'A huge gamble': How design shows choose their projects

There is risk and goodwill involved when filming a design show. (Eureka Productions)

Television productions run to a meticulous schedule, but what happens when the planned build for a renovation show creeps from 12 months to two years to, well… a seemingly never-ending project?

Brooke Bayvel, the supervising executive producer for Restoration Australia, says making a show such as theirs presents a "huge gamble" for this very reason.

"One of our [Grand Designs Australia] houses was seven years in the making, and I think we all went a bit grey worrying it might never finish," she says.

While producers might be losing sleep over long-delayed projects, Bayvel says there's risk and goodwill on both sides of the camera as home owners grapple with the scale of their projects.

While not quite at the seven-year mark, this season of Restoration Australia features one project that's still incomplete five years after its restoration began.

It's a former convent that Rachel Hunt purchased in regional NSW in 2021, with an ambitious dream to transform it into a home on the cheap.

Rachel had hopes to open an event space in the property's former chapel. (ABC/Eureka Productions: Sally Griffiths)

The fashion industry fabric manager from Sydney bought the Boorowa property for $625,000 with the intention of making a quieter life for herself.

"My vision was maybe a hundred acres, just me out in the country with a cottage. I thought I'd get a pony, maybe eventually some highland cows because they look really cute, some chickens, and have my own eggs," she says.

She gave herself 10 months to complete the first phase, which included updating some key rooms. Five years on, after finding love and having a baby, lots of the building sits unfinished.

Many upstairs rooms remain a construction zone. (ABC/Eureka Productions)

Love is one of the better reasons for a project to stall, but plans can go awry for a range of reasons, particularly when overly ambitious home owners are involved.

One of the most notable cases of over-commitment featured on an episode of the UK's Grand Designs when Edward Short purchased a lighthouse in Devon, England, and spent 12 years renovating it.

It was dubbed the show's "saddest ever" property after the home owner went millions of pounds over budget and his marriage broke down.

Throughout the build, Edward struggled to secure additional loans to fund the swelling project.

According to Grand Designs Magazine, the Lighthouse was listed for sale in 2024 for 5.25 million pounds ($9.88 million) and sold last year at a loss after multiple failed