Episode Information Newport & Brentford

Date Published:

16/06/2009

In Brentford, Middlesex, singing twin sisters Loretta and Natasha, along with Loretta's graffiti artist husband David, have splashed almost all of their cash on a large five bedroom house on a quiet street. As they all work freelance and don't have guaranteed job security, they've decided that property could be the perfect nest egg for retirement.

With no experience or expertise in developing, they'll be employing a builder and splitting the project management three ways. David, Loretta and Natasha’s plan is to split the property horizontally and create a garden flat on the ground floor with a maisonette above. But Sarah thinks they’ve missed a hugely profitable trick. This property is ripe for a vertical split, creating two separate houses and avoiding the pitfalls of a volatile market for flats.

The Budget

They bought the property for £363,000 and have a £118,000 budget. They plan to sell both flats for £600,000, making a whopping £119,000 profit. If they choose to divide the building vertically in half, making two three bedroom houses, they could boost their total resale by up to £100,000.

With no development loan in place and only £30,000 to pour in, money could be a problem. Still, this trio decide to go with Sarah's idea of making two houses, giving them the best possible chance of making some money.

They borrow money left, right and centre, and have to meet monthly repayments of £1,800. Sticking to their development schedule and running this project with the utmost efficiency will be crucial. But two weeks in, Loretta and Natasha get the big music break they’ve been waiting for, playing as a support act on Take That’s UK tour. It's an opportunity they can't refuse, but that leaves inexperienced David to project manage while also working hard as a freelance artist.

The builders get all of the structural work done, but that's when problems surface. With nobody to direct them and make decisions, work slows to a crawl. The girls are on tour and David's busy working, so when important things need to be ordered, like the kitchens, work is held up and builder Nick has to send people out to other jobs.

Increasingly frustrated by the erratic progress on-site, they’ve called a meeting with their builder. Having reached stalemate, Nick the builder leaves the job. This has become a truly tortuous development. It takes a month to find a new builder, and as they sort out one problem, another rears its head. They've run out of money.

With no more cash, Loretta, Natasha and David have no other option than to decorate the houses themselves. This pushes them way over schedule - a potential catastrophe considering their interest payments and the falling market. Things get so desperate that the three have to move into the houses, although with them spending all that time there does allow them to push on with the final finishes.

It’s November 2008 and they’re finished. It may be over schedule, but there’s no doubt it’s a dramatic and successful conversion into three bedroom twin cottages.

Each house has a spacious master bedroom and family bathroom on the first floor. Upstairs the matching loft conversions are a success, adding a double bedroom to each house. But it’s downstairs where the transformation comes into its own. The mirror image layouts have kept the conversion simple and successful, apart from the double doors into the garden, which are only fitted in one of the cottages. But there’s no denying, these are two stylish new properties.

Final Figures

They've more than doubled their original six month schedule, and in that time the market has plummeted. The budget has risen from £118,000 to £145,000. Added to the sale price, the total spend is a whopping £508,000. Valuations come in at between £580,000 and £640,000 for the two houses, and that means a profit of anywhere between £72,000 and £132,000. Not a bad result for three developers that, by their own admission, are not cut out for the property game.

Rather than sell, they move in to the houses, along with Natasha and David's new-born baby.