Robert Hunt of North Devon, England, recently finished an unusual and ambitious water tower conversion project. Hunt sold everything he owned in 2019 to buy a decommissioned 1940s water tower, which had been decommissioned since the early 2000s, and decided to convert it into a four-bedroom home. He spent roughly $905,000 on the two-and-a-half-year project, which includes the cost of purchasing the property, which was approximately $181,000.
Hunt, a former factory worker in the filtration industry, has never worked on a project like this before. “I’ve never done anything like this before,” he explained. “I used to have a couple of rentals and do the odd house reno, but it was all pretty standard stuff.” He explained that he was looking through real estate listings and was considering purchasing a piece of property to fix up when the unusual listing caught his eye.
“It was within 20 miles of where I lived, so it was basically local,” Hunt explained. I saw an opportunity there, and the price was reasonable for the size of the property and the land that came with it.” Friends and family, on the other hand, were skeptical. “They probably all thought it was either not going to happen or that I was just crazy to even think about it,” Hunt explained. But if it was that simple, wouldn’t everyone do it?”
The water tower was a large, empty space with no rooms, interior walls, or windows before it was transformed into a modern four-bedroom home. Except for a few electric panels and water pipes, the interiors were nearly empty. “It was difficult to describe when I first saw it. “There were no windows or stairs, so you had to climb a ladder in the center of the tower to reach the tank’s top,” Hunt explained.
He had to guess what the views would be like because there were no windows. “After a couple of viewings, I almost imagined the layout, which is not far off what it is today,” he added. “His knowledge of the building trade has been invaluable, so having someone like that as a friend or advisor is really useful,” he explained. Nonetheless, Hunt believes that all of the effort has been worthwhile. “I would definitely say go for it,” he said.
Anything property-related is worthwhile if there is a chance of profit at the end, or even if it is simply somewhere you want to live for the rest of your life.” Hunt says he plans to sell the house and use the proceeds to pay off the water tower project’s loans and possibly start a new one. The house is in Clovelly Cross, Devon, about 15 minutes from the nearest town of Bideford.