"I can't get on property ladder - I turned my parents garage into a home for £15k" - video Dailymotion

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A man struggling to get on the property ladder landed spent just £15k on his first home - by building it in his parents' garage.   Josh Jones, 21, convinced his mum and dad to let him convert the garage attached to their four bed family home in Tunbridge Wells into a one-bed apartment.  Having saved up £4000, Josh decided to spend the cash transforming the space into his own home rather than putting down as a house deposit.   He started the build in January 2023 and took eight months to complete the work - with tips he picked up on YouTube.   Josh did all the work himself- completely stripping the garage roof, levelling out the floor, adding drainage, building a kitchen, installing a bathroom and a bedroom.  He spent £14,700 on materials, moved into his new abode in May 2024 with his girlfriend and say his parents are "happy for him".  Josh, a landscaper, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, said: "Renting is ridiculously expensive.  "I was living with my mum at dad and I knew renting could never be an option.  "As I was still living at home it was a no-brainer really.  "I learned to do it all on YouTube, as I have been in the building trade since I was 16.  "I knew what to do with most bits but I used YouTube for anything I didn't know about."  In December 2022, Josh approached his mum and dad with the idea to transform their garage into a small home.  He says to start with his parents weren't into the idea but Josh was able to win them around.   He said: "Initially, they were not on board. I kept going on and on about it.  "The garage was full of crap from over the years and I think dad realised that it was a serious situation when I started to take stuff out of the garage."  Josh started working on the garage in January 2023 - stripping it of all the items and fixing the roof.  From there he levelled the garage floor, added drain work and damp-proofed the structure.  He said: "I had to completely strip the garage roof, repair it and then insulate it.  "I levelled out the garage floor, we damp-proofed it and added drainage.  "I added walls, a kitchen, bathroom and living room."  Josh said the hardest part of the project was the drainage.  He said: "We had to dig a six-foot deep hole and I dug too far down and broke a pipe that I didn't need to so I had to replace that.  "The most challenging part of the project was the drainage - it is very complicated."  Josh said his favourite part of the build was putting in his kitchen.  He said: "I love my kitchen, it was second-hand from Facebook Marketplace and so cheap - costing £500.  "The most exciting part of the build was when I put in the window and doors.  "It felt like I was getting somewhere."  Josh said he will be in the property for the next 10 years due to the state of the rental market.  He said: "Renting is ridiculously expensive and never an option for me as I didn't want to be paying someone else's mortgage.  "I can see myself living here for the next 10 years - I don't see why not.

Transcript

00:00 Hi, my name is Josh Jones and I live in a garage and this is how much it cost me to build it myself.

00:05 Before we get started, this is how it looks before the whole transformation and this is how it looks now.

00:10 Stay tuned to the end to hear the final price.

00:12 Before I even got to tickle any tools, I had to pay £850 for architectural fees and building control.

00:18 The first tool we found on self-tackling was raising the garage roof. This cost me £1,150.

00:24 The joists were running front to back, resting on this massive beam that had to be moved because it was too low down

00:29 so now the joists run sideways and the beam is completely removed.

00:33 The next job was cutting a hole in the middle wall of both garages.

00:37 This didn't cost me anything, it just gave me the same cough as a 60-year-old chain smoker.

00:41 At this point in the build, I was feeling super, super optimistic.

00:52 However, it's time for drainage. The drainage materials cost me £450

00:56 and in my opinion was one of the hardest parts of the whole entire build.

01:00 If I was feeling good before, I was feeling great now because the drainage was done.

01:04 Now I move on to the front. I sold the existing garage door for £50 profit.

01:09 I bought a new front door for £100. I bought a new UPVC window for £20.

01:14 All the timber, brickwork, insulation and boarding all come to a total of £400.

01:20 So the total for the front was £470.

01:23 The stub wall and timber cost me £240 and the insulation was actually free from a friend of mine.

01:27 BOOM!

01:29 The plumbing was a nice surprise. It only cost me £750 for all of the first and second fix.

01:34 Before we went any further, it was time to tackle the damaged boards from the roof lift five years ago.

01:38 If I look, my hands went straight through it.

01:41 The small roof lift wasn't the plan and it cost me £500 a fix.

01:45 Next up to do the plaster boarding was £650 and that was just materials alone.

01:49 However, I did not do the plastering myself. I actually got a professional in and I'm so glad I did because it looks absolutely amazing.

01:56 The plastering cost me £1,350.

"I can't get on property ladder - I turned my parents garage into a home for £15k"

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