Room to Improve.

ted1 · 13-03-2018 12:02PM

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

ted1 wrote: »

They paid more money thsn 40k in taxes for the build.

Believe me it didn’t cost the tax payers anything.

Except that it did - it cost the taxpayers the €43k paid in the grant - that's real cash out the door, gone into someone's bank account.

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Residential emissions north of 25% of total carbon emissions.

You'll be paying the fines for missing the targets as well.

But yeah, that's the spirit, Ted.

That misses the point. Yes, we have problems with residential emissions, but why would the State target its scarce resources to help those who have most resources themselves? They are the ones who will benefit from the reduced bills, so why should the state subsidise this? If the state has resources to spend on residential energy improvements, surely it should target its resources at those who have least resources themselves? Otherwise, it's just another rich-get-richer and poor-get-poorer scheme.

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

The steps up to the sitting area surely are gonna be an issue for ma in the near future. Bit of a stupid design idea

It's particularly disappointing, given that Dermot is involved in this multi-generational design project
http://architectureireland.ie/the-abhaile-project
The steps are a big problem, no consideration that she might need a bathroom with a chair, or maybe even a hoist - no future proofing at all really.

Thst real cash went out the door that it cane in a few seconds earlier, so no it didn’t cost the taxpayer anything.

As stated before there’s a second living room so she doesn’t need to access that area.

Addle · 13-03-2018 06:19PM

Opportunity for Dermot fans to meet the star of the show...
http://boimedia.customerminds.com/lp/e/1833/3d409546fe09099e923d4aa6cc7e8eeb

liam7831 · 13-03-2018 06:24PM

Addle wrote: »

Opportunity for Dermot fans to meet the star of the show...
http://boimedia.customerminds.com/lp/e/1833/3d409546fe09099e923d4aa6cc7e8eeb

What kind of a Muppet would want to go to this

LirW · 13-03-2018 06:28PM

I was at some RDS event last year where he was special guest and giving autographs. The queues were unreal!

nuac · 13-03-2018 06:36PM

I wonder if the architects' profession have any rules about self-promotion?

ShamoBuc · 13-03-2018 07:30PM

nuac wrote: »

I wonder if the architects' profession have any rules about self-promotion?

What's the difference between self promotion and advertising?

Turnipman · 13-03-2018 09:30PM

Sleepy wrote: »

I live quite near this one and have envied the site since we bought out here. I'm pretty certain my daughter built some sandcastles on the beach there with the little lad last summer.

I'm assuming the old shed (which looks like the original house they showed in a photo at the start) would simply have cost too much to incorporate into plans involving knocking the cottage and extending the shed. The potential for problems in a building that old alone could have swallowed the entire budget. It's a shame but without half a million available for the project, I think it would have been insane to even try.

That said, I'd wonder if the granny put the foot down about bulldozing the cottage she and her husband had built and insisted on extending, rather than replacing it? I'd have thought their €250k would have been sufficient to knock the cottage and simply build something much nicer than the end result. Surely with the existing services and foundations that could have gotten them something around the 150sqm level?

I lived in nearby Donabate for 20 years and knew the legend that is Mary Linders quite well. She's a remarkable woman!

This link is to an article about her written a decade ago by her next door neighbour, Terry Prone!

https://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/columnists/terry-prone/every-neighbourhood-should-have-a-woman-just-like-mrs-linders-68953.html

Hope you enjoy it!

WoolyJumper · 13-03-2018 11:31PM

Every week this place fills with nasty comments about the people who appear on this show..... "bossy" women get the worst abuse. It makes me really uncomfortable knowing they've likely read through this thread. Remember its a small country we live in. If you wouldn't say it to their face then don't say it here.

Zhane · 13-03-2018 11:35PM

WoolyJumper wrote: »

Every week this place fills with nasty comments about the people who appear on this show..... "bossy" women get the worst abuse. It makes me really uncomfortable knowing they've likely read through this thread. Remember its a small country we live in. If you wouldn't say it to their face then don't say it here.

I agree. The comments get very nasty about the property owners. The comments about the woman last week and the couple (especially the wife) who built the pool and treatment room were especially bad.

pilly · 13-03-2018 11:40PM

Zhane wrote:

I agree. The comments get very nasty about the property owners. The comments about the woman last week and the couple (especially the wife) who built the pool and treatment room were especially bad.

It's nothing but jealousy.

Zhane · 13-03-2018 11:44PM

pilly wrote: »

It's nothing but jealousy.

Absolutely. They can dress it up anyway they want but thats what it boils down to. By all means criticise the house and furnishing, but comments about the people are very clearly sour grapes. These people have saved or have the means to build their dream home, and have every right to do so however they see fit.

Aglomerado · 14-03-2018 10:25AM

Zhane wrote: »

I agree. The comments get very nasty about the property owners. The comments about the woman last week and the couple (especially the wife) who built the pool and treatment room were especially bad.

Even in conversation with work colleagues, the comments about the girl in Clontarf were very catty. At the end of the day it's mostly about the house, not her personal appearance. Her clashing with Dermot added to the entertainment value of the programme which is needed as well to spice it up.

iamwhoiam · 14-03-2018 10:45AM

Zhane wrote: »

Absolutely. They can dress it up anyway they want but thats what it boils down to. By all means criticise the house and furnishing, but comments about the people are very clearly sour grapes. These people have saved or have the means to build their dream home, and have every right to do so however they see fit.

I actually think commenting on the build is fine , I thought the house in Donabate could have been far nicer and Ma's room too small .Its an opinion on the build but at the end of the day I dont live in it they do . My needs might not be theirs after all.

Sunny Dayz · 14-03-2018 11:12AM

Aglomerado wrote: »

Even in conversation with work colleagues, the comments about the girl in Clontarf were very catty. At the end of the day it's mostly about the house, not her personal appearance. Her clashing with Dermot added to the entertainment value of the programme which is needed as well to spice it up.

While I'm not excusing people's behaviour and comments, the show itself isn't really helping either - it seems to more and more make it about the "characters" rather than the actual build, renovation, fit out etc. I felt last Sunday's episode in particular felt rushed at the end and didn't show anything of it being fitted out. The two shows in the preceding fortnight really did focus more on the people and what they were doing rather than the property itself.

iamwhoiam · 14-03-2018 12:16PM

This thread has a gremlin ! The last post doesn't show for me until someone else posts ! So always one post pending !

pilly · 14-03-2018 02:12PM

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

While I'm not excusing people's behaviour and comments, the show itself isn't really helping either - it seems to more and more make it about the "characters" rather than the actual build, renovation, fit out etc. I felt last Sunday's episode in particular felt rushed at the end and didn't show anything of it being fitted out. The two shows in the preceding fortnight really did focus more on the people and what they were doing rather than the property itself.

There are already plenty of programmes out there though that focus on just the building.

The fact that this show goes into the families wants and needs makes it more interesting.

Yeah, I agree it goes a bit far though at times, the whole sitting in the hot-tub thing was bizarre.

In saying that I enjoyed Sunday's show all the more for Ma's character so it's a fine line I suppose, they should be trying to balance it out more.

pilly · 14-03-2018 02:21PM

Turnipman wrote: »

I lived in nearby Donabate for 20 years and knew the legend that is Mary Linders quite well. She's a remarkable woman!

This link is to an article about her written a decade ago by her next door neighbour, Terry Prone!

https://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/columnists/terry-prone/every-neighbourhood-should-have-a-woman-just-like-mrs-linders-68953.html

Hope you enjoy it!

I said it already, she should definitely have her own television programme.

Quazzie · 14-03-2018 02:49PM

Turnipman wrote: »

I lived in nearby Donabate for 20 years and knew the legend that is Mary Linders quite well. She's a remarkable woman!

This link is to an article about her written a decade ago by her next door neighbour, Terry Prone!

https://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/columnists/terry-prone/every-neighbourhood-should-have-a-woman-just-like-mrs-linders-68953.html

Hope you enjoy it!

Really enjoyed reading that. Do you know if she still does the sales?

screamer · 14-03-2018 02:55PM

I think it was lovely to see them retain and renovate the old house. Too many people these days are full of **** and want their big new sprawling blight on the landscape houses. TBH fair play to them for getting all that work done for that price but if I have one criticism of the show I don't think the end cost is reflective of what it would actually cost a Joe soap to have done. I think there's a certain amount of work done FOC by the contractors because they are getting advertising out of it and of course have to show a wonderfully finished house in the reveal. So similarly to don't tell the bride it contributes to unrealistic expectations price wise.

14-03-2018 05:03PM

amdublin wrote: »

For me I was expecting a teenager or early 20s chap. And then this little teeny 6 year old appears.

So I know he is the son of one of them. it's the age of the little boy versus mammy that threw me.

I wouldn't be very good at judging people's ages to be honest, but both of the women are pretty good looking in my opinion

I'm sure have decent sex lives. I wouldn't be overly surprised by one of them having a 6 year old. Only for this thread, it genuinely never crossed my mind.

Zhane wrote: »

Absolutely. They can dress it up anyway they want but thats what it boils down to. By all means criticise the house and furnishing, but comments about the people are very clearly sour grapes. These people have saved or have the means to build their dream home, and have every right to do so however they see fit.

In fairness, there's a difference between building a house, and applying to RTE and wanting to build a house in front of a national audience.

I would guess that about 1/5th of the show is just about the people. What they do, where they're from, their friends and family. Solely from watching room to improve I've seen footage of a chap in a triathlon, a pilot getting lifts to the airport, a GAA coach on the pitch, etc. and then the 'house party' with comments from locals at the end.

The show is very much about the building, but it's equally trying to portray the people in the house and who they are, what they do, etc. presumably to try to make the show more relatable (rather than TV shows featuring billionaires that can do what they want, they're trying to get the average joe on board, who can cringe at paying 12k for foundations or criticise a concrete wall, etc.)

Turnipman · 14-03-2018 06:48PM

Quazzie wrote: »

Really enjoyed reading that. Do you know if she still does the sales?

Sorry, but I'm not sure. I suspect that if she still was, then it would have got a mention on Sunday's show.

She used to throw the whole of her house and garden open and erect tents and everything - the old stone store room would have been full of stuff and the parking outside was absolute mayhem! Funnily enough, as I write this, I'm sitting on a lovely chair that the missus bought there for a song about a decade ago!

AndrewJRenko · 14-03-2018 10:58PM

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I had a look on the website. It's a new pilot programme.

https://www.seai.ie/grants/home-grants/deep-retrofit-programme/

It's not a €40k grant but 50% of the cost of the energy efficiency works.

Thanks for the link.

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

The Warmer Homes Scheme, mentioned above, is there for those with the least resources, no?

There doesn't have to be one grant scheme for all. There are different programmes.

Sleepy wrote: »

If you look into the scheme on the seai site, it appears to be 50% for groups representing 5 or more houses or 95% for Housing Associations or those "in energy poverty" (based on the Warmer Homes Scheme). As the granny would be the legal home-owner, assuming she gets the Fuel Allowance along with her pension, she'd have qualified under this as like most means tests or taxation laws in this country, it's based on income, rather than wealth.

If that's the case, it sounds like a big stretch for how the scheme would be intended. I'm wondering why the State would want to top up a €200k investment? Maybe they should have just built a smaller house and gotten their A3 rating with a small house from their own resources. Or maybe the scheme rules should look beyond the legal owner to see who really benefits?

ted1 wrote: »

Thst real cash went out the door that it cane in a few seconds earlier, so no it didn’t cost the taxpayer anything.

Grand, so if you withdraw €250 from an ATM, and I whip €50 out of your hand, that didn't cost you anything because it came in a few seconds earlier, right?

Quazzie · 14-03-2018 11:39PM

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Grand, so if you withdraw €250 from an ATM, and I whip €50 out of your hand, that didn't cost you anything because it came in a few seconds earlier, right?

no what Ted is saying is that if you hand me 20 quid but you've done something nice that makes my life easier in the future and I give you back 15 quid then I'm not down any money.

AndrewJRenko · 14-03-2018 11:47PM

Quazzie wrote: »

no what Ted is saying is that if you hand me 20 quid but you've done something nice that makes my life easier in the future and I give you back 15 quid then I'm not down any money.

Maths says otherwise. Maths says you're down €15.

deco nate · 15-03-2018 02:03AM

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Maths says otherwise. Maths says you're down €15.

5 quid?!

I haven't read the rest of the posts, sorry. But that 5 quid was more than worth it from the post you quoted?. Must read back, but too late for now.

Sleepy · 15-03-2018 12:16PM

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

If that's the case, it sounds like a big stretch for how the scheme would be intended. I'm wondering why the State would want to top up a €200k investment? Maybe they should have just built a smaller house and gotten their A3 rating with a small house from their own resources. Or maybe the scheme rules should look beyond the legal owner to see who really benefits?

It's a fairly glaring problem with our tax system in general TBH. A family of 4 with an income of 75k (one earning national avg of 45k, the other earning 30k to be the primary care giver) will pay €16,480 in income tax, and a further €420 a year in property tax if they own an average 300k house. Assuming the house is mortgaged and they have no other financial assets, they're paying almost 17k a year in tax (and probably the same again in childcare).

On the other hand, a Lotto winner, retiree or benefactor of inheritance could be sitting pretty in a mortgage-free million euro house with millions in the bank or other investments. Their property tax would come to the grand total of €1,530 a year. Careful tax management of any pension income would keep their "income" untaxed and DIRT and CAT taxes are at much lower levels than Income Tax.

We don't tax wealth, we tax income. And all of our grant schemes seem to be based on the same.

ligerdub · 15-03-2018 01:46PM

Sleepy wrote: »

It's a fairly glaring problem with our tax system in general TBH. A family of 4 with an income of 75k (one earning national avg of 45k, the other earning 30k to be the primary care giver) will pay €16,480 in income tax, and a further €420 a year in property tax if they own an average 300k house. Assuming the house is mortgaged and they have no other financial assets, they're paying almost 17k a year in tax (and probably the same again in childcare).

On the other hand, a Lotto winner, retiree or benefactor of inheritance could be sitting pretty in a mortgage-free million euro house with millions in the bank or other investments. Their property tax would come to the grand total of €1,530 a year. Careful tax management of any pension income would keep their "income" untaxed and DIRT and CAT taxes are at much lower levels than Income Tax.

We don't tax wealth, we tax income. And all of our grant schemes seem to be based on the same.

I know you're not having a pop at those people, but those people have already been taxed on what is sitting in their bank accounts. Those people needed income, which was taxed, to build up that level of wealth. Even in the case of the lottery winner that person's jackpot win was after tax was applied or a chunk of the funds used in other projects. In the case of a retiree with no mortgage (seems like a reasonable expectation to me) and other investments around the place, what's the issue? If somebody is in a position to repay a mortgage and keep investments going outside of this then fair play to them.

Why should wealth be taxed even more? It isn't a problem with the tax system at all. There aren't a huge amount of people blessed with that issue either.

The inheritance tax on somebody inheriting €1m would be quite chunky I assure you.

The tax rate in the example you gave would work out at 22%, hardly a grave injustice. If they have a home worth €300k and a net salary of 40 grand a year they should be reasonable well able to finance that over a 25 year term say, especially considering the deposit already ploughed into it.

Anyways, off-topic so I'll leave it at that.

Back on topic........So where was the kids Dad then?

Glebee · 15-03-2018 02:53PM

ligerdub wrote: »

I know you're not having a pop at those people, but those people have already been taxed on what is sitting in their bank accounts. Those people needed income, which was taxed, to build up that level of wealth. Even in the case of the lottery winner that person's jackpot win was after tax was applied or a chunk of the funds used in other projects. In the case of a retiree with no mortgage (seems like a reasonable expectation to me) and other investments around the place, what's the issue? If somebody is in a position to repay a mortgage and keep investments going outside of this then fair play to them.

Why should wealth be taxed even more? It isn't a problem with the tax system at all. There aren't a huge amount of people blessed with that issue either.

The inheritance tax on somebody inheriting €1m would be quite chunky I assure you.

The tax rate in the example you gave would work out at 22%, hardly a grave injustice. If they have a home worth €300k and a net salary of 40 grand a year they should be reasonable well able to finance that over a 25 year term say, especially considering the deposit already ploughed into it.

Anyways, off-topic so I'll leave it at that.

Back on topic........So where was the kids Dad then?

Living in the shed......

Shop40 · 17-03-2018 08:27AM

Finally got around to watching it. I liked the result, but then again I always do on RTI. Dermot never gets it wrong in my opinion!! (Fan) But my heart sank looking at Ma's room in the end:( Seriously, why put the granny in the tiny room and give the 6 year old the bigger room? I was in a box room when I was a kid, and it doesn't matter at that age, especially with a good garden to play in. No matter how sociable Ma is, she'll be in her room when she wants to listen to the "wireless" or whatever, it's not just a place to lay her head. This "mammy won't mind" mentality that is oh so common is so disrespectful!

17-03-2018 09:32AM

I personally thought that’s what the granny wanted. It was still in the old house and I thought she wanted very little change anyway so that’s why her room stayed the same.

Room to Improve.

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