Room to Improve (v2)

Liked the house in the end .. but to natter on about budget constantly at beginning of show to end up not mentioning costs at the end is embarrassing. It’s obvious now that budget was never an issue with the couple.

They really need to show how to get these grants and what needs to be done structurally it makes it seem getting these grants is a very straight forward process. They don’t show the hoops you need to jump through to get them.

It’s mentioned every series but I want to see what heating is used for the windows. I want to see how the house was built and less focus on interior design and final finish. Also want to see more normal builds like a nice extension on a regular 3 bed semi on a realistic budget and not people who 1/2 a million to spend.

They were working off a grant last night that hadn’t even been started and only announced during the build.

Yes, felt I might as well have only tuned in for the last 10 minutes and even then we seemed to only get a glimpse of the house. But liked what they done

I find these enormous, gigantic open plan kitchens are far too big! There is nothing cosy about them.

My daughter has one and believe me with 3 kids the noise is unreal, if she is sitting on one side talking I can't here her as the sound seems to bounce off the huge windows, huge walls and high ceilings. There is nothing to absorb the sound, especially with screaming kids. Also it never feels cosy or snug, despite underfloor heating. The underfloor heating is nice, it gives a temperate climate but I always have to wear jumpers as there is no direct heat anywhere. The huge windows make it feel cold. I love light and space myself but I find a lot of these kitchen/living areas are far too big. Nowhere to escape either :-)

Yea, I think Dermot is paid for by the show but the QS is extra. This show was originally 30 minutes with an ad break; its a full hour now which is nuts considering how much detail (that viewers are interested in) is omitted. Should be part of the deal (i.e. when candidates are accepted to go on the show) that they disclose the costs; glossing over it with dumb statements like 'costs haven't been fully settled yet' just annoys viewers; they must have a fairly good idea given they have to pay for everything..

The walk in wardrobe was a joke, was that her entire collection of clothes.. Looks like he wasn't using the same space for his attire.

I always assumed that the QS was part of the show to keep Dermot in reality.

I would have assumed if the client was paying for their own QS there would be a different one each week.

Sums it up well

Didn't like that house in Ranelagh at all. A glorified hallway with added courtyard. I can only imagine how much that cost them.

Didn’t like it at all either; thought it was a totally irrelevant comparison too; poky courtyard that Dermot was going on about (he seems to love courtyards!!). The time devoted to this would be better spent highlighting the heating system and bathroom costs etc

They said they were too far outside town for the derelict grant but were hoping the net would be widened to include them in the budget. Then the news clip they played mentioned an increase in the amount of the grant but didn’t say anything about distance from town but they were suddenly ok.

I assume the bit where he suggested that the criteria might be changed was filmed after the budget rather than before.

Any idea how the help to buy applied? Thought they inherited this property and land. What exactly were they buying as first time buyers?

The whole series has gone to the dogs the last few years.

It's all dramatics, cliched (and clearly staged) rows between Dermot and the clients for dramatic effect, crap editing, no useful or interesting coverage of the design or build at all. It's basically a formulaic soap opera at this stage - except you'd get more variety in a soap opera.

And while Grand Designs obviously made their punters reveal budget details at the end, RtI seems to have dispensed with that lately so you don't even have that bit to look forward to.

I tuned in this week for the first time in years, and won't be wasting my time again.

There was always an element of staged rows and manufactured crisis situations to it but I found I could accept that when the project was shown to be evolving naturally. Now it's just jarring the way its edited and you are left with a lot of confusion and some unanswered questions at the end. Unsatisfactory.

I'm not making excuses I'm just saying that what it feels like whats happening. I may be wrong about that but it did feel like the editing person needed direction from someone who knew what to present.

I don't agree that going to the other house added nothing. He brought them to show how clever design with cheaper materials can lead to a good result. He was trying to convince them that if they had one quality surface (in this case the flooring) then cheaper materials would work alongside it (in this case the kitchen which is what they were worried about). I believe he achieved that.

The echo in the kitchen / dining was noticeable all right. And were there any blinds? Do not think so. at night time it would be like being a goldfish in a bowl, and looking out you just see your reflection in the glass?

Looked nice in day time on a calm dry day all right. Wonder what the BER was with all that glass? I know it was probably triple glazed but still surely not as cosy as a well insulated wall 40 cm thick or whatever?

Lovely couple and a lovely house in the end, they are some big old grants! No final figure on cost zzz