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A man saved a massive £35,000 after building a home extension himself – by following YouTube tutorials.
Marketing manager Scott Baggaley took on the project after being quoted “crazy prices” for the job – up to £45,000 – by local tradesmen.
Frustrated with the inability to hire a professional at a reasonable price, Scott decided to take on the project alone and turned to social media for guidance.
Scott, 30, and his girlfriend, who wishes to remain anonymous, moved out of a rental home and bought their first home in 2021 – a doer they wanted to renovate.
He bought reclaimed materials hoping a local builder would become available, but no one did, so he just kept going.
Scott, from Stoke-on-Trent, said: “Because the market was busy, the traders were fully booked, so I started learning from YouTube and gaining skills there.”
The renovation and transformation has been completed
He engaged building inspectors to ensure his workmanship was correct and within the law.
Scott added: “Managing my time around my nine-to-five job and my girlfriend, who gave birth to our son, has been the biggest difficulty.”
The only major difficulty Scott faced was when he started on the roof, which proved difficult, but he eventually succeeded.
“When I started with the roof, it became difficult without professional staff. Experienced thing to do roofing works.
“I dreaded going out because I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Marketing manager Scott Baggaley took on the project after getting “crazy prices”.
He also suffered a major setback when he accidentally dug through concrete and hit a lead pipe, forcing him to stop work and repair the entire system.
But Scott completed both the roof and the entire extension project in just six months, spending just £9,170.
In total, Scott saved over £35,000 compared to some of the initial quotes and added an estimated value of £30,000 to his home.
The expansion was not the first construction work Scott undertook.
He previously built a backyard beauty salon for his girlfriend to work from home.