One Sixty

I went to the bank today to sort out some money for our builder, and as part of the transaction the young woman helping me asked what I was using the money for (I thought this was none of her business but apparently I still had to tell her for security reasons), I told her it was to pay my builder.

She then asked me if I wanted to have a financial review (yes please!) and whether I had a mortgage. I told her that I currently had a self build mortgage but that I would need to get a residential remortgage once my house was built.

Her head shot up and her eyebrows raised.

You’re building a house?

Yeah.

Where, overseas?

No, in London.

Wow.

Yeah, it’s scary but exciting.

I could tell she wanted to know more, but alas, I thought about the poor souls lined up 2 metres apart outside bracing themselves against the wind and rain that appeared out of nowhere, and wrapped it up.

‘Self-building’ is still pretty rare, so I’m sure hearing of anyone building their own home would prick your curiosity. Relatively recent reports are showing that 1 in 7 people in the UK are currently in the research process of building their own home, and that 13,000 custom and self-build homes were constructed in 2017.

This is probably no surprise with the popularity of shows like Grand Designs which I know I’ve obsessively watched since 2004. However, there are about 160 episodes of Grand Designs (I’m sure I have watched at least 100) and I can only recall two episodes that I’ve seen black people featured.

I wonder what that tells viewers about the type of people that can and decide to take on a self-build project, and whether that’s why I got a raised eyebrow and a jaw drop from the young black lady that served me this afternoon.

Not sure.