He's the dad-of-three inspired by watching Homes Under The Hammer to buy and renovate some of the "worst of the worst" properties in Wales. From rotten floors, collapsed ceilings, smashed windows and mold covered walls - there's no challenge too big for Gavin Thomas, the self-styled 'house flipper' from Nantgarw in Rhondda Cynon Taf who's spent years transforming ugly and unloved houses into homes that are liveable and inviting again.
Not even his latest acquisition - a sprawling, long abandoned address in Pontypridd - has been able to put him off, despite one of the rooms being completely filled with poo. "It could have been human faeces or it might have been left by an animal, I'm not really an expert," said the 37-year-old, whose day job involves designing and building garden ponds.
"All I know is that it stank and was in what was probably once the living room. It had clearly been used as a toilet many times by someone or something during the several years the house had laid empty."
