The father of two found some inspiration in a YouTube video that showed a woman building a pool in his yard and then he decided to take the plunge.

Wanting to “give it a go,” Alex Dodman, who had “zero experience,” rented a mini digger and that same day he started scooping dirt from his yard for the pool. Keep reading about this man’s dream project and how he did it on a budget!

In 2018, Alex Doman, an ambulance worker from Essex, moved into a rundown home with his partner Sarah and their two young children Allie and Eddie.

The house was a fixer upper and Dodman, now 38, was inspired by social media to tear apart the family home so he could build a dream home for his family.

The renos started with a YouTube video that showed a tradesperson putting up a wall stud.

Over the next while, Dodman, who works for National Health Service, added a gym in the back garden, a family-sized cinema space, and a fold-down bed in his sleek home office.

And then he learned the home, purchased for £250,000 (about $322,000 US), had more than doubled in value to £525,000 ($675,000 US).

“We had the house valued and were told it was now worth £525,000, which I put down to the work I’ve done,” Doman tells The Sun in February 2022.

Realizing he had a natural talent for DIY, the father was ready for his next project.

Diving in

While taking a lunch break, Dodman explains that he “watched a YouTube video of a woman in Holland who built her own pool in her garden.”

Expressing that he’s “dreamt of having a pool” and “even earmarked a little patch to hopefully build it on one day,” Dodman dove right into his new DIY project.

“As soon as I’d watched [YouTube video] I rang up and hired a digger. I’d never driven a digger before, so I’d dug this massive hole and then there was no going back.”

‘A blessing’

Though there was no going back he did hit a huge obstacle.

Dodman started building the pool in January 2020 “but then Covid hit, and [he] couldn’t get any materials for ages.”

Stuck with a giant hole in his yard, Dodman explains he had to get creative.

Describing the pandemic closures as “a bit of a blessing,” the DIY dad “started buying the things [he] needed from Facebook Marketplace which was a lot cheaper.”