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I get it, I'm in the minority OR viewers that don't care for the program are more motivated to write. That being said, I am impressed by how ambitious the program is on a weekly basis. I cannot even imagine how much time/work/late nights are required to create each episode.
I read complaints that Hilary always finds problems in the basements. But that's completely realistic, particularly in any older home, much less with the low temperatures that annually effect Canadian homes.
Yes, the program unfolds in a formulaic way.
Still, there's a tremendous amount to be learned about how a professional can re-envision a space & about the very real unforseeable problems that are the rule and not the exception in any renovation.
Hilary is routinely at a marked disadvantage dollar-wise.....making the renovations all the more impressive in my book.

As a designer I find this very depressing. You as a non design professional are being given an impressionas to how a "good" or at least reputable, designer operates.Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all designers are not licensed in most areas to make structural changes. Prior to the work commencing a licensed G.C. or an architect has to get approval from the area the home is in. So most of these "surprises" are fabricated.They would have been found by the G.C. and their improvements would be part of the initial proposal. More importantly it is a designers job to accurately forcast the scope of work and its cost. Any designer who consistantly misquoted the budget, subsequentially changing the plans to accomodate the losses would be fired. At least by the company I work for.

The scripted drama in this show definitely gives a false impression of what design professionals actually do.

I am totally convinced that the homeowners are instructed to make an impossible list of "must haves", and that they already have a pretty good idea of some of the potential problems. They have already said which things they are willing to not have (and probably were never really expecting them). And they are coached into complaining and criticizing.

This is also unfair to professional designers, as it sets them up to be treated with disrespect.

But, as the OP expressed, if you can fast forward through the fake drama, and just tune in to the last few minutes, you can get an idea of how spaces can be re-envisioned. It does open the doors to possibilities and work-arounds.

But no, it is not realistic.

quote:

Originally posted by Charles D:
As a designer I find this very depressing. You as a non design professional are being given an impressionas to how a "good" or at least reputable, designer operates.Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all designers are not licensed in most areas to make structural changes. Prior to the work commencing a licensed G.C. or an architect has to get approval from the area the home is in. So most of these "surprises" are fabricated.They would have been found by the G.C. and their improvements would be part of the initial proposal. More importantly it is a designers job to accurately forcast the scope of work and its cost. Any designer who consistantly misquoted the budget, subsequentially changing the plans to accomodate the losses would be fired. At least by the company I work for.

Keep preaching, it Brother! Even if this show wasn't getting on my last nerve because of the asinine personalities involved, everything you have said, Charles, would be reason enough to take this show off the air.
Several posters have come on these LIOLI threads and whined about "unrealistic home owners" giving the "poor designer" too much to do on their budget. The very first thing I ask clients is "what is your budget?" - then we get down to their expectations and the scope of the project. In some instances I'm able to surprise them and give them much more than they'd thought they could get, and that's a great feeling - but I'd never in a million years tell them they can get all this and a bag of chips before I explored carefully - and with the help of a GC - what is possible, feasible and likely to happen.

I don't see this program, therefore I have no idea as to what they do.
One thing that I have heard on this thread is the fact that designers do structural work.
As far as I know, unless they have a General Contractor licence or are an architect and have the proper permits, I don't see you doing any of that, and you have one that wants to do it, run and take him/her out to the nearest exit.