The Great House Giveaway, presented by Simon O'Brien, gives two complete strangers who are not homeowners the chance to secure a rundown home via auction. The intrepid renovators are then given a small budget to transform the property and put it back on the market. Once selling fees, buying costs, and the renovation budget has been taken from the eventual sales price if it does sell the pair split the profit and walk off into the sunset very happy. But that doesn't always happen and getting to that point within a strict timescale can be a painful process.
The show that throws the strangers into the stressful situation of a full renovation project to transform a rundown property has seen some spectacular wins and some breathtaking losses across its three Channel 4 series. Maybe the most incredible outcome was the pairing of Daniel, 36, and 18-year-old Peter who were tasked with updating a four-bed terrace in Neath but when presenter Simon returned to survey the work he was rendered speechless. He was was shocked at the amount of the house that had been ripped out, leaving it, in his words, un-mortgageable. Find out more about that here.
When the show came to Wales again, this time in the Rhondda valley, it was a dilapidated terrace in Tonypandy that needed an upgrade. Bought at auction for £62,500 it became the obsession of strangers Llyr, a communications worker from Llandeilo, and kitchen designer Elinor, from Cardiff, to try and bring it back to life and back onto the market with a margin of profit.
There was no boiler, no toilet, no staircase banisters, some damp, and a garden that looked like a tip. The budget given to the pair was just £70,000 and 40% of that was immediately swallowed up by a new boiler and central heating system. On the plus side the open-plan reception room was large and light and the garden, although in need of attention, was a sunny bonus that soon looked inviting once the junk was gone and turf and chippings were laid. But it was the back wall of the house that became the stuff of nightmares. Llyr hacked off the render right back to brick, a challenging job, and the need for a builder to repair and re-render was going to put strain on their budget further.
Plus they were running out of time – 17 weeks into the renovation and the house should have been back on the market. Simon sums up the situation perfectly: "They are over budget, over schedule, and over the renovation." But worse was to come.
They got quotes for the rear wall work and went for the cheapest and with the work done all the new render needed was a lick of exterior paint. But Elinor soon discovered a new and worrying crack had appeared and so a surveyor was called.
Llyr says the surveyor puts the work down to being "a bit of a cowboy job". He says: "We need to find someone of a good standard to come and do the job correctly. It has put us in a tight spot in terms of budget and timings to sell the property." And while they try and find someone to do the render again at short notice poor Llyr is up on the ladder again hacking off the render.
Simon is devastated for the pair, saying: "It really is bad news and it needs to be done properly. What a nightmare." He takes pity on Llyr and Elinor and says he will reimburse their reno budget with the cost of the original job as the builder refuses to come back and review the work. By the end of the renovation Llyr and Elinor have only a few weeks in which to sell the property and even though the estate agent values their completed house at £105,000 it is put on the market for £99,950 for a quick sale.
Simon returns to deliver the verdict to the anxious first-time renovators – will they walk away with a profit or just the experience and learning curve of their first renovation? The house was bought for £62,500, they went over budget from £7,000 to £10,497, and costs, fees, and interest came to £14,934 – leaving them a profit of £4,069 to share between them. They look subdued at the outcome but, as Simon reminds them, some participants in the programme have made no profit at all or even a loss.
Simon doesn't help lift spirits by telling Llyr and Elinor that he thinks with more time on the market they would have probably achieved somewhere near the agent's valuation of £105,000 but as he says and as all property flippers should remember: 'Time is literally money."
The Great House Giveaway is currently on Channel 4 at 4pm and catch up on All4. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
