Local couple to build their own home on new RTÉ series

By Megan Mitchell

A Westmeath couple will feature on a new RTÉ series examining how people can build or renovate their own homes.

The four-part series, Build Your Own Home, will air Wednesday at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.

It will include the story of Aoife Raleigh and Tony Mahon from Dysart, Westmeath, who are one of five to embark upon this challenge.

Hosted by Australian eco-builder and sustainability designer, Harrison Gardner, Build Your Own Home explores the art of DIY and building on a budget.

This series will follow a variety of homeowners across Ireland as they are taught and mentored by Harrison along the journey of building and renovating their dream home.

After not succeeding to secure a mortgage, Aoife and Tony made great efforts to save over time and ended up buying a roadside cottage for €95,000 in rural Westmeath. With a remaining budget of €50,000, circus performers Aoife and Tony plan to renovate this 19th century cottage, hoping to include some slightly unusual features, such as the inclusion of a training studio for practicing their circus craft.

The show will follow their lives through the ups and downs of the process with the couple living on-site in a mobile home while the build takes place.

Over the process of each of the four builds during the course of the show, Harrison Gardner will share his expertise and challenge traditional construction practices and methods, hoping to teach the homeowners and the people home that anyone can learn how to build and renovate their dream home on a budget.