A COUPLE have told how they managed to build a Grand Designs-style home just by watching YouTube videos.
Martyn Smith and his wife were living in an apartment in high-end Canary Wharf, London, when they decided the fast-paced capital wasn’t for them anymore.
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The 67-year-old got a “bee in his bonnet” about where he was living and was adamant that he needed to flee the hustle and bustle immediately.
After years of dreaming about building his own swanky pad, Martyn decided to take the leap.
He watched a few YouTube clips of the Channel 4 hit Grand Designs and decided it was well within his reach.
But first, they had to spend a small fortune on the “perfect plot”.
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Writing in The Times, Martyn said: “My partner is from Devon, so we thought we would look there. We set aside three years to find the perfect plot.
“After only a few months I was already losing the will to live. We’d often go and look at a plot that looked great on paper.
“But when we got there we’d discover there was a pylon in front of the house or a prison next door — one piece of land actually had a prison at one end and a sewage plant at the other.”
They finally found a spot in Dunsford, Devon, which had seven acres of land and a price tag of £395,000.
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It also included planning permission for a new house to replace the “shambles” of a building that was already there.
The Smiths ended up paying £325,000 for it and started the works in 2017 – a lot of which he did himself.
Grand Designs Clifftop House in Wales shown in I’m A Celeb 2021
Martyn added: “Because prices were very high for so many aspects of the work, I thought I would like to have a go at doing some of the jobs myself.
“I did huge amounts of research watching YouTube videos.
“There’s also a lot of good advice. Once I was confident I understood how to tackle a certain job, I did it myself.
“One of the most difficult things I installed, with help from my partner, was a ground source heat pump.”
Tons of work later and years of living in their dream home, they have decided to sell up.
Martyn and his wife are now selling the property for £1.7million.
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