We're featuring on Grand Designs next week 🎥

[Pocster]

12 minutes ago, thefoxesmaltings said:

A bit of both, maybe. You'll have to wait till next week to find out...

I’ll catch up on porn hub thanks 

[Gus Potter]

10 hours ago, thefoxesmaltings said:

We've had to keep this a big secret. About 2 years ago, we were approached by Channel 4, asking us if we wanted to feature on Grand Designs.

Well done both.

 

There is as expected a wide spread of comments on BH. Grand Designs enthuses people to think and encourages.

 

8 hours ago, ProDave said:

But one genuine question,

Do you know what it actually cost you? The builders would chew your hand off to get their sign up on the scaffolding. Did you do any cash deals with the builders or discounts that normal self builders can't access etc? I know you have to say no or you'll have the tax man chasing you!

 

What other business relationships exist.. see you are on insta for example. It would be great to hear you are a Nurse say and hubby works for the council cleansing department as it would really show the C4 audience what can be achieved if you are just an ordinary run of the mill type.

 

9 hours ago, thefoxesmaltings said:

To be fair, we mentioned that build forums were extremely helpful for advice. Whether that makes the cut or not, is another question.

Have you or are you making a donation to BH?

 

 

 

Edited 23 hours ago by Gus Potter

[thefoxesmaltings]

5 minutes ago, Gus Potter said:

Do you know what it actually cost you? The builders would chew your hand off to get their sign up on the scaffolding. Did you do any cash deals with the builders or discounts that normal self builders can't access etc? I know you have to say no or you'll have the tax man chasing you!

 

Yes we know costs, but you also know I'm going to say that I can't spoil anything until the episode get's aired next week! No cash deals, and apart from good negotiating, I don't think we did anything out of the ordinary.

 

5 minutes ago, Gus Potter said:

What other business relationships exist.. see you are on insta for example. It would be great to hear you are a Nurse say and hubby works for the council cleansing department as it would really show the C4 audience what can be achieved if you are just an ordinary run of the mill type.

Again, can't say too much just yet, at risk of spoiling the show.

 

8 minutes ago, Gus Potter said:

Have you or are you making a donation to BH?

.
BH was one of the many forums we used (and contributed to). Facebook of all places, was extremely helpful. No donation I'm afraid. Pockets are empty from the build.
 

[Gus Potter]

1 hour ago, thefoxesmaltings said:

BH was one of the many forums we used (and contributed to). Facebook of all places, was extremely helpful. No donation I'm afraid. Pockets are empty from the build

If you want a bit of free advice make a contribution to BH that reflect what you have learnt... Say nothing here that you have done so. The mods are very discreet and professional.. it will stand you in good stead. There is an old storey about business that involves a young and old bull in the top field and some young cows in the bottom field. Its vulgar so will not complete.. look it up and mull it over.

 

1 hour ago, thefoxesmaltings said:

No cash deals, and apart from good negotiating,

That is good to hear no cash deals. Any advice you can give for build hubbers re negotiating would be hugely welcome.

 

What you have not addressed is my question about the things that normal folk can't access. You are on the telly.. insta etc.

1 hour ago, Gus Potter said:

What other business relationships exist..

It would be great to hear that you have done this straight off the batt without weaving in any other business interests you have. If you have done so then loads of folk would love to hear how you have been innovative business wise to make your dream a reality by marrying up all the skills you have. There are loads of young, skint but hugely talented folk on BH that have the same dream as you. Maybe you can give them some tips for free?

 

You are clearly media savvy. I use my own name on BH as you, appreciate your commitment.  I am a designer as a day job and a past ( the baldy patch and sore hips are telling me something) self builder.

 

Now our Kev.. I suspect he may be a Build Hub lurker? BH is the real deal not for profit set up.. the cumulative knowledge on BH is exceptional.. we have Lecturers that teach folk like Kev.. highly experienced Contractors, all the professions from Architect,  Geotech folk to SE's, glazing specialists the list is endless. Then we have all the folk at the sharp end of doing self builds, going to exhibitions and passing on what they have learnt.

 

Maybe Kevin will come on BH? There are a lot of professional designers on BH who would love to get his advice. Myself not least.

 

 

 

 

[SteamyTea]

12 hours ago, Super_Paulie said:

How can it take only a year

Easy, just look at the number of posts on here from different members.

 

@thefoxesmaltings 136

@Pocster 12.3k

@SteamyTea 20.5k

 

If you want to build a house, don't join this site.

[Pocster]

2 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Easy, just look at the number of posts on here from different members.

 

@thefoxesmaltings 136

@Pocster 12.3k

@SteamyTea 20.5k

 

If you want to build a house, don't join this site.

Why the (expletive deleted) @SteamyTea have you posted so much ? - I don’t recall you ever built a house ! 

[SteamyTea]

Just now, Pocster said:

Why the (expletive deleted) @SteamyTea have you posted so much ? - I don’t recall you ever built a house ! 

Exactly.

They say the best way to learn is from YOUR mistakes.

[Pocster]

Just now, SteamyTea said:

Exactly.

They say the best way to learn is from YOUR mistakes.

And what have you learnt ? - apart from don’t build a house ?

[saveasteading]

22 hours ago, thefoxesmaltings said:

 a big secret

Can you reveal how the finished price is calculated?

What does it include and exclude?

Do they check this at all?

 

My suspicion is that people have an opportunity to keep their figure low as a measure of their successes.

 

[SteamyTea]

14 minutes ago, Pocster said:

And what have you learnt

Avoid married women from Bristol

[Kelvin]

Congratulations. Looks great. Shall watch GD, I don’t normally. 
 

GD draws a mixed but mostly negative view on here. It’s an entertainment programme about building houses not a house building programme. Consequently we don’t really learn very much about building houses. If it was actually about building houses it would be boring for most. Plus there needs to be a little bit of drama albeit their staple diet of ran out of money family and friends rallied round and stumped up £300,000, had 4 kids, bought windows from Chechnya but they didn’t turn up fortunately my sister runs a window company, etc gets a bit samey. 
 

It's bit like Top Gear was. Back in the early days it was actually about cars but few folk were interested in that so it was reinvented as an entertainment programme involving cars and driving. Interestingly Clarkson’s farm is the other way around, a farming programme that is also entertaining. 

[Super_Paulie]

1 hour ago, Kelvin said:

 bought windows from Chechnya but they didn’t turn up fortunately my sister runs a window company, etc gets a bit samey. 

 

Yeah, never did get that. If my own sister ran the family glazing company then why go to a different company? Whole thing made no sense. Christmas dinner would be right frosty, with or without windows.

[Stonehouse]

Congratulations @thefoxesmaltings! Been following you on instagram for a while and been watching your journey. Will look forward to GD.

 

Interested to know if there is any benefit from instagram account- so many now on the platform. Have thought about it just to document own journey.

 

Do you get better deals or companies approach you? Surely you must need a significant enough following as an influencer to generate this  ?

[Redoctober]

1 hour ago, Kelvin said:

It’s an entertainment programme about building houses not a house building programme. Consequently we don’t really learn very much about building houses. If it was actually about building houses it would be boring for most.

 

I enjoy the programme but you are right in what you say - Back in the day, we were inspired to do what we did by "Building the dream" [ Charlie Luxton] - We found it to be more relevant to people setting out on a self build project and it did highlight the elements to look out for etc. It gave us the confidence to believe we could achieve a modest house on our budget. 

 

And that is exactly what we did. [recent members may wish to see my blog ]

 

 

[thefoxesmaltings]

13 hours ago, Gus Potter said:

If you want a bit of free advice make a contribution to BH that reflect what you have learnt... Say nothing here that you have done so. The mods are very discreet and professional.. it will stand you in good stead. There is an old storey about business that involves a young and old bull in the top field and some young cows in the bottom field. Its vulgar so will not complete.. look it up and mull it over.

13 hours ago, Gus Potter said:

 

 

That is good to hear no cash deals. Any advice you can give for build hubbers re negotiating would be hugely welcome.

 

13 hours ago, Gus Potter said:

 

What you have not addressed is my question about the things that normal folk can't access. You are on the telly.. insta etc.

It would be great to hear that you have done this straight off the batt without weaving in any other business interests you have. If you have done so then loads of folk would love to hear how you have been innovative business wise to make your dream a reality by marrying up all the skills you have. There are loads of young, skint but hugely talented folk on BH that have the same dream as you. Maybe you can give them some tips for free?

 

 

For sure. We'll be sharing our learnings during the project on here. Most likely in the form of a post with a Q&A. Things like what worked well for us, what didn't, and things that we would do differently. We've generally found the community on here, Facebook and Instagram to be extremely helpful (perhaps unusual for social media), and we've always shared our learnings along this journey with our followers, many of whom are going through the process themselves.

We've just got to keep things mostly under wraps for now, until the episode is aired on TV. It's all part of not spoiling the story so that interested viewers can watch it unfold.

Once it's fully out in the public domain, I promise we'll be able to go into more details and share. However, depending on how it goes next week, you may not want our advice! 😅

 

 

 

 

[thefoxesmaltings]

2 hours ago, saveasteading said:

Can you reveal how the finished price is calculated?

What does it include and exclude?

Do they check this at all?

 

My suspicion is that people have an opportunity to keep their figure low as a measure of their successes.

 

Obviously, budget is discussed at the beginning. You have to provide costs for keys stage of the entire process for each element (Groundworks, TF, Glazing etc). The onus is on contributors on how open they want to be, and it's down to honesty at the end. I can tell you we had nothing to hide, and if you watch our story next week, that might make a little more sense. But at the end of the day, it's up to you whether you want to believe it or not.

 

Personally, we included everything. Right down to architect fees. But can't speak on behalf of other contributors or episodes.

I don't know if it's checked or verified, but I think it would be fairly easy for the production team to get a sensible idea of what the total spend should be, based on the accumulation of all costs at key stages.

[thefoxesmaltings]

2 hours ago, Kelvin said:

Congratulations. Looks great. Shall watch GD, I don’t normally. 
 

GD draws a mixed but mostly negative view on here. It’s an entertainment programme about building houses not a house building programme. Consequently we don’t really learn very much about building houses. If it was actually about building houses it would be boring for most. Plus there needs to be a little bit of drama albeit their staple diet of ran out of money family and friends rallied round and stumped up £300,000, had 4 kids, bought windows from Chechnya but they didn’t turn up fortunately my sister runs a window company, etc gets a bit samey. 
 

It's bit like Top Gear was. Back in the early days it was actually about cars but few folk were interested in that so it was reinvented as an entertainment programme involving cars and driving. Interestingly Clarkson’s farm is the other way around, a farming programme that is also entertaining. 

You're absolutely right, and I think that was one of our biggest reservations of going on the show. Ultimately, we thought it would be a nice documentary of our build journey, and perhaps something to look back on...if it went well!

We've not seen it either, so have no idea and will be watching it unfold too.

+1 - Clarksons farm is a great watch. Having moved to the countryside for this build, we've found ourselves with an increased understanding (and appreciation) of all the farming that happens around us. I think a great example of what TV should be. Entertaining, and educational.

Thank you, see you next week.

[thefoxesmaltings]

57 minutes ago, Stonehouse said:

Congratulations @thefoxesmaltings! Been following you on instagram for a while and been watching your journey. Will look forward to GD.

 

Interested to know if there is any benefit from instagram account- so many now on the platform. Have thought about it just to document own journey.

 

Do you get better deals or companies approach you? Surely you must need a significant enough following as an influencer to generate this  ?

Thank you for following along. See you next week!

We've had some companies approach us, social marketing is certainly more of a thing nowadays. But you are right in the sense that I think you would need a significant following to truly benefit, we're pretty small fishes comparatively. 

It's worth documenting it for yourselves, like a scrapbook, which was genuinely our intention. And then GD approached us through the platform - that's one example I suppose.