I built my OWN extension after learning from YouTube tutorials and it saved me £25,000

A father who claims to have saved £25,000 by building his own extension, despite not having any previous building experience, is now planning a garden project, ready for the summer. 

Scott Baggaley, 30, said he watched YouTube tutorials to learn how to extend his new home in Clayton, Stoke-on-Trent.

Mr Baggaley, who works in marketing, claims to have saved thousands by doing it himself.

His social media posts and videos tracking progress on his project have attracted hundred of thousands of hits, with the marketing manager outlining costs of materials used for the benefit of his growing audience. 

Now, the father-of-one will be turning his DIY skills towards his garden, where the first task on his mind is to build a retaining wall, steps and planters. 

Scott Baggaley says he took the project on himself after he was quoted up to £45,000 by local tradesmen

But Mr Baggaley warned in a TikTok post that ‘doing this has its own problems’. 

Speaking to the BBC, the marketing manager said: ‘You’re not trying to do everything all at once. 

‘It’s literally step by step… one little thing at a time’   

Mr Baggaley bought the property with his girlfriend, as a doer upper to renovate in 2021, before finding out that she was expecting a baby.

As the couple started to work on their new home, they realised that the old extension connecting to their kitchen was poorly insulated – an alarming discovery amid the rising cost of gas and energy bills.

Mr Baggaley decided that it was best to ‘just made a start’.

‘We were then on a really short timescale and with a lot less money, as you can imagine,’ he said.

Finding that tradesmen were fully booked up, the marketing manager began learning from YouTube and picked up skills there.

The marketing manager brought in building inspectors to make sure his craftsmanship was correct and within the law

He and his girlfriend moved out of rented accommodation and bought their first property – a doer upper they wanted to renovate – in 2021

The homeowner previously built a beauty salon in the back garden for his girlfriend to work from home.

‘When I started the roof, that’s when it got tricky without professional staff. Skilled thing to be doing roofing. 

‘I was dreading going outside because I didn’t know what I was doing,’ he said. 

Mr Baggaley added: ‘Managing my time around my nine-to-five job and my girlfriend, who has given birth to our son, was the biggest difficulty.’

Spending, £9,000 on building materials in total, the marketing manager managed to demolish the old extension, deal with  a major setback when he accidentally dug through concrete and hit a lead pipe, forcing him to halt work and fix the whole system. 

‘You learn how to dig the footings then you learn what goes into the footings. Then you’re learning how to put one brick on top of another and what material goes in between the bricks,’ he said.

‘Eventually, it all starts coming together.’

Mr Baggaley said that working on and finishing the roof was the hardest part, as he had to ensure that it was waterproof.

He claims hat there have been no issues with his brand-new extension and that he enjoyed seeing ‘multiple videos [of his work] go viral now on multiple channels’, while warning but people inspired to to do the same that they needed to be prepared and follow regulations.

Turning to social media and YouTube videos for guidance, the 30-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent completed the entire extension project including the roof in just six months, and spent around £9,000

He suffered a major setback when he accidentally dug through concrete and hit a lead pipe, forcing him to halt work and fix the whole system

‘I wanted to make sure it was all legit and signed off by building control, so obviously you can pay for that, and he signed it off every step of the way which is really important for me and the safety of the house.

‘It takes a ridiculous amount of time and effort and you need a bit of money in your pocket as well – anyone who’s seen the viral video knows that the materials cost just over £9,000 which is a lot less than paying a builder, but you definitely need to be ready for this type of work.’

Mr Baggaley posted on his TikTok account that he now had two thing on his mind.

‘I need a garden for summer, and I need to complete the interior of the house extension build.’