A HOMEOWNER who invested in a property to create her dream home has had to radically change her plans.
The building was empty for 14 years, had no electricity or water, and was exposed to harsh elements for a long time.
Inevitably, this affected the structure and fabric of the building making a renovation impossible and costly.
“We were gutted," said Maggie, who, with her partner, Franz, (@ourcountryacre) had first embarked on their country home project.
In her post, Maggie showed their progress so far.
Her TikTok is dedicated to the evolution of their home and it has 48,000 followers and 581,000 likes.
“Follow us as we create our dream home," she wrote.
They had started their project with high hopes: “We bought this old house thinking we would renovate it.
“It hadn’t had any water or electricity for 14 years [and] it was in very bad shape."
The house had also been left exposed to the elements and was not watertight, leaving a legacy of major structural issues.
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"[The] main problem was the foundations and walls," explained Maggie.
Therefore, the couple was left with a major decision to make: either pile endless cash into a building almost beyond salvage or go for the cheaper option.
“[We] realized we had to start from scratch [and] we quickly became first-time owners/builders.
"Any house could be renovated if money was not an issue. But we designed a new home all by ourselves."
Many weeks were spent clearing the land and bringing down the old building.
“But then all of a sudden everything started coming together. And it’s still not finished yet and there’s still a lot to do, but we finally have a house frame.
“We had to abandon our renovation dream and become owner builders.”
The post has had 502,000 likes and stirred up a lot of comments about the need to knock down the original building.
Nevertheless, there was support for their sensible decision.
“Honestly they’d spend more on renovating that house than building a new one," said one commenter.
It was a similar view from another viewer: “Some buildings are past the point of fixing.”
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“Pity it couldn't have been salvaged, but a new build must be heaps exciting though," responded one more person.
Some experienced words from another fan: “A house cannot sit vacant for years without upkeep/maintenance. It’s clear the house was basically rotting away. These people are crying over it.”
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