Just a regular bloke.
No architect.
No fat bank account.
I still remember standing in that derelict barn with just four walls, mud floors that needed underpinning, walls leaning so badly we couldn’t take them down, and a roof that was… well, not really a roof at all. Rain was pissing through, water dripping down my neck, thinking “What the hell have I done?”
But the views were absolutely amazing. The open-plan space appealed straight away. We could never have afforded anything like this on the open market. Fast-forward 18 months and I’m cracking open a cold one in my dream kitchen with floor-to-ceiling glass looking out over the fields.
“I nearly shat myself when the first proper quote came in. £420k. I was standing in the mud, rain pissing down, staring at a piece of paper that said I’d need to find another £180k I didn’t have.”
I learned every single lesson the hard way — cocked-up budgets, planning headaches, structural surprises, and more mud than you can shake a stick at. This site and the guide exist so you don’t have to.