Episode 2 The £100k House: Tricks of the Trade

Last year, Piers Taylor and me, Kieran Long, followed

self builders as they took on the biggest gamble of their lives,

trying to build a home from scratch for less than £100,000.

Come on, baby.

How much money have you got left?

Let me see.

We helped them create the dream homes

they longed for by being clever with their cash and creative with design.

-What a fantastic space this has turned into.

-Thank you.

This year, we're following desperate home owners...

It's dilapidated, it's a dump.

..trying to create extraordinary homes

out of the ones they already have.

Whoo!

They too are on the tightest of budgets.

We've got £540 left.

We'll come up with ingenious solutions.

I'm going to propose something quite radical to you,

-that you don't do the extension.

-Right.

Inspire them with big ideas.

What you want, really, is exactly what this place provides.

And challenge them to be more ambitious.

He's come in and torn up the rule book, really.

To turn their tired houses into exceptional homes.

Brute force and ignorance I think will sort this out now.

But with design dilemmas at every turn...

I don't know.

..and their life savings at risk...

The hiccups are coming now.

If the money runs out, I'm left with half a house.

..will the homeowners create the house they always wanted

but believed they could never have?

-This better fit.

-If the rest of the house

is like this, we've got some serious problems.

This week, Kath and Greg's family home is stuck in a 1970s time warp.

It's so depressing, it's horrible.

Is solving its problems even possible on their tight budget?

I don't think it can be done.

But first, divorcee Sue dreams of a new life

and has grand plans for her home.

I just want to do what's best for it.

I just want to make it what it should be and not what it is.

But she's never attempted anything like this before.

That's the problem being on your own,

being my age, and taking on a project like this.

I'm on my way to meet Sue, whose circumstances recently changed

and forced her into downsizing.

The house she's ended up in, though, needs a lot of work.

Five years ago, Sue's expectations for the rest of her life changed.

I'd been with my ex-husband for 30 years,

when things ended just after my birthday and my anniversary.

After a traumatic divorce, Sue, who manages a GP practice,

couldn't afford to keep her home.

I only used to work part-time, but after my divorce,

financially I had to go and work full-time.

So, not something I wanted to do, but needs must.

I made the decision to downsize and look for a smaller property,

smaller garden.

A year ago, 58-year-old Sue bought a three-bed 1920s semi in Kent

for £205,000, but it's far from ideal.

The rooms are all much smaller.

It's a bit like living in a caravan sometimes!

It's not suited to how I want to live.

Sue wants to fundamentally transform the house so it's right for her.

I do find this living room very dull, dingy.

It needs better lighting, better everything in here.

Everything needs improving.

The current kitchen depresses me.

I don't like the way you go through a door in the sitting room

and you turn back on yourself to go into the kitchen.

Her plan is to completely remodel the interior as well as add

a large extension to the rear, replacing an old lean-to.

I'm very determined to make as many changes as possible.

I can be quite driven.

It's my project and it's about doing things that suit me.

Sue is risking her life savings rebuilding her home.

Realistically, I have got £25,000.

To do everything. I don't want to make any mistakes.

I'm only going to have one go at this.

When the money's gone, it's gone.

'People move on average eight times in their lifetime.

'The previous owners of Sue's home will have made

'alterations in line with the fashions of the day,

'such as the faux-leaded windows and modern UPVC door.'

-Hi, Sue. How are you? Nice to meet you.

-Thank you.

Thanks for having us.

Tell me about how this house makes you feel when you see it today.

It looks a bit sad. It's just so false.

I just want to do what's best for it,

I just want to make it what it should be and not what it is.

-Looking forward to seeing inside, will you show me round?

-Yes, please.

'This original hardwood door, hiding behind the porch door,

'suggests features Sue might be able to retain.

'But her focus is on dramatic changes.'

I'd like to knock this particular wall out and expose the staircase

and change it round. I think it would give it a sense of more space than actually is in here.

'Her ambition to get more light and space into this dark

'and awkward house is good, but reconfigurations can be expensive.

'It's a world away from the home she gave up.'

My previous house, um, I loved living there.

It was a cottage built in 1840, so it had lots of character.

Obviously my circumstances changed after 30 years.

It has been tough but I've come to the end of that now.

I'm over that period and it's...

I'm very forward thinking, and you've got to get on.

How does it feel to be taking on a project like this on your own?

I am daunted, but onwards and upwards!

Sue's new home was built during the post-First World War

building boom when the growth of suburbia was at its peak.

Suburbia started to take off, really, in the late 19th century,

but these houses are from the 1920s and '30s.

That was the era of Metroland, as we call it today,

the spread of suburbia

that was enabled by train stations, increased rail infrastructure,

and rise of the private car.

Over four million suburban homes were

built in Britain between the two world wars.

To make rooms easier to heat, sizes were kept small, but

these houses are typically double the size of a modern new build.

While some suburban houses are grand homes made with rich materials,

some of the best of them are simple and straightforward.

Suburbia is not just full of middle class housing.

You always find buildings like these ones behind me, too,

and this kind of architecture is much more related to Sue's building.

Very plain, red brick, sash windows, it's a lovely, dignified building.

Sue's house is a rabbit warren of corridors and rooms.

Her challenge is to open it up for modern living.

What do you dream of seeing when you walk through the door

-and start using the house?

-Warmth, sunshine, light,

all the things that I don't really have at the moment.

A home.

Sue's told me a lot about what this house means to her

and it's clearly part of a fresh new start

and means a lot to her emotionally

and psychologically as well as physically.

But, for me, it's a difficult building,

it needs fundamental rethinking.

The qualities she wants, she's going to have to create,

and I think that's a real challenge on her budget.

I'm concerned Sue simply won't be able to reconfigure her

entire house successfully and build that new extension on her budget.

With only one chance to get it right, Sue's going to need

support, and will be guided by acclaimed architect Piers Taylor.

Having built and transformed houses on budgets large and small, he's all

too aware of how massive the task is and the problems we are inheriting.

Sue's only got £25,000 for this build but she wants a lot for it.

I'm just even wondering, really, even what kind of extension she could get for £25,000

before you even start thinking about reconfiguring the interior.

You could just about get an extension for £25,000,

but you'd still end up with a building that's very compromised.

I think that spatially she needs to take the bull by the horns

and sort out this building.

Sue's current plan to bring this 1920s layout up-to-date is

ambitious. She wants to change the direction of the staircase,

which would give her more space in the centre of the house.

And then remove the structural rear wall of the living room.

To move the bathroom upstairs.

And replace the existing lean-to with a large extension.

This will house her kitchen,

freeing up the rooms at the front of the property.

Historically,

we want our buildings to address the street, to impress our neighbours.

Now, we want buildings that address the garden

and get the light at the end of the day, where we can sit when we come home from work.

-She wants a beautiful garden room. Is that affordable?

-It's tricky.

Sue also needs to fit a kitchen, move walls, replaster,

redecorate, change the flooring - all way beyond what she can afford.

And also she is planning to reconfigure

the staircase in order to try to unlock the potential of what

is at the moment quite a cramped room.

My worry is that moving staircases around is sometimes expensive,

it could be three or four thousand quid.

'Sue risks spending money in the wrong places.

'On a job of this scale, every penny has to be used wisely.'

This is a big ask - £25,000 to do such a lot,

and at the moment I'm not clear how she's going to do it.

'Starting any build without the figures adding up is

'a recipe for disaster.

'Seduced by grand plans for an extension,

'Sue's totally underestimated how far her £25,000 will stretch.'

I'm worried that she's going to want to leap to the exciting stuff

before she realises how expensive it is to sort the building out.

'And she could easily run out of money here.'

Hi, Sue.

So, 25,000 to replumb the house, to rewire it,

to build an extension, to sort out the stairs,

to sort out the downstairs and put a new bathroom in.

I'm feeling really nervous about budget.

Oh, dear! I'm feeling nervous, very nervous now!

This feels like £50,000-£60,000 worth of work.

The bubble has been burst a little bit.

Really terrified now.

So I've got to look at reining in the budget somehow.

Extensions are extremely costly to build,

averaging around £1,000 per square metre.

So Piers needs to come up with alternative ideas that will

save Sue money but still create an amazing home.

What do you think about this space in terms of leaving

it about the same size,

but then increasing the sense of space rather than building more space?

Well, if it's going to rein in the costs

and it means I have a finished product,

then that is the compromise and I think I'm prepared to make that.

Sue's open to the idea of a smaller extension.

Now Piers needs to deal with her plans for reconfiguring

the interior.

What I am worried about is moving the staircase.

What would happen if we turned the stair around is that you would walk

across this room to go upstairs, and this would feel very compromised.

-So that's my immediate concern.

-OK.

This move will cost a minimum of £3,000

and Piers spots an ingenious way of opening up the space for less.

Have you thought about taking out this wall?

Because this is a completely supporting wall, it would

be very expensive to do that.

To take the whole wall out would be very expensive.

What I'm thinking is that you might just open it up with

a conventional lintel.

But as well as that, I'm wondering about this connection to the garden.

I'm longing to be able to sense the garden out there.

That's exactly how I felt when I first came in here.

I just gravitated, always, to the back.

And that needs sorting out, in my mind,

far before you start moving the staircase around.

Piers is suggesting that rather moving the staircase,

she should save money by leaving it where it is

and knock through the other living room wall, to create one big,

airy space.

At the back, he wants to replace the lean-to

with a new kitchen extension within the existing footprint.

Sue's original plan would have cost around £60,000.

The design Piers is suggesting needs to cut that by more than half.

So I just want to do a little cost check.

So, £3,500 worth of walls downstairs,

about £9,000 to sort out that conservatory.

And not forgetting a kitchen, rewiring at £3,500,

and decorating at another £3,000. It's adding up.

And I can see you looking a little bit alarmed already.

It's going to be tight.

But there is another fundamental part of the house that Piers

wants Sue to consider.

At the moment, the house feels a little bit sad

and I think the other thing I want to do is to sort out

the arrival and the approach to the house.

But I think you could paint the top part of the house

and I think that should be a really warm, rich colour.

Then I would take out these fake lead lights.

What I think you should do is change the glass to clear glass.

Sue's next challenge is to get the builders, Ollie and Darren,

on board with Piers's plans.

He's come up with some different ideas that he thinks are going

to be better for me.

I'm going to need costings for all of this. To rebuild the conservatory,

a rewire, a replumb, new heating,

kitchen, decor, and we've discussed exteriors as well.

Will they be able to do it all for her £25,000 budget?

Sue's wrestling with a house that really can't accommodate

the life she wants to live for the next 20 years.

But each era of British housing brings its own design challenges.

In the 1970s, a kitchen was designed to have the door shut on it,

to be not seen and not heard.

Today we expect it to be the heart of family life.

Billy, come and do your hands, quick.

It's so depressing...it's horrible.

Teacher Kath and marketing manager Greg bought their house

in Shrewsbury 18 months ago for £213,000.

Our old house was only really two-and-a-half bedrooms.

We had two big dogs, two small children

and an awful lot of outdoor gear.

This was probably about the top end of what we could afford at the time.

I also wasn't working

so we knew we needed something that we could afford on just Greg's wage.

Although they pushed themselves financially to buy the property,

there's a part of it that just doesn't work for them as a family.

It's a beans on toast kitchen, not a roast dinner kitchen.

Extended in the '80s, the kitchen is long, narrow

and there's nowhere for them to sit together.

This is the kind of, the extension part of the kitchen,

so this is the additional bit from when it was originally built.

The way it's set out, the space doesn't work.

Having anybody else down here now,

I can't use this work surface behind me, because of this L shape.

As soon as somebody's stood at the sink,

you can't use half the work surface.

Because you can't do everything in one space,

you have to go from here to the other end, to back again.

Excuse me.

But it's a kind of horrible brown colour as well.

It's just...it's horrible.

And brown work surfaces. And brown floor.

And brown wallpaper. And brown tiles.

Brown is the new black!

It's a typical old kitchen. There's just not enough plugs.

We've got these two here, but in this whole area that's all there is.

Probably not all that safe!

The space is so impractical and potentially dangerous

that the girls are often kept away.

The kids want to help with cooking and peeling

and things but there's just not enough room for that to be

-a comfortable experience.

-Or a safe experience.

With the girls growing up fast,

there's no time to lose when it comes to getting this house family fit.

The plan was we'd have it done within a few months of moving in.

You know, done. And it's a year down the line, and, not done.

Whilst they've scrimped and saved £4,000,

it's a tiny sum of money for the scale of this project.

I don't believe I can get the kitchen

I want for £4,000, I think it's too tight.

This doesn't stop Kath wanting a place where

they can spend time together with their girls.

I think a kitchen should be the heart of the home.

I know it sounds corny, but why shouldn't it be?

The cost of rebuilding this space could be enormous,

far beyond Kath and Greg's desperately tight budget.

We absolutely can't afford to make a mistake.

That's it, that's all we've got left.

I don't think it can be done!

The layout of this house is a victim of its time.

Finding a solution that will turn it into a modern kitchen diner

will be a big challenge for Piers.

Kitchens are where people eat, they live, they dine, they cook,

they sit and use the kitchen table to do homework,

and I think no house feels really complete

without a really good kitchen.

Hi, Greg. How you doing? Nice to see you.

This house been altered and extended over the years

and it's difficult to unpick.

Just to get my bearings, the original kitchen, it looks like

-it was this size, and that's an extension.

-Yes.

-It looks like, in a way, you've got two kitchens.

-Yes!

-Yes.

And that's how it feels when we're trying to work in it.

There's also the cardinal sin of separating your cooking area

from your washing up and sink area.

There's such a problem with this room that I think, in a way,

the proportion of the space needs thinking about

before you start upgrading any kitchen.

£4,000 can barely buy a flat-pack kitchen,

let alone pay for any structural changes.

Piers needs to forensically search the house to see

if there are any possible options for improving the space.

I mean, moving a radiator isn't particularly expensive,

but it will start to eat into the budget.

There's power here and an extension there.

No other power in the kitchen. That's crazy.

With an electrician costing £120 a day and a plumber £110,

it's clear that there are some expensive

and essential jobs that need prioritising.

It's not a complex job to rewire but it's important to do it

in a way that minimises the disruption to the rooms around it.

And, in a way, that's half the expense, the disruption.

Outside in the passageway between the kitchen and garage,

Piers spots a solution that could make the kitchen larger.

I think there's a real potential just to move this wall, or take

this wall out, dry line this wall, put a ceiling on it,

and use this space for an extension to the kitchen.

It's less than a metre wide

but utilising this previously unused space could be

the key to transforming the layout of the kitchen.

And I wonder about the possibility of putting

a lintel in from here to there,

and pushing all of this stuff back by that much, into that passageway.

And then you'd gain this much space in this bit of kitchen.

It would mean that you would have enough space to have a table and so on in here.

Piers thinks Kath and Greg should use their money to reconfigure the space

rather than replace the kitchen units.

I mean, these in a way are perfectly serviceable.

Spray painting up these doors would transform it.

You're buying time for this kitchen, really.

If it's feasible to do it on the budget, then to me that makes sense.

In a way, I worry that I might be disappointing you

because I'm not coming in here with a glamorous, shiny new kitchen.

I'm actually suggesting that you do the less glamorous work

of structural reorganisation.

It's not the answer Kath was expecting.

If we can get a temporary solution that will do us

for another year or so while we save up a bit more... There we are.

Piers needs to show them why taking this tough decision could

give them what they want - a family kitchen.

It means you can take this table and seat,

if you wanted, into that alcove.

And then you come around the corner and you discover

that nice, big sitting space.

-I really like that idea.

-I really like it.

As soon as you started doing this with the seating area down here,

it's just...yes! That's what I want.

Despite the pared-back plans, the budget is still extremely tight.

It's about £4,000 to do everything, and that is a big ask.

It may be that this is a vision of what's possible

and it's always better to build a bit of a vision

than a complete compromise.

I've given them quite a hard task in some ways,

because this is going to depend on their resourcefulness

and nothing else.

So, the budget's a worry, cos it's a little bit over,

but we need to get some quotes in, obviously, from builders,

to find out whether those numbers kind of add up.

But they won't know how much Piers' radical rethink

will really be until it's costed up.

So that's bricked up, door reused across there.

Piers has come up with an ingenious suggestion -

it's not a complicated job to remove the kitchen wall,

but it is fiddly and could prove expensive.

-Cheers, then.

-Yeah. I'll see you soon.

-See you.

-Thank you!

-Bye!

Four days later, the quote from the builder is through.

Wow.

It's a lot bigger than anticipated.

At £7,000, it's almost double Kath and Greg's budget.

There's absolutely no way they can raise this amount of money.

I honestly wasn't expecting it to be...quite so much as that.

I did feel a bit like, "Oh, this is never going to happen."

We're going to have to turn around and say to them,

"Oh, we can't do that," and just make do with what we've got.

In Kent, Sue's builders have started work on Piers' vision for her home.

They've predicted it will take four months

but haven't fixed a price and are working on a daily rate -

a risky strategy, as it will be up to Sue to carefully manage the build

and the £25,000 budget.

I have a feeling this conservatory will probably fall down, actually.

Oh, God!

There was a roof!

And there was a conservatory - it's not here no more.

Oh, God.

It sort of means it's all happening now, doesn't it?

-It's reality now, isn't it?

-Yep.

No going back.

As the builders are beginning the big structural changes

and things are moving fast, it's vital Piers gets there

to ensure novice project manager Sue isn't letting anything slip.

Hi, Sue.

Today, the living room wall,

central to Piers' plans for opening up the house,

is coming down.

Structural calculations are vital when undertaking work like this,

which is subject to building control approval.

I think this is THE thing that is going to transform this.

It's a lintel, costing just £120,

that's key to making this an open, generous space.

It's amazing how big this feels now - downstairs.

-Yeah.

-It really does.

See, I find this as pleasurable as anything.

-Oops!

-Bit more.

-Aah!

-One, two, three...

THEY CHEER

Whoo!

For the extension at the rear, Sue has opted for a pitched roof -

but Piers is worried that she won't get the all-important light

she craves for her home.

At the moment, I understand that your extension

is going to have a pitched roof on.

Yes, I believe so.

Isn't that going to feel quite oppressive and dark

when it comes down?

Well, I hadn't really thought of that.

That hadn't occurred to me - I just sort of...

I've gone with the flow, really.

Now you're saying it, I can actually see what you mean.

What do YOU want out here?

Um...I want as much light and airy as possible.

I want this, as I always said, is to be my outside room inside.

Instead of fighting for what she wants,

Sue is in danger of compromising her dream.

It's a bad sign so early in the build.

My fear for this is that it will be dumbed down,

because looking around all these back extensions,

they're just what you'd expect.

A little lean-to here, a little felt roof over there.

Sue's needs to be different.

This is a woman that needs a special house with a special extension.

The challenge for Piers is to show Sue how a different style of roof

will cost no more, but will deliver the light she desperately wants.

What I think would work really well is to do a flat-roofed building.

When you come through here, you'll just look straight out at the sky.

Actually, this could be really spectacular -

a beautiful flat-roofed box with a roof light in the middle,

with some amazing cladding, some great windows,

would just transform this building.

-So I can have that?

-You can have that, absolutely.

Great, well, that's what we're going with.

I really am relieved! I'm really pleased, now.

Today was a critical time, because actually,

although Sue does kind of know what she's doing, actually,

she was about to dumb this whole thing down, really ruin this.

Keeping singularity of vision during any building project

is tough - and it's even harder when you're living on-site.

For the last two weeks,

Sue's been without heating or downstairs hot water.

So I've got to get down and start before it gets cold.

It's a bit like girl guides life, this is.

I'm not very sure... I'm a bit sort of depressed.

Bogged down...a little bit.

Um, because you solve one problem and you go onto the next one.

And I don't have any expertise, I don't have anything to measure it by.

That's the problem I've got.

Sue's really at a low point in the build right now.

All the walls are out, she's living in a building site,

it's pretty tough. But she's also at a moment of real possibility -

it's kind of a blank canvas at the moment,

and I'm hoping to take her to a place where we can see

what the possibilities are for small,

subtle and sort of surgical interventions in a house.

So I'm bringing her to a property in North London

that's packed full of ideas, materials and interesting spaces.

Well, I'm really hoping that we can help you see something now

that, in a way, can inspire you,

and take the build forward to the next phase.

-So, do you want to join me inside?

-Yeah, lovely.

It's the space at the rear of this previously dark town house

that I want Sue to see.

The back of the house has been opened up

to create a light, airy, contemporary space,

with the addition of a small extension

which brings the outside seamlessly inside.

So, Sue, what do you make of this?

It's lovely, isn't it?

It's a really...great kitchen, great space.

It's quite an interesting sort of mix of materials -

and lots of different atmospheres going on here, isn't there?

-Yeah, but it still works.

-Yeah, I think so.

The kitchen is a masterclass

in how to define an open-plan space into different zones.

Simple pendant lighting marks the dining area from the kitchen,

whilst built-in seating connects the inside with the garden.

A simple palette of brick and concrete links everything together

whilst retaining a generous sense of space.

But I also think that what's interesting - you know,

they made a black kitchen,

and there's something about light and dark going on here, isn't there?

You've got the bright light coming from the garden,

that's where all the focus is of the room -

the kitchen isn't distracting from that.

What do you think of the materials in here?

Because this is obviously concrete work surfaces...

It's just beautiful, isn't it?

It really is, yeah.

Having seen the different application of materials,

I now need to help Sue realise she can transform her home

into somewhere as special as this.

I think it's really interesting how this project tries to

break down the boundary between inside and outside.

This, for me,

is one of the most successful things about this project.

It's just such a nice place to be, isn't it?

It's connecting you to this lovely little garden.

If I think about my design, I could incorporate something similar

to this, because Piers had already mentioned about having

a garden seat, you know, at the end of the units, but...

I know when you see all this folding-back glass,

and this is all custom-made,

and this beautiful cantilevered corner,

I mean, that's going to be, probably, beyond your budget,

but I think that's what we should be trying to create, isn't it?

No, no, I totally agree, and - how we're going to do it,

or within my budget, I don't know -

but we have to think about this quickly,

-because the brickie's coming on-site next week.

-Oh, really?

OK, well, we'd better get on it!

It's so great to see Sue taking on board everything we're

talking about here in this building.

It's a very contemporary interior.

I think she's really taken on board

the need to have a little moment to really experience the garden -

you can find a seat to read a book

and just sit quietly and enjoy your place.

That should be achievable for any budget.

What's the biggest impression you've taken from that interior?

The possibility that you can actually be a bit more creative

and not so traditional.

-Yeah.

-Cos I was thinking Shaker style and all that,

but actually, looking at the lovely, glossy units,

they really work in there.

They would work really well with the concrete.

It feels a bit like, step by step,

you're embracing different kinds of material,

and that more contemporary kind of combination of materials.

Yeah, I think I have.

And I think that's been part of the learning curve for me.

Cos I thought all that wasn't me,

but actually I really love what I saw today.

-And I could live with that quite happily.

-Great.

Hello there. I'm basically looking to get a couple of brick walls built.

Over in Shrewsbury, Kath and Greg are desperate

to transform their awkward kitchen into a family space -

but quotes from local builders

are coming in at more than double their budget.

Cheers. Bye.

Greg has a drastic solution.

If you're confident that you can do...

None of those things sound that hard to me. Those jobs.

Greg has done bit of DIY in the past -

but he's never attempted anything on this scale before.

However he's realised he can only have this transformation

if he does the work himself.

Promise me that it'll be done to...my standards!

I don't think even the most professional builder in the world

could do it quite to your standards!

With only £4,000 available, there's no margin for error.

Point of no return.

Greg's been doing a lot of research,

and is confident that he can do quite a lot of it himself.

I'm very anxious about Greg taking this on.

As much as 60% of a builder's quote gets spent on labour.

By doing it himself, Greg could save thousands -

IF he gets it right.

He's going to be tackling everything except the specialist jobs

like rewiring, plumbing, and plastering.

His first task is to extend the existing kitchen roof

over the alleyway.

-Do you actually know what you're doing?

-Yes.

Are you worried about me dismantling the fabric of the house?

Yeah.

Inspired by Greg's DIY approach, Kath gets stuck in too.

It's a bit like icing a cake.

I can actually say, "I built that wall."

OK, that's better than I was expecting!

Having made the alleyway watertight,

Greg is then ready to take down the kitchen wall

and open up the space.

Whew!

Any significant work that we do to our homes

must be approved and signed off by building control.

Mistakes could prove costly for Kath and Greg.

Desperate to see how these rookie builders are getting on,

Piers is on his way to Shrewsbury.

Wow, look at this!

Yeah, we've been quite busy.

You've been very busy. That's great!

Gosh, it's fantastic. Wow!

And you've done so much yourself, haven't you?

Pretty much done everything.

You really embody the spirit of doing it yourself.

-It's the best way.

-It was quite...

With the builders, it was just quite hard, because it's all little jobs.

This is a job that can only really be done this way,

because it's uneconomical for builders

-to take on this sort of project.

-Yeah.

I probably did throw quite a lot at you last time I was here,

and I came away thinking, "Gosh, I really hope this is going to work"!

When I was here, also,

I did suggest that you could re-use your existing unit,

and I have seen some of your fittings in the skip,

so it looks like you're NOT reusing your kitchen fittings.

You know, part of the reason for doing it myself, really,

was we could save a bit of money, and because of the way the budget's

worked out, we can afford to buy some new ones.

-Good.

-So, why not?

-Fantastic.

This resourceful couple have only spent £2,000 so far.

They now have a further 2,000 left for the fit out.

The point of doing all this work, taking your house apart,

reconfiguring it, is to make it amazing.

My fear is that they'll just go shopping for stuff.

My hope is that they'll go shopping for something really low-cost,

but then transform it with something really inventive.

What Kath and Greg should be thinking about

is how to create a unique space

by incorporating features that are bespoke.

I've come to see a building by Dominic McKenzie which

he built for himself, and this project really shows

the potential of great materials used in a beautifully-crafted way.

This home is packed full of non-standard, one-off ideas

that together make the whole property feel unique and special.

From bespoke paint jobs...

to unusual wall coverings.

But it's in the kitchen that there's an idea

that I think could really raise Kath and Greg's project

beyond the normal.

This kitchen island down here really is one of the most

spectacular moments of this interior.

It's like a little jewel down here.

This kind of beautiful brass with the reflections,

you know, gives a real quality of light to this space.

For me, what's exciting about it is somehow typical of how

architects often work - you know,

it's something very standard underneath,

a standard kitchen carcass,

covered in something very tailored and very beautiful.

And that's this brass surface.

The MDF top and cupboard doors were sent to a metal manufacturer

to be wrapped and bonded with the sheets of brass,

costing less than £3,000.

Other reflective materials can deliver a similar look

on a fraction of the price.

You want people not to just go shopping for their interiors,

but to try to design them, try to conceive them as a whole,

and this is a really beautiful example of that.

But it lifts this whole place and makes it feel luxurious,

makes it feel special.

That's the effect you can achieve

if you don't just go to your local kitchen manufacturer.

We need to help Kath achieve a similar bespoke look

within her modest budget.

Piers hopes the answer may be on an industrial estate

in Wolverhampton.

So, Kath, we're in a place

that does all sorts of interesting things with metal.

You can crimp and cut and bend

and guillotine metal into all sorts of shapes and sizes.

And you've described a kitchen to me that's sleek, minimal and beautiful.

And the immediate thing that I thought was stainless steel.

Well, I'd seen a worktop that was edged in metal of some sort,

but I'd never considered it as a whole worktop.

I would think that if you went to a traditional stainless steel

kitchen supplier for your worktop,

it would probably be about 3,000 quid in stainless steel.

If somebody made it up for you.

By going direct to a workshop like this,

a set of worktops could be produced for around £500.

Here they stock a range of materials,

which can be cut and shaped to any design.

Mirrored steel.

-That's kind of nice.

-Yeah.

-Very nice, isn't it?

I mean, beautiful material.

So that is a sheet of aluminium.

This one is copper.

-So that's the brushed stainless steel.

-Mm-hm.

And - I mean, I'm going to state right away, I think

that's really beautiful.

I really quite like it!

With Kath willing to give Piers' stainless steel worktop a go,

he wastes no time in getting a sample made up.

Bending a single sheet of metal to make a worktop is a hygienic option,

as there are no joins for bacteria to linger in.

It simply has to be glued onto a cheap chipboard frame,

and by wrapping the metal up the wall as well,

it can save on tiling.

-Bingo.

-That's amazing.

-It's amazing, isn't it?

-Look at that! One worktop.

-Wow.

-Completely not off the shelf, is it?

-No, no.

When we were talking originally about painting the cupboard doors

and just replacing the worktop, that came in at about £350, so for this...

-Mm.

-It's actually quite good.

And it won't feel like I've copied all my friends' kitchens.

-It won't. You OK to take it in, guys?

-Yeah.

I was a little worried about bringing Kath here,

and actually what I think has swayed it for Kath

is seeing the sheer beauty of the finished piece,

and knowing where it comes from, for me, is part of the story.

To come out with that gorgeous, feathery, soft,

very feminine piece of metal...

Yeah, completely changed.

-OK, see you. Bye.

-Thank you. Bye.

Back in Kent, Sue is two months into the ambitious remodelling

of her 1920s home.

Her builders have opened up the downstairs layout

and built a striking new kitchen extension to the rear.

Wanting to flood the house with much-needed light,

Sue has ordered bifold doors and roof skylights costing £3,400.

This is a big project now -

I think it's got bigger than I thought it was going to be!

As long as it gets finished and I can afford to finish it.

But her money is draining away fast,

and she's already spent over half her £25,000 budget.

Having been so ambitious,

her enthusiasm to create something exceptional

is fading as quickly as her cash.

I just don't do failures really, really well.

In a different life, in a different way.

And that's the problem - being on your own, being my age,

and taking on a project like this.

And when it backfires, I've got nobody else to help me.

You know? The dream hasn't come...

hasn't come yet.

Despite the pressures on Sue, Piers is pushing her

to retain the architectural ambition of her project.

So he's brought her to see a building that's 50 miles away,

but as far from her 1920s semi as you can get.

The Turner Contemporary by an architect called David Chipperfield.

-It's a really significant building.

-It's quite a strange shape.

-It sits on its own, doesn't it?

-It does.

-It stands out.

-Yeah.

The Turner Contemporary is an art gallery

in the Victorian town of Margate.

It's an unashamedly modern addition to the seafront.

The thing about your extension is that it is really

an equivalently simple box.

And I think you need to think quite carefully

about how you articulate it, how you give it character.

It could be really ordinary or it could be really extraordinary.

Lessons learnt here could transform Sue's extension

into a unique and inspiring design.

This cladding feels amazing, actually.

Look how smooth that is.

Oh, it's lovely!

Here, simple lines are produced from one beautiful material -

acid-etched glass.

The challenge for Sue is to interpret this vision

and achieve something as exceptional on her budget.

What if this was your set of doors

set within an amazing material like this?

Well, it would be totally amazing!

-Your building needs to feel as special as this does.

-Yes, it's...

-I mean, totally different from anything I've experienced.

-Yeah.

-I mean, I've been here before, but...

-Not really noticed it?

-No, because it's not... You've just accepted what you see.

-Absolutely.

This extraordinary building might have given Sue the ambition

to complete her build in an individual way,

despite the little money she has left.

Piers has done it again. He's opened my eyes to things

that I hadn't even thought about, really, I hadn't even considered.

I'm totally for it. I want the wow effect.

In Shrewsbury, it's almost two months since Kath and Greg

started on their kitchen and, by doing the work themselves,

they've saved enough money to buy basic units.

In another cost-saving move, Kath's dad is helping her fit them.

I would imagine it will tell you somewhere

how to fit this door onto the front of it.

So it's your decision now where you want these two runners.

Oh, no, hang on. No, they don't.

-So the frame that is holding that...

-The frame has to go

-there and there.

-Yeah.

-But the baskets, with those things there,

-can hook wherever I like.

-That's right, yeah.

-Perfect.

-Don't you dare tell me you want it on the other side!

I want to put some stuff in it now.

I can't believe how much stuff that we've managed to do ourselves.

And how little we've had to call in professionals.

Dad's help may be invaluable,

but there's a long way to go until this build is finished.

I've kind of lost track how many weeks we've been going.

We've been up till midnight painting.

That's as far as we can go with that one, then.

I wonder what that hole's for at the bottom.

Four months into the build and Piers has come to find out if

Sue's managed to keep her aspiration going, despite her dwindling budget.

The final stages of any project are tricky and, for Sue, I think

they're going to be trickier still, because I know her pot of money

is dwindling and her emotional energy is, by and large, spent.

Hello?

Hi!

This looks amazing! How are you doing? Good to see you.

-All right, thank you.

-Look at this, it's incredible!

It is so simple and, actually, so beautiful.

Learning the lessons from Margate,

Sue has opted to cover her extension in timber painted cool grey.

Total cost - £1,100.

I mean, you haven't tiled it, but I think it doesn't matter at all.

I think the colour is great, the roughness of those boards is great.

I think that really simple opening in the middle is nice.

As you come in here, my God, look at that! Fantastic!

It really does feel great.

On a budget of just £25,000,

this house is on its way to being transformed,

but the critical question now is how much money is left?

Are you on track to finish everything comfortably

-on budget on time?

-No, no, no.

-OK.

-We're...

We're zilch. The money's all gone.

-But so you're telling me that you've got no money left at all?

-No.

-I told the builders on Tuesday.

-Yeah?

-The guys have promised not to leave me in the lurch.

-OK.

-And to work on a lower rate as well.

-Yeah.

And I can pay them back at another time.

-I'm trying not to be deflated by it all.

-Yeah.

-You know.

Trying to still be upbeat.

After all Sue's effort to manage the build and keep costs down,

the budget is all gone.

She initially allocated £3,000 for decoration.

She'll now have to pay for it

with whatever she can scrape together from her monthly salary.

I think you do less rather than more.

And don't obsess about making it a show home.

And you've got great spaces. Yeah... Yeah, I don't get

the obsession with wanting everything completely finished.

So, for me, the house is already great.

Knowing she's spent all the budget, Piers is determined

to find beautiful things that Sue can have for free.

-Oh, it's got grey mortar in it.

-Yeah.

-Wow!

This is a house that has good bones. You know, you can see it.

The brick here, as they are, are beautiful.

And I think just not adding more stuff,

but just leaving things to reveal the beauty of the

structure and fabric of the house, that's what you should be doing.

For me, the really important thing is that she

focuses on things that she can do with things that she already has.

All she needs to do is reveal the real beauty of the fabric

of this building and, actually, she'll do this project.

Three months ago, Kath and Greg's kitchen

was a totally impractical space,

-with nowhere they could sit together as a family.

-Excuse me!

Long and narrow, with the sink at one end and cooker at the other,

the poor layout wasn't the only problem.

It also suffered from dated decor and potentially hazardous wiring.

With just £4,000, their dream was to remodel their entire kitchen.

'Piers came up with the clever idea of utilising unused space

'and, today, we're back to see how far they took his plan.'

So how's it all been going? Are you exhausted?

-I've had enough of it by now.

-Really?

-We've kind of...

I'm quite happy to stop at this point, so...

-I've had that end-of-term feeling for three weeks now!

-Really?

-Yeah.

-So have you got what you want in the end?

-Totally, and more.

Look at this! Wow!

-Fantastic.

-Amazing.

-Fantastic.

The space you've managed to carve out of here.

'The previously narrow layout has been opened up by

'knocking though into the alleyway at the back of the extension.

'Unlocking this hidden space is the solution to the layout problems.'

It was such a funny little slot here.

It's not a vast distance, you know, in a measurement sense.

-It's not even a metre.

-No, it's about 80cm.

-It's about two feet.

It makes a huge difference. It just feels much more open.

And you've now got this amazing seating area.

'With trailing extension leads, and no space to move,

'the kitchen was unsuitable for the children to be in.

'But having rewired, they've been able to reconfigure the kitchen

'and now a built-in seating area

'allows for a contained, safe space out of harm's reach.'

-Has this become the kind of family space you wanted?

-Oh, totally.

The first day we put the table in, the girls ran straight in

and sat down, both next to each other, on the bench,

going, "Ooh, this is really exciting!"

They can be eating their breakfast while I'm getting on with stuff.

'Having saved £2,000 by doing the labour themselves,

'Kath and Greg then bought basic kitchen units

'and went with Piers' idea

'of a bespoke stainless steel worktop, costing £515.'

I mean, it's really great to have a thing in your kitchen which is

completely custom-made and bespoke.

And this is just a lovely finish, isn't it?

I was a bit worried it was going to look a bit like a catering kitchen.

-And it totally doesn't. It's kind of sexy.

-Yeah.

For me, it transforms this kitchen into something that would be fine

with a standard worktop, but now, it's kind of exceptional.

And I think there's a really important lesson

in going beyond the high street.

'Kath and Greg have worked incredibly hard

'to complete their dream,

'but did they achieve it on their £4,000 budget?'

I mean, it's an amazing result,

but tell me how much you spent on this in total?

I think, er, the whole shebang was about 5½.

-5½ grand?

-Yeah.

-So you went more than your original...?

-A bit more,

-but we did more...

-Right.

-..cos the floor cost about a grand.

-Yeah.

Heavy lifting, the kind of building work, what proportion was that?

-About 1½-2, something in that neck of the woods.

-Really?

-For that.

-This, for under 2,000, is unbelievable value.

-Oh, yeah.

Well, I couldn't believe how cheap lintels were. It's about £15.

This looks really, really beautiful.

-Right, ready?

-'But most importantly,

'Greg and Kath have got what they dearly wanted -

'a space where they can spend quality time with their daughters.'

We couldn't have all four of us in the kitchen before.

There just wasn't space.

And if I was stood here chopping,

Greg would have to come round behind me to get to the cooker,

but now he doesn't and he's got all that space over there

and it just feels right.

-They were talking about whether it should be moved.

-Oh, really?

'The difference is it's huge

'compared to what it was like in the kitchen before.'

There was nowhere to sit down, there was nowhere we could all do this.

Really, it's not a huge amount of space,

but it's meant it's changed the shape of the kitchen drastically.

GIRL LAUGHS

-Do you like being in the kitchen?

-Yeah.

-LAUGHTER

-Yeah! Do you like it?

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

'With just a few thousand pounds, and a load of hard work,'

Kath and Greg have radically transformed their home.

And they've done it in a way which has taken a 1970s idea of living,

where the kitchen should be out of sight and out of mind,

and turned that room into the heart of their family home.

I think it's a great achievement and they've got a great space out of it.

Back in Kent, Sue may have run out of budget,

but if she pulls the plug on the build at this late stage,

she'll be left with an unfinished house.

So she and the builders

are prioritising completing the new kitchen extension.

Well, today, um, we're going to get these VELUX windows in.

Right, Sue, he's going to cut through the Permaroof now.

Having gone with Piers' idea of putting skylights in the flat roof,

this is the first time Sue's new kitchen will be flooded with light.

SUE GASPS

This is going to be fantastic, innit?

It's lovely, innit?

It's just a lovely blue sky up there today.

As Piers suggested,

Sue's making the most of the period features she has.

The only cost being paint and elbow grease.

The door's got to look nice,

because this is the opening to all of this lovely space now.

Hmm, it's taking a lot of rubbing down.

After a tough few years, Sue was desperate for a fresh start,

but the 1920s house she'd bought

was a rabbit warren of boxy rooms and corridors.

The lounge was dark and dingy

and cut off from a gloomy kitchen by a pokey passageway.

At the rear, a wooden lean-to extension was rotting,

making it completely unusable, whilst the front of the house

was dated with faux-leaded windows and a UPVC door.

This was a hugely ambitious project for Sue to take on

and she'd never done anything like this before.

It's been five months since the start of the build

and I'm really keen to find out how she's got on.

'Sue had a budget of just £25,000, plus an extra 5,000 contingency.

'We know the money ran out a while ago, so today, Piers and I are back

'to see how much of the work she managed to complete.'

-Hi, Sue.

-Hi, Kieran.

-Great to see you. And how's it all been?

-Traumatic!

-Really? I know!

-THEY LAUGH

-Yeah!

-Have you started to see the transformation you wanted?

Yeah, it feels much more like my house and not somebody else's.

I mean, I can already see a lot of change. Particularly the front door.

This just looks so much better,

now you've taken away the ugly door that was on your porch.

-No, I love it, cos the porch is a lovely shape, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Absolutely. And it looks loved and it's kind of got its dignity back.

Oh, thank you. That was lovely! That's what I hoped to achieve.

Cos it did look a very sad, tired house.

Well, I can't wait to see what you've done inside.

-And I can't wait to show you!

-Let's have a look.

-I can't wait.

Come on.

-Wow!

-Look at this!

-This is unbelievable!

-It's incredible!

'It's a staggering transformation of the downstairs.

'Instead of taking out the whole wall,

'requiring expensive structural work,

'Piers' inexpensive idea to take down just part of the wall

'has turned those dark front rooms

'into a fantastic new living and dining space.'

I mean, I hardly recognise it.

I mean, this was the meanest, pokiest kitchen.

And all this is is one lintel through there

and you didn't need to take the whole wall away,

cos that would've been expensive and complicated.

It's lovely, a lovely space.

The best thing is now being able to see all the way through to

what looks like a beautiful extension and the garden.

That's what you said to me, you know, that's what I should aim for.

'The rotten old lean-to at the rear has been pulled down.

'In its place stands a more spacious and adventurous extension,

'housing an incredible new kitchen.'

Well, it's fantastic, this room. You wanted this garden room.

And compared to that lean-to that you had before, I mean,

this is beautiful, isn't it? And there are so many things here

which you seem to have totally embraced

from our visit to that beautiful house in London.

I mean, the black glossy doors in the kitchen

and even the concrete worktop.

Well, I listened to what you said and a lot of it was logical

and I wanted to change totally and that's what I've done.

What's clever here is the way these roof lights light this space,

but they also light the rest of the house.

It's a truly delightful space, because the proportions are good,

the light is good and the way it works is really good.

'This pair of large skylight windows cost £360,

'working out over £1,000 less than using fixed pieces of glass.

'By putting in bifold doors and running the flagstone kitchen floor

'through to the patio outside, there's a wonderful flow

'from the house to the newly-landscaped garden.

'The reinvention of this home

'has included moving the bathroom upstairs and a complete rewire.

'Sue's achieved an impressive finish.

'But how much has it cost?'

Sue, you had 25,000 and a little bit of contingency for the build.

How much have you spent in the end?

-More than 35.

-Really?

-Hmm.

I think I've put value to it. It's not a catastrophe.

It is just, um... I can't go on a spending spree.

I think what you've done is an incredible achievement.

For you to have pulled this off on your own,

making all these tough decisions, also proving what can be done

with limited means to make an absolutely beautiful place to live.

Sue has taken a very small, dark, run-down semi

and she's completely transformed it,

extending it in such a way that complements the existing building

and also allows huge amounts of natural light

right into the heart of the old house.

You seem to have turned it into a real fresh start somehow.

-I mean, does it feel like that?

-It does feel like that.

Actually, it's quite a confidence booster for me as well,

cos what I wanted has been achievable.

'And Sue's house now has plenty of room for socialising.'

-Come and see, come on.

-Wow! Look at this!

-SUE LAUGHS

-What a change!

'Sue has been able to achieve this transformation

'by embracing Piers' extraordinary knowledge

'and architectural tricks of the trade.'

I think what Sue has pulled off here is quite astonishing.

Per square metre, this has to be one of the cheapest

complete reinventions of a house that I've ever seen.

I'm pretty astounded. It looks really good.

'She's created a series of absolutely beautiful spaces,'

from inside to outside the building. I mean, to do that

for that kind of money I think is a major, major achievement.

Next week, a family with a tiny budget

need to update their pokey cottage for modern life.

It's so dark and it's all enclosed,

it does feel very claustrophobic, really.

But are they prepared for our radical solutions?

I can't see it in a house.

My vision, I must say, is quite weak in that respect.

And updating an inherited home after losing dad...

It's absolutely vital I get this right.

..proves to be an emotional roller coaster.

Goodness me!

The work is going more quickly than the emotions.