Happy endings are part and parcel of the TV makeover programme - but there are always lessons to be learned, as MELISSA PORTER reveals in an exclusive interview.

There seems to be no end of TV programmes dedicated to making our lives, pleasanter, sweeter, fulfilled and richer. While we watch in fascination as everything from faces to floorboards are lifted and happy endings are de riguer, Melissa Porter arrives like a breath of fresh air in a sector where the format is in danger of becoming too predictable.

In her book mistakes are great because you can learn from them. And she's no martyr - for her TV makeover shows are a lesson in getting it right by taking heed of those who have got it wrong - and she's got in wrong herself once or twice.

"I'm all for sharing knowledge and advice and I find people in the business are very generous," she said. "They don't want you to invest in a Bulgarian mountain-top shepherd's hut and see all your dreams fall apart - they want you to succeed.

"And that desire for you not to come a cropper comes across in the advice they are willing to share. This advice is all part of the research process - research you would do if you were buying at home and research you would do in more depth and intensity if you were buying abroad."

The former Manchester University graduate is candid when it comes to owning up to her own slip-ups.

"The majority of property television shows focus on either ways to makemoney from your home or describing how your life will be improved should you decide to paint your entire home magnolia. I am a huge believer in the fact that not only can you learn from successes but equally from failures.

"I once bought a two-bedroom flat in Balham, south London that neededcompletely gutting and as part of my team hired an electrician. He anticipated that to rewire the entire flat would take approximately one week; the reality was that he completed it in eight weeks.

"One day I arrived at the property to find him drilling a channel into the floor joists so that he could lay the cabling within them. The next sound I heard from the room was an almighty crash. Whilst drilling he had fallen through one of the rotten floorboards and landed on one of my nearby porcelain urns completely shattering it and injuring his leg in the process. My electrician had no personal liability insurance so I was left with an unfinished job, a broken pot and an injured electrician.

"This impacted on me in several ways; it caused my project to over-run as my other builders were unable to complete their jobs, I was left with an expensive broken urn that was not covered by my contents insurance and my working relationship with my electrician broke down."

While hindsight gives her tale of woe a tint of hilarity, the underlying point is very serious and one that you might not have thought about had it not been raised. How many of us have employed people to work in their homes and not checked the liability insurance?

A guess at 99 per cent would probably be underestimating the numbers. As Melissa says, prior to commencement of a job, ask to see a copy of the builder's personal liability insurance.

Wiser, she moved on to her next project *- again in the Balham area. Having come through the first mishap she was now embarking on a project that involved a three-bedroom house. The liability insurance was checked.

"Instead of hiring individual trades I employed a company who were able to project manage the entire renovation for me. My rational for the change in strategy was to free up time for me to pursue other business opportunities including an overseas property buying trip. In the weeks running up to the trip I had worked with my project manager on the schedule of works, including the finer details of all the jobs that would be completed in my absence.

"When I came back from my 10-day trip I found that the heart, soul and character of the house had been ripped out. The majority of its original features gone, wrenched out and dumped.

"That haul included eight original Victorian doors - replaced with hollow basic MDF doors and the tall skirting boards had been replaced with the standard-height ones you would expect to find in a newbuild.

"If that wasn't enough to make me weep the most heinous crime of all had been committed on the windows. The rotten wooden box sash windows had been replaced with uPVC windows. The project manager's rational was that the job was over-running and the time implications of restoring these features were not financially viable for his company."

Her mistake here was that the relationship she had with the project manager wasn't right. "Unless you have a longstanding working relationship with a building company I suggest that visiting the site as many times a week as possible is advisable." And sometimes it is a good turn that goes bad. "I bought a three-bedroom flat in East Putney and hired a friend of a friend who was in need of employment following an acrimonious divorce. My requirement was for the entire flat to be redecorated and the agreed terms were that the job would take no longer than three weeks.

"The problems started with the original decorator when he asked if he could stay in our property while he was working on it as his ex wife had kicked him out. I would arrive at the house expecting to find him hard at work and instead find him smoking marijuana in the garden.

"I believe this contributed towards his slow pace of work and resultantunprofessionalism. On once occasion I found the kitchen had been screened off with lengths and lengths of cling film with his rational being that it was preventing the dust from the sanding escaping into the other parts of the house.

"I decided that it had become necessary to terminate his contractprematurely to which my partner at the time disagreed as he felt sorry for his personal situation. This division of opinion caused a strain on our relationship and as an apology the decorator tried to make peace by offering me a juicer that he had forgotten he had stolen from my house!

"The job was completed in seven weeks and finished off by anotherdecorator."

The lesson here is that you have to be professional and objective. If the decorator had been an ace craftsman all well and good, but sentimentality and kindness blurred the decision-making process and the end result was a disaster that really did nobody any good.

Property renovation needs to be approached with the same level ofprofessionalism you would your everyday job and that includes managing subcontractors.

Melissa, a Cheshire lass, was launched on the road to property dealing after borrowing £10,000 from her father. It was a sum that she pledged to pay back - with interest - inside 12 months.

"I just hated paying rent," she said. "This was a way I could get on the property ladder and start to make my investments pay. I paid back the loan and at the same time set up other businesses. I had one that provided disposable cameras for weddings.

"It was the start I needed and from that I just went on from strength to strength and mistake to mistake. It made me realise what was possible."

Disaster number four occurred in Streatham Vale - again in south London. And this was a messy one.

"I was renovating a three-bedroom house in Streatham Vale and instructed my builder to remove the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room in order to create an open plan kitchen with a dining area.

"He assured me that the wall was not load-bearing and proceeded to knock it down. He used no acaroids as a precaution. The result - the ceiling started to bow and then the inevitable happened. It collapsed.

"I had an open-plan effect but this time over my head. It transpired the wall was load bearing and required the support of a steel joist (RSJ). "I can think the builder should have known better but the onus ofresponsibility was on me. Prior to commencement of any structural work, hire a structural engineer who will advise you whether the wall is load bearing or not. For details of an engineer in your area, contact the planning department of your local council."

See - it can even happen to the best of them. But as Melissa says, learn from your mistakes, move on - and carry on smiling.