As seen on TV part 2: The RLF QS on ITV's Building The Dream

The setup:

Twelve couples compete to win a dream house – by building it (on time). Couples had to vote off those who they thought contributed the least. The show climaxed in a live finale, where the viewers decided which of the two surviving couples would win the house.

How did you get involved?

I’m a friend of Angela Brady (from architect Brady Mallaeiou). She approached me with the brief to build the house, when I was working for Clarus Consulting, two months before they started. The TV production company (Zeal TV) was stunned by the contractor’s quote for foundations. So I came up with another one.

Did you manage to get in front of the cameras?

Clarus’ deal with the Zeal was to do the valuations with the contractors. We weren’t allowed to be filmed. In fact, no site meetings were televised. And I had very little dealings with Linda Barker (the presenter). I had to keep Zeal informed, give them monthly valuations. I was pleased not to be on television. Our end isn’t the glamorous end, it’s the ‘keep to the budget’ end.

The couples were being filmed all the time, there were even cameras in their caravan.

When Linda arrived, the place would be swept clean. She comes on the site and says “here’s what they’ve done today”. They were very clever in the filming, they made it look a lot further advanced than it was.

The architects were filmed though – saying things like ‘what colour would you like?’ to the couples during meetings.

How did the budgeting go?

My budget was £400,000, which was £200,000 over their estimate. Zeal just wanted to film, they thought they could just stick up a wooden board and paint it. They had a total lack of understanding of the building process, but they had a finite budget.

Were there any problems finding suppliers?

Zeal also had two ‘product placers’ who’d go around getting materials. They had an amazing effect. The builder found it incredible. Stuff would arrive in 24 hours in sparkling clean trucks. The delivery men were also well dressed. They managed to get £175,000 of free materials: plaster, bricks, tiles, sanitary ware. There was a lot of gadgetry too – the bathroom had a built-in TV and phone.

Was the work hard going?

There were 12 episodes overall. We started in April and handed over in August.

I had meetings every three or four weeks, and of course kept in touch by email. It wasn’t too stressful, and the fees weren’t bad.

We took over a caravan park, where all the staff stayed, and we were all fed in a school hall. In return the school got a free refurbishment.

We had a material storage area and a special training area, where they filmed the couples learning how to do the tasks. There was also additional labour support, and the H&S guy was always around too.

Do you think these shows can help promote the industry?

As an industry we’re really poor about publicising ourselves. People think ‘over budget, over time’. Look at Wembley. There’s lots of good stuff, otherwise we wouldn’t be building.

A TV series can give people a snapshot of what the industry is about, show the various trades that are involved. If you give the show a broader base you can show the QS, PM and architect, show how they get involved with each other.

What would be fascinating would be to look at the early stage, bidding processes, people are brainstorming – I think people would find that interesting. Makeover programmes happen so fast – it’s not real life.

‘Grand Designs’ is fabulous, and the other one on historical sites.

Maybe have a behind the scenes show for these series?

I think retail fit-outs is a good idea for TV. You can show the ‘can-do’ attitude of the industry. You can’t be late, it’s all very positive, and shows real team spirit.

Have you any more TV series lined up?

Zeal was hoping to make another series but couldn’t find a site. Lead-in times, construction-wise, are too big for a TV series.

We’ll have to see. If the right opportunity came along…