11 October 2023 , 19:00
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A dad was left in tears at Grand Design's host Kevin McCloud reaction to his new home.
The Channel 4 programme follows some of Britain's most ambitious self-building projects as people try to create their dream homes. Devoted dad Danny embarked on a project to give his children "the childhood he never had". He created a beautiful timber-clad four-bed home set amongst the trees. Danny had sold his detached bungalow, but kept a substantial part of the plot to build his new house.
He set out to make a modern, eco-friendly and reasonably priced home in the woods. Proceeds from the sale of his bungalow were to be used to pay for the build. Danny set a budget of £300,000 for the entire project. His motivation came by wanting his children to have a memorable childhood and grow up surrounded by nature. He revealed his own childhood was very different, as his parents split when he was three and didn't have much of a relationship after that.
Danny's vision for his home in Lincolnshire was to have it on the water's edge next to the garden pond. The house was to be constructed in two sections. One would be an open-plan kitchen, lounge and diner with bifold doors onto the deck. On the first floow, the plan was for a main bedroom with balcony and ensuite plus a family bathroom. A glazed walkway would lead to three elevated pod bedrooms on stilts. Danny's two sons and daughter would each have their own room surrounded by trees.
Danny was overwhelmed with Kevin's comments (Channel 4)The impressive design also included hidden infra-red, thermal heating in the roof space and solar panels meaning cheaper energy bills in the future and no radiators on show. Danny wanted to keep his bills low and so installed uber thick wall insulation as well as keeping plumbing costs down by having the bathrooms and kitchen in just the main section of the house.
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He constantly haggled throughout the build to keep the price down and even asked a local farmer to use his digger to lift glass onto the first floor for £50 and two sausage rolls. Danny called on his friends for help and managed to secure the kitchen, utility room, bathroom, ensuite and built-in wardrobes for £26,000. However, it didn't quite all go to plan.
Measurements between the main section of the house and the walkway to the pods were majorly out. It added £500 to the budget as a new step needed to be made. Luckily for Danny, the project contractor took the hit. In the end, Danny spent £375,000 on his home. After almost two-years in the making, presenter Kevin was able to take a final look.
Danny wanted to create a dream house for his kids (Channel 4)He said: "The thing that attracted me to this project in the first place was its ambitions to recreate the experiences of childhood in this glorious place and yet the process of building it was as fraught as you'd expect them to be, driven all the time by Danny's almost military approach, his precision, his focus, his laser like attention to detail.
"Any romantic vision in this project was going to be balanced with Danny's focus on cost, a focus he maintained throughout a period of dramatically rising inflation. All the time he did not lose his focus on that single primary objective, it's remarkable - it's a house full of joy and wit, playfulness and fun, as you'd expect it should have in this setting, it's a great place to grow up in and live in, it's a real return to innocence."
While Danny became emotional when talking about creating the home for his children. With tears in his eyes and his voice cracking, he told Kevin: "There were lots of elements of my childhood that weren't great, those things shape you and for me to stand here and say 'I'm proud of myself' is important. I've achieved something, I've put a lot of time and energy, part of a big team, to get this done and there's something tangible to say this is an achievement."
Kevin then said: "This building marks a new beginning for Danny and his children and it promises great things for all of them. I'm pleased he says he's proud of this new home, he should be proud of it, and all it represents. It will help to teach them, nourish them and possibly empower them to follow their own dreams, what more could any parent want for their child?".