Author Topic: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments  (Read 47875 times)

Spork

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #100 on: July 14, 2015, 06:30:26 PM »
My second biggest pet peeve is people nitpicking tiny fixable details, like paint.  You are buying a quarter of a million dollar house, you should be painting the interior before you move in anyway.  The current paint on the walls should not even be a consideration.  Or granite counter tops.  "I really like almost everything about this $300k house...if only it had granite counter tops.  It's not like we could hire a company to come install the new granite counters we desire for a tiny tiny fraction of the total cost of the house though...better keep looking and consider other options with granite already preinstalled"

While I agree with you 100%...  I am amazed at the number of people that can't get past that. Seriously.  I have heard many an acquaintance talk about that house we loved except for those awful blue walls...

CommonCents

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #101 on: July 14, 2015, 08:45:54 PM »
The other one though, it was a 60ish gay couple in Mexico/Caribbean. One of them wanted a small house in the hot part of town so they could enjoy the night life. The other wanted the larger, more secluded place a mile from town.

The plan was to stay in the city house for the weekend, then retreat an entire mile to the bigger place to spend their weeks. In their defense, the smaller place was like $80K and the bigger place was like $200K, so these weren't McMansions.

You've got to be joking! They were being outrageously stupid, and "but it's not a McMansion" is categorically not even slightly a defense.

Cheaper than a divorce?

Still not an excuse.

(Also, being a gay couple, there's a decent chance they weren't technically married.)

You know, living in MA, that never actually crossed my mind.

Drew664

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #102 on: July 15, 2015, 05:07:03 AM »
I caught a few minutes of a "house hunters" style show last night. They were buying a tiny house. In the 3-4 minutes I watched these fools said "this seems so small", "it's a bit tight", "how can we both fit in the bathroom", "where are we going to fit our king size bed".

WTF. Tiny houses are small? Who knew?

I find the whole tiny house movement a hipster ideology more so than a practical usage of space and comfortably. My favorite lol episode was a young couple living in their parents house,  looking to buy a tiny house to place in their parents backyard! LOL The dad on the show kept rolling his eyes every time they stepped into one.

Not a single person ever explained why a tiny house was better than an RV either especially when there were hauling fees attached to most of the bigger models.

HH is a fun way to view real estate from your couch, but very much predetermined for sure.

NewMustachian

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #103 on: July 15, 2015, 06:11:33 AM »
I forget which show this was - I think House Hunters? A young couple was looking at houses in the Nashville area.  They dismissed one house with 2 stories because going up and down stairs all the time would "get old."

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #104 on: July 15, 2015, 07:46:02 AM »
I forget which show this was - I think House Hunters? A young couple was looking at houses in the Nashville area.  They dismissed one house with 2 stories because going up and down stairs all the time would "get old."

Using the stairs wouldn't bother me. What would bother me is the maintenance and expense of multizone climate control!

Chris22

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #105 on: July 15, 2015, 08:25:00 AM »
I forget which show this was - I think House Hunters? A young couple was looking at houses in the Nashville area.  They dismissed one house with 2 stories because going up and down stairs all the time would "get old."

Having lived in a 3-story (2 + basement), 1 story, and now a tri-level...they're right.  Plus resale opportunities on a ranch are much better (lots of older people don't want stairs, lots of families worry about stairs + kids, etc). 

Spork

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #106 on: July 15, 2015, 08:38:11 AM »
I forget which show this was - I think House Hunters? A young couple was looking at houses in the Nashville area.  They dismissed one house with 2 stories because going up and down stairs all the time would "get old."

Having lived in a 3-story (2 + basement), 1 story, and now a tri-level...they're right.  Plus resale opportunities on a ranch are much better (lots of older people don't want stairs, lots of families worry about stairs + kids, etc).

Meh.  I grew up in a 2 story.  I have a 2 story again.  Doesn't bother me at all.   My dad is 86.   Just within the last month he has started being bothered by it -- but for the previous 50 years it hasn't bothered him a bit.  (And if he can ever get his heart to stay in a normal rhythm, I think he would again not be bothered by it.)

AH013

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #107 on: July 15, 2015, 11:44:01 AM »
My second biggest pet peeve is people nitpicking tiny fixable details, like paint.  You are buying a quarter of a million dollar house, you should be painting the interior before you move in anyway.  The current paint on the walls should not even be a consideration.  Or granite counter tops.  "I really like almost everything about this $300k house...if only it had granite counter tops.  It's not like we could hire a company to come install the new granite counters we desire for a tiny tiny fraction of the total cost of the house though...better keep looking and consider other options with granite already preinstalled"

While I agree with you 100%...  I am amazed at the number of people that can't get past that. Seriously.  I have heard many an acquaintance talk about that house we loved except for those awful blue walls...

You're coming from a mindset of: I'm buying a $300k house and just put down $60k as a downpayment and spent another $5k on closing costs, what's another $400 on some paint for a fun way to break in my first weekend in my new place with my spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend/etc?  After all, the mortgage, and taxes, and insurance, and maintenance slush fund is only 33% of my net income...I can spare the money to make it look great.

Most non-mustachians are coming from the mindset of: I just had to go borrow $15k from my parents and all my friends to come up with this ridiculous 5% downpayment, but thankfully the seller agreed to kick in $5k in closing costs if I offered $307k.  My mortgage alone is going to be 40% of my net income, and then damn taxes and insurance and PMI is going to make it like 50% of my income (houses don't need repairs).  I just don't have another $5k to pay a bunch of painters to come in and paint all my walls, or $20k to bring in a contractor to rip up my countertops (and cabinets too, because why not?) and replace them with granite.

If you stand in their shoes for a minute, you can understand why a house has to be perfect at purchase...and then you can proceed to pummel them in the face until they understand how foolish they are.

Chris22

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #108 on: July 15, 2015, 11:49:09 AM »
I think it's more like "Uh, I already bought house #2, so I have to come up with some silly reason for not buying house #1 and house #3, which are in all respects basically just as good.  So, uhh...paint color.  Yeah."

CommonCents

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #109 on: July 15, 2015, 02:44:00 PM »
AH013, I think you nailed it!

Brilliantine

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #110 on: July 15, 2015, 02:44:35 PM »
I especially like the business models of those like the Scot brothers or the Waco couple (who are really cute, btw) where they are profiting not only from your business as your (buyer's) agent but also as your contractor.

So when Drew shows them a $900k house that they can't afford ("YOUUU, can't afford this house..") I go in my head "he'd make only 27k commission off of that sale. Now, they go buy a house for 500k (15k commission) AND they spend 100k on the renovation. Total revenue for the brothers: $115k."

Granted, the contracting job's margins are much lower than the realtor commissions but still, that's a pretty smart move. Same deal with the Waco couple...

CommonCents

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #111 on: July 15, 2015, 03:09:10 PM »
I doubt he's taking a commission at all actually.

Spork

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #112 on: July 15, 2015, 03:37:28 PM »
My second biggest pet peeve is people nitpicking tiny fixable details, like paint.  You are buying a quarter of a million dollar house, you should be painting the interior before you move in anyway.  The current paint on the walls should not even be a consideration.  Or granite counter tops.  "I really like almost everything about this $300k house...if only it had granite counter tops.  It's not like we could hire a company to come install the new granite counters we desire for a tiny tiny fraction of the total cost of the house though...better keep looking and consider other options with granite already preinstalled"

While I agree with you 100%...  I am amazed at the number of people that can't get past that. Seriously.  I have heard many an acquaintance talk about that house we loved except for those awful blue walls...

You're coming from a mindset of: I'm buying a $300k house and just put down $60k as a downpayment and spent another $5k on closing costs, what's another $400 on some paint for a fun way to break in my first weekend in my new place with my spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend/etc?  After all, the mortgage, and taxes, and insurance, and maintenance slush fund is only 33% of my net income...I can spare the money to make it look great.

Most non-mustachians are coming from the mindset of: I just had to go borrow $15k from my parents and all my friends to come up with this ridiculous 5% downpayment, but thankfully the seller agreed to kick in $5k in closing costs if I offered $307k.  My mortgage alone is going to be 40% of my net income, and then damn taxes and insurance and PMI is going to make it like 50% of my income (houses don't need repairs).  I just don't have another $5k to pay a bunch of painters to come in and paint all my walls, or $20k to bring in a contractor to rip up my countertops (and cabinets too, because why not?) and replace them with granite.

If you stand in their shoes for a minute, you can understand why a house has to be perfect at purchase...and then you can proceed to pummel them in the face until they understand how foolish they are.

While I don't disagree with you... some people can't even SEE the house in their heads with that $400 fix.  I'm not even talking about whether they have time or money to make it happen.  It's just an awful house with bright baby blue walls.  That's why real estate agents want all houses painted some bland off-white.  No one seems to have the imagination to see past a few basic flaws.

Travis

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #113 on: July 15, 2015, 04:03:06 PM »
I don't recall the name of the show, but it had to be one of the first renovation shows on TLC where they gutted the house and brought the family back for the big reveal. Almost every single time they repainted and decorated the kid's rooms to reflect their interests at that exact moment like all pink and unicorns for the girl or blue and baseball for the boy.  You guys realize they'll have completely different interests in a year or two right?  Some of the renovations were structural which made the house unique - and not in a easily resold kind of way.  Later on I read a couple articles where many families that were on that show had to sell their home because they could no longer afford to live in it due to the upgrades.

I tried to watch a couple of the "flipping" shows, but that petered out fast.  Like many reality shows they're formulaic and go through their scripts like a checklist.  One of them was "Flipping Vegas" with a neurotic flipper and his flighty decorator.  Every episode he'd start off optimistic and have these can't-lose plans, then by the second commercial break there are structural and contractor problems and now he's screaming at the camera that he's blown his budget and he'll lose money on it (every single time).  And of course he has to have a couple mandatory disagreements with the decorator who always goes behind his back to implement her grand ideas.  One episode they walk into a house they both loved, she said she couldn't see anything wrong with it, then as soon as they start work on the house she's taking a sledgehammer to the staircase muttering how much she hates it.  I can't remember the other show, but it was a tall wrestler-looking guy and his shorter and thinner business partner.  The big guy has some anger management issues which included him blowing up at a code enforcer who put a 30 day hold on their property (because the big guy was being an ass) which the shorter partner just glossed over.  If I had an angry partner costing me money I'd drop him, not pretend it's not a problem.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #114 on: July 16, 2015, 07:34:00 AM »
I doubt he's taking a commission at all actually.

IIRC, he is not the one actually acting as the realtor in the transaction. (I KNOW the Property Virgins lady doesn't- she often wasn't licensed in the area she was filming- so maybe that is what I am thinking of.)
While he is a real estate agent, for the sake of the show, he's just acting.  They use their own agent to finish deals.


My husband can't watch Property Brothers because of how they start with the "dream" property. He is of the belief that it is an absolute shit move to show a buyer anything above their price range.  Even though the entire premise of the show is "your price range won't get you what you want, so buy a fixer upper and we'll make it what you want."

Cheddar Stacker

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #115 on: July 16, 2015, 07:51:47 AM »
My husband can't watch Property Brothers because of how they start with the "dream" property. He is of the belief that it is an absolute shit move to show a buyer anything above their price range.  Even though the entire premise of the show is "your price range won't get you what you want, so buy a fixer upper and we'll make it what you want."

Speaking of that, everyone knows what you're doing, including the potential buyer. Can we stop that already. Unneccessary.

CommonCents

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #116 on: July 16, 2015, 08:07:02 AM »
My husband can't watch Property Brothers because of how they start with the "dream" property. He is of the belief that it is an absolute shit move to show a buyer anything above their price range.  Even though the entire premise of the show is "your price range won't get you what you want, so buy a fixer upper and we'll make it what you want."

Speaking of that, everyone knows what you're doing, including the potential buyer. Can we stop that already. Unneccessary.

Yep.  I sing the angelic, heavens opening "LAA!" sound when they show that house.

I just want to go on one of these shows to say, "Oh you found mold/bad wiring/foundation issues?  I rather expected that because of X, Y or Z.  How much extra?  That sucks, but that's why I have a built in contingency fund.  Ok."  And NOT flip out over a budget increase and have the funds to pay for it.

asiljoy

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #117 on: July 16, 2015, 09:07:55 AM »
My husband can't watch Property Brothers because of how they start with the "dream" property. He is of the belief that it is an absolute shit move to show a buyer anything above their price range.  Even though the entire premise of the show is "your price range won't get you what you want, so buy a fixer upper and we'll make it what you want."

Speaking of that, everyone knows what you're doing, including the potential buyer. Can we stop that already. Unneccessary.

Yep.  I sing the angelic, heavens opening "LAA!" sound when they show that house.

I just want to go on one of these shows to say, "Oh you found mold/bad wiring/foundation issues?  I rather expected that because of X, Y or Z.  How much extra?  That sucks, but that's why I have a built in contingency fund.  Ok."  And NOT flip out over a budget increase and have the funds to pay for it.

I thought part of that bit was so that the designers could have a better understanding of what the buyers actually valued(must haves) vs just having a laundry list of wants.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #118 on: July 16, 2015, 11:00:34 AM »
I forget which show this was - I think House Hunters? A young couple was looking at houses in the Nashville area.  They dismissed one house with 2 stories because going up and down stairs all the time would "get old."

I live in Nashville, and we are selling our two story and buying a ranch house (mainly because we can sell and almost pay cash for the new house), but I will NOT miss having a two story house.  It's especially not fun when you have small children that are on the second floor.

Gen Y Finance Journey

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #119 on: July 16, 2015, 03:25:01 PM »
One of the few HGTV shows we watch pretty regularly. Our only issue with it is that the intro still paints it as if they're struggling to get by- when they've at times mentioned how many houses they are renovating at that particular time- like -EIGHTEEN- of them- and they seem to make an average of $40k or so per house. Even accounting for living in SoCal like they do, with each house taking conservatively 2 months, and assuming they only flip 10 in that time, that's still like $3.6 MILLION per year.

Closet Flip Or Flop fan here.  :)

I read or saw--don't remember which--an interview with Tarek El Moussa somewhere where he said that all their deals are done 50/50 with an investor, so that their actual "take-home" profit from the deals on the show are half the stated value, but that they don't bring this in to the calculations presented because it would make it too cluttered and confusing for the viewer.  I get that, I guess--even though it's a little disingenuous, I'm still a fan of the show and really enjoy learning a thing or two between the lines. 

I saw a recap episode recently where they talked about some of the things that don't make it into the episodes. They mentioned a house where on the episode they claimed they made something like a $30k profit, but actually there was a massive lien on the house that they had to pay, so they ended up losing money it.

Papa Mustache

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #120 on: July 17, 2015, 08:37:47 AM »
The worst Love It or List It is when they give one an increase in budget and not the other.  I also find it funny that they don't factor in any increased value in their initial budget for the list it option.

I got sick of that show.

The worst is that they keep hiring that designer. She hasn't had a single episode where she didn't blow the budget because of some unexpected cost.:)

That's the thing I hate about that show: they portray both the designer and the real estate agent as completely incompetent. I want to watch shows like Holmes on Homes or This Old House where I can learn to do things correctly, not watch somebody fuck up! I'm surprised the designer and agent put up with it.

(Okay, I'll make an exception for Renovation Realities, but that's different...)

Holmes on Homes or That Old House - those are my shows too. BBC UK has a couple of homes shows we adore - or did adore until I couldn't stream it anymore. ;)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006vb2f

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006pnjk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b062rfkr

Papa Mustache

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #121 on: July 17, 2015, 09:35:27 AM »
You guys remember the TLC show a decade ago called - Trading Spaces?  Wasn't that one of the first big ones.

Oh, the craziness.

Yes!! I remember watching one where they glued hay to the walls and thinking that couple had to really hate their neighbors.

I only saw a few episodes and none of the finished renovations were ones that I would want to keep. I kept thinking - how easy would it be to rip all that out after the film crew left? Moss on the bedroom walls - that was the one I remember. She glued moss to the walls.
« Last Edit: July 17, 2015, 09:50:42 AM by Joe Average »

Papa Mustache

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #122 on: July 17, 2015, 09:43:34 AM »
I forget which show this was - I think House Hunters? A young couple was looking at houses in the Nashville area.  They dismissed one house with 2 stories because going up and down stairs all the time would "get old."

Using the stairs wouldn't bother me. What would bother me is the maintenance and expense of multizone climate control!

Easier to clean the gutters yourself on the single story...

Hunny156

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #123 on: July 17, 2015, 01:31:27 PM »
You guys remember the TLC show a decade ago called - Trading Spaces?  Wasn't that one of the first big ones.

Oh, the craziness.

Yes!! I remember watching one where they glued hay to the walls and thinking that couple had to really hate their neighbors.

I only saw a few episodes and none of the finished renovations were ones that I would want to keep. I kept thinking - how easy would it be to rip all that out after the film crew left? Moss on the bedroom walls - that was the one I remember. She glued moss to the walls.

LMAO of the gluing of crappy material to the walls and hating your neighbors, I forgot about Paige and her crew of wacky designers!  Who all seem to have gotten their own HGTV shows at some point.

I recall in one episode of Trading Spaces, they decided to add a wall to a room, and they made it out of cardboard.  They had a small budget on that show, like $1K, I think?  Still, a cardboard wall?

Oh, and on another note, Mike Holmes is my TV boyfriend.  I love him and his shows, you learn a lot from him.  Same goes with Income Property.  And the snarkiness on Renovation Realities is awesome.  Hubby & I crack up all the time on their graphics budget, I think sometimes they just ship a camera to the homeowners and ask them to send back the footage!

music lover

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #124 on: July 17, 2015, 01:59:31 PM »
Well on HH, they do usually discuss if commute TIME is significantly different.  They ignore the cost, because quite frankly, the cost is nowhere near as significant for most people as MMM likes to pretend it is. 

For instance, I'm an extreme example.  I recently traded a 30-mile one-way commute for a 7-mile on.  I am not going to ride my bike, so either way it's by car.  By far the biggest change is in gas, but even that isn't THAT much:

30 miles x 2 trips x 5 days x 52 weeks = 15,600 miles / 25 mpg = 624 gallons x $3 = $1872
7 miles x 2 trips x 5 days x 52 weeks = 3,640 miles / 25 mpg = 146 gallons x $3 = $437.

Difference is $1435/yr or $120/mo. 

Is that nothing?  Obviously not.  Is it what I'm going to make a $XXX,XXX decision based on?  Also no.  Yeah, you can try to justify a bigger change based on the gov't mileage reimbursable rate, but really, most people will just change their lifestyle to accomodate (keep a car longer, for instance) rather than realize a large change in cost.

Agree 100%.

I don't like cycling to work (for various reasons) and my 4 mile commute costs me less than $2 a day in fuel. $2 is less than half of the bus fare, plus driving takes 10 minutes as opposed to an hour because the bus stop is a mile away, plus I'd have to transfer. I also value my time and spending $2 a day to save an hour and 40 minutes of commute time is a no brainer.

PawPrint3520

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #125 on: July 17, 2015, 03:03:17 PM »
Anybody watch the landscaping shows? Since I no longer have cable, I don't know if they're still on. I enjoyed watching the people on Curb Appeal fix up houses or sometimes a whole block.


Brilliantine

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #126 on: July 17, 2015, 04:11:19 PM »

But for sake of pretending that the house is actually on the market as the show represents... they ought to discuss the added cost of the commute vs. difference in the price of the house, rather than pretending that an extra half hour of commuting each day has no monetary cost.

But don't most people pretend it doesn't?  I think the notion that commute actually represents a cost is a very MMM realization.

That's kind of my point.  They never discuss the other ongoing costs entailed in buying the various homes - commute and utilities make for boring TV I guess.

Well on HH, they do usually discuss if commute TIME is significantly different.  They ignore the cost, because quite frankly, the cost is nowhere near as significant for most people as MMM likes to pretend it is. 

For instance, I'm an extreme example.  I recently traded a 30-mile one-way commute for a 7-mile on.  I am not going to ride my bike, so either way it's by car.  By far the biggest change is in gas, but even that isn't THAT much:

30 miles x 2 trips x 5 days x 52 weeks = 15,600 miles / 25 mpg = 624 gallons x $3 = $1872
7 miles x 2 trips x 5 days x 52 weeks = 3,640 miles / 25 mpg = 146 gallons x $3 = $437.

Difference is $1435/yr or $120/mo. 

Is that nothing?  Obviously not.  Is it what I'm going to make a $XXX,XXX decision based on?  Also no.  Yeah, you can try to justify a bigger change based on the gov't mileage reimbursable rate, but really, most people will just change their lifestyle to accomodate (keep a car longer, for instance) rather than realize a large change in cost.

Well, if you take into account the interest paid on any loans one may have taken on for the car, wear and tear on the car (as in depreciating "asset"), additional maintenance (oil change, tires, etc.) and repair fees, and insurance (based on what you drive, you may have to take on comprehensive/collision coverage), it does add up.

music lover

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #127 on: July 17, 2015, 05:44:28 PM »
Anybody watch the landscaping shows? Since I no longer have cable, I don't know if they're still on. I enjoyed watching the people on Curb Appeal fix up houses or sometimes a whole block.

My ex GF used to watch landscaping shows all the time, so I saw a few. They once had a one hour special where they went back a year or 2 later to see what some yards looked like. I originally thought "cool...now we can see how nice they look after the plants have had a chance to grow in a little bit."

Sadly, the majority of them had been ignored and were in almost as bad shape as when they first showed up. Obviously, they had bad landscapes in the first place because they were too lazy to take care of the place. That didn't change once the camera crew left and their nice new landscape projects received the same maintenance as the old ones.

Jack

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #128 on: July 17, 2015, 08:18:26 PM »
Anybody watch the landscaping shows? Since I no longer have cable, I don't know if they're still on. I enjoyed watching the people on Curb Appeal fix up houses or sometimes a whole block.

My ex GF used to watch landscaping shows all the time, so I saw a few. They once had a one hour special where they went back a year or 2 later to see what some yards looked like. I originally thought "cool...now we can see how nice they look after the plants have had a chance to grow in a little bit."

Sadly, the majority of them had been ignored and were in almost as bad shape as when they first showed up. Obviously, they had bad landscapes in the first place because they were too lazy to take care of the place. That didn't change once the camera crew left and their nice new landscape projects received the same maintenance as the old ones.

Yep. That's what happened to the house Curb Appeal did in my neighborhood. : (

asiljoy

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #129 on: July 17, 2015, 08:44:11 PM »
You guys remember the TLC show a decade ago called - Trading Spaces?  Wasn't that one of the first big ones.

Oh, the craziness.

Yes!! I remember watching one where they glued hay to the walls and thinking that couple had to really hate their neighbors.

I only saw a few episodes and none of the finished renovations were ones that I would want to keep. I kept thinking - how easy would it be to rip all that out after the film crew left? Moss on the bedroom walls - that was the one I remember. She glued moss to the walls.

LMAO of the gluing of crappy material to the walls and hating your neighbors, I forgot about Paige and her crew of wacky designers!  Who all seem to have gotten their own HGTV shows at some point.

I recall in one episode of Trading Spaces, they decided to add a wall to a room, and they made it out of cardboard.  They had a small budget on that show, like $1K, I think?  Still, a cardboard wall?

Oh, and on another note, Mike Holmes is my TV boyfriend.  I love him and his shows, you learn a lot from him.  Same goes with Income Property.  And the snarkiness on Renovation Realities is awesome.  Hubby & I crack up all the time on their graphics budget, I think sometimes they just ship a camera to the homeowners and ask them to send back the footage!

Yeah, they got 1,000 dollars and a weekend to severely mess up a room in your house. I loved that show... someone on Buzzfeed thoughtfully made a list of the worst five. I guess at one point Hildy put a mural of herself


And yes, I will watch any show with Mike Holmes on it.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #130 on: July 18, 2015, 09:29:12 PM »
You guys remember the TLC show a decade ago called - Trading Spaces?  Wasn't that one of the first big ones.

Oh, the craziness.

Yes!! I remember watching one where they glued hay to the walls and thinking that couple had to really hate their neighbors.

I only saw a few episodes and none of the finished renovations were ones that I would want to keep. I kept thinking - how easy would it be to rip all that out after the film crew left? Moss on the bedroom walls - that was the one I remember. She glued moss to the walls.

LMAO of the gluing of crappy material to the walls and hating your neighbors, I forgot about Paige and her crew of wacky designers!  Who all seem to have gotten their own HGTV shows at some point.

I recall in one episode of Trading Spaces, they decided to add a wall to a room, and they made it out of cardboard.  They had a small budget on that show, like $1K, I think?  Still, a cardboard wall?

Oh, and on another note, Mike Holmes is my TV boyfriend.  I love him and his shows, you learn a lot from him.  Same goes with Income Property.  And the snarkiness on Renovation Realities is awesome.  Hubby & I crack up all the time on their graphics budget, I think sometimes they just ship a camera to the homeowners and ask them to send back the footage!

Yeah, they got 1,000 dollars and a weekend to severely mess up a room in your house. I loved that show... someone on Buzzfeed thoughtfully made a list of the worst five. I guess at one point Hildy put a mural of herself

Hildi was the WORST designer on that show!  The most stupid rooms she did were: (1) the circus tent room in which she filled the entire floor of the room with sand, like a beach, and (2) the hay room in which she glued tons of hay all over the walls.


Papa Mustache

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #131 on: July 20, 2015, 07:30:21 AM »
Anybody watch the landscaping shows? Since I no longer have cable, I don't know if they're still on. I enjoyed watching the people on Curb Appeal fix up houses or sometimes a whole block.

Because of this thread I cruised Hulu last night after I got home. There are some landscaping shows. Go to TV > genres > lifestyle.

There are also some shows from the DIY network too. I like DIY as much as HGTV but never had the network when we had Dish satellite (until maybe 2011 when we "cut the cord").

On a side note: had to travel for work this weekend. After work Sat night in the hotel, I tried to watch TV. Tried. No channel guide built into the TV so I had to channel surf old school style to look for something to watch. There were SO many commercials on the different channels that I could loop the dial without ever seeing anything I wanted to see and commercials. I'm exaggerating a little but it seemed like 5 mins of TV and 4 mins of commercials and then repeat. Every commercial break the narrator would recap the show up to that point and burn a minute or two. My resolve to remain "unplugged" is recharged. ;) Finally landed on two shows and I flipped back and forth.

All I could think of was "we used to PAY for this nonsense???"

I wonder if viewer subscription numbers will shrink in favor of Hulu and Netflix type services. If they do - will the commercials go up in number to generate the lost revenue? Or - will the price of buying air time to air a commercial shrink and invite alot of smaller businesses to advertise leading to more commercials thus hastening the networks' demise.

FWIW it seemed the radio in my work truck was the same way. At one point a classic country channel I landed on had two songs, commercials for several minutes, two songs more, repeat. I heard six songs before I lost the signal. We normally use satellite radio if we travel in our own car.

If I accept driving the work truck cross country next year - our satellite radio is going with me.

Papa Mustache

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #132 on: July 20, 2015, 07:37:14 AM »
Well, if you take into account the interest paid on any loans one may have taken on for the car, wear and tear on the car (as in depreciating "asset"), additional maintenance (oil change, tires, etc.) and repair fees, and insurance (based on what you drive, you may have to take on comprehensive/collision coverage), it does add up.

Depends. I bought a $1500 car this spring. '99 Malibu. I made a couple hundred in optional repairs (spark plugs, fluid changes, etc) and did the work myself. It will need an oil change probably twice a year. Insurance is near nothing (liability only). And tires are needed once every five years or so. If kept in good condition it'll always be worth north of $750. We don't drive it that much per week b/c our commute is short. We have a second vehicle (Honda) that is driven about the same number of miles (we carpool but divide our vehicle use to spread the miles around).

If I was driving a 2013 ACME Family Hauler EX then yeah - depreciation plays into the figures. I think the key is minimize the number of miles built into your lifestyle/career. B/c the miles are piling on, you aren't wearing stuff out as fast, not as much fuel to purchase, and you can get by driving an older car for years and years. 

Anyhow our transportation cost is low but we drive less than ten miles each way and we carpool.

Papa Mustache

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #133 on: July 20, 2015, 07:40:23 AM »
Hildi was the WORST designer on that show!  The most stupid rooms she did were: (1) the circus tent room in which she filled the entire floor of the room with sand, like a beach, and (2) the hay room in which she glued tons of hay all over the walls.



I seriously would worry about my insurance company canceling my home insurance if they found out we had hay or dry moss glued to the walls.

I'd let Mike Holmes and crew work on our house in a second. Very few of the rest. The two twin brothers also - to a point.

asiljoy

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #134 on: July 20, 2015, 11:11:25 AM »
Hildi was the WORST designer on that show!  The most stupid rooms she did were: (1) the circus tent room in which she filled the entire floor of the room with sand, like a beach, and (2) the hay room in which she glued tons of hay all over the walls.



I seriously would worry about my insurance company canceling my home insurance if they found out we had hay or dry moss glued to the walls.

I'd let Mike Holmes and crew work on our house in a second. Very few of the rest. The two twin brothers also - to a point.

I wouldn't be worried about the work the brothers would do, but it doesn't seem like they go out of their way to maximize value the way Holmes does.

I'm a red panda

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #135 on: July 20, 2015, 11:57:23 AM »

I wouldn't be worried about the work the brothers would do, but it doesn't seem like they go out of their way to maximize value the way Holmes does.

I'd only let Holmes work on my home if he was working for free with donated goods.

We've learned some EXCELLENT techniques from him- but the reason he maximizes value is that he maximizes cost.  He goes WAY overboard, and it is often truly not necessary.

MrsPete

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #136 on: July 20, 2015, 12:51:30 PM »
I lost count of how many times people on House Hunters went over their "budgets." I'm always surprised when someone actually stays within the amount they said was their max at the beginning of the show.
And the equally silly "necessity":  We must stay right here in our beloved neighborhood.

If I were determined to move, and this was my "necessity", I wouldn't need a real estate agent.  Even though I live in a big neighborhood, I could manage to go up and down every street and see what houses are for sale.  I'm thinking it'd take, oh, 30 minutes. 

Hunny156

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #137 on: July 20, 2015, 01:20:54 PM »

I wouldn't be worried about the work the brothers would do, but it doesn't seem like they go out of their way to maximize value the way Holmes does.

I'd only let Holmes work on my home if he was working for free with donated goods.

We've learned some EXCELLENT techniques from him- but the reason he maximizes value is that he maximizes cost.  He goes WAY overboard, and it is often truly not necessary.

Do a Google image search for Mike Holmes memes.  Many of them poke fun at how his "Make it Right" is way overboard.

On another note, he's got a new show coming out soon, I'm looking forward to it!  There will be some educational elements in it for sure.  It's the Mike Holmes way..

iris lily

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #138 on: July 20, 2015, 04:56:10 PM »
My second biggest pet peeve is people nitpicking tiny fixable details, like paint.  You are buying a quarter of a million dollar house, you should be painting the interior before you move in anyway.  The current paint on the walls should not even be a consideration.  Or granite counter tops.  "I really like almost everything about this $300k house...if only it had granite counter tops.  It's not like we could hire a company to come install the new granite counters we desire for a tiny tiny fraction of the total cost of the house though...better keep looking and consider other options with granite already preinstalled"

While I agree with you 100%...  I am amazed at the number of people that can't get past that. Seriously.  I have heard many an acquaintance talk about that house we loved except for those awful blue walls...

And that kind of thing really happens IRL. I see people here in my 'nabe reject houses because they don't have a garage.mforbgods sake, just build one. But I've also learned that people do not have the cash to build a garage. Or to put in granite counter tops. Or to repaint (it's $5000!for a mcmansion).

Madness.
🐭

asiljoy

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #139 on: July 20, 2015, 06:17:51 PM »

I wouldn't be worried about the work the brothers would do, but it doesn't seem like they go out of their way to maximize value the way Holmes does.

I'd only let Holmes work on my home if he was working for free with donated goods.

We've learned some EXCELLENT techniques from him- but the reason he maximizes value is that he maximizes cost.  He goes WAY overboard, and it is often truly not necessary.

Do a Google image search for Mike Holmes memes.  Many of them poke fun at how his "Make it Right" is way overboard.

On another note, he's got a new show coming out soon, I'm looking forward to it!  There will be some educational elements in it for sure.  It's the Mike Holmes way..

I guess by maximize value I meant spend it on stuff that matters, not furniture/decoration. But that said, I don't think I've ever actually seen anyone on his shows buy furniture...

cripzychiken

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #140 on: July 22, 2015, 08:46:52 AM »

I wouldn't be worried about the work the brothers would do, but it doesn't seem like they go out of their way to maximize value the way Holmes does.

I'd only let Holmes work on my home if he was working for free with donated goods.

We've learned some EXCELLENT techniques from him- but the reason he maximizes value is that he maximizes cost.  He goes WAY overboard, and it is often truly not necessary.

Do a Google image search for Mike Holmes memes.  Many of them poke fun at how his "Make it Right" is way overboard.

On another note, he's got a new show coming out soon, I'm looking forward to it!  There will be some educational elements in it for sure.  It's the Mike Holmes way..

I guess by maximize value I meant spend it on stuff that matters, not furniture/decoration. But that said, I don't think I've ever actually seen anyone on his shows buy furniture...

The buying furniture thing always bugs me.  We're going to move and want all new furniture since our old stuff works fine now, but not in the new house.  And can it be very time dependent so it looks dated in 4-5 years.  Also, please don't take my life into account that much, we want it to look nice, not be useful.

The only show I've seen it done 'right' on is Income Properties, where the guy rents the furniture so the pictures show better, but I'm still figuring that it is 100% "for TV" since a lot of people don't like to see a remodel stop at "well it's complete, just add your old furniture back".  I get that a lot of shows are about design, but stuff like the Brothers and the Waco people shouldn't focus that much on design.  I feel it really take away from the remodel aspect.

CommonCents

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #141 on: July 22, 2015, 08:57:19 AM »
If you look closely at the itty bitty print in the credits or online, you'll see that sometimes the furniture budget is given to the couple by the show.

asiljoy

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #142 on: July 22, 2015, 09:05:21 AM »
If you look closely at the itty bitty print in the credits or online, you'll see that sometimes the furniture budget is given to the couple by the show.

Ohhh that makes sense. I always wondered why they were buying 3,000 dollar sofas for a whole house remodel that had a 30,000 dollar budget...

Ashyukun

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #143 on: July 22, 2015, 01:46:13 PM »
One of the few HGTV shows we watch pretty regularly. Our only issue with it is that the intro still paints it as if they're struggling to get by- when they've at times mentioned how many houses they are renovating at that particular time- like -EIGHTEEN- of them- and they seem to make an average of $40k or so per house. Even accounting for living in SoCal like they do, with each house taking conservatively 2 months, and assuming they only flip 10 in that time, that's still like $3.6 MILLION per year.

Closet Flip Or Flop fan here.  :)

I read or saw--don't remember which--an interview with Tarek El Moussa somewhere where he said that all their deals are done 50/50 with an investor, so that their actual "take-home" profit from the deals on the show are half the stated value, but that they don't bring this in to the calculations presented because it would make it too cluttered and confusing for the viewer.  I get that, I guess--even though it's a little disingenuous, I'm still a fan of the show and really enjoy learning a thing or two between the lines. 

They do occasionally show an investor that they work with (named Pete); he kind of makes me nervous, and I tend to tune out the episodes where they show him.  I've actually stopped watching some of the other flip shows because of all the yelling and narcissism; I prefer ones like Flip Or Flop and Fixer Upper where people are nice and don't yell at each other and treat their spouses and kids with love and respect.  Plus Chip Gaines is a HOOT.  :)

Ah, interesting. We just now started recording the 'follow-ups' shows that they're now running, should be fun to see. We're also liking that they've also had several outright or near FLOPS in this most recent season. We used to watch Fixer Upper a lot more religiously- and still DVR it- but have fallen behind a lot more on it.

I'm assuming one of the other flip shows with the 'yelling and narcissism' is 'Flipping Vegas'? We loved that show simply for how ridiculously staged everything HAS to be and waiting to see what absurd thing will be 'wrong' with the house they've bought or what ridiculous car he'd show up in. We've been sad there haven't been any new episodes for a while.

Zoot

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #144 on: July 24, 2015, 02:51:43 PM »
Ah, interesting. We just now started recording the 'follow-ups' shows that they're now running, should be fun to see. We're also liking that they've also had several outright or near FLOPS in this most recent season. We used to watch Fixer Upper a lot more religiously- and still DVR it- but have fallen behind a lot more on it.

I've watched the two that have aired so far; it's fun to see the extra footage and the aspects of the deal that they didn't show in the original.  It's a little cringe-worthy to watch sometimes because it is so OBVIOUSLY scripted, but every now and then you can just barely catch them cringing/eye-rolling, too, which was hilarious to see; DH and I got a good laugh out of that.  :)

I'm assuming one of the other flip shows with the 'yelling and narcissism' is 'Flipping Vegas'? We loved that show simply for how ridiculously staged everything HAS to be and waiting to see what absurd thing will be 'wrong' with the house they've bought or what ridiculous car he'd show up in. We've been sad there haven't been any new episodes for a while.

Yup, that's one of them.  I also stopped watching Flipping Boston and whichever one of them has Armando Montelongo (Flip This House, maybe?).  Just too much yelling, too much being mean to spouses and business partners, too much being hateful and disrespectful to contractors for my taste, even if it's scripted.  ;-) 

You're definitely right about the formulaic nature of the shows, though; I often say things like, "oh, here's the part where they discover an unexpected expense" and "oh, this is one of the first two houses; they can't possibly like this one, because it isn't the third house yet."  ;-) 

I've learned something from every episode of the various shows I've seen; I'm planning on flipping a house next year and it's good to watch people do what they do as a fly on the wall.   Of course, "reality TV" isn't Reality, but even so there are lessons to be learned, even if they're just between the lines. 
« Last Edit: July 24, 2015, 02:53:49 PM by ZootsTwin »

LiveLean

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #145 on: July 24, 2015, 04:27:40 PM »
You guys remember the TLC show a decade ago called - Trading Spaces?  Wasn't that one of the first big ones.

Oh, the craziness.

I loved Trading Spaces, especially since I knew Vern Yip, the little ripped Asian designer, in college. We worked on the student newspaper. He was a cartoonist, very talented guy, and no matter what idea you assigned him - no matter how half-baked or dull -- he'd attack it with crazy enthusiasm. Just like he did on Trading Spaces. I wish I could bring half the passion to my work.

LeRainDrop

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #146 on: July 24, 2015, 06:18:47 PM »
You guys remember the TLC show a decade ago called - Trading Spaces?  Wasn't that one of the first big ones.

Oh, the craziness.

I loved Trading Spaces, especially since I knew Vern Yip, the little ripped Asian designer, in college. We worked on the student newspaper. He was a cartoonist, very talented guy, and no matter what idea you assigned him - no matter how half-baked or dull -- he'd attack it with crazy enthusiasm. Just like he did on Trading Spaces. I wish I could bring half the passion to my work.

OMG, Vern was my absolute favorite!  I also really liked Laurie.  I started watching from the very beginning, when Alex was the host, and I remember it took me a good season or so before I was finally convinced to like Paige as host, too.  Ah, college memories :-)

maco

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #147 on: July 24, 2015, 10:02:34 PM »
and also because the owners' ugly oversize and bland furniture is removed, as is all the CLUTTER. 

But then those same people will be house hunters who say, "But will our furniture fit?" while shopping for a new home.

Why is that in every single show, on their top 5 list of Most Important Things is whether or not their furniture fits?

I just want to shout, "Who cares?!?! If your furniture doesn't fit, then get rid of it!"

That was actually a question I had in buying my house. Specifically, I wanted to make sure there was somewhere the sofa bed would fit, since there isn't a guest bedroom. It's a small house, so I needed to make sure it was possible to put a couch that shape in the living room without blocking either the front door or the basement stairs.

Never did find a place to put the nightstand. Instead I have a 1x6 mounted on the wall next to the mattress (overlapping the bed frame, which doesn't reach the wall because the baseboard is in the way, and thus if I put my glasses on the bed frame directly, they frequently end up under the bed, and if I could see them to find them, I wouldn't need them). Nightstand + dresser got me $30 on Craigslist, though, so hey, that offset the cost of wood to put shelving in the bedroom.

Trimatty471

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #148 on: July 26, 2015, 09:40:02 AM »
HGTV is dangerous if your Mustachian muscles are underdeveloped.  Back in 2007 I was looking to upgrade the kitchen in my house.  I was moderately spendthrift back then - saving 15% in the 401(k) but spending the rest; took out a new car loan but had paid it off and was still driving the same car a decade later; that sort of stuff.  I'd been in the house for six years, and watching a lot of HGTV specifically on kitchen designs for a full year before I finally found a layout I liked. 

But a year of watching these ridiculous upgrades in houses that cost 5x or more what mine does had screwed my whole perception of what a reasonable upgrade would be.  As a result, I ended up taking out a HELOC and putting a $35k kitchen into my $100k home.  In perspective with what I'd been watching for a year, it seemed cheap - but objectively it was absolutely insane.  I have quartz counters, stainless steel appliances, and a $1400 glass backsplash.  Any one of these details by themselves cost enough that even back then I would normally debate it quite a bit and more often than not decide I didn't need it.  But once it was a "remodel" and I had the loan, it was all just a quick "Sure!  Throw that in there.".

On the upside, it's been eight years and I still enjoy the kitchen every day.  It looks awesome, and the layout is much more functional than the old one.  But I could have gotten just as much enjoyment and spent much less.  And if I hadn't been watching so much HGTV, I probably would have. 

Wealth is always a relative thing.  If you are blasted with constant images of people spending way more money than you do, it raises your expectation of where you "ought" to be.  That's the whole point of advertising - and every show on HGTV is basically one big ad.  I won't deny it's fun, though.  I don't have television any more, but when I'm staying at my gf's house where she does, we still watch it.  Sometimes to mock the consumer sucker mindset ("With this house I'll finally be able to be the father I want to be!" - actual quote), and sometimes just to see the fancy stuff.



Prior to purchasing my house I loved watching HGTV but then reality set in.  I could not afford to A. Purchase the type of home featured on HGTV.  B.  I just did not have the money or the energy to do those things.  So I stopped watching.

I was better off.

nobodyspecial

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #149 on: July 26, 2015, 12:41:13 PM »
Prior to purchasing my house I loved watching HGTV but then reality set in.... So I stopped watching.

I was better off.
Could be worse - I only watch discovery channel mega engineering.
Now my driveway re-surfacing includes a new subway tunnel and is $5bn over budget.