The object of their affection is a four bedroom 1930s art deco house in Poole, Dorset and they are about to embark on the biggest spending spree of their lives. Yet they set off without an architect, a surveyor or, indeed, any plans. Making it up on the hoof seems to be the order of the day.

Sarah thinks that Martine and Teresa have struck gold. They’ve just bought this delapitated terraced property with a 40 foot garden in Billinghay near Lincoln. However she is less convinced by their budget and some of their plans. She is worried that their focus is wrong and that they are making savings in the wrong area while spending money on unimportant work.

They've risked everything on their first property development, selling their house and moving into rented accommodation. However working full-time and property developing at the weekends isn't as much fun as they thought and their schedule is beginning to look increasingly unrealistic.

Chris Cieslak is designing his Brighton development to suit a family with two children under the age of seven. Sarah is worried about his strategy and his planning

For their first step onto the Property Ladder Mark Clifford and Tracy Newcombe decided on a worn out three-storey shop, a bold choice. After ignoring the initial surveyor’s report that warned them not to touch the old TV shop, as it would be too much work for novice developers, the couple ploughed on with a budget less than a third of the recommended £50,000.

This week’s first time developers Emma and Dyson Watkins, obviously the gambling kind, have bought a 17th Century Farmhouse with the intentions of lovingly restoring it. Set in seven acres of land on the outskirts of Hastings, it’s a stunning property, just five minutes from the south coast. But For Emma and Dyson Watkins the house is a financial investment. They’re hoping it will make them a six-figure profit – to put towards buying their dream home.

This week Sarah follows furniture maker Mike Horgan and girlfriend Laura Archer, a teacher, as they attempt to develop a 5 bedroom Victorian semi in Felixstowe in Suffolk, a snip at £156,000. They think it’s a great way to make money - so they’ve invested everything they own.

Eighteen months ago, Kim Maoate decided to start a career in property developing. She gave up her high-paid job, re-mortgaged her house and bought a wreck 170 miles away from her home in South Wales. But that's when the nightmares began…

Remember Liz Rivers and Laura Sexton - the window dressers with dreams of making their fortune developing property? Two years on and Sarah Beeny returns to Maidstone to discover how the two friends are getting on...

Sarah Beeny is in Lincolnshire revisiting Philip and Steven, who three years ago left their successful London careers to take on a run-down barn in the middle of the Lincolnshire countryside. But have their dreams come true or turned into nightmares?

The only good thing about getting everything wrong on your first development is that hopefully your next one will run like clockwork - thanks to your hard earned experience. This week on Property Ladder Revisited, Sarah catches up with Jonathan Moon who 18 months ago almost lost everything when his debut development went from bad to worse. Since then he has tackled another project, and Sarah finds out whether he has learnt any lessons or is still making all the same mistakes.