Series 2

Recently divorced, Jonathan Topps had been forced to live in his friend’s spare room for 6 months and was itching to get back onto the property ladder. With London prices so high, he had decided to embark upon a new career as a property developer to help him achieve the house of his dreams, and hoped a 3 bed Victorian terrace in Sydenham would be his first success. Even though he planned to do the majority of the work himself, his £20,000 development budget seemed optimistic, particularly as he’d bought the property without even the most basic survey.

Katie Basham was a first time buyer in her late 20s and like many people her age, desperate to get onto the property ladder. With London house prices out of reach, her solution was to split the purchase 50/50 with her dad. With his help, she decided to tackle a run down 5-bed maisonette above a bookie in London’s trendy Crouch End with the idea of creating a flat share. She would live in one of the rooms, and cover the mortgage by letting out the others for a total income of £400 a week.

Dan Gordon was desperate to get on the property ladder, but couldn’t afford the high prices in London. So, with the help of his girlfriend Rowena Walker, he decided to invest his savings in an unmodernised, three bedroom, ex council property in Coventry which he planned to renovate and sell on for a huge profit. Dan only had £1000 savings, but on this small sum, he managed to raise a 120% mortgage in which to fund the development.

Sian Astley is a confident young businesswoman who wants to make some serious money from property developing. Sian already had some experience of doing up houses. She and her last boyfriend often moved house and renovated each property they lived in along the way.But this time she was on her own and developing purely for profit. To realise her dream, she bought a three bedroom Victorian house in Chorlton, a suburb of Manchester for £102,000.

Best friends, Liz Rivers and Laura Sexton have been on the ultimate shopping trip. They went to an auction and came away with a run-down two-bedroom house in Maidstone for £90,000. They hope this house will make them a huge £22,000 profit. But they bought it without a survey and have absolutely no property developing experience, so is it just a matter of time before they come seriously unstuck?

Nicola Tolton and Gareth Piggott have been bitten by the property developing bug. Last year they renovated and sold their home making an impressive £45,000 profit. They decided to invest this money in another project that they hope will take them towards a mortgage free life. The property in question is a run-down three-bedroom detached house in Burgess hill, near Brighton. They have given themselves just six months to develop it and sell it on for a huge profit.

Merchant banker, Tallat Mukhtar sank his life savings into an empty shell in Shoreditch, East London. His plan was to transform it into a trendy two-bed loft apartment. Tallat had absolutely no experience, yet he took on the roll of builder, architect and project manager. He planned to spend three months fitting it out and then sell it on for a massive £100,000 profit.

Wannabe property developers Joanna Kingman and Graham Scurr dreamt of mortgage free living. They decided that developing property was the way forward and bought a 1960s semi-detached bungalow in the coastal town of Emsworth. They planned to extend and renovate it and sell it on for a tidy profit. To keep the costs down, they chose to live in the property and complete the renovations in their spare time.