Room to Improve.

Enjoyed this episode, seemed like a nice family, work hard for their money so may as well enjoy it. Really liked the stone bath as well

Sleepy wrote: »

There definitely seems to be two views on this and the "downstairs bedroom for possible future use" certainly seems to be a common feature in most rural one-off builds in Ireland.

For most, however, the dream house is likely far too big for a retired couple or elderly person living alone to manage and maintain. Some certainly like to cling onto such homes and I've noticed many fine houses going to ruin in such hands.

I don't think I'd bother with one if designing my own "dream" house tbh. When the time came that it was too big for me to manage and I needed a downstairs bedroom, I'd be looking at selling up the big house and downsizing to a more manageable sized bungalow / cottage.

I take your point but would say that firstly you do not have to be elderly to have mobility issues. Illness and injury can come at any age. Yes, it does seem like a sensible idea to downsize with age-but in many locations, there may not be too much choice available in what you can downsize to. That's why many stay put in houses that are clearly too large for their needs.

ShamoBuc wrote: »

195k of extras , Jesus

A lot of people seem to be critical of the cost, and while it's true to say that it's none of anyone's business what other people spend, there's another thing to consider. That money didn't just go up in flames, it went into the business accounts of builders, materials providers, whoever made the windows, the kitchen the furniture etc. A lot of that ended up in the the personal accounts of builders, factory workers, hauliers, etc. Those two sculptures probably represented very nice nice (and welcome) sales for the artist(s) who created them, and finally, a pretty big chunk of the money spent ended up in the exchequer.

I see it less as OTT spending and more of a miniature economic stimulus. I don't object to it for the same reason I don't object to Christmas bonuses for OAPs and the unemployed.

On last week's episode Dermot mentioned that they would get a 40k+ grant from the sei, was that a mistake? I couldn't see that level of funding for anything. Should it have been 14k?

If someone spends money based on whey they’ve watched on an entertainment show without doing their own research, then that’s their own loss.

123654789 wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but i thought some people started the work without getting SEAI approval first. I remember some lad on the news from one of the companies doing the work. He was giving out that people started work with the expectation of getting the grant Looked to me like he was just pissed off he wouldn't get paid. I don't get why someone would risk thousands on non approved grant works, but they were probably encouraged by these companies.

More here
https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/0819/1069653-seai-grant/

Yes this was the problem with most people...neighbors of mine started an extension and some renovations and had grants factored into the costings the company they were doing the paper work for them. Now they they are left with a 16 grand shortfall. If they had of looked and applied for grant before build started they would have been ok. The builder in question said he couldn’t get granted approved till he submitted BER ratings.

Ive been talking a lot of smack on this thread so i guess it's time for me to put up or shut up.
Recently i was given carte blanche to design, layout, furnish and decorate our new offices from scratch. It was an empty floor when i first started

https://imgur.com/gallery/d4jtRaN

Came in under budget too 😂

123654789 wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but i thought some people started the work without getting SEAI approval first. I remember some lad on the news from one of the companies doing the work. He was giving out that people started work with the expectation of getting the grant Looked to me like he was just pissed off he wouldn't get paid. I don't get why someone would risk thousands on non approved grant works, but they were probably encouraged by these companies.

More here
https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/0819/1069653-seai-grant/

The problem with that scheme (Deep Retrofit Pilot program) was that people applied for the grant in February and were supposed to get a yes or no within 4 weeks of application. Then behind the scenes the SEAI ran out of funding for the grant but instead of being upfront with applicants immediately they hid this information and strung applicants along until June. Because the house had to fully renovated and finished for a deadline of Oct 15th lots of people in April just began building because if they didnt they would miss the deadline and not get the grant anyway.

It was also reported that the SEAI were under instruction from Richard Brutons department not to say anything until the local elections were over- the government are trying to convince us they can tackle climate change and the last thing they wanted in the run up to the election was hundreds of angry homeowners on the tv and airwaves saying they are trying to do their bit to reduce their carbon footprint but the government is refusing to stump up for the grants to achieve that. The whole mess was a bit of realpolitick at play by Fine Gael with grant applicants used as the pawns in a larger game.

Anyway the govt. climbed down and the people who applied will get their grant. But considering this was a pilot scheme for only 300 houses the administration of the grant doesnt bode well for the future government targets of retrofitting hundreds of thousands of homes.

Doooooogggggg!!

fung sui . here we go

I dont know if I enjoy the show, or the sad, bitter jealous posts here during the show more

Lisha wrote: »

Just amazing. Where is the lady’s accent from please?

Poland

Fu5k me she is hot looking