Have you seen this show? It involved people giving architect George Clarke considerable sums of money to redesign their existing homes - not just a makeover, but fairly substantial construction work.
I started off enjoying the show, but the more I see the less I like.
In nearly every episode thus far, George has taken these sums of money and gets three quarters through the job before telling the clients that he "needs more money, otherwise he'll have to compromise the design".
Now we're not talking chicken feed - £40,000-70,000 I've seen the clients spend, and each time he goes back for more, with camera crew zooming in on the stressed out faces of the couples.
I know these people are willing to do the programme, but really, it looks like extortion from where I'm sitting.
The results are nice - but good god, you could buy a terrace house in some towns with the money he wants to move a staircase.
Now if I were as acerbic as Charlie Brooker, I'd say something about George's endless goggle-eyed grinning to camera and overwhelming sense of self-satisfaction.
Fortunately I am.
God I want to punch him.
See for yourself now on C4+1.
:-(
A former member
If that the case then you can see a new show coming to channel 4
Completely agree with Gavin. These sort of shows can be completely out of touch really and I don't really see the point in the budget when the architect can never work within that budget. I've not watched this series, but the couple I saw last time around really annoyed me - and in the current economic climate especially it's more important than ever for budgets to be stuck too.
Room for Improvement, a pre-Deal or No Deal C4 daytime show, was always much fairer and realistic in this area, giving the subjects the options of on-budget, below-budget and over-budget designs.
I could cope with this show a little more if his advice wasn't always to install those massive folding doors. Is he on some kind of deal with whoever the hell makes them?
He's definitely a one trick pony when it comes to those bi-fold doors.
I watched the +1 show tonight, and he managed to come in on budget, except the roof on the newly built extension leaked, and didn't comply with the building regs (apparently), and so hadn't been cleared by the council.
A couple of weeks ago he was talking about his reasons for specifying marble in a kitchen. He was listing reasons why other materials were substandard, including wooden countertops.
To illustrate they showed some shots of kitchens with the offending, sub-par installations.
Including one of the wooden kitchens he installed 2 episodes previously.
Ho ho ho.
To be fair, some of his schemes are quite nice.
If you like that kind of thing, again and again and again.
Despte its faults, I have quite enjoyed the series, better than other programs of the kind like 60 minute makeover, HouseDocte, Put Your Money Where Your House Is ect.
However I think the clients should have more say in the design of THEIR houses but still keeping the surprise element for the end.
We sit there almost shouting at the show (it's kind of therapeutic!) - he seems to be getting worse as this series goes on.
Last week, the couple gave him £100k and he still tapped them for another £77k. I know he built an extension, but, as ever, he seems to ridiculously overspec things which could be done cheaper. Last week's he could have avoided moving a couple of rooms round and relocating plumbing quite obviously.
He also has a few other things:
1. Each week we get 'And one of my biggest gripes is...'.
2. Twice this series he hasn't actually finished the job, claiming he's run out of money. A couple of weeks back he really upset the husband by leaving an empty ensuite for the master bedroom, while having added an unnecessary ensuite for the kids (there was a perfectly fine family bathroom).
3. He keeps quoting the price and then adding the VAT on (and making constant references to how the taxman will get 15% of the budget). On this sort of show, he should be including the VAT in the budget he' given.
4. He keeps missing/forgetting to sort out things that any half-decent architect (as he claims to be) should plan for. Which, of course, means he then goes off to emotionally blackmail the householders into giving him more money. If I was them (not that I'd trust him with my money), I'd be saying 'you made the mistake, you pay to sort it out'...
I watched the +1 show tonight, and he managed to come in on budget, except the roof on the newly built extension leaked, and didn't comply with the building regs (apparently), and so hadn't been cleared by the council.
Sounds like another case of retrospective planning permission, where potentially they could be forced to remove the extension if it got refused. Either that or the couple knew about the extension months in advance so they could apply for planning before filming began.
He's definitely a one trick pony when it comes to those bi-fold doors.
He does love those doors doesn't he... every house I have seen he had put them in! I get that they are nice but when he is going way over budget that is one area where it could just be a standard patio door... must be on some sort of kick back for it!
He also loves his white paint.... think it was last week when he was doing a house full of kids and everywhere was white paint... can't see those walls staying white for too long!
I was socked when he did a house for for well over 100 grand and still failed to finish the house, the master bedroom had an empty room where a bathroom should have been and there was no storage for their clothes!
4. He keeps missing/forgetting to sort out things that any half-decent architect (as he claims to be) should plan for. Which, of course, means he then goes off to emotionally blackmail the householders into giving him more money. If I was them (not that I'd trust him with my money), I'd be saying 'you made the mistake, you pay to sort it out'...
And breathe...
If Sarah Beeny or Kevn McCloud were watching from the sidelines they'd be advising the clients to axe their architect.
