Jody & Lori The House That £100k Built

Can you build your dream home for under £100,000?

Whatever it takes, we'll do it because this is where we want to be.

Architect Piers Taylor will help families facing dilemmas...

-Why wouldn't you actually just take that wall out?

-Erm...

..while I, Kieran Long, will show them a world of inspiring design.

It really makes it feel like one, big, generous space.

I love it. Amazing.

And there are budget ideas for projects large and small.

This might not look much but this material is very, very versatile.

It's tough.

But some will turn low-cost self builds into fantastic homes.

This is amazing.

What a great space.

This time...

The build's begun before the design is complete.

I'd quite like some kind of porch.

-But hang on - you haven't designed that.

-No.

Jody and Lori have focused on the wrong things.

This is the thought that we didn't put in.

But is there still time to get it right...

If we were to stop and think a bit more,

we could have something really nice, couldn't we?

..before the money runs out?

It's obviously going to get close to the 100 quite quickly.

If we come in here about 600 and move that wall back there...

Jody and his wife Lori were born and bred near Southend-on-Sea in Essex.

Jumping.

Jumping, yeah. Do some jumping?

With family nearby, it's where they want to raise their two children.

I've lived in this village pretty much all my life.

It's just a really nice area.

With the prices going up in London people seem to be moving further and further out.

It's just getting more and more expensive.

Houses that we've been looking at round here, 450 upwards,

which, just for us at the moment, is just not doable.

They're determined not to leave the area but have rapidly outgrown

their Victorian two up, two down.

They're desperate for more room.

This house isn't very practical, is it, for four of us?

-No.

-So we need more space.

We just really want to give them, you know, nice bedrooms.

Family house to grow up in.

Yeah.

We just want something that's a bit clean, fresh, nice lines, shiny.

Open, futuristic-looking, maybe?

Not too futuristic.

No.

Jody bought a long, thin plot of land for £115,000

from a local farmer.

That's who I bought the land off of.

I probably bought that!

Having raised a further 100,000 for the build,

they've raced ahead and their new home is emerging rapidly

from the foundations.

Wow, they've done loads!

-I know.

-Haven't they?

-The sides are up.

Looks really good.

Still doesn't look very big, does it?

Builders are making good progress on site,

but the couple's experience is still in its infancy.

Jody's day job is selling insurance for houses,

not building them.

This is all quite new to me.

Things that I've done is painting, decorating, a bit of wallpapering,

But no more than that, really.

This is Warren, he's a friend of the family.

Warren and Dave, both doing the blockwork,

going right up to the floor plate, is it, Dave?

-Is that what you call it?

-Wall plate.

Wall plate. That's the one.

Jody and Lori had help with the basic layout

but to keep costs down, the remaining decisions fall to them,

and many are yet to be made.

Is the toilet going to have a window?

The toilet needs to have a window.

Nah, I didn't actually think about that.

You can't have a toilet with no window, can you?

I'm concerned they could waste this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

and end up with a house that doesn't fit their needs.

We are risking all the money because obviously we're putting it all

into this house and once it's gone, it's gone.

As an architectural expert,

I'm lucky enough to scour the design world for the best innovations

and ideas for our homes.

Meanwhile, Piers challenges decisions

the rest of us take for granted.

Can we find a way to give Jody and Lori a unique,

bespoke home for their budget?

The couple have designed a three-storey, four-bedroom

family home in the style of the local executive new builds

they can't afford.

You enter the front door into a narrow corridor with no natural light.

A door leads into a traditional living room

with views out to the front.

The corridor leads you into a large open room.

The kitchen runs along the left-hand wall

with space elsewhere for a table and sofa.

Bifold doors lead onto the garden and a large roof lantern

floods the room with natural light.

The room narrows as you head back into the corridor

and then up a dark stairwell.

The first-floor landing leads to two children's bedrooms,

a small box room and a tight family bathroom tucked over the stairwell.

Another flight of stairs leads to a big and bright master bedroom

with an en-suite.

They've certainly packed a lot into their 100K house

but is it any better than a generic new-build any developer might offer?

I mean, this is a house that feels quite staid

but this is a young couple who like bright things.

I mean, what's going on here?

It's strange, isn't it? Jody and Lori have the opportunity

to have anything they like but I'm not sure they know what they want.

They've been conditioned by what developers do

and this is what people are building up and down the country.

And we could criticise it in terms of how it looks, but actually,

this is a house that is bigger than normal, it's wider than normal.

But I think there are some big problems.

I agree. Inside it's chopped up into very conventional little spaces.

Especially on the ground floor.

I think that's right. The staircase is in the wrong place.

The compromise is the kitchen and dining room and this living room,

that is a conventional front room.

I just can't see that being used.

A simple reorganisation of the way the circulation works in this house

would actually improve all of the spaces.

I agree. We have to think about how to configure these spaces

around the reality of family life.

Absolutely. And I think what we can do is make this whole house

consistently contemporary.

I think that's our big challenge here.

Piers must get to Essex fast.

He believes there are a series of key changes

that could transform this house.

From the shape of rooms to making the most of natural light.

We need to ensure Jody and Lori grab the opportunity

they still have for a unique home.

Tell me what you want to see here in six months' time

when the house is finished.

Just to know that we've really not made any errors in the respect of...

"Wish I'd done that, wish I'd done this.

"There's more we could have done here."

I just want to come up here and say, "Yeah, really proud of it."

We don't want to have any regrets, do we?

Most of us struggle to visualise building plans.

Walking them through is the best way

to see if you've thought of everything,

which is exactly what Piers wants this couple to do.

So, this is a hallway where you as a family come in

with all of your stuff, coats, boots, schoolbags.

-Where does that go?

-I'd quite like some kind of porch.

-But hang on, you haven't designed that.

-No.

Why not?

This is a classic mistake.

Everyday details need as much thought as the big ones.

If Jody and Lori don't design a place for family bags and coats now,

it won't magically appear.

And where do the stairs go up, then?

The stairs are going to be where Lori's standing.

And obviously where the stairs go is a really critical thing.

This is south.

So do you have any natural light coming into this bit of the hallway?

No. No, we don't, actually.

You need to make this as special as everything else, I think.

But let's carry on in.

Presumably, we come out of the hallway into a room

that has a great view and everything else,

and this bit is easy, in a way.

I mean, making this full of light, full of space - it already is.

What I think we need to do is sit down with your plans

and just look at the spaces and just probe a little bit

to see whether they can give you a little bit more.

I would just, you know... Door downstairs.

Piers believes that changing the staircase is the first step

to transforming this home.

So for no more money, if you brought the stairs down,

you would immediately gain from that high south window,

getting light down into this space here.

Have a better entrance that was more spacious.

Psychologically, if your stairs are down here and you have

the borrowed space of the stairwell, that will make all that seem bigger.

Moving the stairs makes this standard hallway feel larger,

without stealing space from elsewhere.

There's room for storage and light will flood in

from the existing first floor window.

Upstairs, the small family bathroom moves to the back of the house,

where it can be larger and has views out across the fields.

This is the thought that we didn't put in,

talking about things like light, anything like that's just something

-we really didn't consider enough, did we?

-No.

The stairs were sort of blocked in before.

-Totally.

-Now they can become part of the house.

And a nice stairwell.

Yes. I think this is really exciting,

feeling a lot more confident with this.

We sort of moved away from that generic idea

that we had in the first place.

It was modern before,

but now it's really taken it into something a little bit different.

There's a lot more thought gone into this, I suppose.

It's so engrained in people,

this sense of what a house should be like,

and there's still a lot of barriers that need to be broken down

with Jody and Lori to get them to go beyond what they know

and to really embrace the new.

I think a modern home is one perfectly tuned

to its owner's needs.

I want Jody and Lori to take every opportunity

to make their home fit for their family.

I've brought them to see a home that's been renovated

to fit the needs of its 21st-century owners.

So...so far, so modern. Wow.

This looks like something off the Enterprise.

It all begins with a spacious and cleverly lit hallway.

The only thing, I think, that gives you a clue to the main event is

this light which clearly continues beyond this partition here.

Amazing! I love it!

It's so unexpected that suddenly you're in this

totally uncompromisingly modern environment.

And these pivoting doors really connect the space well.

I mean, the brilliance is really just in the thinking,

not in the expense of it.

The architects Lipton Plant used oversized doors

to allow the ground floor rooms to be connected or separated,

to suit different occasions.

The channels of lighting cut into the plaster work,

subtly mark out and connect spaces.

The space works for party nights and cosy family time.

Underfoot is one hard-wearing, quality parquet floor,

but not every idea here is expensive to reproduce.

I think there's something quite clever going on here too

with this corner sofa because it creates a little zone here.

A kind of room within a room. It's moveable.

It's not done with architecture, it's done with furniture,

and furniture plays a really important role in open-plan rooms.

Shall we take a look at the kitchen?

I love the splashbacks.

They're quite similar to what I was thinking for ours.

It's lovely to be in a kitchen that's so custom-designed.

Most architects working to a budget would be working with standard

carcasses from high street brands,

so that what the eye doesn't see is as cheap and robust as it can be

and what you do see is full of this kind of glamour,

and it is achievable.

I guess at night too, when all of these beautiful sky lights are dark,

this takes on a quite glamorous quality,

and, in the day time,

with that natural light coming in from the roof.

As well as the sky lights,

artificial light brightens up dark corners.

And the theme is taken up through the house.

Critically, in this home, good ideas do not stop

in the main living areas.

Oh, wow!

One little detail I wanted to show you

was this very practical storage wall.

It actually has a little secret passage into the sister's room.

It's like a little make believe world.

It's quite charming.

Every idea suits this family's story,

and off the landing is another clever idea that is rarely done.

A utility room with washing machine, at this level,

-which is, kind of, really smart.

-Yeah.

If you have space, this can be done for less than you think

by tapping into the bathroom plumbing next door.

Every single idea has been tailor-made for this family.

Downstairs, high-end sliding doors create a fantastic link

with the garden.

Ones like this can cost anything between £15,000-£20,000.

So, this is the view from the garden.

It's really nice and open, isn't it?

Loving these doors, they're brilliant.

It's just a beautiful, big, simple opening there,

like a huge letterbox.

I love it. Love it.

There's something I want to show you for the kids. Shall we have a look?

This looks like a simple decking - in many ways it is.

Beautiful recess lighting, but there's a particular surprise.

Grab one of these.

This is a home which creates areas for adults,

but the scheme never forgets that it's also a place for children to enjoy, too.

It's just a bit of, like, enjoyment and love and fun.

Or a jacuzzi!

That's very selfish! Come on!

It's got to be done!

This home shows what you can pull off if you consider every detail.

Jody and Lori's house could still stand apart

from a generic new build if they give it the same thought.

But have they underestimated the task ahead?

This house is just amazing, isn't it?

Yeah. Plenty of different ideas that we can use.

So many. It makes you realise it's quite a big job, doesn't it?

Yeah.

Are we going to go inside the house? Look.

You can only fit, like, one, two...

It's eight weeks into the build. Jody and Lori are juggling work,

family and now are keen to improve their home.

I don't know!

A lot of important decisions.

It was a bit more straightforward before, which made it easier,

but now there's more questions and things to solve.

We had things planned and now we've got to change them.

So you've got to get used to the ideas

and make things fit a bit more.

They like Piers's idea of improving their narrow, dark hallway.

But in a three-storey house it's a big change.

Your staircase is 950.

We've gone a metre and 70 in line with that.

OK, mate.

Changing the stairs has made quite a big difference to the house.

It's not been quite as simple as I maybe hoped.

-The window there.

-OK...

Jody is beginning to doubt if all the effort is worth it.

It's difficult. The repercussions of moving the stairs

has gone all the way through all the floors.

It's been a bit of a nightmare.

Piers has asked them to meet him at an ex-local authority house

in North London.

He wants to show how fundamentally re-thinking a design

can improve any space.

Tell me what you think looking at it.

It's thin, isn't it?

-Very thin.

-It's very thin.

Inside, they really played with the stairwell and brought light down

through it into each of the rooms adjacent.

If they break with convention,

they could end up with an entrance hall that feels spacious and light

rather than narrow and dark.

What's brilliant about this staircase

is it's part of the architecture of the house. During the refurb,

the architect Margaret Bursar removed the original staircase

and replaced it with one that doesn't dominate the entrance hall.

And it brings light down into the house.

But this house is full of other ideas Jody and Lori could take on.

You can disguise a kitchen in any living area

with a simple set of tricks.

The first is painting walls the same colour as the units.

One of the things I really like is the way the top cupboards

are the same depth as the bottom cupboards,

so you don't read it as a kitchen, you read it as a bit of furniture,

and then the kitchen cupboards continue into the living space

and they sort of disappear in the room.

It's almost like it's part of the wall, in fact, isn't it?

The kitchen's sort of in the wall.

Exactly. And it's nicer, in my mind,

than a room with a kitchen within it,

because it makes the kitchen just become part of the room

rather than dominate the room.

Open-plan spaces are very popular nowadays,

but you should still mark out or zone different areas.

Here, simple green gloss paint defines the stairs

right the way through the house,

while an acid-yellow sofa is a place to relax.

It all helps any home feel bigger.

And I think if you told people this was a 3.8-metre wide

bit of the house, with a sofa in it, they'd say,

well that's like sitting in a corridor,

but this isn't like sitting in a corridor,

it's like sitting in a room.

It's defined by a bit of structure there and the staircase there.

Another brilliant trick you can use

is creating views within a small home.

It's very nice here, looking into the living room through that,

into the bedroom there and then back down

into the kitchen here.

Yes, it's lovely, isn't it?

This is the original stair.

And all they've done is strip it and then paint it the same colour

as the steel stair down below.

Paint is cheap, but the architect also invested in other elements

that make a big difference.

What's great about the rooms is that they're not huge

but the light is fantastic.

They're lovely, aren't they? Really lovely windows.

They are. Windows are a really good place to invest money.

They add such a lot.

With some windows, cheaper systems, you lose about 20% of the light.

But here it's about 5%.

It's brilliant. Making the most of the wall.

Why have wall when you can have windows there?

The architect has also added unique features

such as a bespoke ply staircase.

Costing around £6,000, the idea helps make this house unique,

but not every idea has to be expensive.

That is amazing, isn't it?

That is impressive.

It's really beautiful. CNC plywood that was put together in a day,

actually, from a kit of parts that were beautifully engineered.

Then of course you've got the roof lights from above

-bringing that light all the way down.

-Yeah, it's lovely.

This staircase, which is a bespoke thing, with 100 parts,

really adds something, doesn't it, to this bit of the house?

It's like another piece of furniture, isn't it?

-It is. Yeah.

-It's great.

I think what's great about this house is that it was

a very ordinary house, but this architect has taken it

and completely transformed it

through a whole series of interventions that, together,

the cumulative effect is to make this house something really exceptional.

Back near Southend, Jody has given the go-ahead

for moving the staircase.

The benefit is already clear.

So all that light that he was talking about,

we're going to get a lot of it from here, obviously.

We're going to throw it down to the landing and the hallway, which,

because we haven't got any side windows, is going to be

our main source of light. It won't be dark and dingy,

you will still have some nice natural light flowing

into the entrance hall, which is something obviously

I didn't think about originally.

But I'm pleased we've made that change.

Upstairs, they've gained a large landing and a much larger bathroom.

The best view is saved for Jody and Lori's bedroom,

which is taking shape on the top floor.

One of the good things about this plot of land is the outlook it's got

over the fields.

It's just a really, really lovely view.

Obviously we're not being overlooked or anything

and you can see for a real long way.

Really nice.

Buying a three-storey house with four bedrooms was not affordable,

but so far, at least, building one is.

With the budget, it's going well.

I've spent 50,000.

Maybe 51.

But there are some big things that have got to be ordered.

I haven't paid for the windows yet. Obviously the roof's going on soon

and that's going to be an expense.

Then you've got bathrooms and kitchens,

so there's some expensive things to be paid for yet.

Obviously I'm trying to do it on a budget

but I don't really want to compromise on much, to be honest with you.

With the budget going so well,

the couple are now keen to find ways to make their home unique.

-That one?

-Yeah, that one.

Yeah, it's nice.

They want to buy a top-of-the-range tunnel fireplace.

We really like it, don't we? We really want to do it.

And it might be worth cutting back somewhere else, mightn't it?

We really think this would be a main feature of the house.

It would go between the front room and the lounge,

creating a connection between the two.

But it comes at a price.

I think we're looking again at about £5,000 or more.

Piers wants them to consider whether the fireplace is a good investment.

You can't just throw money at stuff.

You've got to really think about it.

It's fine to spend money on things if that's what you want to do,

but only if you've thought through

the consequences of what you're doing.

Fireplace could be sort of round here.

That's basically the size of it.

They're hoping the fireplace will be the focal point

that ties the two rooms together.

But is there another, cheaper way?

Hi, Jody, hi, Lori.

-How you doing?

-Good, thanks.

This looks like a house.

It's getting there. Yeah. It feels huge!

What's the black, ominous-looking strip on the floor?

That's basically fireplace, like a tunnel fireplace,

which will go through here.

What does the fireplace do?

Well, we don't need any more heat really.

-Because it's so well insulated.

-Because it's so well insulated.

But it may well be needed in the winter.

You know, it does get quite cold, obviously.

It's more the look, really.

A fireplace sounds great in principle, but how much is it?

A lot. About £5,500.

-That is a lot.

-Yeah.

-I mean, you need to do what works for you.

I'm just trying to allow you to visualise the consequences of all this.

If you plan that room beautifully and you spend six grand on a fire,

I get it. If you spend six grand on a fire thinking it'll be

the focal point that will get you out of a pickle

because the furniture isn't quite working, then I don't get it.

If what they want is a focal point,

Piers believes they've already got it.

-This is incredible.

-I mean, the scale of this roof light, it's brilliant.

Focal points are really interesting because historically

we gathered around a fire.

And then we had TV - everyone sat around a TV.

Now we don't necessarily need focal points.

Yet culturally we're still somehow geared to thinking

that we all need to look around something.

But here, you've got such a great, robust space.

It strikes me that this is the focal point.

This is where you want to live, really.

There needs to be a reason to go to that room.

-Yeah.

-And if this is too...

-Comfy.

-If it's too comfy and really nice here,

then you're just not going to use that room.

-Don't want to make that a poor relation to this room.

-Sure.

Jody and Lori are right.

Linking the cosy front room to the living area is key.

But is there a cheaper way to do it?

So this wall then still needs resolving.

If you have a piece of glass there, you know, actually standing there,

and looking all the way through the house, could be amazing.

A simple piece of glass could be the answer.

To be able to see outside when you're in this room here

-I think would be very nice.

-Yeah. It would be lovely.

-Really nice.

-What I think you probably shouldn't do is make that

completely solid.

Piers's inexpensive solution is a floor-ceiling slot window

that allows them to keep an eye on the kids and create views

from the front of the house to the garden at the rear.

And what a fantastic view out into the field.

Making the most of that view is the next thing Piers wants to tackle.

They have been quoted as much as £12,000 for eight bi-fold doors.

They are in fashion, but is there a cheaper and better option?

What you don't want is lots of frame.

And if you have standard bi-fold, 50% of that would be frame.

The choice, then, is having frameless bi-folds, or sliders.

I know. I must admit, I did really like the sliders we saw before.

And because you get so much glass, it always feels open.

-Exactly.

-And they might be a little bit cheaper.

They're a lot cheaper.

Changing from bi-folds to glass sliders

would mean more window and less frame,

allowing for an uninterrupted view of the garden.

Larger glass panels would slide into the middle, not stack at the ends.

The connection between the garden and the living room

would be greatly improved.

Both ideas will potentially save a lot of money.

But as the build moves on, the next set of design decisions are looming.

I think it's worth us having a think about the rest of it tonight.

Yeah. Definitely.

-I feel like my head's spinning, to be honest.

-A little bit.

Each year, less than 10% of new homes in the UK

are built by self-builders.

Balancing the bills with work and family life is incredibly hard,

as Jody and Lori are discovering.

-Here we go!

-It is quite hard juggling everything, isn't it?

Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously you're looking after the kids all day.

I'm still doing my job.

And now they must start deciding on the final look of their home.

That looks lovely, doesn't it?

Can you stop slamming the door, please?

See!

Stress!

The only decision they have made so far is a slate-grey kitchen.

So, if we're going to have the dark kitchen,

I'm worried it's going to look too bland, isn't it?

White and grey, because that's all we've got at the moment.

Yes, but it is the modern look we want to go with.

I mean, I'm not saying we shouldn't have any colour,

but you've got to think what colour you want in there.

I don't know what colour.

I don't know. I really don't know what to think.

I must admit, I'm quite happy with you to sort of decide on this one, really.

Put it all on my shoulders!

It's quite overwhelming to think on such a big scale.

Like, normally, at home,

you might do up one room and that's all you've got to concentrate on.

When you've got to do every single room in a house,

everything starts to become, oh, my goodness, like, where do I even start?

-What you thinking, then?

-So I am finding that quite hard going,

because I'm not the most creative person, so...

And decisions have to be made quickly.

I'm quite impulsive, so I have a tendency just to go, oh, yeah, yeah,

we'll do it like that, we'll do it like that, just to get it done.

Whereas I need to think a little bit more

about what I'm doing before I agree to it.

I really want to help Jody and especially Lori

gain confidence to reflect their identity in their new home.

Like any of us would,

Jody and Lori are feeling the stress of all the decisions they have

to make to decorate the interior of their house.

It's really difficult when there are so many conventions

and also so many sort of style magazines telling you

what's fashionable and what's not.

Today, I want them to take a step back and really think about

how they want their interior to feel,

and most importantly, how they can stamp their own personality on it.

-Hi, guys.

-Hi.

-Nice to see you again.

-Hiya.

Welcome to South London.

There's big decisions still to make about the interior.

Lots. My brain can't cope.

Do you find it easy to sort of translate your tastes into reality?

Sometimes you feel a bit rushed, if you know what I mean.

Rushed into making decisions.

You feel the pressure to keep it fashionable as well

and with the time, don't you?

So it's trying to get that balance, I think.

A lot of the ideas we wouldn't maybe get is just walking around

high street shops and stuff like that,

so we don't necessarily get to see anything that's unusual, so...

That's really interesting. I mean, last time we looked

at a building that was very much architect style,

sort of lots of white, beautiful interiors

but very stripped back, very pared back.

I think we can look at something now which is actually maybe somewhere

in between that high street sort of thing

and what an architect would do.

Lots of colour, lots of texture.

Lots of cheap, good ideas.

Here we are. Compact flat.

German designers Studio Alexander Fehre

crammed a wealth of ideas into a tiny 45-square-metre flat.

It's packed full of ideas

that shun many popular trends and design rules.

What do you notice when you come in here?

-The lights.

-It's a beautiful centrepiece, beautiful colour.

It clearly is picked up in some of the furniture.

I love that it reflects the space.

And it provides a really great centrepiece.

Most people wouldn't put a large low-hanging light fitting

in a small room, but with the bold sofa,

it helps define the primary use of the room - lounging.

The colour comes from the furniture and not from stuff

that's too permanent, because it allows you to change it

and it allows it to grow with you over time.

What we see on the walls here is fairly muted.

Very dark colours work really well in homes but are rarely used.

Here there is a black parquet on the floor,

but you could create a similar effect with inexpensive laminate

for as little as £15 per square metre.

On the far wall,

plasterboard sheets have been disguised under more dark paint

to display objects the owner likes.

Three simple shelves.

The same colour as the wall, nice and thick.

It becomes a kind of display case.

I don't know if we'd choose gin!

-I don't think cans of fear would be the same.

-No.

I think all of these things and this in particular just start to make

the home feel a bit individual.

I want Jody and Lori to find ways they can express their individuality,

just like the owner of this house has in a tiny galley kitchen-diner.

It's a useful compact kitchen,

but this end is really quite spectacular, really, isn't it?

Amazing. Really is.

I mean, it's definitely functionally good, but there's also personality,

-isn't there?

-Yeah. Exactly.

-It's like a bit of wildness,

the brakes are off. I sort of feel like you're stuck

in your white-wall world, and you see this

-and it's something a bit more playful.

-Exactly.

You might see this in a shop and think, oh, it's a bit too much,

but when it's on the wall, it looks great.

You might not choose a wallpaper like this for a whole room,

but this designer wallpaper, at £60 a roll, defines this small area.

The bespoke booth cost around £600 to build from MDF.

Sprayed in pillar-box red.

Both items make it instantly individual.

Even though we haven't met the people that own this place,

you feel like you know their personality.

-Yeah.

-Absolutely.

How would you...? What do you think this is saying?

It's obviously going to be someone quite flamboyant.

-A bit quirky. Yeah.

-Maybe a little bit. Fun.

If we were to stop and think a bit more, we could have something

-really nice, couldn't we?

-Yeah.

Jody and Lori, I just felt like they started to loosen up

and they started to feel like, yeah, we can do this,

this isn't that hard. And that's the best thing in the world for me

when some really beautiful and economical piece of design

speaks to somebody and makes them want to do the same.

Back in Essex, Jody and Lori's building site

has turned into a family reunion.

My dad's here. Lori's dad's here.

And Colin's here.

With a range of trades amongst family and friends,

the couple are calling in every favour they can.

You know that everyone's got your best intentions at heart.

You know no-one's ever going to try and do one over on us

or anything like that, rip us off, so really it helps to have people

that also want to make it nice helping you.

Because everyone's going to enjoy the house once we've finished.

We're going to have Christmases here, aren't we?

And so everyone will get to enjoy it.

So they're going to enjoy it, they may as well come and help do it,

I suppose.

And today is critical.

The enormous sliding doors that link the house with the garden

have arrived and need fitting.

That's for the outside.

Is there one for the inside? Have I got mine?

Probably should have paid the extra and got the proper fitters in!

Right. I'm going to get on that side.

The giant panes are cheaper than bi-folds

but are far heavier.

-Ready?

-Yes.

The slightest impact to an edge could cause them to shatter.

Oh, my God!

Jody cannot afford to buy them again.

Is it further in?

It needs lifting up over this at the bottom.

-See it?

-Yeah.

-Ready?

-Here we go!

That's it. That's it.

Lovely!

The new windows will make the most of natural light,

but they are also finding inventive ways to add artificial light.

The LED's going in there.

Yeah. Running all the way.

That's three metres. I think lighting's really important.

I didn't want to go with the spotlights everywhere.

After seeing one of the houses we went to in London

and they had this strip lighting in these aluminium profiles,

and I just thought it was brilliant, so after that we had to have it.

The actual LEDs are probably about £9 a metre, so it's not that much.

But every penny is now pushing their tight budget to the limit.

It was a lot easier when it was just the blockwork and the timber frame

going up, but now all these other extra bits,

making phone calls and doing research,

to try and get the prices down, it's quite overwhelming, isn't it?

Yeah. You're not sleeping, are you, at all?

No.

We've still got quite a bit to do inside,

although we have paid for quite a few things, so...

But I...

It's obviously going to get close to the hundred quite quickly.

So, yeah...it is running away a little bit

and there are some other things we still haven't paid for yet, so...

It just adds up really quick.

Every day we are spending money and it's quite frightening

when you look at it on your spreadsheet.

You realise, like, you've spent so much, £1,000 in a week,

and you've still got quite a long way to go.

So, yeah, just got to keep control.

I'm concerned with money running low...

That's a bit much.

Bit much!

..they might throw away their chance for a unique interior.

The cheapest way to get one is with colour.

Today is Piers's opportunity to show that a modern house

need not simply be white and grey.

Tell me what you think about colour?

We haven't thought much about it, have we?

-We haven't given it enough thought.

-No.

-That's what we think about colour.

-Yeah.

At the moment everything's white and grey, I must say,

-and Lori's been trying to think of some other colours to add in.

-Yeah.

So far, the only colour choices they have made is a slate-grey kitchen.

The walls throughout the house will be white.

Well, that's a fairly standard yellow.

The primary yellow, really.

-Oh, dear.

-They are bright, aren't they?

What about that orange for your kitchen?

Bright, vibrant, full of life.

It's a bit '70s, isn't it?

On a grey day,

in a house with lots of light, you're not so sure.

There's silence from one half of this partnership.

I'm wondering where we're going with this!

Piers needs to take them "back to basics" with a colour wheel,

starting with the primary colours.

These three are the three most basic colours.

By mixing each colour with the one next to it,

it becomes clear which colours go well with one another.

That's not bad.

Generally, colours that are opposite each other go really well together.

Also colours that are adjacent to one another go really well.

What I think we ought to do is upscale it

so you can see what it's like in your house,

and then we can just move them around

and have a look at what goes with what, really.

-OK.

-Yeah.

A common mistake with vibrant colours is not using enough of them.

Try painting whole rooms, including skirtings and even ceilings,

the effect can be amazing.

What about the orange at this scale?

I really like the orange.

It makes a big difference when you put it on a big area like that.

-Yeah.

-You worry about you're going to close rooms in, though.

That's always been my worry about colours, especially the darker ones.

People typically want all rooms to feel light and bright

but darker colours help create fantastic cosy rooms.

I think that colour is coming back into architecture

as an essential component that helps you define the way spaces work.

The biggest lesson to learn when experimenting with colours

is how to combine them.

As your kitchen is already chosen and it's going to be

that fantastic, rich grey,

what other colours do you think would be good with it?

I like the orange with the grey.

I think that looks really nice

-and I like that sort of turquoise blue as well.

-Me, too.

These are complementary colours.

If we went back to that colour wheel,

those are almost opposite each other, so these are natural friends,

these colours. They lift each other.

So this bright orange lifts this teal.

It's interesting seeing you need the three colours

to make all of them work.

Adding a hint of colour or an accent makes all the difference.

If you take the orange out of the equation,

that's a pretty dull combination.

-Yeah.

-But if you add the orange in,

it makes everything seem much crisper,

but fresher, much brighter.

A bit of colour brings it alive.

When you came in this morning you were saying you liked white and grey,

and now here we are looking at orange and turquoise.

Do you feel a little bit less frightened of colour,

having seen just how a little bit of colour can transform the way

other colours work?

I'd never have thought of any of those apart from the grey.

That would be, like, a really lovely kitchen, won't it?

-Yeah, without a doubt.

-With all those colours in it.

That would look really nice.

Definitely been useful, hasn't it?

-Yes.

-We were very bland with our colours.

I think we needed that bit of inspiration, didn't we?

-We've walked straight past these colours, haven't we, in the shop?

-Yeah.

When Jody and Lori saw me open the paint pot this morning,

I think they were worried initially that I was going to try and thrust

upon them some colour they didn't want.

But actually, all I did was show them the basic principles

of colour theory and now I think they feel equipped

to make some quite interesting changes

to their fairly bland colour scheme.

Back in Southend,

one job's dominating everyone's time.

That's another two metres. That's going to go on that side.

I've got nine extensions.

Jody's LED lighting scheme.

-Go for it!

-Da-nah!

It worked.

In the hallway here is, this is the colour we've settled on.

This is the LEDs that will give us our working light

to sort of work around the kitchen, cook the dinner, that type of thing.

It's still got to have a filter over the top,

so it won't be quite as bright as this when it's done.

But basically this is what's going to be going on the ceiling

in the main room as well.

It's a gesture in the hallway...

..but in the main room, he's gone all out.

We've had at least about 50 metres...

-Yeah...

-..in the ceiling, and then with the covered lights?

Maybe another 15 metres.

-15 metres.

-About 65 metres in total.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

I know! I know it's a lot.

Credit to Jody, he's thinking outside the box,

trying to do something a bit different, you know.

And sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't.

Let's just hope it does. I think it will.

I think it will look fantastic when it's done.

Colin has had the unenviable task of fitting the 60-plus metres

of LED strip lighting.

This is a trap that gets installed into the ceiling...

like this, and then it gets plastered over

to the lead point there which shows you're there,

and then once it's finished, the lens just clips over the top

to hide the LEDs inside.

That's basically how it looks when it's finished.

I mean, it's literally ten times more work.

Ten times more work.

I imagine it will be ten times more money as well.

But it could look ten times better when it's finished,

-so that's what it's all about.

-He's given me the bill.

-Yeah!

-Just haven't paid it yet.

No.

Building your own home is a huge financial risk.

The temptation to get carried away and overspend at the end is enormous.

We've gone way over what we was expecting to spend.

But because we've seen things we like,

we want to add them.

So, yeah, I mean,

we are needing to use some credit cards now

to get the property finished.

But hopefully once it is finished,

then we can mortgage it and obviously pay that off.

But, yes, we've definitely gone over what we was meant to.

But now we're going to really love the house.

Just want to get in.

But will Jody and Lori have produced a home

that's cheaper and better than the developer homes they couldn't afford?

And will they like the result?

Jody and Lori were brought up in Essex

and understandably wanted to bring their children up here, too.

But they were priced out of the housing market and couldn't afford

£400,000 for one of the new executive homes around here.

We encouraged them to take the opportunity and take a chance

to make something uniquely theirs.

So how far have they got for their 100K?

And have they been able to turn plans that were once generic

into something uniquely special?

Just seven months since their build began,

Piers and I have returned to Essex to see the home one final time.

-Hi, guys.

-Hi, how you doing?

-All right.

-Look at this!

-Finished!

-Good to see you both.

-Good to see you.

-There's a hell of a lot work here,

it's amazing to see it finished.

-How do you guys feel?

-Been nonstop, really.

-Nonstop, hard work.

-Especially the last few months.

I can't wait to see what you've created inside,

but the outside of this building was kind of defined for you

a little bit, wasn't it?

Yeah, we had to stay quite traditional as well for the planning permission.

Obviously we made up for that by inside doing something different.

In a way you've taken a standard building but then quite subtly

you've made it your own. The windows of course are one thing.

The dark grey windows really lift it and then the render is very simple.

There's no brick quoins or feature details and you've done that

quite consciously, haven't you?

The paring back of a standard model of a house.

Yeah. We didn't want it to stand out too much.

We still tried to make it a bit more modern as well.

-Yeah.

-And are there some surprises for us inside?

We got a bit carried away.

It's a little bit crazy in there.

Hang on. This is understated.

You're saying inside is overstated?

-Yeah.

-Maybe a little bit.

-Possibly.

-Can we go and have a look?

-Sure can.

-Great!

-Great.

Lead on.

Like most new homes,

the hallway in this family home was completely ignored.

There was no storage, it was narrow and had no natural light

because the staircase was at the back of the house.

This is great. I mean, the first thing is that it strikes you

as much wider than a normal developer house would be.

It's quite a generous, light space.

You can see light coming from different directions.

This re-design was a big job

but allowed the old bathroom window to light the staircase.

Brilliant white is used on every surface

to increase the sense of space.

It's interesting what a big change the organisation of the staircase

has made to the house,

and the window makes such a big difference for nothing.

It's a small bathroom window, or it was the bathroom window,

but you pushed the bathroom back.

And you've just put the window then in the heart of the house,

where the stairwell is, and what it means is this whole entrance,

all of the circulation and all of the rooms

benefit enormously from light and quality of space.

-So worth it.

-What do you think the benefit's been?

It's just, yeah, with the kids there's so much more room

coming home. I love it. At our house at the moment we've got nothing.

You literally walk into our front room.

So having the space like this was really, really important, wasn't it?

-Although it wasn't in your previous scheme, was it?

-No.

-It was that important.

-Exactly.

Didn't think about it.

But I'm also really intrigued by this light fitting.

Because I know, I remember us going to see that beautiful Lipton

plant extension and interior and you really...

you sort of loved those light fittings.

-Loved it.

-You pledged to go and make them and you've done it.

I loved that. I'm into my sci-fi, and as soon as I saw those,

I was like, definitely got to have those.

And obviously we've gone a bit mad with it.

Your light is performing exactly the same function that it did

at that beautiful interior,

which is about leading us into the main space,

which I'm so excited to see.

And it's amazing.

So big. You don't expect it from the street.

This huge, generous space and the view from these windows.

It's fabulous!

Jody and Lori have hand-picked ideas we showed them and ran with them.

A single quality flooring is used throughout.

Bespoke strip lighting marks out different zones

and the room is flooded with light from the rear and above.

When I think of that interior we went to see together,

I sort of got the impression when we were there that you thought

it might be a bit out of your league, but what do you think now?

Massively. Yeah, and we've done it pretty much, haven't we?

If you just budget a little bit better you can get it,

-and that's what we've done, haven't we?

-Yeah.

They've managed to make the main living room a real surprise.

The way that you've run this along across the room,

because you come into a long corridor.

You go into a bit of the kitchen that is all about the length of it.

And actually here, this is all about the width and it feels twice as wide

as it actually is. It's great.

It is lovely. And we wanted to make the most of this view.

So that was the priority.

I really love this window.

Some people think this would be too expensive to achieve on the kind

of budgets you were working to, so how did you manage to get this?

I called around to get quite a few quotes,

but it ended up being a local company.

I think they were about £3,800.

I didn't think that was too bad at all, really.

That's a lot lower than you'd expect for a similar product, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-I think you had another price for about 12,000.

Most of the quotes were about 11,000, 12,000, so,

especially for the thin profiles which I've got here,

so I was really happy with that.

And your lights, they're great. They look amazing!

You've gone light-tastic in here.

When we were eventually able to switch them on,

I really was pleased,

because we just didn't know what it was going to look like.

We turned them on, and me and the guy, Colin, who done them,

we were just both like, "Wow!"

It was worth it. We got that big smile on our faces.

So we were really pleased with it.

The final bill for all the lighting was around £3,000.

Jody and Lori have been clever to spend money where it counts,

raising this home out of the ordinary,

but some of their boldest moves cost very little.

It's interesting to remember that you were going to paint

all of this white or, if not white, shades of very subtle greys.

And this is quite a radical departure for you, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Fantastic grey.

And because the house is so light,

this is something you can get away with.

We were so nervous before, weren't we, putting it on?

And then as soon as we started painting, we were like, "Wow."

Just made the room look so much nicer.

Was there a bit of a barrier to get past

in terms of just being interested in wallpaper or a colour, or...?

Do you know, every single member of our families

tried to put us off that wall, doing that grey.

And now they all love it.

I think I was trying to persuade you to use a tiny bit of orange with it.

-Yes.

-You haven't done that, have you?

-I went for the copper instead.

-Yeah.

There are lots of unique things in this house and I can see another one

over here, which is this window into your front room.

And I think that was where you were going to put your expensive, well,

£5,500 fireplace.

And instead there's a couple of hundred quid's worth of glass,

-which I think is much better.

-It's a very good saving.

-Thank you very much.

-I like it.

It's really simple and most people don't know how to deal

with that front room, but actually this is really good solution.

So here's the other colour.

This is the teal that we talked at length about,

needing to go with the grey.

And it's great to see it. You can't quite see the two colours together,

but you carry that grey with you, don't you?

And this really works.

-We liked the colour, didn't we?

-Yeah, loved it.

It's nice. And the walls are nice.

Still white skirting boards.

I wanted to do them teal but Jody said no.

All his family were like, "No, leave them white."

-You ganged up on Lori about the teal.

-They bullied me!

Why did you feel the need?

I wasn't sure about the skirting boards in the same colour as the wall.

But then you wouldn't notice them - that's the point.

Everyone just wants to stick to what they know,

and they know skirting boards are white.

-And that's it.

-We're on Lori's side.

-Yeah.

How is this room going to be used?

It's just going to be a TV room, isn't it?

-Like a snug.

-It's not just a TV room, Lori.

This is the cinema room!

This is very important!

Something tells me that that isn't the cinema.

This isn't the TV, is it?

No, that's not the TV. That's actually a...

fire.

-More light!

-More lights.

How about you, Kieran? Are you going to get one of these?

I'd really like to hear what you think of this, actually.

I think my kids would love it.

That is the most backhanded compliment I've ever heard!

-You hate it?

-Piers hates it, but don't feel bad,

because he hates lots of things normal people like.

I really love that it didn't cost five and a half grand.

-Exactly.

-Good answer.

Good answer.

Upstairs, moving the staircase means a narrow corridor

becomes an enormous landing leading to the kids' rooms, a study,

and a large, sumptuous bathroom with views across the fields.

But the best views are saved for the top floor.

Great. You always wanted your master bedroom, didn't you?

This is an amazing space.

And this view is incredible.

And that's my side of the bed, so I get that every morning.

It's so nice. One of the things I've noticed, especially about today,

is you seem to have grown so much in confidence

in terms of making decisions about the building, about interiors,

about how you want the building to be and how you want your house to be.

Is that fair? Do you feel like you've come on?

Yeah, I mean, at the start it was causing me so much stress.

I found it really daunting.

I was thinking, "Oh, my God, where do I start?"

But, do you know what? I actually love it.

I really enjoy it.

I don't know what I'm going to do with my time any more.

It's just about having the confidence to do it.

And once you take that first step, and, like, put a colour on the wall,

or whatever, then the rest of it just flows.

It's really fantastic. Do you think you want to do more

-of that kind of stuff?

-Yeah, yeah.

I'll be looking for someone else's house to decorate now!

-Perhaps a new career.

-Yeah!

They began with low expectations for their low-cost home

but, with clever choices, have tuned it to their likes and lifestyle.

I didn't think it would be as good

as the houses I'd seen in towns nearby,

but actually I think it's better.

And the quality of space, especially downstairs...

-Exactly.

-It's impossible to buy that, isn't it, in areas like this?

Yes, it is. We would never be able to get a house like this

without putting in a load more money.

But this was always a financial gamble.

So has it paid off?

The big question.

How much did you have in your budget and how much have you spent?

Well, I mean, the aim was to get it in for 100,000.

-And?

-We haven't done that, no.

The actual costs of the build was around about 115,000.

But I think we sort of got a bit carried away with the fact that...

We just wanted a few nice things so I think we're going to be

at around 130, so...

Tell me where that extra 30,000 has come from to augment the budget.

That's our savings, so we literally have no money left.

-Right!

-Yes, we are out, pretty much, now.

So you're in debt to everyone in your family?

-Yeah.

-No savings.

Credit cards everywhere. But, you know, it had to be done.

You know? Once you've started, you've got to finish,

-if you know what I mean.

-And tell me how much you paid for the land.

115,000 for the land.

I mean, in total, between 260 and 300, say, for this package,

how does that compare to other properties you look at in the area?

The detached ones, the new-builds that are nearby, about 450, so...

And they're not as nice as this.

But doing it this way, I mean,

I know that it's a bit more extra work than buying a normal house,

but we've got exactly what we wanted for a lot less money as well,

so in that respect we're happy.

But after dark, this unique home truly shines.

What started off bog-standard and generic

is full of character, colour and fun.

Come in, everyone.

Making it the perfect place...

..to enjoy with family and friends who helped along the way

and still live just down the road.

So, what do you think?

-Beautiful!

-It just looks amazing.

-Yeah.

-We are all very, very envious.

What do you think of Lori's lights?

Wonderful. I want them myself now.

-Do you!

-Yes.

It's a very modest house that sits on a road with other modest houses

but you come in and immediately that's left behind,

because you look through the door into this fantastic room

and you leave the world of the developer house behind.

It's a real surprise, actually,

and a real lesson that you can take ordinary things

and, for no more money, make them much, much better.

I really enjoyed working with Jody and Lori on this house.

In the beginning, they were the kind of people who perhaps thought

design wasn't for them. That it was a bit pretentious, a bit tricky.

But I think through this process they realised that it's precisely

the thing that transforms an ordinary building site,

a generic set of plans, into a home,

into a place they want to stay for many years,

and that's precisely what they've got.