The House that £100k Built

With house prices out of the reach of many people and banks refusing to lend, buying a home in the UK is becoming an impossible dream. So a few brave but ordinary souls are trailblazing what could be the solution for all of us – trying to build their own house from scratch. Architectural journalist and senior curator at the V&A Kieran Long and award-winning architect (and experienced self-builder) Piers Taylor are following self-builders as they take on the biggest gamble of their lives. Kieran and Piers will try to help them create the house they’ve longed for. But all have less than £100k to spend, little or no experience and life savings on the line – it won’t be easy. Martin Whyment is desperate to get on the property ladder. A young man running own pizza van business, he’s scrimped and saved enough money to buy a backland site in the centre of Leeds to build himself his first home. But when the bank refuses him a mortgage Martin is left with only one option - to ask his retired parents to lend him their own hard-earned savings. And for an ex woodwork teacher and school administrator that represents a huge gamble… Kieran and Piers are keen to help him achieve his dream but with his parent’s cash at stake they have an extra responsibility to navigate him away from making costly mistakes. Martin has an incredibly ambitious plan to build a 4-bedroom house but hemmed in by an awkward plot and overlooked by other homes, Piers proposes some radical cost-saving ideas to open up the house and let more light in. Martin remains dubious of the architect’s ambitions for his home but Piers hopes a trip to an award-winning property in Wales will make him change his mind. To have any hope of persuading the bank to give him a mortgage Martin has to get the house finished and habitable. If he fails, his parent’s face never seeing the return of their lifetime savings. But as the harsh winter weather sets in Martin’s pizza van suffers from poor passing trade and with even less income than he anticipated he struggles to keep his business and the build afloat. Will he be able to finish the house and pay his parents back?

With house prices out of the reach of many people and banks refusing to lend, buying a home in the UK is becoming an impossible dream. So a few brave but ordinary souls are trailblazing what could be the solution for all of us – trying to build their own house from scratch. Architectural journalist and senior curator at the V&A Kieran Long and award-winning Piers Taylor are following self-builders as they take on the biggest gamble of their lives. Kieran and Piers will try to help them create the house they’ve longed for. But all have less than £100k to spend, little or no experience and life savings on the line – it won’t be easy. Twice-widowed, Sumati Bala thought she’d found the perfect spot to spend the rest of her life, a beautifully located cottage in need of updating just outside Berwick upon Tweed. She moved in and planned to run her small cookery school there but the house of her dreams soon turns into a living nightmare as one by one serious problem emerge from asbestos to rising damp. With the house condemned Sumati is forced to knock down the troubled cottage and has no option but to build a new one in its place. As the bulldozers move in Sumati witnesses the bulk of her life savings pulled to the ground and with just £50,000 left she has to start from scratch. Homeless, with no self-build experience or family nearby, Sumati is facing the monumental challenge alone. To help Sumati make the most of her incredibly tight budget Kieran and Piers attempt to steer her in the right direction. Kieran tracks down inspirational properties that are relevant to Sumati’s tight budget build while Piers takes her to the dramatic island location of Skye to visit contemporary, affordable homes so she can see first-hand what she can achieve with a minimal budget. Can Piers persuade her to adopt his more ambitious and contemporary plans for her dream home and cookery school? But the reluctant self builder soon finds the demands of supervising the build overwhelming and as Sumati’s confidence to make important decisions dwindles, the build grinds to a halt. Faced with the prospect of being without a home and no income Sumati has to make some tough decisions if she is to finish the house at all and get her life back on track.

With house prices out of the reach of many people and banks refusing to lend, buying a home in the UK is becoming an impossible dream. So a few brave but ordinary souls are trailblazing what could be the solution for all of us – trying to build their own house from scratch. Architectural journalist and senior curator at the V&A Kieran Long and award-winning Piers Taylor are following self-builders as they take on the biggest gamble of their lives. Kieran and Piers will try to help them create the house they’ve longed for. But all have less than £100k to spend, little or no experience and life savings on the line – it won’t be easy. On the brink of retirement, Shropshire farmers Ruth and Tony are at the point in their lives when they could hope to start taking life easy. But faced with a crumbling farmhouse they’re having to knock it down and they have ambitious plans to replace it with a determinedly modern design. Their savings pot is just under £100k, and despite having no experience or expertise in house building, the couple believes they can save money by handling every stage of the build themselves from laying the foundations to putting up the timber frame. But very quickly the budget spirals out of control and an entire wing of the house is abandoned in order to keep their project afloat. To help the couple avoid further costly mistakes Kieran and Piers Taylor attempt to steer them in the right direction. Piers experienced eye spots a whole lot of problems, not least the challenge of building a house that will fit into its beautiful surrounding landscape but Ruth is determined to stick to a modern design over the exterior of the house – and risks creating a horrendous eyesore. Kieran gains unique access to award-winning properties that are relevant to Ruth and Tony’s budget self build, taking Ruth to the Dungeness coastline to see examples of how beautiful weathered traditional materials for the exterior can also be contemporary. Can he persuade her to think differently and adopt Piers’ more rustic and cheaper cladding solution? But as the winter weather brings the build to a standstill, the couple find the demands of subsisting in a small caravan increasingly difficult and, as the money drains away, they face making some tough financial decisions if they are to finish the house at all.

With house prices out of the reach of many people and banks often refusing to lend, buying a home in the UK is becoming an impossible dream. So a few brave but ordinary souls are trailblazing what could be the solution for many of us - trying to build their own house from scratch. Architectural journalist and senior curator at the V&A Kieran Long and award-winning architect Piers Taylor are following self-builders as they take on the biggest gamble of their lives. Kieran and Piers will try to help them create the house they've longed for. But all have less than £100k to spend, little or no experience and their life savings on the line - it won't be easy. Currently living in a shared house with friends, ambitious young couple Tom and Zoe are desperate to move into their first home together. Not wanting to settle for the uninspiring homes that their small budget would buy them in Cambridgeshire, they have bravely opted to buy a plot of land on a housing estate and build their own. Planning permission dictates a relatively conventional home on the outside, but they have plans to make it spectacular on the inside. Building an entire home with even the most basic of interiors for £90,000 is a challenge, but they aim to create a home that is surprising and spectacular, something with a 'wow' factor. The confines of the building and the tiny budget means Piers must adopt a radical approach, attempting to prove that by removing walls and even abandoning a whole bedroom they will not only save money but make the building more special. Meanwhile, Kieran gets access to one of the country's best 'one-off' houses to prove that the key to finishing the home within budget is not a case of simply shopping, but carefully sourcing inexpensive items from the high street and customizing them into bespoke pieces. As the money starts to run dry, Piers and Kieran are forced to make increasingly unconventional cost saving suggestions. As the strain of the build increases, Tom and Zoe are working round the clock to finish their home - but was it ever even possible to create the home that they dreamt of on their limited funds?

With house prices out of the reach of many people and banks often refusing to lend, buying a home in the UK is becoming an impossible dream. So a few brave but ordinary souls are trailblazing what could be the solution for many of us - trying to build their own house from scratch. Architectural journalist and critic Kieran Long and award-winning architect Piers Taylor are following self-builders as they take on the biggest gamble of their lives. Kieran and Piers will try to help them create the house they've longed for. But all have less than £100k to spend, little or no experience and their life savings on the line - it won't be easy. Having lived their whole lives in conventional houses in a city with central heating, and everything we take for granted, Jane and Andy have bought a plot on an eco community in West Wales where they can build their own home and live a self sufficient lifestyle. As passionate environmentalists they intend to build the house with materials sourced from only a few miles around them and they hope to demonstrate it's possible to build an environmentally friendly and comfortable house. But the plot comes with some big restrictions. In order to live there Jane and Andy have to meet strict quotas which includes producing 75% of everything they consume, from food to electricity. It’s the life they have always dreamt of, but juggling the responsibilities of self-sufficiency and the build soon finds the couple at odds with their lifestyle. Andy, a former chemical engineer has all the practical skills but currently, the plans for their home are only in his head. Piers Taylor quickly identifies this as a major problem if this build is ever going to progress. He attempts to find solutions that could help push the build along – even suggesting using entire parts of a 747 jet while Kieran investigates the and the positives and the pitfalls of sustainable building when he visits award winning ecologically conscious homes. With help from volunteers initially Jane and Andy make good progress but when Kieran visits the build 8 months in there are big issues. Weather has all-but stopped work on site, the frame is still half built and the vegetable patch Jane and Andy rely on is empty. With winter approaching, the couple are subsisting in the caravan - and they are faced with making tough decisions that could compromise their eco-friendly beliefs.

With house prices out of the reach of many people and banks refusing to lend, buying a home in the UK is becoming an impossible dream. So a few brave but ordinary souls are trailblazing what could be the solution for all of us – trying to build their own house from scratch. Architectural journalist and senior curator at the V&A, Kieran Long and award-winning architect (and experienced self-builder) Piers Taylor are following self-builders as they take on the biggest gamble of their lives. Kieran and Piers will try to help them create the house they’ve longed for. But all have less than £100k to spend, little or no experience and life savings on the line – it won’t be easy. The newly-engaged couple, Mary and Justin are desperate to build a life together in rural Devon where they and generations of both of their families are from. But with house prices soaring, the market for first-time buyers is desperately grim. They are left with one option if they want to stay where they know and love, they need to build their own house. They embark on building a £95,0000 house, but as Kieran discovers on his first visit to their plot of land, they only have £60,000 to their names - he is desperately worried that this young pair have taken on far too much. In their efforts to keep the build low cost, they have ended up with low aspiration – Kieran explores some of the UK’s greatest examples of low-cost housing to prove it’s possible to have a beautiful home on a budget. Meanwhile, Piers encourages them to be more adventurous with their vision and incorporate architectural features that are unique to them. But as they juggle the pressures of organizing their wedding and full-time jobs, the schedule for building the house falls behind and unexpected severe rain threatens to ruin their exposed timber frame. While the schedule slips, money is fast running out and Justin’s job on the farm ends at the worst possible time. Will this young couple have risked too much to get the first home that they dreamt of?