While she was on the series, Power became known for her straight-talking advice, no-nonsense approach \u2013 and for reining in Bannon\u2019s occasional tendencies to overspend on his designs.<\/p>\n
The celebrity quantity surveyor grew up in Waterford and went to Dublin to pursue a degree in construction economics.<\/p>\n
She runs her own consultancy, Patricia Power Quantity Surveying and Project Management Practice, and lives in Ratoath, Co Meath, with her husband Barry Shelvin, managing director of Global Home Improvements, and four teenage children.<\/p>\n
Power will be appearing at the Ideal Home Show when it returns to Dublin\u2019s RDS Simmonscourt from April 24 to April 26. The annual exhibition brings together the country\u2019s leading home improvement professionals and suppliers under one roof to showcase the latest innovations in home building and renovations.<\/p>\n
She will be at the show\u2019s DFS Interiors Theatre at 12:10pm on April 25 to advise homeowners on how best to upgrade and invest in their current home for the future.<\/p>\n
\u200bWas there ever a time you felt broke?<\/p>\n
Definitely. During my college years, I remember having to choose between a bus fare to college or food, so I walked! That teaches you the value of money very quickly.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your biggest extravagance?<\/p>\n
My car. It\u2019s my office for 50pc of my time, and it needs to be 100pc reliable and comfortable. I\u2019m sitting in my car now answering this!<\/p>\n
\u200bDo you ever haggle?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not a great haggler, but I would ask for a discount. If you don\u2019t ask, you don\u2019t get!<\/p>\n
Can you tell us what was your best ever investment?<\/p>\n
Definitely my home \u2013 it\u2019s the biggest and best investment of my life to date. I\u2019m very much a homebody.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u200bWhat would be your biggest financial regret?<\/p>\n
I would have always loved a second home down where I grew up. Maybe someday in the future, when I retire.<\/p>\n
Do you still carry cash?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s so rare that I have cash now. I use my phone for pretty much everything \u2013 it\u2019s so much easier when out and about. And all the kids have Revolut.<\/p>\n
Are you a spender or a saver?<\/p>\n
I would love to be a better saver. I do save for annual goals, like holidays. But it just seems to be never-ending at the moment, with four teenage kids and bills.<\/p>\n
Do you have a pension?<\/p>\n
Yes. I\u2019ve been contributing to a personal pension scheme since my early 30s. I put it off in my 20s, as funds didn\u2019t allow for contributions and because retirement seemed too far off in the distance to focus on it then. But I would love to have more in my pension. It\u2019s the one area of my finances I dare not touch.<\/p>\n
\u200bWhat three things would you not be able to do without if you had to tighten your belt?<\/p>\n
My daily coffee, as it\u2019s my essential morning ritual. I\u2019d have to say a Friday night takeaway too, as it\u2019s my reward for a long work week and all those mid-week dinners. And I\u2019d need an annual holiday. I need that time away to properly switch off and recharge. I love the sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While she was on the series, Power became known for her straight-talking advice, no-nonsense approach \u2013 and for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,4174,4175,15590,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-539320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-personal-finance","11":"tag-personalfinance","12":"tag-rte","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}