Comments from CD's latest flog...
Dan Ellis-Jones
17 hours ago
Although it's interesting to see you doing cleaning up, the stark difference between Dan actually doing repairs and renovations, and you lying in bed and spending hours just looking at things is jarring to me. I guess you need to save up patreon money for big projects, but it would be good to see actual renovations that patreon money is funding. You're in the top 100 patreon accounts in the world aren't you? I know it's happened quickly, but you do need to be more transparent where this money is going.
Cynthia Lambert
16 hours ago
Huh? She goes over and over the projects and frequently makes the rounds showing what is being done. Have you actually watched her vlogs? There are a million repairs and renovations going on there.
Dan Ellis-Jones
16 hours ago
@Cynthia Lambert Not really in comparison to the level of monthly income. My whole house could be renovated with the money she has each month, and has had every month for 2? Years. 18 months definitely. What's been done that's had any big cost? The bathroom was pointlessly expensive. And look at what other chateau owners have done in the same time. Even look at Dan and his place. He definitely has far less YouTube income. And I know any property in London in zone 1 or 2 is AT LEAST £1M.
Kelly Hawes
16 hours ago (edited)
@Dan Ellis-Jones None of us know how much it actually costs to maintain such a large chateau , and pay Dan, Ian,Ian, Nick, Kirsty and others that come to work on both the inside and outside of the chateau. Although we haven't seen much of the work on Gerry's and Michaels apartments, Nati's apartment they are on going. And she has told us she is setting aside money for the chapel restoration as well as the work she had done on the stained glass.
Dan Ellis-Jones
16 hours ago
@Kelly Hawes One of my points is that we SHOULD know. At least Patrons should know. She's getting €30,000 or so each month. She's said it's being spent on renovations. So not salaries, not holidays, not new clothes or china. Philipp and Anna at Fluerie have 1 person. Ed and Anna have 1 person. Stephanie has volunteers. And some people. Now Kirsty and Dan, and some others - if they're being paid from patreon, that's great. But SJ needs to say so.
Kelly Hawes
15 hours ago
@Dan Ellis-Jones I understand your point, but I do think the Patrons do know( I am not one unfortunately) Perhaps you should ask her yourself?
Dan Ellis-Jones
15 hours ago
@Kelly Hawes I think patreon is great. I think micro payments for content makers is great. It takes time and effort to create content. Stephanie makes huge amounts of content. And paying a bit to help save a chateau is fine - if you have spare cash. But SJ has now got significant wealth from patreons, and to be frank, there's not the work being done to warrant it. Also €4k wallpaper is not money well spent. I just want to see or hear about that money being spent on real renovations. There were real works last year, but now nothing. The garden work probably cost about 1 or 2 months patreon, Max. It's difficult. I'd be freaking out a bit if I suddenly got €10k a month from people I didn't know. Tax implications. Moral implications. Temptation to use it on some nice things. It's not easy to just gain wealth like that
B Jorgensen
15 hours ago
@Dan Ellis-Jones are you a patron? Stephanie reviews the budget/finance project plans in her patron videos.
The Chateau Diaries
8 hours ago
Hi Dan, I realise you’re not one of our patrons, so you don’t have the same information that they have. My patrons do know that I’m employing many people from the patreon account. It costs me well over €15,000 per month to employ Ian, Amaury, Dan, Kirsty, Nick the Tree Surgeon, Matt, etc. (Nati, Philip, Mary Poppins and Dave are employed, not by Patreon, but from my YouTube revenue). The rest of the monthly account is for materials, equipment (digger, etc), panelling, wallpaper - anything fixed (no furniture). The rest is put aside for the lake fund. As my patrons know, no patreon funds are used towards my travels, clothes, etc. It’s only for work being done to the chateau, including the wages of those working on the chateau. Patreon does not cover any of the chateau’s running costs, which are paid for by me from my YouTube revenue. Sadly, far from lying in bed all day, I spend my time making as many videos as possible in order to renovate Lalande and continue to pay everyone’s wages. I used to do much more physical work around the chateau, but, as you can imagine, my job is now to provide content through filming and editing, to keep everyone around me in work.
LaReyne
6 hours ago
What I can tell from watching the videos the last couple of years, is she does a fair few late nights editing videos to make sure she delivers on time. So I reckon she's allowed some lie-ins. Though some people are just nighthawks. I've pals who are software developers who seem to do a lot of work in the middle of the night. Maybe cos it's the only time they can get peace to concentrate.
B Jorgensen
19 minutes ago
@LaReyne wow! I'm glad nobody is critiquing my sleep schedule! What is the concern about? People need to find something else to worry about!
LaReyne
14 minutes ago
@B Jorgensen Truth.