This Old [millionaires] House

[Bill]

I don't know about you, but these home improvement shows are WAY beyond my budget lately.

I was watching This Old House last night and they had a $3000.00 plus consultant hired in to study backyard water drainage and give recommendations. Then they hired a crane to cut down a tree! (So they could "lower" it down gently.) I'm sure that cost a pretty penny.

I just can't relate to these shows anymore so far as my home goes and my budget. ($30,000.00 for a kitchen remodel, $60,000.00 to fix the place up a bit, etc.)

Most people I know are hard pressed to come up with a few thousand dollars for home projects...

[KLS]

or for a new roof!

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I agree. Is that the show which sometimes goes to a "regular person's" house to help out with a project, and it ends up being a custom carved teak mantle found at an antique dealer in Tuscany, shipped by private yacht? :-)

Every time I look at my bathroom sink, whose replacement will involve 400 steps because of the stupid counter design, I think about writing to whatever show it is and telling them I have a budget of $702.18, and not a penny more.

[hillacc at yahoo.com]

There are two different parts to the This Old House show: The "regular" This Old House, in which they come in and redo a house, and the on the road part where they help someone with a single project.

The first one is necessarily expensive, because they only do houses that need a lot of work and have a lot of potential, for owners who have the budget to do it. After all, it would be pretty boring show if it was This Old House: For the next several weeks, we'll follow Joe Shmo as he repaints his front porch the quickest way with the cheapest paint and supplies he can find.

I find the on the road segment often has ideas that I can use, such as how to repair a squeeky floor without lifting or damaging the carpet. Yeah, it takes the purchase of a special tool, but so do lots of home repair projects. Last night, they showed how to replace an old cast iron toilet flange so the toilet won't rock on a newly installed floor. Not very glamorous or expensive, but lots of tips about why it had to be done the way it was done and something I might very well face in my own house someday. And trust me, I don't think anyone is more low-budget (or less handy) than I am when it comes to home repair!

Jo Ann

[willshak]

on 10/19/2007 11:44 AM Bill said the following:

A lot of the stuff is provided free. Just say "Thanks to xxxxx Plumbing Supplies" etc., in the credits.

[---MIKE---]

The real question is regarding the "Extreme Makeover" show. They completely dismantle a wreck and put up a mansion. This is usually for a destitute family. How can they afford the taxes on their new mansion?

---MIKE---

[jJim McLaughlin]

When TOH first started 30 plus years ago, Russ Morash was not so greedy, and WGBH was a simple local public tv station in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, not a mega provider of content to PBS.

The first TOH project was a smple house in Dorchester, Mass., not far from where I lived, and it was a simple and do able budget.

TOH has evolved and not for the better.

The Ask TOH spin off is the only thing from the franchise worth watching.

[** Frank **]

---MIKE---

I saw on one show where the taxes were paid in advanced, but don't know for how many years. I my area, if you don't do a complete new construction but just a major remodel, its taxed at a much lower rate. That's why on one of the shows where everything were demo except the garage just to qualify as a remodel.

[jJim McLaughlin]

AIUI, the companies providing stuff have to provide a *LOT* of product, far more than actually gets used on the project in the TOH show, and pay a hefty cash fee for the products to be shown on the TOH show.

Morash's production company is, again AIUI, *not* a non profit educational outfit, and sure doesn't operate like one.

[DerbyDad03]

re: There are two different parts to the This Old House show

Actually, there are two different shows: "This Old House" and "Ask This Old House". "Ask This Old House" is the road-show you speak of.

I don't know how old you are, but I believe the point that the OP was making is the difference between today's "This Old House" and the one many of us grew up with. No, they didn't paint Joe Shmo's porch, but they did do projects that showed what an average to above-average homeowner could do to improve their home. The projects were somewhere between the small repair projects of "Ask This Old House" and the multi-million dollar projects shown on "This Old House" today. And yes, they did take a few weeks to finish, not three days like the DIY To The Rescue shows on now.

IIRC it was just after Bob Villa left TOH that the projects began to move away from the "I can do that!" style to "Meet Guisppe Guardalino, Master Plasterer who is going to hand plaster this 6000 sq ft guest house right after we raise the barn 2 ft off the foundation and turn it 90 degrees"

[** Frank **]

$30k complete kitchen remodel is actually cheap. $30k may just barely cover high end appliances. $100K kitchen madeover is not that unusual.

The trick is to spend $30K and have it look like $100K. DIY, layout planning, material selection and smart shopping helps a lot.

[hillacc at yahoo.com]

Point taken ;-)

Jo Ann (Pretty old, but a recent first-time homeowner)

[Eric]

high end appliances. $100K kitchen madeover is

material selection and smart shopping helps a

"Smart shopping"... starting with skipping the high end appliances! :^)

My $350 GE dishwasher washes dishes (that's its job, right?) as well as any fancy model with a stainless front panel.

Eric Law

[hallerb]

a florida family had no choice but sell their new home to pay all the taxes, ongoing property taxes, the show built a mansion n a poor area but income taxes too.

i lost interst in extreme home makeover after that, and identify with folks walking thru their home the last time before its leveled.

sure it may be in bad shape but they lived there for many years

[willshak]

I like the exterior restoration of old houses. What happens on the inside doesn't impress me as much. Except maybe the plumbing.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Yeah...I don't understand this high end appliance thing. I know someone who remodeled their kitchen and installed a $4000.00 Viking range. My son hung out at the kid's house often over a period of 5 years. He said the fanciest food he ever saw made was Stouffer's frozen mac & cheese. On a typical day, it was take out pizza or Chinese food.

[Red Green]

[e-mail] (---MIKE---) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Why do you think they are all bawling their eyes out? Before they had a place they could afford. Now they are short timers in the place before they get evicted.

[DerbyDad03]

Another problem with TOH and many of the other shows on the DIY Network is that the original shows ran once a week. Now they are re- running them every day, multiple times a day. Unfortunately there just wasn't enough eposides written for their to be enough unique shows and they show the same projects over and over again. Add to that the fact that aren't running any of the Bob Villa shows (contractual issues?) so that limits the TOH projects to the limited number that prep-boy Steve hosted.

A sure sign that they have flooded the market with DIY shows is the new show "The Inside Job". This "behind the scenes" show keeps the cameras rolling after the taped portions are over to show you how a home improvement show is made. It also shows the show being taped by using extra cameras to get the production crew on camera. What's next? Cameras to film the cameramen who are filming the cameramen who are filming the show? "Inside the Inside Job"

[Kurt Ullman]

And of course they have to pay income taxes on the value of the new stuff.

[willshak]

I hated Bob Vila. Did you ever notice that he has to touch everything? Besides, I think that it was mandatory for everyone to say his name when responding. I don't think he knew much about home building, other than what the script had written down..