A Grand Designs project that appeared to be doomed after its owners ran out of money and the build was battered by torrential rain is finally finished after going £200,000 over budget – and after one owner suffered a heart attack during the project.
Builder Paul told host Kevin McCloud, who revisted his eco-friendly home in the West Pennine Moors after it was left unfinished in 2018, that the project had been a ‘pleasurable experience’ despite the serious health issue he suffered – which his wife Carol said had been caused by the stress of the build.
When they set out to build their dream home in the West Pennine Moors in 2015, they had a tight budget of £350,000 – which Paul admitted had been ‘plucked out of the air’ – and a slim 15-month schedule to complete the project. Seven years on, they had spent a total of £550,000 on the house, and Paul had had an operation to install two stents in his heart.
Paul and Carol’s house, in the West Pennine Moors, has finally been completed after several years which saw them go over budget. On tonight’s episode of Grand Designs, Kevin McCloud went to visit the finished property (pictured)
Kevin and Carol’s kitchen is kitted out with blue cabinets and white work surfaces, with white marble-style flooring tiles and a chic island in the middle of the room
The master bedroom (pictured) is one of five bedrooms to sit on the ground floor of the property and has been decorated with a dusky pink theme
Paul and Carol (pictured) now live in the eco-friendly countryside property after moving out of their Bolton home
By the end of their first episode when host Kevin McCloud visited the couple for the final time, the couple had run out of money to complete their project and the partially-completed house had been battered by elements including torrential rain and freezing temperatures.
Although some aspects of the house including the farmhouse kitchen, and the structure itself, were in good condition, Kevin described other aspects as ‘sad and sorry’ with the couple ‘war-wearied and scarred’ by the project.
They had also made the difficult decision to put their existing family home, where they had raised their daughters, on the market in order to finance the rest of the project, with Carol admitting they had ‘spent everything [they had] ever saved’ on the project.
At the beginning of the original episode, Paul, who did an apprenticeship as a bricklayer at the age of 16 and had built around 40 other projects in the past, set out on his most ambitious build yet. He had even renovated the family’s original Bolton home, which had once been a Lancashire barn, for them to live in.
Paul and Carol’s house in the West Pennine Moors is finally complete, with its timber structure and angular roof just as Paul had envisioned
From the outside of the house, its terrace can be seen alongside the enormous patch of land complete with a vegetable patch
The kitchen and dining area in the house is on its first floor and contains navy chairs and a large, long oak table for communal dining
A closer look at the kitchen island shows the wooden and metal bar stools, providing another dining option if Paul and Carol are not entertaining
The snug area, which is also on the first floor, is a simple space with a carpet and blinds to block out the light if the family wants to enjoy a film on the enormous TV
His aim was to design and erect a timber-built, eco-friendly and energy saving house for himself, Carol and their daughter Abby.
The plan was for the five bedrooms of the house to be on the ground floor, alongside the gym, with the first floor containing the kitchen, the living room and the snug.
He admitted it was the ‘most difficult’ project he had ever undertaken as he spoke from the building site.
But by the end of the 15 months, following a stop-start process, the house remained unfinished and sat in a muddy landscape without any kind of interior complete.
Opening tonight’s episode, host Kevin McCloud said: ‘Six years after they finished I’ve come to see where Pail and Carole’s architectural journey landed them.’
As it looked back on their journey, the episode recalled the bumps in the road Paul and Carol faced while they took on the mammoth project – including relentless rain.
Standing in the soaking wet conditions, Paul admitted he hadn’t had ‘a full day’ on site working on the project for around three weeks because the rain kept stopping building.
Meanwhile Carol, who was running her own catering business in Bolton, was spending all her spare time at the site and became exhausted by the seven-day weeks she was working.
The first floor of Paul and Carol’s new house is adorned with family photographs as long lights hang over the vestibule by the stairs
The first floor of the house contains the living room, which has French doors that open out onto the balcony
The house even includes a resistance pool which is powered by a current, which Paul uses
As the winter kicked in and the couple battled the elements, Carol said she sometimes thought: ‘What the hell have I started here? Why on earth have we done this?’
In August this year, Kevin revisited the house to find it has finally been completed – and marvelled over its balconies, skylights and angular edges.
As Paul and Carol showed the host around their new solar panel-powered home, which costs ‘very little’ to run, Carol said: ‘I love it. It’s very tranquil and peaceful.’
And Paul admitted that, while it had not always been an easy task, he was pleased with what they had achieved.
He told Kevin: ‘It was traumatic at times, but looking back it was a pleasurable experience and worth the effort.’
The house, which also caters for Paul and Carol’s children and grandchildren, even includes a resistance pool which is powered by a current, with Paul using it for exercise.
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