Marcus and Sholto

Building a home had always been a dream of Sholto's, but when his partner Marcus had to have a double organ transplant, the couple reassessed what's important in life. Their cramped house in the south of England became a thing of the past and they bought a rural patch of land in Scotland, forty miles east of Inverness, with the dream of building their own home.

To keep costs low they opted for an off-the-peg design, but finding a kit home which suited their needs was a struggle: "Larger houses are built for traditional families. There's just the two of us, and Bramble the dog".

Converting a budget kit home into one which looks anything but is an enormous design challenge for Piers Taylor and Kieran Long.

It's already an ambitious build, but Kieran attempts to push their design horizons further. He takes them to a breathtaking home in the Scottish Highlands where a simple set of ideas has led to an inspirational space - but will Marcus and Sholto decide to recreate them in their £100k home?

It's then over to architect Piers Taylor to look for innovative low-cost solutions that will raise their home beyond the ordinary. As the money runs low, Sholto has less than £150 left to build a kitchen island which will be the focus of their main living area. Taking inspiration from some of Britain's most renowned 20th-century buildings, will his self-poured concrete island become a triumph of design, or a puddle on the floor?