Elisha Lawton, a quantity surveyor together with her boyfriend Jordan Fern, both at 30 years desired to own a home in Derby that was close to their friends and place of work. Several months passed with searching but still they could not locate an ideal choice for home.

Eventually they got into a risk of buying a house at £309,000 and on top they would put it into renovation. Success would come after two years having gone through DIY crafts they managed to transform the old house and elevated its property value in the market by £190,000.

Reflecting on how suitable location was their biggest challenge, Elisha disclosed how even though being close to friends, working places and social services, the houses still could not satisfy their needs. If to say a nice spacing for a garden or a kitchen with style, the old house could be made suitable for eternity home.

From the market trends, the home is averagely worth £500,000 having spent only £154,500 in removing the old interior components, redecoration and putting up an extension to the rear. To lower the cost of home renovation, the couple did most of the work and would only use professional assistance where necessary.

She would also state how they carried out the hard labour of garage demolition and interior works only with the help of her father which they would do during the weekends. This would slow them since most moments they would assist in the house extension building, roofing and plastering for which they hired a specialist.

She also narrates how YouTube and TikTok was a great help to them through guides that they used to accomplish smaller tasks like under floor heating and cable wiring by themselves.

They first removed all old components on the wall and ceiling board then did complete rewiring. 

By putting their desired design of an extension of a kitchen area, utility room and an open living area, this work cost them £85,000. They demolished the old garage then rebuilt a two storey unit that offered a good space upstairs with an extra space for a new garage downstairs.

This makes it a four bedroom house having two bathrooms upstairs with another toilet downstairs. The task was very complicated and together with the age condition of the house, they came to discover how the old fireplace was unfit for the use of logs.

As per now the pair is still putting in their final touches to the upstairs bedrooms, the garden and remaining rooms. It is to their delight they are living in a home of their own creation. Elisha was happier having made the kitchen come out as desired and seeing the house arise to life. To her, Jordan might have enjoyed the messy tasks of demolition. With a good solid plan for the cables and pipes, their house sorts a slot for future improvement.

Elisha advices those aspiring for similar projects not to do incomplete estimates for their given tasks considering appropriate decisions can give good results. For example, one can delay a task in order to complete another urgent one. If not, one ends up having a rush finishes which later leads to regrets. However, they regret to have not planned for the drainage system which led them to use internal storage area hence limiting access to the doorway.

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