's looking for you. |
"Rod" wrote in message . 4... There have been many GD programs where money has not been splashed around (classics being the Welsh hillside and the wooden house in the woods). But did you really feel that these Gloucester lawyers would have appeared at all for nothing? (Remember, lawyers simply don't appear for nothing.) One of the researchers for GD has contributed to the www.periodproperty forum in the past and confirmed they don't pay for appearances. I wonder if these pair intend to set up some form of project management company - with law qualifications as well they could offer a turnkey solution. |
"Martin Angove" wrote in message ... "Mike" wrote in message ... Although the guy did explain it, I can't believe there wasn't a simpler way of doing all that cabling with some sort of multiplexing. I just wish to point out that, although I agree with the above statement, it wasn't actually me wot said it; it was the aforementioned "Mike". Indeed - Surely they should be fitting a full CAT5 structured cabling system running everyting over IP. Far more flexible and upgradable. Have you tried running distributed TV over IP? I have running over ADSL as well. Needs care with buffering and run-on but quite achieveable. All seat TVs on the new A380 also use IP, albeit using a special switch which does implement priority routing unlike certain Ciscos :-) |
"Mike" wrote:
"Rod" wrote in message .4... There have been many GD programs where money has not been splashed around (classics being the Welsh hillside and the wooden house in the woods). But did you really feel that these Gloucester lawyers would have appeared at all for nothing? (Remember, lawyers simply don't appear for nothing.) One of the researchers for GD has contributed to the www.periodproperty forum in the past and confirmed they don't pay for appearances. I wonder if these pair intend to set up some form of project management company - with law qualifications as well they could offer a turnkey solution. turnkey solution? turkey solution more like -- |
"Cynical Git" wrote in message ... "Mike" wrote: "Rod" wrote in message .4... There have been many GD programs where money has not been splashed around (classics being the Welsh hillside and the wooden house in the woods). But did you really feel that these Gloucester lawyers would have appeared at all for nothing? (Remember, lawyers simply don't appear for nothing.) One of the researchers for GD has contributed to the www.periodproperty forum in the past and confirmed they don't pay for appearances. I wonder if these pair intend to set up some form of project management company - with law qualifications as well they could offer a turnkey solution. turnkey solution? turkey solution more like Quite possibly :-) But apparently that pair of gays (not the Scottish ones on Ch5) from Beeny show a few series back make a very good living this way now. -- |
Martin Angove wrote in message ...
I'll get the quoting right this time. Have you tried running distributed TV over IP? I've had a very brief attempt with a Nebula DigiTV server. Whilst I didnt get it working other people have done. That's a £100 TV card on a low spec PC. However, live TV is very last century. The only time live tv becomes important is for Sport. What I actually do is stream programmes to a second location from my Tivo and it works perfectly well though it's a little clunky because it's using 3rd party hacks. Alternatively i can grab files from the Tivo and play them locally rather than streaming. With US Series 2 Tivo this stuff isn't a problem and transfer speeds are much quicker. A Windows Media Centre PC will do this with 'media centre extenders' as remote clients. I dont think you can buy them in the UK yet but an X-Box will do it. I've also seen a large scale TV over IP multicasting install that is working very well. - Hwyl! ??? |
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