Episode 71 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to the show.

If you were in the market to buy yourself a property,

-what would you want, do you think?

-A bungalow, perhaps.

Maybe a flat near trendy cafes and bars

or a family home near good schools.

Yes, you can find fine examples of all of those under the hammer.

So, you've decided on the property you want but what about your budget?

Yeah, and when you've spent the money,

will that leave you enough to do the property up?

These are all questions that had to be answered by today's developers.

Here's what they bought.

'In Port Talbot, this lot isn't just a plot.'

It's a plot of land with the sort of beginnings of a property on it.

We returned to this Wimbledon property

to see if it can finally net a profit after it cost a lot.

-1.2 million.

-Lot of money.

And in Telford, Shropshire,

this house doesn't appear to have a lot of something vital.

Hm-mm. Hopefully that's not the only toilet.

All these properties have been sold at auction

and we'll find out who bought them and what they paid for them

when they went under the hammer.

Sold. Sir, madam, well done.

I'm in Wales for our first lot.

Port Talbot straddles the eastern rim of Swansea Bay,

where Aberavon Sands and Morfa Beach

are popular with surfers and beachcombers alike.

However, there's more industry than recreation in evidence here.

The Port Talbot Steelworks and other heavy industries

dominate the landscape - or should that be sandscape?

# Go down

# Down to the sea... #

Well, I'm in the appropriately named Sandfields area of Port Talbot

to see a property which is one of those which really gets you thinking

because the average price for a three-bed semidetached around here

is around £70, £80, £90,000.

The guide price on this one was just £22,000.

There must be something wrong.

Yes, indeed.

Unfortunately, this property was set on fire while it was empty

and the damage is so extensive that it's too dangerous to go in.

So, how on earth do we begin to assess

something that we can't enter?

We're going to have to start assessing things as best we can

from the exterior of the property.

We're going to start looking at - is their services, are they still OK?

How are the walls?

Obviously the roof doesn't exist very much any more.

So, we're going to try and glean whatever information we can.

Um...

Which isn't going to be that easy.

# There ain't no easy way No there ain't no easy way out... #

Apart from no roof, half of the floor joists have collapsed

and the other half are about to.

There are two collapsed chimney stacks and that's what you CAN see.

Fire and smoke residues carry real health risks

and there can be all sorts of chemicals and compounds

that you really don't want to be breathing in.

Does it go without saying that this is a job for a professional?

So, there needs to be a proper risk assessment and a survey.

There are specialists who deal with smoke and fire damage properties,

so do some research.

The thing about fire damage is sometimes it's not quite apparent

how much actual structural damage has actually been done.

In this case...everything in there is going to have to be replaced.

From the joists, to the roof, to the electrics, to the plumbing.

In some ways that's bad because it's a lot more work to do

but in other ways it's quite good

because you will then be starting from a completely clean slate.

And there can be no illusion...

..you're going to have to do everything.

That guide price would definitely attract potential buyers,

but I guess many of them would have quickly turned tail when they saw it.

So, why would we want to buy it, then?

I mean, it's a heck of a lot of work

but you've got to start thinking about other things.

The garden, for instance, it's a nice size.

The location is a very popular area, close to the beach,

good transport links.

So, suddenly we're viewing it almost like it's a plot of land,

which it certainly is, with the sort of beginnings of a property on it.

View it like that and, actually, hm-mm,

it's quite an appealing opportunity.

I'm serious. This could be something great.

This is a corner site

and, yes, whatever you build does have to be attached to next-door.

But there is a buyer for every property

at the right price, of course.

Bearing in mind this lot is guided at £22,000,

what does a local estate agent

think this property could or should become?

They could possibly look at extending the property

and putting an extension on, which will add ground floor accommodation

which people need these days.

A property like this could involve a lot of expense.

Demolition and clearing costs will be a big part of the maths on this project.

So, is this a rebuild as it was, or a much bigger house?

What do the numbers tell us?

If it's currently done up to the standard that most properties

are in this area, and it hasn't got an extension on it,

then you're most probably looking at £80-£85,000.

If the extension was put on, you would most probably achieve

something between £90-95,000.

Hm-mm, if you take into account the extension build costs

you might not make much, if anything. And what about rental?

Without the extension, it's going to be 450-475 per calendar month.

Well, not a project for the faint-hearted,

but even a property in a state like this can still be a money-spinner

if you can buy it at the right price.

Let's find out what that was when it went under the hammer.

We have, basically, a shell of a house. Guide price £22,000.

20,000 can we see to start? Make it 18, if you like, I'm in your hands.

18? Wave a hand at me. Make it 15, then, if you want.

Thank you, 15, I've got you there. At 15,000 on my left-hand side, at 15.

16, now, can I see? 16, sir, 17?

17? 17. 18?

18. 19? 19?

19,000, no.

At 18,000 on my right-hand side, here, then. 19...

19, thank you. 19, seated. 20 now?

20. 21, 22, 23.

24? 24. 25? 25, no.

You're saying no, on my left, it's with you at 24,000.

At 24,000, then, for the first time.

Second time. Third and last time...

25. 25. 26? No.

At 25, then, seated.

His first bid at 25,000, might buy it.

At 25, I'll take a half from anybody, if you want.

Otherwise, 25,000 for the first time, second time,

third and last time, at £25,000...

Sold. Sir, madam, well done, yours. Your number, please.

Successful bidder Andy was hidden from view during this busy auction,

but his bid of £25,000 was enough to seal the deal.

I went along to the property,

or the four walls of what remains of the property,

to meet him and his daughter Hannah to find out what their plans were.

-Andy, Hannah, good to meet you both.

-Nice to meet you.

-Thank you.

Right.

ANDY LAUGHS

-Interesting property.

-It is.

-What was it that appealed?

-The location.

Three minutes walk from the beach, sunny Wales, you know, it's good.

What more could you possibly want? Apart from maybe a roof

-and an inside.

-Yeah! And everything else.

Now, I imagine a lot of people were put off by the state of this.

-I think so, yeah.

-Why weren't you?

Um, it's similar to what we've done several times before, so it's no...

-Nothing new to us.

-And "us" being...?

What, you? You're a builder, or what?

-No. I've been gravitated in the profession.

-OK.

-But you've got a team of people...

-That's right,

we've got six of us altogether.

Andy has gravitated, as he puts it, to his property development business

over the last 18 years.

He normally renovates and rents the properties.

And daughter Hannah has been working with him for the past year,

the last four months of which have been spent

sorting out the company's IT issues.

So, does she find the prospect of this job daunting?

I'm looking forward to having a go.

I haven't done it before so, it will be my first hands-on job, I think.

But you fancy getting out of the office and into the...

HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

..front-line?

Yeah. Yeah. I'd like to get my hands dirty.

Taking on a project like this, then, how do you view this building,

which bit of it do you think you can salvage, if any?

The three walls - that's it. Everything internally is going to go.

# Starting all over again is gonna be rough... #

Andy has paid 25 grand for three walls,

but he and Hannah are undaunted. So what's the plan?

Initially, we're going to cut a kind of hold in the window there

to get a machine inside and we're just going to clear everything out,

totally gut it inside.

Then wait until the planning permission is put through

for the single-storey extension at the rear here,

and a bedroom in the attic space.

So, you're going to extend significantly?

-Yes, yeah.

-You've got plans in your hand?

-Oh, I have, yeah.

-Is that what it's for?

-Yes.

Just talk me through what you're going to do.

As you can see, we've got a...

There we go, single-storey extension

-that extends the whole width of the building.

-Oh, wow.

That'll be the kitchen/diner and we're hoping to put a dormer window

-in the loft space, which is this here.

-Right.

Facing the back garden

and we'll have a nice sizeable room in the attic space.

-It's three/four-bedroom house.

-Three/four,

-but with a bathroom upstairs.

-That's right.

-And completely new inside.

-Oh, completely new.

-Plastered walls and all that kind of stuff that people like.

-Exactly.

So, what do you reckon the budget is,

for if you get the opportunity to do everything you want?

Oh, 30,000.

OK, £30,000 is not a lot of money to do this job,

but Andy is confident that if he uses his well-trusted team

and works six or seven days a week he can turn this around.

And, in this case, he's not going to rent it. He's hoping to sell on.

The sky is the limit for the family team

unless planning brings them crashing back to Earth.

So, this is going to delay things in terms of the timescale, presumably.

Hopefully we'll hear something back within six to eight weeks.

And if it's a yes?

Probably looking at six months.

And if it's a no, well,

property developers don't want to think about that word.

But six months could be a good amount of time

for certain family members to learn the trade.

And what involvement, if Dad lets you, would you like to have?

-I mean, how hands dirty would you like to get?

-Full-on.

-Full-on?

-Yeah.

I've been sat in front of the computer

for the last, what, four months?

-Yeah.

-I'd like to learn the trade, really...

-Learn a few skills.

-Yeah.

This sounds like it's all news to you this.

-No, she's been talking about it for a while.

-Why haven't you let her?

-She's got more than enough to do at home.

-Recently left my job, so...

-Right.

-It's a complete change for me.

-Wow.

Want to learn everything that my dad knows, I want him to teach me,

because I'd like to work for him full-time and...

..help him retire.

-And then take over the business?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Oh, brilliant.

-Well, a major transformation in store.

-Yes.

We really look forward to seeing how you get on. Nice to meet you.

-And you, too.

-Good luck.

-Nice to meet you, Martin.

Well, it's a big project by anyone's standards

and I can't wait to see the transformation.

Big question is - will Dad let Hannah get involved?

I do hope so. You can find out later in the show.

MUSIC: London Calling by The Clash

It was back in October 2013 when I first visited

this former beauty salon in Wimbledon, West London.

With a guide price of 700,000,

it came with lots of space to play with -

more than 3,000 square feet - spread over three floors.

# London calling to the faraway towns... #

Now, you can see the front desk area here,

and there are loads of treatment rooms further back.

It currently has A1 business usage, so that means a different retailer

can move in here without applying for change of use.

But it doesn't cover financial services

or hot food outlets and restaurants.

So, all in all, it's a versatile, large commercial space

but it is right in the heart of a busy, thriving shopping centre.

So, it's looking good so far. Now, where are those beauty rooms?

# Lipstick, powder and paint

# Lipstick, powder and paint... #

Not much of a chance of a spray tan or a pedicure here these days.

And as I wandered through this maze of corridors

and treatment rooms, I wondered if a retail venture

was the best bet for this property.

So, on the upper floors there are loads of further treatment rooms -

it is a real warren up here -

but I'm thinking this is ripe for residential conversion.

You could easily fit in loads of flats up here.

Now, you would have to sort out separate access

as you currently have to go through the shop downstairs

and, of course, you would need to apply for planning permission.

But we are right slap bang in the centre of town here

and property values are just so high and flats are in demand.

This place could be a gold mine.

And if that proved to be the case,

well, this place even had its own walk-in safe -

somewhere handy to store that bullion.

# The gold dust at my feet

# On the sunny side of the street... #

No doubting the potential of this building,

but unlocking its riches would hinge on

obtaining that all-important planning permission.

It took an exciting auction battle to decide the new owners

and that battle started with a very big number indeed.

It's a good-sized mid-terraced building,

sort of round 3,500 square ft.

700 anywhere?

Not going to go below seven.

700 down here, 710? 710. 720...

Brace yourselves, this auction was just about to get very interesting.

One million. 1,010,000?

10,000. 20,000, 30,000.

40,000, 50,000,

60,000, 70,000,

80,000, 90,000, 100,000.

1.1 million. 110.

120, 130.

150. 1,150,000.

160, 170,

180, 190, 200.

1.2 million. 210.

220? 210 with you, 1,210,000.

220 elsewhere?

1,210,000.

First time,

second time,

third and last time, if you're all done...

Sold, 1,210,000.

Well bought, it's a good buy, Freehold.

That huge bid of just over 1.2 million

was made by Steve and his three cousins.

There were six family members who had a stake in this purchase

and I caught up with Steve to find out what kind of makeover

they had planned for this former beauty salon.

-Steve, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Now, did you enjoy the auction?

It was amazing. The feeling...

Finally get a property with my cousins and my brother.

So, how many of you were there on the day bidding for this?

There's actually six partners, but there was four us there.

And what happened after the hammer went down, what did you do?

The group hug, it was like a scrum of a rugby match.

We just all got together, we celebrated, it was...

-The feeling was unbelievable.

-1.2 million.

-A lot of money, but...

Yes, a lot of money indeed,

and that's before any development started.

So, what was the plan?

We've had a look and there's no sort of fish bar or restaurants here.

We've all got background from restaurants cos that's how we were brought up,

and our fathers and our families and...

You know, we started from washing plates

-to running the restaurants for our family.

-Really?

Yes, and we're all sort of saying, like,

"Why don't we have a little dabble in that?"

So, as a little boy, you grew up in restaurants washing up out the back?

Never a Saturday off, never a Sunday off.

We had the hardest education ever with our fathers,

they were really strict,

and customer service was very, very important to our families.

I mean, they came over from Cyprus in the '60s

and that's how they started, washing up plates

and through help of family, again, they ended up with a restaurant.

'So a fish restaurant was the big idea for the ground floor.

'But for the first and second floors,

'the hope was to develop four two-bedroom flats at the very least.'

With this property, as it is at the moment,

-are you looking to extend and create extra square footage?

-Oh, yes.

There's a yard at the back that we hope to...

Also there's a flat roof, which we're hoping to build right out to the top.

Also we're hoping to get another floor within this building.

So, you know, four by two-bedroom is the minimum that I'm after.

-So it could get even bigger, Steve?

-Well, I'm being reserved.

-Wait until we come back, watch this space!

-Absolutely.

What is the budget that you plan on spending here?

Have you all got that magic figure in your head?

We think the flats - half a million. And we think the shop - 200,000.

Wow. So, even more big numbers.

With that £700,000 budget added to their £1.2 million,

they were heading towards a £2m investment,

and were hoping to use every available nook and cranny.

Extending upwards seemed like a clever move

and Steve and his family calculated that this might be possible

because neighbouring properties had done the same.

This really was an ambitious project,

but it seemed that their early dishwashing apprenticeships

had created an ambitious family.

At the end of the day, we will be employing top people here -

top builders, top architects, top designers for the fish shop.

These are all people that are hungry for a success, it's not just us.

So...but we will be hard bosses, we will be hard to please,

so we will be on top of things.

We returned eight months later to find out

how the family fish enterprise had gone,

but it appeared their ambitions had been thwarted a little

and the huge ground floor was still very much a work in progress.

The last remnants of the beauty salon had been stripped out,

but it was planning permission that had proved to be

the biggest stumbling block.

Yeah, the planning process we had to go through with the restaurant

was quite difficult. We had to have change of use.

Before, it was a retail outlet

and obviously we needed A3 use for the restaurant and also takeaway.

And also we had to apply for a premises licence,

which allowed us to sell wine and beer.

The boys decided to make the fish restaurant top priority

and, as a temporary measure,

lease the upper floors to a letting agency.

Steve talked us through the plans for the ground floor.

This is the space that we've got to work with.

And we're going to divide the whole restaurant,

half of it being the cooking

and the other half of it being a seating area.

To the left of me there will be all the fish range,

the grills, the chefs working,

and to the right-hand side there'll be all the booth seating,

and in the front area it's going to be high-level seating.

Also, we're going to divide the shop front,

where part of it is going to be for the takeaway

and there'll be a counter where they'll get served

to take their fish and chips home.

During the strip out, the builders made an unexpected discovery

underneath the floor.

Such an old building,

we found a river going beneath the flooring here.

I've heard that there's not a lot that we can do...

We'll just cover it up

and it's a stream that goes along underneath the building here.

But it was a shock when we first saw it.

With six family members involved in the design process,

it must have been a nightmare to keep everyone happy?

There was six of us involved.

Everyone had different ideas and, of course,

we're restaurant people, they're designers people.

So, after a discussion with the cousins, we decided

that we'll leave the food and the menu to us

and let the designers get on with designing the place.

It'll be nice to see when it's finished.

Taking the property from beauty salon to fish restaurant and flats

was clearly going to be a bit of a long haul

and it would be a further six months on before we would see

if the family would be, um, well, serving in Wimbledon.

Find out how it turned out later in the programme.

Still to come, there are things to do in Telford.

I think a rewire is in order...

..and also a bit of a hoover.

And we find out if Steve is cleaning up with his fish restaurant.

I'm really enjoying even serving on the tables now that it's open.

I've really enjoyed it.

But first, we're docking back at Port Talbot now,

an industrial town, but one that also boasts golden sands.

And near to this beach you could get a house for around £80,000...

but not this one.

The guide price on this one was just £22,000.

There must be something wrong.

I look forward to collecting my award

for understatement of the year

because there was a lot wrong with this house.

A fire had gutted it, leaving nothing but rubble.

But Andy and his daughter Hannah were up to the challenge,

buying the property for £25,000.

And they had plans for this place

and a plan to get Hannah more involved in the family business.

Just talk me through what you're going to do.

As you can see, we've got a...

-..single-storey extension...

-OK, got it.

-..which extends the whole width of the building.

-Oh, wow.

And that'll be the kitchen/diner.

And hoping to put a dormer window in the loft space,

-which is this, here...

-Right.

-..facing the back garden.

And we'll have a nice, sizeable room in the attic space.

And what involvement, if dad let's you, would you like to have?

I mean, how hands dirty would you like to get?

I want to learn...everything that my dad knows.

I want him to teach me cos I'd like to work for him full-time and...

..help him retire.

-Yeah, and then take over the business?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, yeah.

So, green shoots of restoration for this semi-detached,

but Andy would need to draw on all his building experience

to breathe life back into this broken building.

# And I will try

# To fix you... #

We came back nine months later

and, from the outside, it looks like Andy has done a great job.

Together with daughter Hannah and grandson William,

Andy has come back to the house to tell us what's been going on.

It's gone under a complete renovation

because the original property...

We were only left with three walls.

Basically, we cut a hole in the back of the property to get

a machine in, in order to empty the property of the debris completely.

And then it was, more or less, put the roof on, roof trusses,

and do a complete refurb on the interior.

We had planning permission to put an extension on the back,

a seven-metre by four-metre extension.

That went tremendously well.

I think we put the extension up in ten days.

What was ruins, so unsafe we couldn't go in,

is now a large living room.

And off to the side of it

is a small utility room with a brand-new boiler.

This leads on to a spacious bathroom,

with a shower and a modern suite.

But even more impressive is the way the open plan living room

leads to an absolutely stunning kitchen/diner.

This is the new extension that we've built onto the property.

As we were... Our intentions are to sell the property,

we added a little bit of extras for the property.

As with the worktops,

the sink and the cooking appliances,

erm... We've upgraded things a bit to our normal rental properties

and I'm really pleased with the way it's ended.

It's all looking fabulous downstairs.

But what about upstairs?

Yeah, we...

Unfortunately, we couldn't get planning permission for the loft

conversion here, but I'm very pleased how the upstairs turned out.

We rejigged the upstairs completely

to have three reasonably sized bedrooms

and a family bathroom here, with a shower over the bath.

In the two main bedrooms,

we had built in wardrobes installed there,

so it's quite a nice layout.

Oh, I'm very pleased with the end product.

It's nice, clean lines, everything is new.

So, very pleased with how it turned out.

Andy has every right to be pleased.

This house was a total wreck

and he's managed to turn it around in nine months

and has spent £35,000,

only £5,000 more than his original budget.

But were there any challenges

and what is he most proud of?

There were no problems with this property.

We thoroughly enjoyed every part of the aspect of the renovation.

The kitchen, I think, was the best part of the property.

This is a great family kitchen,

ably demonstrated by Hannah, William and grandpa Andy.

But did Hannah manage to finally muck in and learn the family trade?

It turns out I wasn't as hands-on, or hands-on at all.

Erm, life got in the way.

I'm a single mum with two children, so it ended up...

I ended up taking care of the rentals,

as opposed to being hands-on with this property.

So, is Hannah disappointed she didn't get her hands dirty?

Yeah, I was frustrated, but I'm looking forward to the future

when I can, sort of, get involved in the next project,

when my little one is at school full-time.

And I've no doubt Andy will be happy to teach Hannah

when William's schooldays start.

Is she impressed by her dad's work?

I think he's fantastic.

It's an amazing job to see, from the rubble that it was,

to what it is now is amazing.

I wouldn't mind living here myself.

Erm... And the quality and the workmanship

that he's put into the house,

it makes me want to come out and work with him.

Well, like me, she's impressed.

But are two local estate agents feeling the same way?

The changes are really good.

Downstairs is open plan,

opening into the kitchen, which is great.

The fittings are of high quality

and the renovation has been done

to a very high standard.

It would have been a big bonus to have the extra bedroom.

Didn't think they would get the planning,

as there's nothing here in the area that's been done to that level.

It does tick all the boxes

and we have a lot of interest in the area at the moment.

And they are always looking

for a property that has a little

bit extra, ie an extension,

a nice new kitchen, nice new bathroom.

Andy bought the property at £25,000,

and having done a lot of the work himself,

his renovation cost was 35,000,

meaning a total spend of £60,000.

So, what could it resell for?

We would market this property at £125,000.

This property would sell between £115,000 and £120,000.

A top valuation of 125,000

could mean a potential profit, before taxes and expenses,

of £65,000.

-It's a good price.

-It's a very good result, yes. Very good result.

Another renovation done.

What's the plan for the family now?

Will Hannah finally get to learn the trades?

Well, I hope he's going to show me the ropes and, yeah,

teach me all the...

How to plaster and do all the grafting.

For the future,

I'm retiring, you're taking over.

Telford in Shropshire, one of the new towns of the 1960s,

is named after Thomas Telford,

the famous 18th-century Scottish civil engineer

whose work on the local canals and roads

earned him the nickname of the "Colossus of Roads".

That's r-o-a-d-s, get it?

Yeah. Well, it's all Greek to me, too.

Well, three miles northwest of the town centre,

on this popular ex-local authority estate,

is the property I'm here to see.

Three-bedroomed semi detached

had a guide price of £65,000 plus,

but for that you have to replace the fence to start off with!

Or maybe you could just take it all down

and turn it into a driveway?

You'll need to get permission from the council to lower the curb,

but it's a good-sized space at the front here.

Promising so far.

Oh, previous owner obviously had a dog.

Now, I love dogs, I've got two.

But when it comes to properties,

it really depends on how the owner has been with the dog,

or what kind of dog it is, cos they can cause all sorts of damage.

Erm... But anyway, we will be aware of that.

Through the front door, a useful little entrance area here.

Erm, and then down to the kitchen.

Now, it is an ex-local authority property

and that generally means you get a lot of space for your money,

and things like the kitchens are really well proportioned.

It's not quite big enough for a sort of kitchen/diner, but it's...

It's OK. It obviously needs a bit of refurbishment,

well, new units, basically.

A nice little added bonus,

useful little utility area there.

You might want to think about incubating that with the kitchen.

Bit of work, but could be worth it.

One design feature that I'd certainly want to

look at a way of resolving is here.

The toilet is actually situated

on this little, sort of, semi-landing bit.

Not ideal.

Hmm.

Hopefully, that's not the only toilet.

# How bizarre

# How bizarre, how bizarre... #

There's also a good-sized living room to the right of the front door,

with nice big windows and an appealing dual aspect.

There's work to be done here but, so far, I'm impressed.

What about upstairs?

Well, coming back to doggy damage, it's not exactly damage but...

That stair carpet is a classic.

HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

Anyway, what have we got up here?

Three half-decent sized bedrooms, especially that one.

Really good dual aspect there.

So, we like that. And two reasonable sized extra bedrooms.

One thing which is a bit of a disappointment,

as I kind of suspected,

erm... This is a bathroom, but it doesn't have the loo.

The only loo is that one at the bottom of the stairs there,

so ideally you'd want to move that up.

Now, you could get rid of what's here, which is actually the boiler,

move that downstairs into the kitchen perhaps,

create a bit of extra space. That's one option.

But here, in the rear bedroom,

or one of the rear bedrooms, another potential problem.

Well, not really a potential problem,

just something you're going to have to look at.

Oh, my goodness, he says, kneeling down on the floor gingerly.

Only one socket for the whole room.

Now, in a room like this, you would expect around four.

So, I think a rewire is in order...

..and also a bit of a hoover.

-# Who let the dogs out?

-Who, who, who, who?

-# Who let the dogs out?

-Who, who, who, who?

-#

On second thoughts, maybe just some fresh carpet would be better.

Despite the bathroom/toilet layout,

this is a well proportioned family house,

with just a bit of modernising needing to be done.

But for a truly great family home,

you need a good outside play area.

Well, at the back of the property, a reasonable sized garden.

Obviously, needs a bit of tender loving care,

some plants would be nice and a slightly better lawn.

But apart from that, it's not a bad size.

While I'm out here, just a quick glance at the rear of the property.

Soffit up there could do with replacing.

It looks to me like that might be asbestos sheets,

so you have to be careful about that.

But other than that,

all in all, it's a pretty solid and together house.

And in case you were wondering, the soffit is the board

that runs along the wall, protecting the rafters.

And, moving swiftly on, I reckon

that guide price of £65,000 plus

represents great value for money.

Let's see if a local estate agent agrees.

Externally to the property,

there's not much you can do externally to the rear.

It is a small garden. It's what it is.

I would just keep it low-maintenance,

small lawn area and a paved patio.

The front is actually quite a good size.

And, really, what I would suggest is

try and create some off-road parking, particularly at the side.

The junction might be a little bit difficult, but at the side,

the neighbouring property's got a driveway, so there's

a good chance you could possibly get a driveway on the front garden.

Of course, permission would be needed from the council to drop

the curb, but that looks possible given the neighbouring properties.

Does the agent think there is any more value to be added?

If the current owners actually made significant changes to the layout,

ie putting a toilet upstairs, opening out the kitchen

into the outhouse, I would value this between 105 and £110,000.

And what about rental figures?

If this was to go on the open rental market,

I don't think it would make any difference whether you made

any changes to the layout or not,

so I would just actually just do a quick refurb.

And I would suggest a rental valuation of around

£575 per calendar month.

Well, it's a good, solid, little property

that I don't think needs too much to sort it out.

Yes, a good one to go for.

Let's see who agreed when it went under the hammer.

A three-bedroom, semi-detached house in need of modernisation.

It's at 60 to start me.

60 bid, seated.

At £60,000.

65, can I see now?

At £60,000.

I'll go in ones if it helps?

Bid's at 60. 61.

No? At 61,000 seated. At 61.

62, 63, 64,

65, 66, 67,

68, 69, 70,

71, 72, 73,

74, 75...

No? At 75. Your bid, seated, sir, at £75,000.

76 anywhere else?

If not, I'm selling it at £75,000 for the first time...

£75,000 for the second time...

76, 77.

Lady's bid now, 78.

79...

No? 79. Still with you, sir.

80 anywhere else?

If not, 79 once, 79 twice,

third and final time, £79,000...

GAVEL TAPS Your lot, sir. Well done.

The successful bid of £79,000 was made by Tony and his wife Shirley.

Full-time service engineer Tony

is a part-time property developer

who is building a portfolio.

I met him back at his latest acquisition to find out

the plan for this one.

-Tony, good to meet you.

-Hello.

Congratulations. Tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

We decided the time was right to get another rental property -

we've got two already.

And, more recently,

there's some money coming our way, so...

Yeah, we decided we wanted to look.

The time was right.

Erm... The weather was right.

Our last two houses have been done over winter,

they've been winter refurbs.

This hopefully will be a summer refurb, which will be a bit easier.

So what's the plan for it?

It's rental.

In terms of what we're going to do to it,

it's been a bit difficult having not seen it properly

to know what needed doing.

But all the wallpaper will be stripped off,

skirting boards off, radiators out...

..architrave doors gone...

When it's finished, it'll be the traditional rental,

white skirting boards...

..magnolia walls.

But it will be clean, tidy, a lot more power points,

satellite TV, you know, the things that people want

that I don't want them laying cables all around the place for.

We'll do what needs to be done.

It'll need... Fit a new kitchen.

We've got to get a toilet in the bathroom upstairs somehow.

Haven't quite figured that one out yet

cos I haven't had enough time to measure the dimensions.

But, erm, we'll do it somehow.

It's an odd location, at the moment, for the toilet, isn't it?

It is.

One suggestion was taking that out completely.

It's not much use, but I don't like that idea.

I think for a family, which is what we want,

a downstairs toilet is very useful,

so we've got to get another one upstairs.

We've got to squeeze it, somehow, in the bathroom.

I'm glad to hear that Tony does plan to make the kitchen more

family-friendly by utilising the utility area.

He's earmarked a total budget of £15,000

and a timescale of three to four months

before it's ready for the rental market.

In the past, Tony has taken a lead on the renovations,

only this time, he's handing the reins over

to stepsons Adam and Kieran.

The boys have picked up the experience.

-They've now just formed their own limited company.

-Oh, right.

One of them's been doing weekend building work and stuff anyway,

so they're going to be our commercial builders for...

-We're their first major project.

-Wow. So, you're going to employ your...

We're going to employ... So, we're going to have to pay

commercial rates, not family rates.

-Well, they're still family?

-Well, they are and the good news is that,

right now, the finance is coming from the younger one anyway.

It's not the bank of Mum and Dad this time - it's the bank of son.

-Oh, right. Oh, excellent.

-That's short-term.

-Right.

-But he's plugged the gap for us.

-Oh, great.

So, your sons are doing the work. Are you going to get involved?

Yeah, I'm going to be running project interference...

HE LAUGHS

They're going to take the lead.

It's going to be a family project.

It's a family affair again, I suppose, really.

I want to be... I'll be guiding it. It will be running...

And I'm picking up the bill, ultimately.

So, yes, it will be under my interfering hand.

-Listen, congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Oh, thank you.

-Look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you.

So, Tony keeping it in the family

and employing his sons to do the work,

but will he manage to stay away and not interfere?

Well, make your own mind up.

You can find out how it all goes later in the programme.

Well, we've already seen how one project turned out

but what about the other two?

Yes, did they stick to their budgets and schedules?

Let's go back and find out.

Earlier in the programme, we met Steve in Wimbledon, West London,

where it was all systems go for a fish restaurant

on the ground floor of this former beauty salon.

We've had a look and there's no sort of fish bar or restaurants here

and we've all got backgrounds from restaurants.

Sold, a million, 210. Well bought.

They bought the building at auction for a mouthwatering

£1.2 million

in October, 2013.

But eight months later,

delayed by planning difficulties,

Steve, his brother and four cousins decided

to postpone plans for developing the upper floors into flats,

in order to concentrate on getting the restaurant up and running.

To the left of me, there will be all the fish range, the grills,

the chefs working. And to the right-hand side,

there'll be all the booth seating.

And in the front area, it's going to be high-level seating.

Situated in a busy thoroughfare in the heart of the borough,

Steve and his family were excited to be taking on a project together

and were certain it would pay off handsomely.

We pitched up 14 months after the original purchase

to see if the Frying Tonight sign was up.

Well, it looks like things have really taken off.

The sound of frying fish is mixed with the ringing of cash registers

and Steve looks like a really happy man.

Once things had quietened down a bit after the frantic opening day,

we asked Steve to tell us about how things had been for him

and the run-up.

Finally, up and running

and what a response as well from the locals in Wimbledon.

For me, I was running the actual build-up

to get it where we are today.

And where it's sort of really stressful for a lot of people,

for me, it just came natural.

I thrived on it.

And, you know,

I'm really enjoying even serving on the tables, now that it's open.

I've really enjoyed it.

And what a difference six months has made.

The building site has been transformed into a modern

restaurant with an open plan kitchen area and seating to the side.

There's a storage and food preparation area at the back,

and one of the building's original features has been recycled.

If you can remember the old safe that we had,

that is now a walk-in fridge,

which is probably one of the best investments that I've done

cos it's continuously full, empty,

full, empty.

But the most striking thing about the restaurant is its design.

All respect to the designers who designed it for us.

They've come up with this great 1950s look.

The colour scheme inspiration came from the film The Life Aquatic.

I mean, if you see, like, Bill Murray's hat in the film

is the red, the actual boat is the yellow,

their uniform is the blue.

So, the colour scheme inspiration came from that film

and, obviously, the design was the 1950s English fish and chip shop.

The Life Aquatic has worked pretty well on the ground floor,

but what about that mysterious river that ran underneath?

Everything's fine with that.

It ended up being a burst pipe that was really leaking slowly,

so we literally just replaced the pipe.

Actually, it's been quite useful because the services have been

able to be run underneath that area and come up through the floor,

so it has been useful, actually.

But, yeah, river, I wish.

No, it wasn't, in fact.

It was just a slow leaking pipe.

One of the exciting things about this property were those fantastic

spaces upstairs, which we all agreed would make some amazing flats.

So, given they've been tied up with the ground-floor project,

what's been happening with that area?

With the upstairs, as you know, I sublet it straight away,

which has been fine. It's been a nice, useful income for us.

I'm not entirely sure of what the people have done with it upstairs,

but I am considering taking it back

because I think I'm going to need it for the staff

that I'm employing here.

So, for the moment, all those amazing plans to build

another floor and extend out have been put on hold.

But what about what the family have achieved so far?

They have an amazing commercial premises

but have they spend their money wisely?

We asked a residential and commercial property agent

if this renovation was going to cook up some big profits.

An enormous amount of work's been done since we were last here.

The restaurant's now up and running and it looks to be really fantastic.

And what would he estimate would be the rental and resale

value of this little piece of seaside '50s glamour in Wimbledon?

We anticipate the rental for the restaurant

to be in the region of £5,000 a month.

And for resale, we would anticipate

in the region of £850,000.

And don't forget there's still the option of developing

those four flats. What would they fetch on the open market?

We anticipate that a two-bedroom flat here

will rent for approximately

£1,500 per calendar month,

and sell for approximately £475,000.

Assuming Steve's original renovation budget of £500,000,

the valuation for the flats would give him a profit of 1.4 million.

I'm going to keep talking in millions,

so you better pay attention!

If you add the value of the restaurant and the flats together,

that would bring a total value of around 2.75 million,

less an estimated total investment of 1.9 million.

So, selling the whole lot could mean a possible

£850,000 profit,

minus tax and expenses, of course.

But, obviously, with the business up and running,

that's just the beginning.

For the time being, Steve is enjoying life as a restauranteur.

But what does the future hold?

I think it would be to increase the seating of this restaurant.

The cellar downstairs, we'll develop it so we can have more services

down there and then increase the seating upstairs.

Our future-future, would...

I think, would be to open another couple of these restaurants -

that would be good.

Guess where we're going back to now?

Yes, that's right. It's time to toddle back to Telford,

where this three-bed end terrace was up for grabs at a guide price

of £65,000.

It boasts a good space and a reasonable kitchen.

But it was in there that the quirks started,

like this dead area of a utility room

and then another oddity.

The toilet is actually situated

on this little, sort of, semi-landing bit.

Not ideal.

Hmm.

Hopefully, that's not the only toilet.

Although there was an upstairs bathroom,

it was missing the all-important WC,

so adding another toilet was a must.

As was replacing the carpets, which had gone to the dogs,

quite literally.

But with dogged determination,

Tony bought the property for £79,000.

He was quite handy himself,

being a computer service engineer,

but the work would be done by stepsons Adam and Kieran.

They're going to be our commercial builders for...

-We're their first major project.

-Wow. So, you're going to employ your...

We're going to employ... So, we're going to have to pay

commercial rates, not family rates.

-Well, they're still family.

-Well, they are and the good news is that,

right now, the finance is coming from the younger one anyway.

It's not the bank of Mum and Dad this time - it's the bank of son.

Oh, right. Oh, excellent.

Tony had hoped the renovation would take around four months

and at seven months later, we're back.

The front has been landscaped and once the curb has been dropped,

it'll make an ideal off-road parking space.

While the back looks similarly neat and tidy,

but what about inside?

As well as updating the existing loo,

Tony did manage to squeeze in an extra toilet

in the upstairs bathroom.

We put the priority on getting the toilet into the bathroom

and finding a bathroom suite that would fit into that space,

and I think we've achieved that.

The space that was there originally wasn't being used very well.

They'd used a large, ugly washbasin and put it in the middle of the wall,

so we reasoned it would be possible to move it.

The drains were already at the back of the house. It was just a case of

dropping the soil stack into it and doing the job again.

And what a job that is.

Very clean, modern bathroom.

Similarly, the kitchen is now also bright and modern with added space.

The kitchen, we felt, would be better as a kitchen/diner

and we also thought the space was wasted with,

what was originally, a bare utility area.

We removed the walls.

We did do a little bit of extra beam work above,

just to make sure there were no issues. And basically lined it

and opened into a kitchen/diner, and it works very well.

Taking away that utility room has added a lot of space,

but I'm wondering if it's added a lot of cost.

How was that £15,000 budget?

The budget was great, yeah.

We have spent £15,000,

plus another £10,000,

plus possibly a bit more.

Oh, dear.

Most of the overspend was due to running overtime with this

project, taking seven months.

But the finish is excellent, particularly with

the issues around plug points being resolved and new carpets.

Tony was project managing his stepsons,

so how did that relationship work?

I tried to direct them but, as builders,

they went in their own directions at times.

I kept the materials supplied.

They're working on another house for me now

and it's much more hands off from the experience of this house.

They've basically got a free rein. We've agreed what needs to be done

and they are totally managing the contractors and they're,

basically, sorting all the materials and they're just getting on with it.

So, it looks like the partnership has survived

and Tony seems philosophical about that overspend.

He also has some philosophy to offer

on renovating in different seasons.

In the winter, you plaster a wall,

you wait a week, ten days for the wall to dry.

In the summer, it's too hot.

The sweat's running in your eyes. You'd like to work with no clothes

on at all, but the neighbours might object and the other people on site.

The paint dries too fast.

On the balance, I think maybe in future,

I'd like to start maybe in January and come through towards the summer.

A little bit too much information there, Tony,

but thanks all the same.

Now, the info we do need from two local estate agents.

I think the owners have done a fantastic job with

the improvements they've done.

I particularly like that they've put a really good

quality kitchen in, as well as opening up into what was the old

utility room and making a larger breakfast/kitchen.

The standard of finish for this, if the owner was actually letting

the property out, for this type of market,

I'd say it's a little bit over the top and I wouldn't perhaps

quite have spent so much money if he was letting the property out.

I think the property is finished to an absolutely fantastic standard.

For myself, the kitchen

and the bathroom is the main selling point here.

They've done that to a very contemporary standard throughout

and the decoration is all very neutral, too.

Purchased at auction for £79,000

and renovated at a cost of £25,000,

Tony's total spend is £104,000,

so time for those all-important values.

If this property was to go onto the open market today,

I would suggest an asking price of £120,000.

And if the owner was to let the property out,

I would recommend somewhere between £575 and £600 per calendar month.

This property could resell anything between 95 and £100,000,

and the property could rent anything between 575

and 595 per calendar month.

The top resale value of 120,000

means Tony could make a pre-tax profit of £16,000,

but he always planned to rent and the top figure of £600

per calendar month would net him a yield of nearly 7%.

We've already got tenants lined up.

We had quite a lot of strong interest,

so we don't think we're out on our price

and it's considerably higher than the agency.

Well, Tony and his wife Shirley have done better

than the agents expected.

And with stepsons Kieran and Adam getting on with another

project for the couple, it's time for a rest for Tony.

Or has the real boss of this group,

Shirley, got other plans for him?

There's no rest because I've got to go back to the work

I started at home that got suspended when I started on this,

because my real boss is insisting

I get her house sorted out

and she's complaining that we're making better houses for other

people than she is expected to live in.

Well, sadly, that's all we've got time for on today's show

but we'll have more properties from the auctions next time.

-Look forward to seeing you then.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.