Room to Improve (v2)

prunudo

MrMusician18 wrote: »

They cut the shots around DGs house really tight, presumably to make it difficult to identify what part of Wicklow he lives in.

If you follow him on Instagram he has previously posted plenty of photos of how the garden got to where it is today. Its a real oasis now compared to what it started as but the camera shots last faltered it a lot too. Its more built up than you'd think.

meeeeh

Newuseruntaken wrote: »

Why are architects so well paid? I’m not begrudging him, I’m genuinely curious. It would take most degree educated people about 6 lifetimes to afford a house like that. How come there is such a big gap between architects and normal people? Do you have to be a maths genius to be an architect? Or are there certain limits on how many people can do the degree course each year? I wouldn’t of thought that it would be an extremely difficult job but open to correction.

He is advertising cash cow for RTE so I presume he is well paid for the show too. Also Ireland has some brilliant architects who are a lot more respected outside Ireland. I was a Slovenian architectural magazine and there was an article about Mullingar co co offices and what a brilliant design it is. I haven't seen it mentioned at all in Ireland. Sometimes people barely distinguish between architectural technicians and architects, however those in the know will recognize quality.

Btw in Slovenia where I am from architecture would be one of hardest studies to get into. Not every donkey can be a good architect.

kerryjack

Newuseruntaken wrote: »

Business or no business, he’s only in his 40s and spending close to 1.5 million on a house. Before tax he would of needed to earn 3 million. And I’m sure he hasn’t put every penny he has into the house.

I presume he sold his old home just up the road probably had that paid for probably had 200K in the bank and the rest probably a mortgage like the rest of us.

Addle

Diarmuid Gavin has before and after pictures of his house and garden on Instagram and it’s very impressive.

NSAman

meeeeh wrote: »

He is advertising cash cow for RTE so I presume he is well paid for the show too. Also Ireland has some brilliant architects who are a lot more respected outside Ireland. I was a Slovenian architectural magazine and there was an article about Mullingar co co offices and what a brilliant design it is. I haven't seen it mentioned at all in Ireland. Sometimes people barely distinguish between architectural technicians and architects, however those in the know will recognize quality.

Btw in Slovenia where I am from architecture would be one of hardest studies to get into. Not every donkey can be a good architect.

Agree there are some seriously GOOD Irish architects out there. Projects that you never see on Irish Websites or Media.

Places like Dezeen.com / Internationalarchitectureawards.com / etc...etc...

I am always shocked that some of the architecture in Ireland is so badly published... Mind you the RIAI are not exactly known for putting on a good exhibition of their fantastic *yawn* Awards program each year.

Spanish Eyes

Have to say I am beyond the hundreds of thousands that are spent on every episode I've seen so far.

That is not real life for most. But maybe the odd peasant with 50k to spend slipped in there somewhere that I didn't see!

As I have already said, I don't begrudge anyone what they spend on their houses, if they can afford it, good luck to them.

But the REAL information and fun would be for an ordinary house to be absolutely uplifted by say 50k with a 10k contingency. That would sort out the architects from the realists!

Would be great to watch such a transformation. I know it couldn't involve massive extensions, Glass walls, garden design and so on, but honestly, that is beyond the vast majority of people. Just a few great ideas on a budget would interest me totally. Anyone agree?

iamwhoiam

I am watching George Clark , Ugly house to Lovely house . Its is far far more interesting than R to Improve . The transformation is amazing and we see far more of the nitty gritty build

appledrop

Spanish eyes I think the majority agree with you.

When room to improve started that's what it was all about. There was a recap there recently I think in the indo of houses 10 years on + one of the couples had a budget of 35k.

Anyone can design a fancy pants house with hundreds of thousands. As you said it would take a very good one to make changes on shoe string budget.

People in Ireland put small extensions on houses all the time but some aren't well done due to not consulting with architects/professionals. Wouldn't it be interesting if they were ones on programme?

appledrop

Also in those early episodes very little fake drama + indepth detail on house build.

The current editor needs to be sacked.

Addle

iamwhoiam wrote: »

I am watching George Clark , Ugly house to Lovely house . Its is far far more interesting than R to Improve . The transformation is amazing and we see far more of the nitty gritty build

He’s not the architect though and hadn’t the same involvement.

iamwhoiam

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Have to say I am beyond the hundreds of thousands that are spent on every episode I've seen so far.

That is not real life for most. But maybe the odd peasant with 50k to spend slipped in there somewhere that I didn't see!

As I have already said, I don't begrudge anyone what they spend on their houses, if they can afford it, good luck to them.

But the REAL information and fun would be for an ordinary house to be absolutely uplifted by say 50k with a 10k contingency. That would sort out the architects from the realists!

Would be great to watch such a transformation. I know it couldn't involve massive extensions, Glass walls, garden design and so on, but honestly, that is beyond the vast majority of people. Just a few great ideas on a budget would interest me totally. Anyone agree?

Absolutely agree . A small extension for the kids , an added on downstairs bathroom for the older person , ideas to make rooms work better for families ,and how to increase storage . I think most of us could relate to that , like you I am over the massive budget huge extension now

iamwhoiam

Addle wrote: »

He’s not the architect though and hadn’t the same involvement.

Yeh , its still far more interesting

King Mog

appledrop wrote: »

Spanish eyes I think the majority agree with you.

When room to improve started that's what it was all about. There was a recap there recently I think in the indo of houses 10 years on + one of the couples had a budget of 35k.

Anyone can design a fancy pants house with hundreds of thousands. As you said it would take a very good one to make changes on shoe string budget.

People in Ireland put small extensions on houses all the time but some aren't well done due to not consulting with architects/professionals. Wouldn't it be interesting if they were ones on programme?

There’s always the farce of the budget being exceeded (pretend pretend)

NSAman

Addle wrote: »

He’s not the architect though and hadn’t the same involvement.

Agree, he may not be the architect but it shows more of the nuts and bolts of the build and the problems involved. Same as Grand Designs a program I love and is well done.

RTI started off this this idea but ended up being a flash entertainment program. The VAST majority of people need smaller projects to be shown on how to/ get ideas/ what is available. Not everyone has a budget of 200K-400K and can go over budget by a massive amount (think the couple in Wicklow ... lovely house but nearly twice the budget?????)

iamwhoiam

appledrop wrote: »

Also in those early episodes very little fake drama + indepth detail on house build.

The current editor needs to be sacked.

An editor works to the spec of the producer . The editors job is to cut not to guide or lead how the episode is portrayed . That is the producers or directors decision

Addle

The shows main focus has always been Dermot.
The budgets have changed, but the main focus hasn’t.

appledrop

iamwhoiam wrote: »

An editor works to the spec of the producer . The editors job is to cut not to guide or lead how the episode is portrayed . That is the producers or directors decision

Well whoever it was that decided in every episode this series to show 90% of house unfinished until last 5 minutes than bam done!

Reati

MrMusician18 wrote: »

Simply because of the way they cut it, I was motivated to use all my sleuthing skills to find the house. He has never said in an interview where it is located, beyond saying its in Wicklow, that I could see.

Easy enough to find when you know the right (publicly available) database to look up however.

Its far from a secret or requires any actuall sleuthing. He has stated it a few times where he lives.

gmisk

Only watched tonight, lovely house in the end.

meeeeh

appledrop wrote: »

Well whoever it was that decided in every episode this series to show 90% of house unfinished until last 5 minutes than bam done!

I think that's one of the main problems. Yes it would be repetitive if they were explaining every time what underfloor heating is about but it would be actually interesting to find out insulation spec and similar to renovate houses up to certain energy rating and how to get grants. I usually record the show, start watching about half an hour later, fast forward through the drama and see what the end result is like.

Spanish Eyes

Bannon bought his house just off Griffith Avenue near Corpus Christi Church.

How anyone doesn't know this by now is a mystery. But I am obviously going to leave the sleuthing to others.

Anyway if you are going to put your house on the Telly you can forget about anyone NOT finding out where it is! It is that simple.

The bones of 1.4mill for a refurbished house in Drumcondra to me is mad. But go on.... tell me I am mad jealous. No, I love my home where it is. Never had a a jell bone in my body. Why would you? Moving might not work, refurb on a budget in a place you love just might though.

FFVII

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Bannon bought his house just off Griffith Avenue near Corpus Christi Church.

How anyone doesn't know this by now is a mystery. But I am obviously going to leave the sleuthing to others.

Anyway if you are going to put your house on the Telly you can forget about anyone NOT finding out where it is! It is that simple.

The bones of 1.4mill for a refurbished house in Drumcondra to me is mad. But go on.... tell me I am mad jealous. No, I love my home where it is. Never had a a jell bone in my body. Why would you? Moving might not work, refurb on a budget in a place you love just might though.

???

Just go and watch the other house shows as as been said over and over.

Who said anyone was jealous?

Spanish Eyes

FFVII wrote: »

???

Just go and watch the other house shows as as been said over and over.

Who said anyone was jealous?

I did.

Spanish Eyes

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

..the odd peasant with 50k to spend.. I know it couldn't involve massive extensions, Glass walls, garden design and so on

I did an extension with a small builder. Here's a photo where you can see the old kitchen, and the floor (out to the sliding door) of the extension. It extends out 10ft to the rear of the house:





Here's a photo from another angle, and a drone shot giving a rough idea of the footprint (extension goes the whole way down the side, stopping about 6ft shy of the front of the house)












Also, the garden was down around the same time:







and the kitchen was included in the price:









I won't bother with more photos as you get the idea, but the scope of work was fairly in-depth.


The price I will quote at the end of this post included the following (I've spoiler tagged the price, so you can take a guess).


- Extension (10ft extending to rear, and 5ft out to the side, L shape)
- Side extension includes a bathroom (shower, sink, toilet) and utility (plumbed for washing machine, boiler, new fuse box etc.)
- Plumber: supplying 4 new radiators, new combi boiler, all new fittings/fixings for sinks/bathroom
- Plastering of old kitchen and new extension
- Sliding door (2nd hand admittedly, was never fitted, but I'll acknowledge this cost approx €2k as it's a lower price than would be anticipated).
- Kitchen, appliances, sofa, a few bits of storage/tv stand etc. from ikea
- Electrician: New light fittings (Ikea), wiring for extra lights, new outdoor light, additional fusebox, upgrade of existing fusebox in house, installation of two 4 gang/2way switches and 9 double sockets
- Laminate flooring, tiling, supplied and fitted
- Painting done
- Back garden wall destroyed for access, rebuilt taller
- New paving installed in back garden
- Roof on extension is flat, torch-on felt
- Gutters and downpipes installed
- etc. etc.


You get the general idea. The only thing that wasn't done (well, it was, but needs to be re-done) was the skirting/architrave.




Total cost, all in:

I'm actually unsure of the exact cost, but between €47k-50k

Naturally, it involved cutting corners wherever I felt I could, and researching every decision that was to be made, but you get the general idea.


EDIT: Also, for clarity, I'm in Louth and this was about 2.5 years ago.

Sorry, just incase people think I'm just posting for the sake of it, the purpose of my post up there is to demonstrate that people don't need to have a million euro to get something done. I actually think my extension effort would have made a better TV show episode than a typical RTI.

kerryjack

46500

No Bills

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Bannon bought his house just off Griffith Avenue near Corpus Christi Church.

How anyone doesn't know this by now is a mystery. But I am obviously going to leave the sleuthing to others.

Anyway if you are going to put your house on the Telly you can forget about anyone NOT finding out where it is! It is that simple...

I believe it is Diarmuid Gavin's house in County Wicklow that the sleuthing is about.
It has already been mentioned in this thread that Diarmuid Gavin's house is in Kilmacanogue. I found the red tin roof on the terrace pretty easy to find once I had that information.

Spanish Eyes

Deleted User wrote: »

I did an extension with a small builder. Here's a photo where you can see the old kitchen, and the floor (out to the sliding door) of the extension. It extends out 10ft to the rear of the house:





Here's a photo from another angle, and a drone shot giving a rough idea of the footprint (extension goes the whole way down the side, stopping about 6ft shy of the front of the house)












Also, the garden was down around the same time:







and the kitchen was included in the price:









I won't bother with more photos as you get the idea, but the scope of work was fairly in-depth.


The price I will quote at the end of this post included the following (I've spoiler tagged the price, so you can take a guess).


- Extension (10ft extending to rear, and 5ft out to the side, L shape)
- Side extension includes a bathroom (shower, sink, toilet) and utility (plumbed for washing machine, boiler, new fuse box etc.)
- Plumber: supplying 4 new radiators, new combi boiler, all new fittings/fixings for sinks/bathroom
- Plastering of old kitchen and new extension
- Sliding door (2nd hand admittedly, was never fitted, but I'll acknowledge this cost approx €2k as it's a lower price than would be anticipated).
- Kitchen, appliances, sofa, a few bits of storage/tv stand etc. from ikea
- Electrician: New light fittings (Ikea), wiring for extra lights, new outdoor light, additional fusebox, upgrade of existing fusebox in house, installation of two 4 gang/2way switches and 9 double sockets
- Laminate flooring, tiling, supplied and fitted
- Painting done
- Back garden wall destroyed for access, rebuilt taller
- New paving installed in back garden
- Roof on extension is flat, torch-on felt
- Gutters and downpipes installed
- etc. etc.


You get the general idea. The only thing that wasn't done (well, it was, but needs to be re-done) was the skirting/architrave.




Total cost, all in:

I'm actually unsure of the exact cost, but between €47k-50k

Naturally, it involved cutting corners wherever I felt I could, and researching every decision that was to be made, but you get the general idea.


EDIT: Also, for clarity, I'm in Louth and this was about 2.5 years ago.

Looks great, fair play to you. We need more of this! I don't know how to show the spoilers. OMG!

I am in Dublin and it is impossible to find a builder/tradesperson at the moment.

But onwards and upwards. I can live with it for now. Don't know where to start with a 50k budget to do a kitchen, take down a load bearing wall (RSJ), downstairs loo. Should that cost 50k?

Fair play to you. Hope you are very happy with your NON Bannon refurb. We need to see more of this!

Spanish Eyes

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Looks great, fair play to you. We need more of this! I don't know how to show the spoilers. OMG!

It worked out between 47-50k.




But I used a small builder. Didn't spend needlessly, watched every penny and googled every decision until i was happy (thankfully I enjoyed the process!).

NSAman

Deleted User wrote: »

It worked out between 47-50k.




But I used a small builder. Didn't spend needlessly, watched every penny and googled every decision until i was happy (thankfully I enjoyed the process!).

Nice job KKV... this is more impressive for me than the swanky house builds ...