The House that £100k Built

Martin Whyment is desperate to get on the property ladder. A young man running his own pizza van business, he has 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.

Twice-widowed, Sumati Bala thought she had 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 nightmare as serious problems emerged, from asbestos to rising damp.

On the brink of retirement, Shropshire farmers Ruth and Tony are at the point in their lives when they hope to start taking life easy. However, faced with a crumbling farmhouse, they are having to knock it down - and they have ambitious plans to replace it with a determinedly modern design.

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.

After living their whole lives in conventional houses with every modern convenience, 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.

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.

In this first episode, pizza van owner Martin from Leeds not only saved money but also improved his building by stepping out of his comfort zone, ditching conventional approaches to the build. But now, he's still got a series of rooms to finish and is at a total loss of what to do. Piers must find a way to rejuvenate Martin's thirst for an incredible home without blowing his budget.

Sumati had just £50,000 to build her home in the Scottish borders. She wrestled with fresh design ideas and inexpensive interior finishes, but a year on her home remains incomplete and is now under threat. With driving wind and rain causing damage to the unfinished exterior, Piers must find a way to reinvigorate Sumati to complete her home before it's too late.