The House That 100K Built

Alistair and Karen hope that building a family home in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, could be the key to a mortgage-free life. Alistair grew up close-by and wants his son to have the same childhood he had, surrounded by farmland and playing in the stream. The design must meet the needs of an uncertain future - Alistair was recently diagnosed with MS so they have designed the home with wheelchair access in mind. Kieran Long and Piers Taylor must hunt out ingenious ways to improve their design so the couple can get the best house possible on their budget. Their single storey home has three distinct parts but Piers quickly discovers the most expensive bit is a glass section in the middle, which the couple is only using as a corridor! He must help them make the most of every part of their home while Kieran looks for design tricks to improve key areas. He inspires them with a home that uses pocket doors rather than traditional swinging ones and proves that increasing the space around a kitchen island makes an enormous difference to how successful it is, and costs no more. As the costs begin to rise, Alistair and Karen are disappointed with how their £10,000 kitchen looks in the space. Piers comes up with a ‘peg board’ idea that looks like it could have cost thousands but was only £60! Having invested so much financially, physically and emotionally, Alistair and Karen are desperate to get out of their caravan and into their new home, but will they have managed to capture the magic of the plot and create a home for the next generation of their family?

Despite retiring, Derek and Christine have no intention of slowing down. They want to move from Huddersfield to the south-east of England, but simply can’t afford the house prices. Their radical solution? At 71 years old, Derek is attempting to build his first house from scratch. Children of the ‘60s, Derek and Christine are flamboyant and sociable, but Piers Taylor and Kieran Long are concerned that their larger-than-life characters simply aren’t reflected in their home. The house has ordinary shaped rooms and a dark kitchen so Piers suggests flipping the layout for a show-stopping kitchen, dining and living space on the first floor – but will the couple be brave enough to make the leap? Kieran is concerned that bringing a lifetime of possessions into a brand new house could end up looking a jumble, so takes them to see a house by a Swedish interior designer who has perfected the art of mixing old with new. The house is full of ideas that not only look great but are also cheap: modern kitchen door handles are replaced with vintage pieces of cutlery that cost a few pounds, the family kitchen table is made out of legs from a junk shop and old wooden shelves from a cheesemaker – each item brings a sense of history into any new home. Then the unthinkable happens: they receive word the house may have been built in the wrong place! No contingency in the world would cater for knocking down a home and starting again. Will this gamble with their lifesavings end in disaster?

Jason and his Finnish wife Riikka, have lived in many homes in Torquay, but never one that truly felt like home. The battle to get their dream home becomes the longest build ever featured. They don’t want a big house, but one which perfectly fits their needs, so having bought a breath-taking plot with sea-views, they get to work. They are building an ambitious modern home that hopes to take full advantage of the sea views. The principal materials are glass and steel but as architect Piers Taylor points out, they are two of the least forgiving materials for any self-builder. Kieran Long is shocked at how complicated they’ve made their home. The entrance is confusing and in a home dominated by glass they’ve chosen fixed panes, rather than ones that open. He takes them to see one of the finest modernist homes in Britain to try and prove that adding simplicity is the key to their home not complexity. Piers are on a mission to get them to embrace open plan living, which will make the most of the view. He reveals how to disguise a kitchen so that it doesn’t dominate a living area. Meanwhile, Riikka is keen to furnish her home in a Scandinavian style, so Kieran takes them to Denmark to understand the roots of that movement and show it’s about clever choices, not spending money. In this mammoth build, Jason and Riikka battle winter storms, injury and countless setbacks but will they get their dream home for under £100k?

Can you build a family home for just £50k?! Well, Neil and Amanda are giving it their best shot. With a brand new baby and a lively toddler, they’ve decided to knock down their dilapidated small house in East Anglia and try and build a larger one. But, they don’t want a typical new home with plasterboard walls and conventional rooms, they dream of something inspired by medieval timber frame homes. Kieran Long’s first concern is that it could end up looking like a naff Tudor theme pub, but Piers Taylor has even bigger concerns. Their current plans are for a modern home with fake decorative timbers stuck on the outside so he rips up the plans and begins to redesign the entire home from scratch. He begs them to invest their money in a handmade timber frame with traditional joints and handmade dowels, but in order to afford it, Neil will have to scavenge almost every other building material from the old house he has knocked down. Kieran must give them the skills to avoid the home feeling fake. He manages to uncover a beautiful barn conversion which is furnished in such a way that it looks fashionable but also has a real sense of character. It is full of ideas and tricks that Neil and Amanda could use in their home even though their budget is almost all spent. With much of their budget gone and the house still a shell, can Neil the novice builder, possibly complete their entire home for less than what most people spend on a fitted kitchen?

Jody and Lori have outgrown their cramped house near Southend and are desperate for a modern family home - but Prices in Essex are rocketing. A four-bedroom new-build in the area starts at £400k, which is way beyond their budget. Determined to stay near friends and family, Jody and Lori decided to gamble everything they have on building a new home from scratch. If they get it right they will have saved in the region of £200k! Piers is concerned they’ve started building before the design is finished. He suggests a series of changes that could turn a very generic house into something flooded with natural light, gets the most out of a limited plot and full of practical storage ideas to suit a young family. Kieran takes the couple to see a series of homes tailor-made for the people that live in them. Each is packed with ideas they could try, from lighting designs that works for cosy nights and big parties, ingenious ways of using wallpaper to mark out a dining area and how to disguise a kitchen in an open-plan space. As the build gathers pace, Lori struggles to make colour choices beyond simply greys and whites, but Piers believes colour is exactly the low-cost trick they need. He explains the basics of colour theory, but will they really move from safe whites and greys to bold oranges and blues? As the pressure mounts, the money runs out. Jody and Lori are overwhelmed by the task ahead, can they hold their nerve and create a home which is not only cheaper than what was on offer, but also better?