My Bungalow Bliss

I wonder what Jack Fitzsimons ,the author of bungalow bliss would make of it , the whole thing is contrary to everything he stood for, building a modest house on a tight budget where the design of the house was based on this philosophy

Here you have expensive architects , designers and builders involved in the refit of a modest bungalow, He would have ran in there thrown over the tables and threw them all out like Jesus did in the temple in Jerusalem

Another quibble which you might have missed. The guy making the doors plunged a door rail straight on to the spindle moulder head - a good way to lose a few fingers. he should use a jig instead.

Apologies, I thought you were being tongue in cheek. I didn't realise that you're either an idiot or are being deliberately obtuse. You can't see through a concrete block. The whole point of using opaque glass was to let light into the corridor, so of course you can (partially) see through it.

I wouldn't worry about the opaque window. That's relatively easily solved with a roller blind or something if it's a concern and I do think it's worth it to have the light in the hallway as those bungalow corridors can be very dark.

It seemed to me that the architect gave them a proposal initially that was over their budget but presented it on the basis that we can do X now and Y down the road when you have more money. The programme didn't really show how they got from there to the couple deciding to go the whole hog on it.

One thing that comes across from these two programmes is how horrendously expensive it is to retrofit old homes and I'd say it's making it totally off-putting for anyone watching who was thinking of going down that route.

This year's season of Cheap Irish Homes had some inserts of homes that had been brought back to life on very reasonable budgets. Most likely they wouldn't have A BER ratings at the end but the owners also wouldn't have a huge financial burden overhanging them either. 🤨

Do you get VAT back on a new build in the south? In NI a new build you can reclaim the VAT, but AFAIK a renovation means you pay VAT.

No you don't. That would be far too progressive and sensible for this country.

although I suspect sort damp rewire re plumb, sort out the insulation, new kitch/bathroom for say under 100k isnt what they are looking for.

I stand corrected Trondheim....need to make an appointment with my optician !

But the fact remains that a high budget, futuristic house should have a full bathroom with a jacuzzi / whirlpool / hot tub or similar not juat an apartment type shower.

It's rife in the building industry. When we were getting the kitchen redesigned and went around the usual suspects. Whenever you give the measurements over and basic outline and ask for a ballpark price, you'd never get a straight answer. The reply would invariably be "what's your budget?". So when you quite a figure back the budget would represent the most that the customer is expecting to spend. From the kitchen guy's point of view, the figure quoted represents the bare minimun they'll be expecting to trouser from the job

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