|
-
Criticism of the
research (or rather lack of) that we carried out - Whilst it is
true that we didn't have a survey done - to be honest, if we had, we
would probably have pulled out of the development before we had even
started. However the presenters voiceover stating (in relation
to Julie) "despite having a PhD - she's done virtually no
research for this project" is blatantly untrue.
We knew the cottage had recently had a new roof and had obtained all
of the documentation to prove it. We had researched all of the
relevant building regulations, had submitted a full plans building
regs applications for all of the major work that we knew about
(including rewiring, plumbing, heating system, windows, replacing
joists etc). We'd had estimates for the kitchen, bathroom -
and had an account set up with a building material supplier.
Over 22 minutes into the show (after the footage of the extension
going up) it was finally stated that we had "started reading
up" and had decided to replace the lime plaster - when in
fact we made this decision a couple of weeks into the development
and at the stage in the program when the above statement was made by
the presenter - we had already consulted with a traditional building
expert, attended the course and had the plaster on order.
-
Lime Plastering -
After the first filming day when we found out what we were dealing
with - we got a traditional property expert in to give us advice on
what we should do. We were advised that the plaster was beyond
saving due to bodged past repair jobs, damp damage and also that
some of the timber was in poor condition and the best thing to do
was to strip it back and start over. We got a quote for this
work to be carried out, but it was well beyond our budget. We
decided that we had to do it for the benefit of the property and
immediately booked on the plastering course. We actually
attended it long before a lot major work on the property had begun
(and certainly before the extension went up). The voice over
and timings of the show made out that this was an afterthought, that
we were in over our heads and well into the major construction work.
This work was also necessary since a lot of the timbers were rotten
due to damp/woodworm and none of the repairs to the structure would
have been possible without taking the structure back to a shell.
The voiceover for the show also made out that all of this work was
"unnecessary" and would not "add value".
How these statements could possibly have been made is completely
beyond us since neither the presenter nor anybody associated with
the show except for the film crew saw the cottage until after the
plaster had already been stripped back on the advice of the
aforementioned traditional building expert. We voiced quite
extensive justification for doing this work on camera - however this
footage ended up on the cutting room floor.
-
Track Day -
Whilst not strictly part of the build, we invited the film crew
along on our track day visit for some additional interest.
This track day was actually arranged for Julie's birthday as she had
always wanted to drive on a track and also had a thing about the
Porsche 911. I (Lee) wasn't even supposed to be driving that
day, however it was "arranged". Whist we did have a
great time doing it - the footage was shown in the context that we
(and particularly me - since none of the footage of Julie driving
was shown) were dreaming of a life beyond what our capabilities with
the cottage would deliver. Whist this may be partially true,
doesn't everyone? We are both complete car nuts and we already
own a sports car - a Lotus Elan M100, but we didn't want to track it. Footage was
shot throughout the development of us in both of our cars as we use
them both regularly (Sarah even got a ride to the railway station in
it), however footage of the Lotus was "left out" in order
to add to the pretence that our dreams of owning a sports car were
unrealistic.
|
