Episode 6 Getting the Builders In

For us Brits, our home is our castle.

-Wow.

-I know.

Oh, my goodness!

Amazing.

Amazing!

But keeping it how we want it...

I've got the complete DIY manual.

..takes a lot of work.

-Have you been up that chimney?

-Yes, human sweep, I am.

HE LAUGHS

And getting the builders in...

What time do you call this?

..can be a daunting task.

To be fair, John, I think they built The Great Wall Of China quicker.

THEY LAUGH

That's a work of art, that. Look. We've got a Banksy.

So, we've asked tradesmen from all over the country...

Still alive.

I feel like a doctor.

..to go up against each other.

If you get it, you can give it to us, all right?

Yeah, we'll salvy it out. I want it painted!

THEY LAUGH Each homeowner hears three quotes...

£1,650.

-Yeah.

-Need a stiff drink yet?

-Get in!

-Get in!

..before picking the best one for the job.

Woohoo. Told you.

But there's a sting in the tail for the winning builders,

as their rivals get to watch them at work.

We haven't got a key.

Uh-uh!

I don't like the idea of this at all, no.

-Do you feel sorry for the boys, John?

-Yeah.

-No!

THEY LAUGH

First job of the day

takes us to a Tudor town surrounded by rolling hills,

once described in the Domesday Book as "the place where oaks grow".

It takes just over half an hour to get to London,

and the average semi will set you back more than £500,000.

We're down south in Oxted, in Surrey.

On the hunt for builders is Paula Whitmore,

who moved into this 1930s semi ten years ago,

soon after she'd had had her twins.

We've taken some time to put our own touches on the property,

one room at a time.

Room by room, slowly getting there.

She's gone to town almost everywhere.

There's just one room she's had no control over.

The room I want to change most in this house is the girls' playroom.

It's been the same for ten years.

Very rarely do I actually go into the room itself.

I normally shut the door on the playroom.

Where on earth are we going to start with this?

Start with the toys.

They need to have, sort of, some hang-out space

where they can bring their friends,

relax and enjoy a room away from, sort of, adults.

PAULA SIGHS

So, what's Paula put aside to transform the chaotic playroom?

My budget for the room is £5,000.

I am feeling excited about having three builders come

and look at the playroom.

Paula's clearly ready for quotes, so, come on, builders,

what should she be thinking about?

Make sure that when you've got your three builders

that you give them all the same information

in terms of what you want.

That way, they'll price the same.

Some people find it awkward to talk about money,

but it's really important to agree a price

with your builder and any stage payments upfront.

In the building trade,

the old adage is that if it seems too good to be true,

it generally is.

Time to find out which builders are pitching for Paula's playroom.

-Ooh, very nice.

-Very nice.

They all know it needs to be transformed from toy-filled

to smart teenage study.

Cor, it's nippy, isn't it? Have I got blue lips?

HE LAUGHS

To win the job, they'll need to wow Paula with their ideas.

-Try the bell today, yeah...

-Bell time, yeah.

Like Avon.

-Hiya.

-How are you?

-I'm John.

Hi, John, nice to meet you.

-Simon.

-Simon, nice to meet you.

-Very nice to meet you.

First to arrive are burly bears, Simon and John.

-Pretty full.

-THEY LAUGH

-This looks like an old alarm.

-Bang!

THEY LAUGH

An old alarm system or something.

Friends for over six years,

this pair know their priorities on and off-site.

-Skills, John?

-My main skills are making a cup of tea.

-Yeah.

-Cup of tea!

JOHN LAUGHS

I do all the brickwork, do plastering.

You lend your hand to most things, don't you?

Yeah, I'd say plumbing and chippie work.

I think you've got to make it into a room that two young girls

want to come and spend a bit of time in, don't you?

Then we'll get the TV with some form of media centre underneath,

cos you've got to think about, er, DVD...

-DVDs.

-Game console...

Simon and John are going hi-tech, but will that appeal to Paula?

I can see why you need a little bit of storage, anyway.

-Simon's already tidied up.

-Yeah, right.

-Fantastic!

Yeah, so we've sort of, erm, a media room, we was thinking of,

cos we saw the girls like their movies and they play a bit of music.

-Yeah.

-If we make a work station in this area,

then what we get John to do is build, underneath,

a drawer that pulls out,

-which will obviously accommodate...

-Accommodate the keyboard.

So, the keyboard can then be slid away again,

underneath the work station.

Could we have somewhere where all the DVDs...?

-Exactly, with drawers.

-Again there'll be drawers...

And it's something they want to go into as well, isn't it?

Take their friends in there,

-chill out in there...

-Watch a movie in there.

So, Simon and John

have come up with a hi-tech design that involves a bespoke

media unit, complete with storage and a chillout area.

They'll also build a desk by the window.

But, does hi-tech come with a high price tag?

All of that came to £6,000.

-OK.

-OK?

-OK.

Wow, that's £1,000 over budget.

But it's all still to play for.

-Hiya.

-Hi, I'm Chris.

Next, our upcycling combo, Charis and Chris.

Brace yourselves!

-Oh.

-Oh, wow, OK.

Wow, this needs a bit of a tidy up, doesn't it?

-CHARIS LAUGHS

-Do you think they've got kids?!

What have you got for me to do today?

Well, we need to get tidied first.

This pair met working in a bank over 20 years ago,

but they've got a very different working relationship now.

At the time, we worked in a bank together and it was well boring,

so we both went off on our own little angles.

He went and did plumbing, which was actually my idea.

You can thank me later.

Stand to the side, please.

And I love playing with wood and metal and stuff,

so it works quite well.

You could always have a few trunks in here,

which kind of serve as like a table and a seat

and storage all at the same time.

What would you do for a desk, though?

For when they want to do their homework and...?

Well, we could either get a really nice old reclaimed one...

Do you think the ten-year-olds would like that?

I don't know what ten-year-olds... What does my 11-year-old like?

A nice, rustic desk.

Charis and Chris are going straight to their rustic roots,

but can they convince Paula it's the right choice?

The way that I work is I hand create items of furniture.

It's all out of reclaimed materials, as well.

-The house is...

-Yeah.

-..you know, sort of...

-Modern.

-Modern.

Would it be quite different?

There's lots of different finishes you can do, obviously.

We can bring the wood up so it's got a shine to it,

or you can leave it quite rustic.

I was thinking maybe scaffold boards as shelves,

and of course the cabinets would all be handmade, as well.

-Oh, OK.

-So, I think that might be an idea.

I'd really like to find out if she'd like some artwork in here,

cos I think that's really good for kids,

to have bright artwork on the wall,

and as they're getting older, maybe some kind of pop art,

clouds on ceilings and everything.

-And then I'll be like this for like, six months afterwards!

-Hmm...

And I also wondered how you felt about pop art styles,

-alternative and portraits and things like that.

-Wow, OK.

I think for the girls, they might get quite excited about that.

Charis and Chris want to build bespoke storage,

using scaffold board shelves and trunks below.

Then they'll add a punch of colour by painting pop art murals

on the walls and a sky on the ceiling.

Sounds fun, but expensive.

Paula's put aside £5,000,

so...what's the damage?

To do the entire job as we discussed is going come in around...

7,600, with materials, to do the entire room.

-OK.

-Ouch!

That's £2,600 over budget.

But there's still one more pair to pitch.

Last in are clean-cut Wayne and Steph.

Have you got your tights on?

-WAYNE LAUGHS

-Have you?

-No, I forgot mine!

I've got my long johns on.

Have you? Oh, I wish I'd put mine on.

Keep warm.

Both former thespians, they now call themselves DIY-doers.

-We're more like siblings.

-Yeah.

-Do you know what I mean?

That silly kind of banter that you have with your brother or sister.

Where did you get this from, the 1950s?

-My dad!

-Aw!

And Wayne's an only child, so I sort of fill that void in his life.

THEY LAUGH

OK.

-Oh!

-STEPH LAUGHS

This is a long, narrow room that isn't being used...

in the best way, in terms of the allocation of space.

-Yeah.

-I really like this window alcove.

Yeah, make that a separate bit, like a worky zone, inspiring zone.

-Yeah. Yeah.

-So, separate zones for work and leisure.

Will Paula like the idea?

Our first feeling was to rip out the existing cupboards,

and that can be actually the area for the sofa.

-Yeah.

-And then, to the window end,

-that does beg to be their desk, sort of homework area.

-Yes, yes.

And also to put in a sort of voile curtain to hide the...

The working area, sounds quite nice.

-So when they have a...

-When they've got their mates round and

-it's suddenly a bit more grown-up space and, you know...

-Yeah.

-A bit Zen-like in one end.

-Yeah.

-And work end at the other.

-Yeah.

Seat here, and then create a big unit with a TV in the middle...

-Yeah, yeah.

-..a load of storage boxes.

-The wall where you've got your cubby hole boxes at the moment...

-Yes.

-..for a media centre.

-Media centre.

-OK.

-Have the TV floating within the middle of it,

encased round a bookcase,

but the TV can then be pulled forward

-and angled a little bit towards that corner.

-Ah, OK.

Wayne and Steph want to divide the room with a curtain

so Paula's daughters can separate work and play.

By the window, they'll build a desk big enough for the both of them,

but on the other side of the room,

create a chillout area with a pull-out TV

and bespoke storage underneath.

There's a lot going on, so what's the price tag?

We're looking at 3,500 for labour.

Right.

And materials for 2,000.

-OK.

-So, the total, all in, is 5,500.

That's the cheapest quote of the day,

but it's still £500 over budget.

So, will any of their ideas appeal to Paula?

If not, none of them get the job.

Right, who's won that one, then?

-John, do you think your team's won that?

-No...

THEY LAUGH

She did say to us she didn't like men in shorts.

-She doesn't?

-Yeah.

-Oh, well.

-No-one likes men in shorts.

-You win some, you lose some.

THEY LAUGH

Only the winner's phone will ring.

They're all over budget.

Will it be Charis and Chris's reclaimed storage and murals,

the most expensive of the three?

Simon and John's mid-priced techie media unit?

Or Wayne and Steph's separate spaces for work and play,

the cheapest of the three?

Whoever gets the call, gets the job.

PHONE RINGS

Hiya, it's Paula here.

I just wanted to let you know that, erm, we've chosen you to...

-Wow!

-Thank you very much.

Thank you.

-I really liked your ideas.

-THEY LAUGH

-Brilliant.

-Fantastic, thanks so much.

I think the girls would really enjoy growing up in that room,

and having it sort of as this high functioning tech room.

Looking forward to it, looking forward to it.

-I really like the job, actually.

-Yeah, it's a nice job.

Simon and John are clearly over the moon,

but it's sour grapes for the losers.

I'm surprised.

Yeah, it's an interesting job. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

I'm shocked. But, you know, good on them.

I can't wait to see how they do and what it turns out to look like.

You'll find out when you watch their every move later.

Paula's playroom is booked in. So, builders,

how should she prepare for the job?

A house full of stuff is only going to slow us down,

and at the end of the day,

it could mean additional costs to you and more work for us.

It's a good idea to establish some ground rules before the build.

Start and finish times are really important,

as well as agreeing which facilities you're happy for us to use.

Make sure that when you engage them, you have a contract,

the details are all written down on there,

what they're going to do, from start to finish.

Read it, make sure you're happy and then engage them.

It's day one of the job at Paula's.

The playroom has been cleared

and Simon and John are in demolition mode.

We'll have a nice blank canvas, John, won't we?

-A lovely blank canvas, Si.

-Ready to create our magic, John.

THEY LAUGH

And the losers are all eyes, watching the work.

-This is the children's room, isn't it?

-Yeah, yes.

I wanted this one. This one, we were going to go all-out.

And the kids have left John a present.

Oh, look, I've found some magic in here, mate. Look.

What do you reckon?

-JOHN LAUGHS

-Look at that.

They suit you, mate. Very, er, Trevor McDonald.

I feel a bit smart with these on.

-Very Trevor McDonald!

-Trevor McDonald!

Today's news is Simon and John are in Oxted, preparing a room.

-He looks good in them.

-Yeah.

I like these glasses, they've given me a new perspective.

Fancy a new career, do you, John?

Left...

Left a bit, Si. Left a bit.

You look like a black Woody Allen.

JOHN LAUGHS

But can the glasses magic up some muscle?

It's proper tight, that.

-Oh, it's stuck. Get your weight on it.

-Just get on it!

THEY LAUGH

-Cor, that is proper solid, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Your glasses might make you feel more intelligent, but...

..sometimes you just need a tool.

-He's got it now.

-Crowbar will usually do it, mate.

Last bit.

-Go on, son.

-Oh!

UPBEAT BRASS BAND MUSIC

And before long, the whole room is clear.

-Cor, it looks big now, though, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

Quite a lot of work to do in there.

-I reckon it would have taken us about a week, wouldn't it?

-Mm.

The walls have been plastered

and they've drafted in decorator Wayne

to brighten the place up.

The colour is London Stone and it's quite a funky colour.

-He seems to be doing all the work.

-Yeah.

We've got to get the floor down quick as possible, really.

Get all this mess cleared up.

Simon's getting palpitations cos of the mess in here, so...

-SIMON WHINES

-Like that.

He needs... Need to get it down and everything out.

-A tidy job is a...

-Happy job.

-Play it again, Si.

-Come on, John. Play it again.

SIMON MIMICS BANJO

He's playing the bloomin' floorboard.

They seem to do a lot of chatting and sitting about, don't they? When there's all that work to do.

-Looks like they have a good laugh, though.

-Yeah.

Do you want to go and work with them now, then?

CHRIS COUGHS

We'll find out just how long it does take Simon and John later.

Next job today takes us to suburbia,

to an area that's six miles south-west

of a thriving city centre,

and a stone's throw from a world-famous football team.

House prices here are almost bang-on the national average.

We're up north in Urmston, Greater Manchester.

Who's on the hunt for builders?

This 1950s three-bed semi belongs to 23-year-old sweethearts

James and Leah.

It's their first home together and means much more to them

than just bricks and mortar.

The house belonged to my great grandma.

Sort of nice to have the family house, I suppose,

from everyone's childhood memories and make it our own now, I suppose.

The house may have great childhood memories,

but it's been empty for two years and it's in a sorry state.

All the rooms have no carpets...

No carpet, er...

probably need plastering, or skimming, most of 'em.

All the ceilings are cracked upstairs,

so the plasterboard needs replacing.

We're not even looking at the garden yet!

-Yeah...

-Just leave that to overgrow.

And there's one room they really need to renovate

so they can at least move in.

-The bathroom is a mess.

-Yeah, it's a bomb site, basically.

THEY LAUGH

-There's half a wall in it.

-Half a wall in it,

where I started doing it on a Saturday.

It looks like someone's just gone in with a hammer.

-Which I did!

-THEY LAUGH

The brick's still everywhere. It's in the bath, it's in the sink.

The toilet's just about usable, I'd say.

The shower's been disconnected,

so we can't even use that if we needed to.

So, yeah, we just need it doing...

-quickly, please!

-Soon as!

It'd make more sense just to make it into one big room.

So, if we take the wall out...

-Yeah.

-..from next door,

we could push the bath into the corner

and make the space a bit bigger.

So, what's in the pot to transform the bathroom?

Our budget is 3,500 to 4,000 for the bathroom.

We've got our ideas,

but obviously if someone comes in and says, "Why don't you do this,

"do that?", definitely open to ideas,

cos we haven't got a clue, really, what we're doing!

Turning this pile of rubble into a bathroom may faze some people,

as those in the know will tell you.

If you're thinking about doing some of the building work yourself,

be sure you know what you're doing.

Calling in the professionals to mend YOUR mistakes

can create more work and push the price up.

Talk to your plumber about trade discounts.

They can often get everything you want at trade price,

and they'll have it ready to fit and ready when they turn up.

If you're planning to make a bathroom bigger,

draw a floor plan and measure everything to scale.

That way, you'll be able to see what it will look like

before you start work.

So, let's see which builders are going head-to-head

to try and win the bathroom job at James and Leah's.

They all know the bathroom's a complete wreck.

We need to be on our A-game with this one, mate.

Well, you're here, so you're not...

-That's a start.

-THEY LAUGH

But it's their design ideas that will impress James and Leah.

-What number?

-It's this one here with all the stuff outside.

Oh, God, yeah. Lots for you to be getting on with there, isn't there?

First to arrive...

are family firm, Tracy and Daz.

Hello, there, I'm Tracy, Daz's mum.

Hi, there, thanks.

They know they've got stiff competition.

Oh, Daz, somebody's beaten you to knocking the wall down,

one of your favourite things of all time!

One advantage to working with family

is that you know each other's strengths.

She can talk for England.

You know, a customer rings up for a price on a window,

and half an hour later, she knows everything about them.

-Hello!

-We're up here.

Nice and easy for me to get through.

You can put it in the van if you want.

I'll travel to people's houses and I've never met them before,

and they go, "Oh, how was your son's birthday at the weekend?"

And I'm like...

They'll need a watertight plan to beat their rivals.

We've got a new toilet seat,

-so I reckon we're halfway there!

-TRACY LAUGHS

I'm thinking turn the bath around.

Yeah, we'll have to check the roof out,

-see whether that's load-bearing or not.

-Long shower tray.

If we put in a full tray in here, where it's a walk-in shower...

Yeah.

We put a riser rail on the wall...

-Yeah.

-..so she's got a hand-held shower.

Put a rain shower in the ceiling.

That'll be amazing, a real shower experience,

Cos there's no point having a tray that size and not having...

the shower experience.

-DARYLL LAUGHS

-What are you laughing about?!

"All right, love, want to come and have a shower experience?"

So, Tracy and Daz think they can clean up with a fancy shower,

but will it wash with James and Leah?

That's the sort of shower.

So where your toilet is now, that's sort of the space you get,

so you've got a nice, big, long tray, good walk-in shower,

and you have a riser rail with a shower head on it, on the wall,

and then we'll put a square rain shower coming out the ceiling.

The other one that we'd looked at also has jets in it,

so works out about the same, so it makes no difference to us.

-Daz, what are you doing? You're sitting down on the job again.

-I've run out!

TRACY LAUGHS

I'm thinking on this one, keep that window, block that window,

give them some guidance on the tiles or whatever,

but, yeah, nice big tiles.

It'll be lovely. We could make it a real feature.

We're proposing to fully tile it.

We'll go for taps, which are more of a square finish.

Yeah, it is a square tap, but not just because it's square.

LAUGHTER

The sort of tap we priced it on, I don't know if you'd seen it,

-have you seen the waterfall taps?

-Yes.

-Yeah,

so that was the sort of thing we'd priced it on,

-because I think they're really cool.

-Yeah, they do look quite good.

Tracy and Daz are going for an ultra modern look.

They'll move the toilet and block one of the windows

to create a walk-in shower,

install a separate bath and a new sink with waterfall taps.

Then they'll tile everywhere, floor to ceiling.

Doesn't sound cheap, and James and Leah only have £4,000 to spend.

So, total for everything...

3,550.

-Right.

-Almost bang-on, that.

-THEY LAUGH

It took some doing, trust me!

Yeah!

If we say a week to ten days then...

That's fine, cos that's quicker than we thought.

We were thinking, like three or four weeks.

-No, no.

-The shower seems right on the money for Leah and James,

but there's still two more pitches to go.

Next in against Tracy and Daz...

-Hey, you all right?

-James, how you doing?

..are young guns Faiz and Tom.

They've been hatching a plan all morning.

Nice little space, this. Someone's made a start for us, Tom.

I wonder how many times you're going to bang your head on this today, Tom.

Tom, to work with on-site, erm...

he's calm.

That's going to be a bit of an issue.

We bring ideas that are different and outside the box.

-HIGH PITCHED

-Ha, ha, ha! Ha...

They're confident, so what's their plan?

Strip it all out, get a stud wall built here,

take out that wall behind,

and we'll offer some copper fixtures and fittings,

cut a bespoke copper towel radiator.

Copper taps, if the customers' feeling them.

Sounds suave.

So, Faiz and Tom are going all suave,

but will precious metal win them the job?

You can get a bathroom done

and it just looks like a normal, standard bathroom.

That's something that we don't want.

So, what we're planning on doing

is a white and grey-themed bathroom with copper fittings.

I think the penny's dropping now, isn't it?

Yeah, definitely. We're going to offer them a bespoke penny floor,

have 'em all one side up, barring the one,

so while you're doing your business, you can try and find the one that's the other way round.

So, that's real 1p pieces, tiled to the floor.

Just gives you a bit of... je ne sais quoi, as they say.

As they say down south!

Yeah, that's what we're looking to do for you.

Can we cash them in at a later date?

You could do, yeah. If you decide, you know, you need your money back,

-the money's in the flooring...

-All right, brilliant.

So, it is definitely worth something to have.

So, Faiz and Tom are going for a fancy copper theme throughout.

They'll also provide a walk-in shower, separate bath, sink and loo,

and the crowning glory is that penny floor.

But pennies soon add up to pounds, so what's it all going to cost?

In terms of budget, we've got you in and around the £4,000 mark, all-in.

That's roughly half for materials and half for labour.

So, how long do you think that's going to take, then?

Between ten to 15 days on the whole project.

I'm sure the penny floor will take a while, won't it?

-Yeah, that's a couple of days.

-Yeah, I imagine.

That's top of their budget and £450 more than Tracy and Daryll,

but there's still one more pitch to go.

Last up...

Hi, you all right?

..it's no-nonsense lads, Mark and Chris.

-Whoa, mate, what a mess.

-Wow.

-We're in!

-LAUGHTER

You literally can't swing a cat in here, mate!

Believe it or not,

these two claim to be able to cure any building calamity.

I mean, listen, if there's graft to get done, it just gets done.

-We've got to get into it, haven't we?

-It's got to get done.

Bang-on. What makes us a good team is the fact

that we are like a married couple, isn't it?

Absolutely made up with you, lad.

Yeah, well, clearly all rip-out.

We'd be giving them exactly what they want.

They want the bath in that area and the shower in that area.

-I think the key on this one, the budget is low.

-Mm-hm.

There is not enough in the budget to tile this bathroom,

so I personally want to go with shower splashbacks round the bath,

round the shower area, and cut the price down for it.

One sheet, done. You know, that's the wall covered.

I think that's our way forward.

-Agreed, mate. Agreed.

-Yeah?

So Mark and Chris have come up with the way to do the job within budget,

but will James and Leah like their idea?

Who tried swinging a cat upstairs?

That would've been me, unfortunately.

-Yeah.

-Cos the wall's half down...

It was a weekend job, so it never got finished.

Half the knocking down part's done, isn't it?

Yeah, so I've made it a bit easier for yous!

Yeah, good effort, good effort.

There is a couple of things that we will be having to

need to save a little bit of money on, ie the tiling.

-Yeah.

-We're suggesting that we go with a splashback.

There's some quite nice ones

that have got like, sparkles in them.

We suggest a light one, just because...

-A bigger feeling.

-Yeah.

-There's not much light in there already.

-Mm-hm.

I think this is going to be one of those key bathrooms

that we need to make cheap products look good.

When we say cheap, we know there's a massive scale out there.

I don't want bottom end.

That shower, exactly where you wanted it.

-Yeah.

-We don't just want to go for a square one,

we want to make it slightly longer.

A centred tap on the bath for them cosy nights in.

-Cos no-one wants the tap end.

-THEY LAUGH

Erm, the same on the sink.

The sink would have a small splashback

-with a bead going around it, as well.

-Yeah.

Like their rivals,

Mark and Chris plan to do all the structural work James and Leah want,

knocking the bathroom and toilet into one

and knocking through the back wall

to get more space from the hall cupboard to house the bath.

They know this is a big job with a tiny budget,

so have suggested a sparkly splashback

as an alternative to tiles to keep the costs down.

We're saying we can complete it for £3,900.

-Right.

-That's great.

-OK?

We're looking at completing this job within five to six days.

-Good turnaround.

-Yeah, of course...

That's £100 under budget, but not the cheapest quote of the day.

So, all three pairs have pitched.

Just to make it different, we went with a copper floor.

-Penny floor.

-I would have to check the notes,

is that £150 or £250 in pennies it's going to be?

-How many pennies is that?

-That's 2,500.

-LAUGHTER

-Yeah.

He's just worked it out! He's trying to do it on his hands!

You'll have to do better than that to try and catch him out, Daryll.

Now it's up to James and Leah to pick one of them to do the job.

It's going to be hard to decide which one,

because they're all really good, aren't they?

Mm, definitely. Definitely.

Will it be Tracy and Daryll's rainforest shower,

cheapest of the three?

Faiz and Tom's fancy copper and penny floor, bang on budget?

Or Mark and Chris's splashback idea?

Mid-price, but also under budget.

It's an agonising wait.

Only the winner's phone will ring. PHONE RINGS

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

-'Hello.'

-So, guys,

we'd be really happy if you'd do the bathroom for us,

-we loved your idea.

-That's brilliant, that's brilliant,

the penny's finally dropped in the Urmston area, then.

-Yeah.

-'Yeah, brilliant.'

We look forward to seeing you soon, then.

-Take care and we'll see you soon.

-'Cheers, thank you very much.'

-Cheers, pal.

-Thanks, bye.

-'Bye-bye.'

Just shows, you don't win everything and then you stick at it...

-Yeah.

-Luck was on our side today.

-Yeah, it definitely is.

It's not illegal to use the Queen's head on the floor, is it?

Faiz and Tom are in business,

but the losers walk away empty-handed.

I'm made up for them really, you know,

the ideas that they put across there, you know...

let's hope they can pull it off.

It was a gamble on their point of view,

because you either love that or you hate it,

and I think the fact that the customer really likes it, you know,

it sold 'em for that.

It's the first day of the build in Urmston,

and Tom and Faiz are hoping to complete the job in ten days.

And their rivals are watching their every move.

-I'm looking forward to this, mate.

-Yeah, sweet as.

Yeah, shall we get into this?

-Yeah.

-I'm quite looking forward to seeing this one.

To make more space for the bathroom,

Tom and Faiz are knocking through to the cupboard next door.

We had a structural engineer come out,

he wants us to put a bigger piece of timber in to support here,

and we need to get a timber in here to hold that as well,

so nothing falls on our swedes while we're working here.

I would've had Acro downstairs, as well as that one upstairs,

-cos once it goes, it goes, right?

-Oh, yes.

Yes, no head injuries today, please.

Tom sets to work cutting and installing the supporting timbers,

but Faiz is feeling a tad overwhelmed.

It's never a small job.

Once you start knocking out walls and you need to skim things,

it's a big project.

-Cheer up, Faiz!

-Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

I thought it wasn't going to take very long.

Maybe a spot of lunch will pep him up.

Yeah, bit of a light one today.

You need the energy when you're knocking out structural walls.

And adding to the pressure on the team...

Hi, guys, how are you doing?

..home owners James and Leah are here to check on progress.

At the moment, it's just getting it back to a shell

so we know what we're playing with.

Once we get that, we'll fly through everything.

-It's good seeing everything ripped out, it looks a lot bigger already.

-Yeah.

And Faiz wants to run a design suggestion past them.

We've never done it before, what we're proposing to do.

We want to make a bespoke wall out of slate.

-Oh, right.

-Yeah?

-Slate.

-That's interesting.

-Yeah, very interesting.

Yeah, give it a go. It should be really good.

Tom's a roofer...ain't that right?

-Yeah.

-So he's... He's bringing the roof...inside.

This is a slater's stake,

this is used to cut slates, traditionally.

A nice, bevelled edge rather than a straight cut.

It's going to look lovely, that, Tom.

Yeah, this is the first time I've done this.

This will just be a nice decorative wall.

They're going to look awesome, I know that.

I have every confidence in him, more than he might have in himself.

TOM LAUGHS

I know I'll make it look good,

it's just whether people like a roof in their bathroom!

TRACY LAUGHS

The bespoke wall has come at a price,

and at £2 a tile, Tom can't afford to break many.

Ahem...

I love it, mate. This ain't a roof on a wall.

He likes calling it that!

It don't... Does that look like a roof?

THEY LAUGH

-Does that look like a roof?

-It's got similarities.

-It's got...

-THEY LAUGH

I like it.

We'll find out whether they actually finish the slate wall later.

Back in Oxted, Surrey,

Paula's playroom is fast becoming a teenage den for her daughters.

With the floor finally in,

a sofa arrives and Simon and John can move on to the storage

which Paula agreed to pay for separately to keep the costs down.

We do like a flat pack, John, to be fair, mate, don't we?

-Ah!

-Flat pack again! What is with you people?

I can't bear it.

Why make stuff, eh?

There's a guy out there

who makes a living on building flat pack furniture for people.

Yeah. This is these two!

And here they are.

Girls!

What do you reckon?

-Yeah.

-You like that colour?

-I like them.

-Yeah.

Yeah? I said I didn't pick the colours Mummy wanted,

I picked the colours you might like, so I might get told off!

And with Maia and Layla's approval,

John's got a new business idea.

Burly interior designers.

It could go horribly wrong though, couldn't it?

-Yeah, cos Simon's colour-blind.

-Blind, colour-blind.

-That's why the room's beige.

-THEY LAUGH

Back to the job at hand, lads.

There's an entire bank of cupboards and a media unit to build.

Should be a piece of cake to this pair.

SIMON WHISTLES

They're reading the instructions?

That's for losers, don't do that.

When you build stuff yourself,

-you don't have to deal with instructions.

-No.

It's a painstaking process,

but they do make progress.

The door fronts are a gloss finish,

so they come with a film over the top to protect them,

and home owner Paula is keen to see how they're doing.

Hello.

-Come in.

-Hello.

THEY LAUGH

Do you know what? I thought I saw that on there,

I thought, uh-oh, they've bought blue.

LAUGHTER

They've gone and done multicoloured units!

THEY LAUGH

-Flat pack, yeah.

-Ah! I nearly had a heart attack!

-Aw!

So the girls have revealed to me

that there was something about pink chairs.

-Pink chairs, yes.

-What's that all about?

I think the girls' favourite colour is pink.

-Let's have a look.

-Oh, wow.

-They are pink.

-They are pink.

-They are pink, very pink.

-Very pink.

-We got the pink chairs,

just to remind you it's the girls' room.

Fair enough.

Coming together slowly, I think, yeah.

They're on the home straight.

The furniture is finished and the TV goes up.

-How's that?

-That's lovely.

Next, Paula wants John to cover the tiles of the window board in wood.

Measure 50 times, cut once.

Oh, no, he's covering up those lovely tiles.

No, you need to cover those.

He's just got to cut the wood to size.

Ah!

Schoolboy error.

I cut the wrong side of the line.

No!

-Oh, no.

-No...

-Oh, no, he can't do it.

-He's flummoxed, isn't he?

-Yeah, cos it's not flat pack.

-Yeah.

Find out if I've messed this up.

HE HUFFS AND WHISTLES

It's too tight. It's too tight, Wayne.

I've mis-measured something.

-Well, that's...

-Well, he's all right, then.

-Yeah.

-He's salvaged it.

-At least he's got too much.

I can just scrub it, trim a little bit off of it, I think.

You can always take away,

but you can't add when you're cutting, yeah?

So, John gives it a quick trim.

Let's just have a little look.

Going to see if it fits.

-How do you reckon?

-JOHN WHISTLES

Beautiful.

But...

He's going to go for it.

-It's bowing.

-Oh, what's happened? Oh, no...

Ah!

-I can't bear it.

-Oh, dear, that's a bit disastrous.

SHE LAUGHS

-It's splitting!

-Oh, oh!

Oh, no, just take it off.

Take it off immediately.

He's making me wince, has he split it?

-Oh, no, he's split it.

-Holy macaroni.

Determined not to give up,

John gets the filler out and the window board is finally on.

All we got to do is rub it down.

Just give it a lick of paint.

Just a few finishing touches...

and they're done.

It's taken a little bit longer than what we anticipated,

but it's always worth it in the end.

Before, Paula's playroom was in a shocking state.

-Ooh, yeah, look at it, it was a right old mess!

-Yeah.

Kids' dumping ground, wasn't it?

What will the losing builders think of it now?

-Ooh.

-Ooh...

-Oh, that's nice.

-Yeah.

In 2½ weeks, Simon and John have ripped everything out,

skimmed the walls, redecorated,

built masses of flat-pack furniture,

and laid a new floor.

-The floor's nice.

-They've got a new sofa.

There's a desk for Maia and Layla to do their homework,

a media unit in the chillout area...

and they've even personalised the blinds.

-That's very sweet.

-Yeah.

I like the blind.

It's a thumbs-up from the losers.

But it's the customer that counts.

And Simon and John are about to find out if Maia and Layla

like their new teenage den.

-Now...

-Ooh, here we go. I'm a bit nervous about this one, John.

Wow!

-What do you think, girls?

-It's changed so much.

-Yeah.

-HIGH PITCHED

-Yeah...

Oh, we've got our games in here...

Ah, cool.

They don't know where to go, do they? Look!

All those cupboards, more stuff to put in them...

You can watch your, like, your boring documentaries.

-Yes.

-And we can watch kids' stuff!

-OK.

Yeah, that's the idea...

-Yeah, "Get out, Mum" - that means.

-That was the whole thing, yeah.

If you can't find us, just always look in this room.

Yay!

What about...a picture of John and Simon?

-Yeah. That would be cool.

-With their cups of tea.

-Yeah.

-Ah, that would be cool!

-We should send them one of those, mate.

-Yeah!

-They'll be getting one of those in the post.

We're going to try and keep it like this.

OK. Pinky?

Pinky swear.

-Ah, I'm really pleased they like it.

-I'm happy with that.

-Yeah, definitely.

-Well done, mate. Well done.

-Good job.

-Beautiful, mate.

That's three very satisfied customers.

-It's not our forte to design something, really.

-No.

-And we've designed it as well, so...

-Yeah.

Especially when you're colour-blind.

-I am colour-blind, mate.

-Yeah.

-Your blond hair's lovely.

JOHN LAUGHS

Back up north, in Urmston, Manchester,

James and Leah's bathroom is beginning to look like a bathroom.

And the roof, sorry, wall, is finished.

-It looks quite...

-I quite like that.

-I do like it.

-I think that looks really nice.

It was a good idea.

Next, Faiz moves the new bath into position.

Oh, snug as a bug!

Faiz has got his bath up the stairs, that's it, day off now.

Squeeze in, Faiz!

-Fair play.

-Yeah.

I could relax here.

After a long day's work.

It's all right, actually.

It's a nice bath.

-Good job they're only small people.

-I was going to say, yeah!

The boys won this pitch on the bespoke copper look.

The taps are in, the rest of the tiles are up,

and next is that unique penny floor.

I'm looking forward to seeing the penny floor.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to that one.

Covering a whole floor with 1p pieces

isn't for the faint-hearted,

but Faiz has a clever trick up his sleeve.

It's going down quite quick,

because we've backed it on mosaic backing sheets.

How many pennies do you reckon?

A fair old whack, isn't it?

And he didn't buy these from a shop.

-Oh, no.

-In my evenings, spare time,

I sat at home and started laying the pennies on to the mosaic sheets.

I have to give a shout out to my nephew, Ishan, he did help me.

Fair play, nephew!

-Child labour!

-THEY LAUGH

Once Faiz has finally laid 8,000 pennies, the floor is complete.

They're on the home straight.

-Easy now.

-You all right, Thomas?

How are you getting on?

It's all right, mate. Just screwing this head on now.

And the shower's in, mate.

Looking good, innit?

The sink goes in...

Fits like a glove, that does.

You got it there, Tom?

Oh, there they are.

As does the loo.

-Me, to you.

-To me.

-To you.

-To me.

-To me.

-To you. To you!

TOM LAUGHS

I'm copying you!

-TRACY:

-The most important piece.

And the build is finished.

Home stretch, we're all done.

Fair play to you mate. You've put some hours in on this, you have.

That's all come together well, hasn't it?

-Looks nice.

-I think they've got a very nice bathroom for the budget.

Until now, James and Leah's bathroom

was more building site than boutique,

with half a demolished wall and no room for anything other than rubble.

Not any more!

What will the rivals think of it now?

-Turned out all right, hasn't it?

-It looks lovely.

-All in all, yeah. They've done a good job...

-Yeah.

They have done a good job, it looks nice.

It's taken Faiz and Tom 14 days of hard graft

to clear out and rebuild James and Leah's bathroom.

Yeah, do you know what?

Great job. They've pulled it off.

It's been a massive job.

They've knocked down supporting walls

and made everywhere structurally sound,

so they can give James and Leah the bathroom they always wanted.

What was a separate toilet has become a walk-in shower.

There's a bath against the bespoke slate wall...

-The slates work really well, don't they?

-I like those.

And the copper look came through,

with the copper taps and the penny floor.

That floor looks well, doesn't it?

-It's cool, smart.

-Yeah, I like that idea.

It could do with a few homely touches, like a loo seat,

but the builders are impressed.

-It's different. Nobody else is going to have a bathroom like that, are they?

-No.

Totally unique.

But it's the customer that counts.

Faiz and Tom are in position.

Time to find out if James and Leah like it.

-We've been waiting for this one, haven't we, Tom?

-Yeah.

Nice little project, this, wasn't it?

Wow. Finally finished!

Can't believe it.

Look at all the slates, as well.

Really nice.

-Looks good, doesn't it? With the copper contrast.

-Yeah.

-TOM WHISTLES

-The slate wall, looking good.

And our handmade taps.

-Mm-hm.

-They look great.

It's a lot different from how it used to be.

-Thank God!

-THEY LAUGH

-And the pennies.

-Oh, the signature floor.

Just a bit of touching up and it'll look good.

-That's your job.

-JAMES LAUGHS

-OK!

-THEY LAUGH

I think we just need to go back and just buff it all down, don't we, and give it a good polish?

-Yeah.

-To bring it out properly.

James and Leah are delighted with their new bathroom.

-I think it'll be a ten. A solid ten.

-No, no, no.

-Don't go ten.

-THEY LAUGH

-Always room for improvement.

-Exactly.

9.5 we got, that's all right, that's not bad!

It's good, that.

I think you've earned a brew there, boys.

Well done! Job's a good 'un.