 night and it continues again this Sunday night and uh back with uh well it was back with a bit of a shocker in that Garmad actually came in under budget but we get to that in just a second because did you know that Claire Irwin who's a quantity surveyor on the show is from Donegal uh Burnfoot in fact although it might spend a lot of time on the road but anyhow uh Claire joins us now we're streaming as well on facebook if you want to look in Claire good afternoon to you hi how are you yeah yeah good good now i'm sure you're delighted with the response to the first show back because she'd been getting a bit of stick the show had been getting a bit of stick because uh she's kind of out of touch with the times but boy back with the band because the viewing figures were through the roof yeah we were delighted with the viewing figures from Sunday night um we had over 530 000 so we had a over 40 percent of the share it was great um we were delighted to get back I think there was just such a long break between the last season with COVID and all the delays so now we were delighted to get back on air and you were back with the story of Mark and Lisa in Dublin they had a big backyard and and they were they were looking to uh rebuild out there but at the end of it all anyhow a surprise surprise you actually came in under budget which is Sean Herdorf on Rune to Improve um it is on Herdorf now I featured actually in two episodes last and the last series in 2019 and one of those shows come in 15 grand under budget and the other show came in on budget but the clients added another 200k on and bought you know kind of luxury extras um so but this one now on Sunday night passed there to be 10 grand under budget was quite phenomenal given the time that you know project was carried out during the pandemic Brexit you know all of the construction lockdown so it was it was great I took a lot of work obviously to get to that figure um but no thankfully we got there yeah well you see the thing about getting it under budget that's kind of down to you because you've got to reenderm it in and you've got to tell them that uh no no no you can't have recessed lighting throughout and then actually no we can't put a skylight there because that'll put it away over budget but sometimes you listen sometimes you don't yeah there's a huge element of that um there's plenty of battles on site um but you know at the end of the day we both have the same common goal we want the homeowners to have this lovely finished house so the budgets the budget on Sunday night pass was just extremely tight there was no room for air there was no room for extra money to be added to the project so we just had to work together um and you know get to the finish line and the goal the goal for everybody concerned is to get to the end line to get you know those involved what they're they're hoping for but it's up to you and Dermott to to make it happen I suppose and make to ideally to make it happen within budget not always possible and most definitely not you know not hasn't been possible of lead given the way prices of materials have gone and I'm sure you're going down the show as well yeah it was really tricky you know this project it was it was from the get go it was you know three years that project from start to end so so much changed during that process you know we had Brexit which you know had prices dramatically then we had the construction lockdowns um you know and then the supply and demand issues then when construction sites started back up so it was really really tricky one to balance and um it was a good achievement I think to get to the end of that project under budget you know it was it was very very tricky but we just had to think outside the box you know we had to we we really thought the way we built the house you know we changed things around um you know things that you probably wouldn't see on air you know we actually changed the way internal walls were built we changed the way the roof structure was built um you know you just have to really delve into every part of the the build from the substructure right up to the roof and try and save as best as you could and it worked out in the end thankfully we just see it over an hour on tv and it's all edited down so there must be an awful lot that ends up on the editing room floor a lot a lot of stuff just doesn't make it into the finished show is it a wee bit frustrating and and also is it an awful lot of work because there's um I'm sure there's a lot of filming and then it has to be edited down and it's really typed in for the the broadcast version so I suppose two two questions really is it a bit frustrating when there's some stuff that you thought would have ended up in the show that that doesn't and does it take a lot of time it must be you know a lot of trips up and down the road yeah you know similar to any construction project there's trips up and down your visit and the sites is normal but from a film perspective um you know there would be numerous days that you would be on site and we would follow maybe from nine in the morning to maybe two in the afternoon and that's compressed down into perhaps 30 seconds or might not even make the cut at all you know something else more exciting or more relevant might happen in weeks time so that day's follow-man might be wasted you know so it's yeah it's time consuming absolutely I yeah um but I suppose they just take the best bits then you know to to form the show and they're always looking for a bit of drama and you know Dermot following it with the contractor or you know the people involved and Dermot telling them no I think actually it's much better my way and you know a difference of opinion so they're always looking for that and in fairness Dermot usually obliges yes exactly there's always a bit of drama all right I um so you have to contend with that and try your best to manage that normally the drama with the builder has a constant implication so you're you're always juggling and I don't know if it came across or if it's apparent from Sunday night's episode but the contractor was actually a Donnie Gull contractor a fellow called James Midland who owns Brickmont Construction he's originally from Ballabuffet and he but he's based in Dublin okay great and you Dermot you know you must get on well together to you know for you to be back time and time again and and you must have a good working relationship yeah we have a great working relationship you know we're working together now since 2018 um we have obviously all of the room to improve homes that we're working on together and then we would have a number of private projects then um separate to that so no we get on great together um he's um he's a great architect um he kind of it it's not he's a very good architect but he's also you know he's a unreal charisma about him and you know it's it kind of makes his clients really at ease and it gets really down into it you know um you know he's a great person to work with and he's very persuasive and you have to be as well because you have to sometimes maybe persuade him that yeah actually Dermot that's not a good idea yeah he's very very persuasive yeah um if he gets an idea into his head it's very tricky to get it back out um if it's not feasible um but uh yeah he definitely is okay and uh so what can we expect now for the rest of the series um uh more of the same because it's back like you know a room to improve and a lot of the competitors are saying it's back and it's actually improved yeah so for well I don't want to give too much away obviously but um for the rest of the season um the big element of retrofit and works which is pretty relevant at the minute given the SEAI's new release of grants there a couple of weeks ago um so we actually um set up a type of a one-stop shop for the show I set it up myself actually um and we ran the grants through that and SEAI give us a pot of money to provide to the homeowners um so that's really relevant at the minute uh topically for the viewer so I think people will be interested to see that so we have existing houses that we're renovating um this week we have a bungalow um and hope that we're renovating and we're nearly doubling it in size um and I think it would be interesting for the viewer because then realize what you can achieve with a set with this budget um it's a tight budget again um next week where um we're renovating a family home uh the the child the daughter of a man and the family home we're renovating it for the children um and then the following week we're renovating a house in Turlis so yeah now it'll be someone trust in episodes and are you and we mentioned earlier we've been up and down the road a lot are you a based in Burnford or do you have an office in Dublin I'm based I'm from Burnford originally and I live in Bunkrana now since I got married um 11 years and so my office is in Bunkrana and then I commute up and down to Dublin yeah all right and then elsewhere obviously to depend on where the the project yeah works through I work throughout the country I have a lot of work here in Bunkrana as well so yeah that's good great well we look forward to the rest of the uh the season and it's on again on Sunday night and uh and uh we look forward to you know a bit of drama but a few arguments and fallouts and makeups and all the rest of it and more more of the point makeovers thanks so much Claire okay all the best best luck bye