You know, architecture isn't just there to protect us,
it's there also to comfort us.
Great buildings can reaffirm ideas,
they can restore old memories,
they can change the way we look at the world,
even how we look at ourselves.
Ironically, those experiences can also often be found in
the simplest of buildings,
I mean, take this treehouse for example,
I mean it is bound, isn't it,
to evoke childhood memories of waking up in
the canopy of the forest in the wilderness, you know?
And yet, when we start to build,
when we have to deal with kitchens and lighting
and building regulations and planning
and mortgages, then it is so easy amidst all the stress
and the pain and the financial worry,
for these big ideas to be crushed,
to be lost.
The architecture of innocence is not easy.
There are some among us who are built to succeed.
People who have an incredible potential to achieve.
I am a grafter, if I get focused on something,
I do go for that. I get stuck in.
My mum and father split up when I was probably around three.
Brought up predominantly by my mum.
I didn't really know my father growing up.
I've looked to my mum as a role model.
Absolutely a grafter, worked multiple jobs,
and I look back in awe, really, as to how she managed it.
Danny is the deputy principal of a large vocational college in
North Lincolnshire, where he's lived all his life.
He now has three children from two past relationships.
Kacy is my eldest, he lives with me.
Grace and Lucas, I have them a few nights in the week.
Danny may not have known his own father,
but being a parent is a role he takes very seriously.
They are my world,
my life revolves around them
and what I've tried to do as a father now is to be
the best father I can be.
He's now planning to build a new home for his children to grow up in,
within the two-acre garden of their current house.
So, this house is going to be a framework
for my children's childhood.
It's that hub for us all just to come together as
a family and just to enjoy our time.
Keep it tight and then turn that. Good lad.
But Danny's dreams of a perfect childhood
for his family will be governed by one very practical truth.
Money.
That'll do, good girl.
I've got a little bit of a reputation
for being what I like to call frugal.
That comes from growing up and not having stuff,
and not having money and not having excess
and that's ingrained. That will never go.
I don't have hundreds of thousands of pounds in a savings account,
but I'm quietly determined that I'm going to get there.
Money may worry him,
but Danny does already own the land for this project,
and that's a big advantage.
So, this is the site. Right on the edge of the village.
Yeah, it's surrounded by fields really all the way round.
Beautiful. Belter of a site, I have to say.
So there's your bungalow right back there, yeah?
That's right. Did this land come with the bungalow?
Yes, it did, yeah.
So the house, to me, looks as though it ought
to sit around about here.
You know, you can drive in, there you are,
and you've got these long views to the south.
It's not going to be here, it's going to be further down the site.
Nestled in among the trees? Absolutely, yeah.
Come on then let's go and have a look at it.
Ah, it's so pretty.
This site seems to grow as you move through it.
Ooh, that's nice. There's a beech and a couple of sycamores.
Ahh, and the pond. It's a delight.
Yeah, yeah, from what I've been told,
the chap who lived here,
I think his wife wasn't best pleased
that he went out fishing all the time, so he said, "OK,"
so he built himself a pond.
There's loads of carp in there, loads of fish.
So, do all of those trees stay? They all stay,
and they actually form a really nice natural boundary
to the house, where it's going to nestle in.
It's that sort of treehouse concept we've gone for.
So you're able to build without having to destroy too much?
The house is about the site, you know,
it's not just the house, it's actually the site
and I really want to sort of protect the site.
Where that large walnut tree is,
there is going to be a really large timber garage.
So you're not integrating the garage into the house deliberately?
No, completely separate.
For the children to grow up in an area like this
is a real opportunity.
But they've already got this?
They have. They can already come down here.
It's a different experience.
So rather than coming down here to play, we'll be living down here.
It's going to be quite an exciting place to live, isn't it? Dynamic.
Danny's Architect, Kate Kelly,
had to produce a spectacular nature-friendly design
to satisfy the planners and her client.
They'll start on site by pouring one large slab
and 12 small pads that will support steel stilts
to hold up a set of three treetop pods.
Steel will also support a deck, cantilevered out over the pond
to connect house, water, and wildlife.
Precise prefabricated timber panels will then be brought in
and assembled at speed to form the main body of the house
as well as the walls and roofs of those treetop bedroom pods.
Glazing will be critical for a building all about connection.
Bifold doors will open to drink the views south and west,
while the bedroom pod windows will offer bird-height views
of branches and the leaf canopy.
This home is not greedy,
and the interior will be compact and controlled.
The main building will have a ground floor living space
with a kitchen, dining area, and a small utility and toilet.
Above this will sit the main en suite bedroom
and a family bathroom.
You'll access the three-bedroom pods across a glazed corridor,
seemingly open to the trees as if a bridge.
There's no plumbing on this side,
just electric power connecting the pods to the main house,
such is the simplicity of design.
A simplicity that extends to the exterior cedar cladding
that wraps these shapes in the familiar language of timber sheds
and childhood treehouses.
It won't be fussy,
but it will be architecturally ambitious,
and ambition rarely comes cheap.
So, this, I mean, quite idyllic site,
this is free. But to build the house itself,
do you know yet how much you're going to have to spend?
I'm budgeting about £300,000.
Which is OK, but it's not going to provide you with luxury.
I don't want luxury.
I want the house to do what it wants for me and the family.
So, I don't want designer or anything fancy.
It needs to be very... Service our needs.
So, I'm very confident we can bring it within that budget.
Where does the money come from?
Selling the bungalow should release a couple of hundred in total,
and then looking at funding the rest with a self-build mortgage.
You top up from 200 to 350 with £150,000 of self-build mortgage?
From 200 to 300. 200 to 300.
Don't add 50 grand on it yet.
Have I already increased the budget to 350?
Yeah, no, it's not. Amazing, isn't it?
Why did I do that I wonder? Hmm, I wonder.
Hmm, yeah. When do you think you'll finish?
In my mind, I'm thinking it'll be about a year.
Three months later, Danny's bungalow has sold
and he's now waiting for the delivery of his new temporary accommodation.
And his mum, Sue, is with him, for moral support.
What's your concerns?
Are you nervous? What could possibly go wrong?
The fact the caravan won't fit, and I've spent six grand
and wasted my money, that could go wrong.
Danny's site does suffer from a long, narrow access track.
Not great for manoeuvring six-grand caravans.
Just touching the pole.
At least we're in. Cracking job.
We're in. Yeah!
And now it's getting it down to the second part, which
I am slightly nervous about now,
given how tight it was there, so...
Can we just twist it this way a bit, yeah?
Soon, the whole community is out to help.
I'm just going to knock that corner off there.
Can we pass him that?
HAMMERING
That's good. Loads of room, mate. Keep going.
Slow! Slow down.
CHAINSAW WHIRRS
Push the back end, it's got to reverse at a bit of an angle.
Bit more, bit more. Push!
With some serious Lincolnshire muscle
and only a few battle scars,
the family's new home arrives on site.
Yay!
But a month later,
the only person living in this well-travelled caravan is
Danny's eldest son, Kacy.
Quite extravagant, as you can see.
Lucas, can I have the hairbrush please?
Danny has Lucas and Grace three days a week,
so he's made the wise decision to stay with his mum,
a few miles from site.
So, this is where I and the kids sleep.
I sleep on the floor here.
But, yeah, we're all together, aren't we?
Which you don't like, because then I can make you go to bed.
As a self-confessed minimalist...
Put the cat-like money box down, Grace.
..living in this museum of knick-knacks can't be easy for Danny.
My house it's fair to say, won't look like this.
I think I'm probably quite clinical and decluttered because of this.
It's all lovely stuff,
don't get me wrong. It's just a lot of it.
Who needs ten spatulas? That's what I say.
Work only begins on-site early in the new year.
Now we've broken ground, now the guys are on-site,
there's a real momentum.
Danny wants to be closely involved with this project,
but he has engaged Mike Hill,
a professional project manager who should help
to keep things broadly on track.
It is a lifetime home for Danny,
so I think he decided project management was probably
the better way to go.
Overall, the savings we will make will certainly be more than
the fees we charge.
Mike may fight to protect the £300,000 budget,
but when it comes to digging holes in the ground,
there's always the potential for a few nasty surprises.
According to the plans, there's a high-pressure mains sewer
under the site somewhere,
so if we come across that, then we've got a problem.
One dink with a digger, and things could get messy.
We're just hoping that it's not going to get in our way.
If we find it,
we're going to have to have a big rethink.
As they work carefully,
the diggers do unearth some good news.
A large seam of limestone, sitting just 1.5 metres below the surface,
so that means much less concrete for this sustainable woodland home.
It's quite unusual for the area.
It's either clay, running sand or bad ground in this area,
so having this stone layer down there is a real bonus
and quite a cost saving for Danny.
Now, Danny can only hope that the sewer pipe stays undisturbed.
Danny's re-imagined tree-dwellers' house
is still very much firmly stuck in the ground.
Two days in, and it's safe to say
the 300-grand budget is already under threat,
from the possibility of a mains sewer line running through the site.
There will literally be a shower of shit.
And it'll cost me money.
The exact position of this pipe is not recorded.
But the following morning, with the excavation coming to an end,
it's clear the pipe will stay hidden.
I was a little bit nervous about it,
only in terms of the repercussions of the time
and obviously the inevitable cost as well, so...
I'll be honest, it would be the cost that would upset Danny.
I'm just pleased we haven't found it
so we can spend money on other things.
Spend money? HE LAUGHS
We can certainly do that for you.
Yeah, I know you can.
Just a few days in, it's already clear that Danny's frugality
will be a big influence on this project.
Well, we're not using a pump because it costs more money,
and we can do it this way, it's a lot cheaper and more cost-effective.
By not using a pump they'll save almost £500.
But then, managing budgets is something Danny does really well.
He's the deputy principal of one of the largest vocational colleges in the country,
and he deals with some eye-watering sums.
As an organisation, we have an income of around 50 million.
We've got 1,200 staff across multiple sites.
It's massive.
A one-time student, then teacher,
Danny is now charged with the continued success
of this huge organisation.
So, this is an Asel. Talk me through it.
What it's doing is replicating the inside of
a wind turbine, essentially.
An organisation that's training the workforce of tomorrow.
There's a lot to think about, a lot of stakeholders,
employers, parents, students, staff.
You constantly have to problem solve,
deal with issues. It is tough.
Two tough things, building a house,
and working in a high-pressured, challenging environment
like education, it's not easy.
Of course, all this is made more difficult,
when you're sleeping on the floor of your mother's attic.
This has to be Sue's house.
I thought I'd drop in on his new landlady...
Hello? Sue?
..to find out where Danny's conviction
for this project comes from.
HE CHUCKLES Wow.
What a...what a place.
His childhood here, I mean, he was in a house of women.
Yes. Because his father was absent.
He sort of had to grow up really quick.
Yeah. Because he was the man of the house.
Just tell me about life as a young mum.
It was very, very hard. It wasn't easy.
The kids did miss out on a lot.
Danny's seen how hard I had to work,
and I think it's made him realise
that you've got to work for what you want.
Do you think he's trying to recapture,
or at least try to create,
the missing bits of his own childhood?
Yes, I do. Yes, I seriously do.
But it seems that rebuilding that childhood is taking longer
than Danny thought.
Six months into a year-long schedule, and at last the steel has arrived.
It's been a little bit frustrating just with some of the drawings
and fine details, really, with the engineering aspect of it.
It's probably taken a few months longer than we expected
but it's really important to get that right.
Mistakes on paper is obviously a lot cheaper
than mistakes in reality, so...
Steel is unforgiving...
Steady away.
..and it will need to be worked with millimetre precision.
Well, we're not 100% sure where it goes.
HE CHUCKLES
I've got a dimension from that post there,
but, erm, I don't think it's right.
It's called fudging, innit?
Fudging about.
After some gentle fudging...
It's on the concrete, so that's the main thing.
..the cantilever for the deck is secured, and the steel struts are up.
What do you think to the steel work then?
It's cool. It's big.
So, the whole project really centres around the children.
This home is for them, really.
Lucas... CLANG
Right, don't destroy the house before it's actually built.
Danny's house won't be the first home to harness
the strength of steel to lift a building's aspirations.
In Berkshire, there is a quite remarkable house,
designed by the architect John Pardey.
A house raised on steel.
It's a floating house.
This striking new home demonstrates the drama of suspended living.
The building doesn't look as though it's being held up
by these great pylons,
it looks instead as though it's being tethered down,
a bit like a balloon.
38 columns create a transparent footprint
and allow an understanding of what the site was like,
before there was even a building here.
Of course, Danny's place,
Danny's place is sort of half-and-half house,
because one half of it, of course, is rooted to the ground
and the other half, like this, is taking off.
Apart from getting this kind of through view at ground floor,
which you'll get at his place,
I'm guessing that the first floor engagement
with the landscape is going to be even better.
How beautiful.
There's a great window down there.
It just draws you on.
The interiors are simple and elegant,
amplified by the treetop views that characterise every room.
Danny's design aspires to this natural connection,
but this place is elevated for a serious reason.
We're on a flood plain.
We're on a natural flood plain,
and we're 2.5 metres up off the ground,
and it does flood nearly every year.
Nearly every year? Yes, yes.
OK so, this isn't a conceit,
this is very much a necessity.
It is, it is.
When we started building, we were lucky.
That year, it didn't flood at all.
So, it was a costly build, and it took a long time.
More, longer than expected.
For you, though, did the building deliver, in the end,
what you expected it? Did it...?
It delivered more than I expected.
It's a dream come true.
Danny's project shares the ambition of this building,
but with just £300,000 to spend,
it will have to come in at a fraction of the cost.
Fortunately, evidence of Danny's penny-pinching is everywhere.
Now that is a dunny with a difference.
He is so tight that he hasn't even bought
a toilet roll holder or a seat for that matter.
Boy, does he know how to save money.
Seven months into a year-long schedule,
and it's hard to tell if Danny's been saving money or just not spending it.
Progress has been painfully slow.
There was just some delays, really,
between lots of engineering drawings, architects...
So, we didn't break ground till January.
I probably underestimated that, if I'm honest,
in terms of how long that would take.
I mean, what have you been doing? Making deals,
trying to get the best value we can for products.
Steel has gone up three-fold in, what, two-and-a-half years?
Uh huh. Well, the steel came in probably around
ten grand more than we thought it was going to be.
It will go over budget, but not because I've overspent.
It's just purely because of the additional costs.
Because you can't control those additional cost rises. Absolutely, yes.
Inflation rates are on the rise, and Danny now expects
to spend £20,000 more than his original £300,000 budget.
Of course, that means his project manager, Mike,
has to ensure nothing goes amiss.
My concern is the connect between the two,
where the two-storey and the single-storey,
where we've got the bridge link.
I would hate there to be a ramp or a little step that occurs.
A few weeks later,
and the 96 insulated timber panels have arrived.
So, the whole house has arrived on the back of a lorry.
The wooden walls are placed onto a low-loader
and driven down the narrow lane to the site.
So, are you feeling confident? Yeah, I'm very confident.
But, as the walls for this treehouse home go up,
it seems some of the measurements have gone awry.
If you look at the connection between
the bedroom pod unit and the main building,
that steel should sit into that pocket,
so technically it's about 300 millimetres too high.
There seems to be a serious design error somewhere.
If the seamless join between the pods
and the main building is to be maintained,
then either the steels will have to come down or
the timber frame built up.
Either could cost thousands.
Significant difference.
It'll be interesting to know who's expected to pay for it.
Danny is hoping to spend just £300,000
building a new home for his three kids,
including his eldest son, Kacy.
I appreciate what he's obviously doing for us.
I think there's much worse parents out there, I must say.
Danny's motivation for building this home is undoubtedly his children.
But as his long-hoped-for dream rises up from the slab,
it seems that some of the measurements are less than perfect.
You know where your steel comes across on the bedroom pods,
to the main build,
that appears to be about 300mm too high.
The tricky junction between the steel and timber is wildly out,
and now Mike has to discuss it with everyone concerned
and find an inexpensive solution.
It's me that has to find the problem,
communicate the problem to everybody, and the solution,
and tell the client it's all going to be all right.
And I tell you what, you're walking a tightrope sometimes with it.
The simplest solution is two steps up there.
You walk up 13 steps, turn round, come up and go two more steps
to go into the bedrooms.
That's not atypical to have a staircase and a return. No, that's not unusual.
I think that's the simplest solution and the most economical solution.
Two extra steps in this house will, of course, change
the effortless flow of the interior.
But it does mean work can continue
and it does, quickly.
By the following week,
all the walls for the timber frame are up
and the roof can be lowered into position.
This is our eighth day on site.
Timber frame build will be eleven days, I think.
By early autumn, the first of the glazing arrives.
This is the first time I've seen the windows, by the way,
so I've not actually seen them. They're absolutely gorgeous.
Really nice, them.
Fast progress is expensive,
and Danny's now spent all the £200,000 he made
from the sale of his bungalow.
I've literally just run out of money now.
I'm in that transition now between spending my own money
and getting my mortgage, so I've got a couple of weeks' gap there
where if somebody says to me, "I need some money,"
I'm then going to have to do a few little delaying tactics.
As the cash flow creaks,
Danny's doing all he can to keep money coming in.
I've got a guy coming to buy some logs.
Making a few quid.
65 quid a builder's bag.
It's taken a little over two months
to transform this site from a few steel struts
to an almost watertight shell.
Danny's building has arrived.
Lo, there is a building, hidden.
You sort of can't quite see how much is there,
though there's a lot more than when I was last here.
Cross the threshold!
Ooh.
It's kind of really progressed.
I mean, there's a man up a ladder putting in cabling.
That's first fix.
Right, first floor.
Oh, my word, the steps of doom.
Look at this, look!
This is meant to be flush.
The difference is so huge, however,
that it actually does look deliberate.
The only concern I have is that when this staircase goes in just here,
whether or not this change in level
between what is effectively two buildings,
whether that's just going to feel like some kind of
Victorian boarding house.
You know, when you said that the floors would meet just like that,
I mean... You asked me what concern I had,
and I said that was my one concern.
Yeah, it's like the top of the floor met the bottom of the other one.
Which I, yeah, I knew this would come back.
It's the depth of the easi-joist where the problem arises.
So, it's taken a while to figure out where it was,
but it is the depth of the easi-joist.
Let's be grown up and not apportion blame, but whose fault is it?
I wouldn't like to say, actually.
Completely down to miscommunication, or lack of communication.
It has cost £500 for Danny's new steps,
a cost that Mike has gallantly taken responsibility for.
But Danny's cost-saving is relentless.
When it comes to lifting in the final glazing panels,
he doesn't hire an expensive crane...
I can sort it. Patience. Don't worry.
..but instead, a much cheaper local farmer, Dave.
Can somebody communicate, please? He can't hear a thing.
After some highly co-ordinated manoeuvres...
..the panels safely reach their destination.
It's just patience, never rush about.
Patience, that's what you've got to have.
You can rush about, and it could have dropped off
and I'd say, "Nowt to do with me."
Of course, the most delicate part of any job on this site
is negotiating a price.
How much do you want, then?
What's it worth to you?
I think a fair price is 50 quid to you.
You've had two sausage rolls.
I'll tell you what, then,
I'll do it for 60 if we do the sedum roof
for us for the same price. What, put the sedum roof on?
Yeah, you don't have to lay it, just lift the pallets up.
Deal?
That's it, I'm over budget now.
As winter looms, Danny gets his mortgage,
and the project gets another injection of pace.
There's no plumbing in the bedroom pods,
so he's invested in an innovative electric heating system.
This house is being heated by an infrared radiant heating system.
So what it actually does,
rather than actually heating the air within a space,
it actually heats all the objects within a room.
The thin foil infrared sheets are simply taped up between
the ceiling joists under the insulated roof.
No pipes here, just wires.
Relatively quick to install and cheap to run,
much like Danny's labour force.
It's been a busy time. There's lots of us helping out,
you know, all unpaid labour, that's what it is.
Danny and an army of friends and family
can now take on the internal insulation
and prepare the exterior for the cladding,
as the project does battle with inflation.
I think I've timed it about the worst possible timing ever
to build a house if, I'm honest.
And it is, at times, overwhelming.
It's tough.
And I think it's probably shown in my demeanour,
and friends and family have certainly noticed it.
Yeah, he has been quite stressed, especially these last few weeks,
Concerns about if everything is going to go OK.
Every project creates stress, of course,
but with high interest rates and mounting inflation,
Danny must absolutely focus on the project's primary goal,
the provision of a childhood he never had.
What are you looking forward to, Grace?
Everything.
Fishing off the balcony, and climbing trees and...
Me pushing you off the tree into the water.
When were you told you were going to be able to move in?
When has Dad said you can move in? Christmas, maybe?
Yeah, go on. But I doubt it.
So when do you think you'll be in? About ten years.
That's nice!
The early delays scuppered Danny's original 12-month schedule
and as his old deadline elapses,
his house is just beginning to function.
So, where's your stuff then?
So, our stuff is actually up in the ceiling behind the plasterboard.
You've plastered it in? Yeah.
Invisible perhaps, but not with an infrared camera.
So if I point this up... HE LAUGHS
Oh, my Lord. It's like...
It's like a magic trick. We've got a sun roof!
Suddenly, it looks like I'm looking at a bunch of spotlights,
you know, like a big bunch of fluorescents in an office.
The infra-red panels are now imparting heat into
the room with an unseen light.
The infra-red is heating me
but not heating the air in between us?
Technologically sound on the inside, yes.
And outside, naked of cladding, it's looking pretty sci-fi too.
So, I think your house now looks like a silver robot.
It is a big silver robot at the minute, you're right.
But soon it'll be much more subtle.
That subtlety is already appearing in the form of
durable heat-treated timber cladding.
It's costing £15,000 more than Danny wanted to spend,
but it's almost half the cost of the cedar cladding he'd planned.
Inevitably, with things going up in cost with fuel and the war, etc,
you've really got to work hard to get the best price possible.
The house has always been about nothing superfluous,
keeping it simple, like me,
and working for me and the family.
To further protect the budget,
Danny has taken on much more of the finishing work himself,
like the decking outside.
But it would seem this last push needs the biggest effort.
You get to about 80 miles in a hundred-mile bike ride
and you're knackered... HE SIGHS
..and it becomes a psychological battle.
And it's really, really similar to this actually.
You know, you've done the hard work,
you've done the 80 miles, and now it's that last,
it's that last sort of 20 miles,
and that's where this takes over.
If you overanalyse it, you'd never start.
I'll be glad when it's done.
Yeah, I'll be glad when it's done.
The building is a set of simple pure shapes
and these careful finishing touches will define it.
What a beautiful, tranquil, little spot this is.
It sort of begs the question doesn't it,
I mean, not the usual kind of questions,
will Danny run out of cash?
No, I don't think he will.
Will he take forever finishing it? No.
He's on the home straight.
No, the question is really whether this building
will honour this place.
Whether it will be, in its own way, as beautiful.
Yes...?
The expansive terrain of North Lincolnshire has served
as the backdrop for Danny's entire life.
Almost two years since I first met him,
I'm hoping this secluded corner of the county has been transformed.
Well, the solar panels are in, plenty of them.
The garage is built.
But the house? I can't tell.
Once just the bottom of their garden,
these trees now cradle a new home for Danny and his children.
How about that? It appears to be done.
That's a tree kissing a finished building.
Even when I stand at the front door,
this building wants to half hide in its green canopy,
the timber cladding happily at one with its living cousins.
Oh, hi, Danny. Hey, Kevin, how are you?
Yeah, I'm really well, how are you? Very well. Very well, thank you.
Congratulations, because this looks really something else.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
It really is.
A good building should look interesting from far away,
and as you get closer to it, it should get better and better,
and this does that.
Because it glimpses and teases you.
How long have you been living here? Couple of months now.
Oh, great! Yeah, a couple of months, yeah.
It's enough time to get settled in and... How exciting.
..and start to relax.
You're a man who doesn't do too much in the way of relaxation,
so I'm wondering how easy that's been?
Yeah, it's not been an overnight thing
and all the sort of stresses and strains of building
has just melted away as opposed to just disappeared.
Danny has stayed resolutely true to the intentions of
the original design here.
There are embellishments, like the delicate chain link water drains
around the undercroft beneath the pods.
Can we go on a walk through this beautiful forest?
Yeah, sure. Under the house, yeah?
I just always thought this would be the most glorious experience
and it is.
Look at this, beautiful stuff, and silver.
I mean, like the silver birches over there.
I mean, each one is almost individual.
Just like the trees. They really reflect the trees, don't they?
Bit of bling, I've got some of the LED lights.
You've actually splashed out on something?
Er, stop that.
I've splashed out on lots of things. HE LAUGHS
I got a good deal on them though, so... I bet you did.
Emerging from the gloom,
you turn to face a building that revels in its setting.
Look at this.
The trees don't want to hide it anymore.
It's so splendid.
Fully exposed,
this place still retains a lightness of touch,
not least thanks to the long views through the site.
What is beautiful this side is just how complex
the building is, you know, how it kind of wraps and folds,
the cladding around the boxes. The shadows.
When the sun comes out, you get these smaller shadows through
the building and around the building, which is just great.
It's just changing all the time.
Everything's growing now and it's just become more
and more subtle. It's a beautiful setting,
beautiful trees, and I think the house is
worthy of its setting.
That's a good point because, of course, you could have screwed it up.
Yeah, absolutely. HE LAUGHS
You know, I came out the other morning,
and on top of the balustrade, there was kingfisher sat there.
It's a lovely place to be.
I bet it bloody is.
It all seems refreshed by an unfeigned adventurous spirit.
The balcony and living roof speak of a rigorous simplicity,
but all the hard timber corners are softened by reflected branches.
This structure is a world away from the low-lying bungalow up the road,
where Danny used to live.
Sometimes when people move from a conventional home
into something like this, they suffer imposter syndrome.
Do you feel that this is... Is there a bit of you that thinks,
"I'm not quite sure this is mine yet"?
It's quite surreal.
You still wake up thinking, "Has this actually happened?"
Do you see it delivering with your own kids?
To see them outside, playing, swimming in the pond,
fishing and just enjoying it.
Climbing trees, you know?
Yeah, I guess it's a nod back to childhood innocence
and the simplicity of life.
I'm glad we talked outside, because so much
of this project is about all of this.
Absolutely. And being out here is...
Inside's a bonus.
Oh, come on, then. Let's go and explore the bonus.
OK. HE LAUGHS
This strong exterior shows no sign that the place was built on a budget.
And inside...
..Danny's uncluttered interior feels anything but cheap.
Love this space, it's very straightforward.
The big story here is what's out there
and the connection that it makes in. Yeah.
You're almost like a boat being pulled along this river.
Like the whole building is about to start moving.
The views out profoundly alter this modest home.
Rectangular portholes tease you forward towards the main act,
the large deck and pond.
This is what I envisaged.
Simple, functional, and then just enjoying what's on the outside.
So I'm guessing your kitchen is...
You'll have done a deal or something.
Did it fall off the back of a lorry, or what?
It didn't fall off the back of a lorry. It was a mate.
A good friend did the kitchen,
the bathrooms, the utility rooms,
the wardrobes, the bedrooms,
en-suites, so the full shebang,
for 26k. Oh, my word.
I've ended up using people I know
to do pretty much all of the inside.
And it's not just necessarily the price where you're saving,
but they're doing you a really good job.
You know, you don't mind paying, even if it's full whack...
Well, you do mind paying full whack,
but what's more important is you get the quality workmanship as well.
I want to explore the pods,
and also, I want to visit the step of doom.
I always thought this could compromise this building
and yet, weirdly, it seems all right.
It's turned out really, really well.
And I think it's a real success,
because it's a step into a different part of the house,
it's a real demarcation.
Danny's balconied bedroom suite and the family bathroom
are all on this level, meaning there's no need
for cumbersome plumbing in his treetop pods.
Oh, I like that view. That's clever.
But I particularly like this view.
Wow.
You're in a treehouse. Yeah.
And it's telling you that all the time.
The building's amazingly simple,
but the views are constant pull and delight
and the diversity and change, you know?
These pods house three simple bedrooms,
and because the heating is hidden in the ceiling,
there are no annoying radiators to distract you from
the mesmerising views.
This solar-powered electric home,
its walls thick with insulation,
will be uber-efficient and cheap to run.
Of course, the functionality of this home is of little interest
for the primary occupants.
What's your plan for this place?
Uh... Have you got any plans?
Making a total mess.
Trashing the place? Yes.
How do you feel about your dad doing all this?
It's impressive, definitely.
It's, erm... It's different.
And everyone loves a bit of difference don't they?
I would say. Yeah. I don't.
You're just being cheeky, aren't you? Shut up.
Yeah, you know you like it. You know you like it.
As I say, you'll love it when you're bringing girls back, I tell you.
The boys might enjoy the street cred of living in a floating house,
But Grace, she's more in tune with the connection
this building makes to its surroundings.
I don't wake up with a view of the trees.
What's it like in the morning?
Well, when I wake up, I normally...
I look out my window for at least an hour.
What have been the best things you've seen so far?
Probably the robins.
It's out of that window there.
Oh, yeah? On the Birch tree?
And watch the clouds go by.
Your dad, how do you feel about him now?
About what he's done here?
I'm proud of him.
Do you think that you would ever do the same thing?
Would you build a house, do you think?
Yeah. Definitely.
This house will not only protect Danny's children,
it'll help to teach them,
nourish them, and possibly empower them,
to follow their own dreams.
What more could any parent want for their child?
Have you got your old Danny back yet? Yes.
Because Danny Project Manager was quite fearsome, I thought.
He had his moments, yes.
Yeah, he's more chillaxed now. Oh, very good.
That's a modern saying, isn't it, chillaxed?
Do you wander in and say,
"You just need a few more things in here"?
Well, yes, I do,
but I'm working on that and that will happen.
How important do you think this building is to him?
Well, it's definitely his forever home. Yeah.
There's going to be so many memories made here
it's going to be unbelievable.
Just great to see it actually done.
Yeah, even the birds like it. Can you hear them?
PIGEON COOS
Any romantic vision in this project was always delicately balanced
with Danny's focus on cost,
a focus he maintained throughout a period
of dramatically rising inflation.
You said to me you were going to spend 300 grand,
and I immediately, as a slip of the tongue,
just said 350,
thinking, "It can't be 300." THEY CHUCKLE
What was it nearer?
This is the point where you say, "I was right and you was wrong."
No, no, I'm not interested in that.
In terms of what it cost to build the house for everything
is 375. OK.
The build cost, yes, more but borrowing cost was
a really important part for me.
I didn't want to end up with a house where I had a huge mortgage.
Coming in at 375 is a massive success
and that's a testament to everybody who has helped with this.
Danny may say this home is for his children,
but I'm beginning to see just how important it is for Danny, too.
What would the ten-year-old Danny say to you?
What would he think of this?
I don't think he would imagine in his wildest dreams
that he'd be building a treehouse
and living in it with three amazing children.
The ten-year-old Danny wouldn't have dreamed it. Yeah.
There was lots of elements in my childhood that weren't great.
Those things shape you.
And for me to stand here and say,
"I'm proud of myself," is important.
Yeah, I've achieved something.
I've put a lot of time and energy
and been part of a huge team to get this done
and there's something tangible here to say,
"Yeah, this is an achievement."
This building marks a new beginning for Danny and his children,
and it promises great things for all of them.
I'm pleased he says he's proud of this new home,
he should be proud of it and all it represents.
You know, the thing that attracted me to this project in the first place
was its ambitions to recreate the experiences of childhood,
you know, in this glorious place.
And yet the process of building it was as fraught as you'd expect
building to be, driven all the time by Danny's almost military approach,
his precision, his focus, his laser-like attention to detail.
And all the time he did not lose his focus
on that single, primary objective.
That's remarkable.
It's written in this finished building, of course.
I mean, it's a house full of joy and wit and playfulness
and fun, as you would expect it should have in this setting.
Yeah, it's a great place to grow up in and live in.
It's a real return to innocence.
Back in 2013,
Jon and Noreen planned to build a three-bedroom treehouse
on a half-acre patch of urban woodland.
It's three stepped boxes. Every box is slipped.
Yeah, structural engineer's struggling with at the moment.
But money ran out, and by 2016 it was still unfinished.
I think I've taken on too much.
I don't know how he does it sometimes.
So, seven years later, I'm back.
That's very different to how it was when I last saw it.
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