The Big Build - Littlehampton DIY SOS

Welcome to DIY SOS,

coming to you from beside the seaside, beside the sea,

down on the south coast in Littlehampton. We're here to help Mike and his two sons.

They've had a horrible couple of years

living in this mess.

It is the smallest house we've ever done, but the biggest job.

It is six weeks of work in just nine days.

You were going to do this - not draw it on a piece of paper, build it.

Quick, we are not here for four days!

Luckily, we have got an army of local volunteers lined up to help Mike get his home and his life back.

-This is better than we could have imagined.

-Yes, this is a DIY SOS - The Big Build.

53 year-old Mike Purdie from Littlehampton used to have a pretty normal life.

Five years ago,

I was married, working hard, doing OK, had the big family house

and two young teenagers, and things were going really well.

Unfortunately, like many families, things did not work out.

Mike and his wife divorced three years ago.

He bought a derelict 18th-century cottage for a song -

somewhere he could spend weekends with his teenage sons Jack and Sam.

So I found a property through the Internet. This cottage.

And I had a builder who specialised in flint stone cottages recommended to me,

and he turned up five days after I bought it

and everything was going fine.

Mike handed over what money he had - £38,000 -

to turn a dilapidated house into a home.

Everything went reasonably well for two or three months and then he stopped coming.

He became less reliable.

Until after about five months, he was not turning up at all on site. I realised I had a problem with him.

I could not take in the fact that he had gone and taken all the money

and that he was not answering the phone any more.

With the builder gone

and Mike penniless, he was left living in a building site.

The house is pretty well wrecked.

The internal walls I had to put up,

I've got concrete floors, concrete walls that are flaking.

There are no ceilings.

There's no hot water.

The electrics are all running off extension leads.

And it leaks like a sieve and it is completely unheatable.

The terrible conditions in the house

have had a life threatening effect on 16-year-old Sam.

I'll just show you my bedroom now. Be careful of that bit.

I don't know if you can see it,

but there's a lot of dust floating about. You put something down,

pick it up and it is covered in dust.

That can be a problem with my asthma.

I've woken up in the night, often needing an inhaler

or sometimes needing an ambulance, which has happened.

It'd just be brilliant if there wasn't that dust there.

There is the feeling that I failed, even though I know

it wasn't my fault.

People who have been in the same position

say that if you're going to be conned by somebody who is good at it, you won't know it is happening.

I just think it is appalling that there is one man who can have a conscience to take

that much money and leave a man and his family in that kind of situation.

And not seem to care either about it.

And the effect that it's had on Dad, it's not right.

Thousands of people agree, as Mike found out from an on-line consumer rights forum

where he posted a plea for help.

I stumbled upon this website three months ago. I thought,

"I'll put a post up and say, 'This is really getting to me and I don't know how to move forward.'"

I posted and someone came back and there is now be over 3,000 posts on the board which are in public.

I was just blown away by the number of people that replied - 150,000 people have read it.

Some of Mike's supporters contacted DIY SOS asking us to help him.

I have had hundreds and hundreds of private messages from people saying, "Keep going."

But the financial ruin and stress on his family pushed Mike

into a deep depression, which has left him unable to work.

I miss how he used to be.

Just the way the depression and the house and having it not finished

-has affected him and in some ways has changed him.

-Yeah.

I think it's safe to say we do miss him the way he was.

Bye!

The side effects of living in a place like this for so long with so little help...

..have...

..really come very close to ruining my life and my kids'.

'Well, we can't let that happen.'

This is the living room.

-It is?

-Well, it will be, or it was always going to be.

There is a range of features.

This plywood was my idea which covers up

an eight-foot square hole which is where the patio doors were going to be.

This goes through to the garage which you saw from the outside.

And this I had always hoped would be a kitchen

with a sort of breakfast area or something like that.

'It is clear that Mike desperately needs our help, but this house is in a terrible condition.'

Is there any point in talking about design or are you happy for us

to get as far through the construction and things as we can?

-You really want a place for you and your boys, don't you?

-Yes, yes.

I mean, you talk about changing lives,

-this is just huge.

-Normally, we ask people to pack up their stuff

and leave, but there isn't much to pack up.

No, I have been living out of boxes for two years.

Could you bear to walk away from it for a few days and let us have a go at it?

I'd love to.

Mike's house is small, but we have a big plan for it.

As well as turning his garage into a desperately-needed kitchen,

we're going to add a conservatory at the back

to double the ground-floor space.

And we're going to do all the bedrooms too.

It is like a doll's house until he puts his head out, then it's like an ogre's.

-Are you saying he's fat? He'll take offence.

-I never said he was fat.

Usually, at this point, the boys would be whacking plasterboard

on the walls, but we can't start that because of a bigger problem...

The house may be small, but every room is riddled with structural headaches.

Before we can even think about making this a home, we have to make sure it does not fall down.

The little house has big issues.

See the big damp patches on the wall where the water has been trapped?

'This cottage has limestone walls, which basically means water can flow in and out as it pleases.

'The only way to keep the water out is to apply a sand-and-cement tanking system

'before we plasterboard, which means the walls will stay waterproof.'

-What is the plan then?

-Same with there, the walls are thin here.

Normally a flint construction, you've got an 18-inch wall.

These are so thin that they're just sucking water in, so...

-If we tank them, that should keep the water out?

-Definitely.

And bolster them in terms of structure.

That's right, yes, bind it all up.

So we have to take all the plaster off the walls that is already on here?

This is what has trapped the damp because the moisture is in the wall.

-The plasterboard is sucking the damp out of the wall.

-Yeah.

All right. So it has all got to come off. It means we're going backwards before going forwards, really.

While the boys upstairs are getting down to work, downstairs, we are making a breakthrough.

# Bum-ba-do-ba-da-do... #

Thank goodness he has got a lovely garden.

With the state of the house...

We're going to dig all this out, put in a new floor in here and we're going to build like a...

like an orangery. We are going to have to dig down 600mm,

-which is over half a metre...

-Yep.

And we have got to put a new floor in here that's driven in on spiral piles into the ground.

-Then it is laid out on beams.

-How are you going to get a machine in to dig spiral piles in?

There is no access to the garden. How are you going to get all the rubble out?

How are you going to lose half a metre of soil out which is going to be several tons

and isn't there enough going on with the house already?

-Yes, there is.

-Final question - aren't you an idiot?

-Yes.

'Not only are we dealing with a house that is falling down,

'fills with water and needs major structural work - monkey boy wants an orangery.'

-What?

-I forgot to tell you. We have got to put a new garage floor in.

What?!

'It is not Mark's fault. The garage-cum-kitchen is as damp as the rest of the house

'and the local building inspector is, well... being a building inspector.'

How deep do you want this floor?

What do you need in this floor?

A damp-proof membrane and a bit of insulation.

There's hundreds of thousands of houses around the country

which don't have damp-proof membranes in them.

OK. This house is very old.

Flint work - no damp-proof course.

What we do not want is a kitchen with damp and mildew behind all the units.

'To be fair, he has got a point.

'That does mean moving 15 tons of earth, though.

'Then again, every cloud has a silver lining.'

-Julie would like to have a go.

-Hello!

I've always wanted to have a go at one of these.

-May I?

-Yes. Put them on.

What you have to do is put your hand there, that's the go button.

OK? And take the bounce.

Yeah? Great.

Take the bounce...

MACHINE WHIRS

CHEERING

So we better get a move on.

There is 25 local builders volunteering on-site today

and there's wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow and skip after skip of rubble to shift.

WHIRRING STOPS

Do you know if there is a problem with the tea-making facilities?

-Midday, no tea yet.

-I wanted tea as well.

Outrageous really.

I think I might go on strike.

Strike? Strike? Strike.

-Don't drink tea.

-MACHINE WHIRS

Will someone please get the kettle on?!

The wonderful thing about these jobs is that all kinds of people rock up to help.

This is Nicola from Mike's mob. She has never met him,

but she has been supporting Mike on-line on his forum.

He wrote on the forum, telling us about the house and the fact that

the builder had run off with all his money

and about his living conditions, but what struck me was just how low that post was

and I kind of got the feeling that he needed help in terms of just getting his spirits up.

Saw him improving really, his moods, and being more motivated

and suddenly it just took off and all of us responded to him.

I'd come along that way with him and I had to be here

and see what was happening and see if I could help.

So, that is why I'm here today, even though I have come all the way from Glasgow.

That's nice, isn't it? She makes a cracking cup of tea as well.

-So this is going to be a what?

-This is going to be the kitchen.

-Really?

-Yes.

-You can have a window here.

-Yes, we will replace the garage doors.

Any wall you put in will not look normal. This being a flint house,

you will have to put a flint wall in and we can't do them.

No, we have one of the best flint workers this side of London

coming to do a flint wall at the front.

We'll do the facing on the inside in blockwork so that we can get on with the plastering inside.

-That is good.

-And he'll reinstate all the detailing around the window as well so it will be pretty.

We have cleared the best part of a metre of rubble in here already,

which makes it more difficult for the vertically-challenged.

Hilarious(!)

LAUGHTER

-Can her reach 'em?

-No!

Who put them up there?

I used to like this house because I could reach everything. And...

Come on!

Christ!

This man here, who's staying very quiet, has just booked three cubes

of concrete for 4.30 tonight - for this room.

4.30!

We'd better get it prepped and ready.

Best you get digging then, Paddy.

Let's go! Come on, Paddy! Come on!

Five skips' worth of rubble today.

Tanked out half the building. It's amazing.

It is absolutely brilliant.

Great start. Only day one.

It's really nice we're seeing the builders can do an amazing job and be very friendly

-and generous, given that it is a builder who put him in the situation in the first place.

-Very true.

And we have met our first big deadline.

That is the last of the concrete going into the front room,

which represents the end of a very spectacular day for us.

Somewhere in the region of 30 to 40 tons of rubble and soil

out of that front room and back area, which'll be the orangery.

All in all, a pretty spectacular start.

'I am a few miles away meeting Jack and Sam

'to find out how they have coped living in a building site

'for the last two years.'

It is not somewhere I would want to live or even want to stay,

but you guys have constantly stayed there despite the state of the place. Why have you

continued to do it? It would be easier to say, "I do not want to come round."

It is backing him up,

making sure he is all right and coping, because it sounds cheesy, but we are all in this together.

We have all been thrown in the situation.

So I think if we were just to say, "I do want to come over because Sam's going to have an asthma attack,"

-it would crush him.

-It would make things worse because it is something for him to look forward to.

At the end of every week, we will come down and make things better for a few days.

He's always made it clear that that's what gets him through it.

Dad-and-sons time tends to be getting together,

enjoying each other's company and going out, doing things.

Has there been much of that over the past couple of years?

-There's been nothing at all.

-Christmases - what are they like?

Christmas... Last year was interesting.

We had decided to go with a very low-budget Christmas

and decided not to get each other presents.

Our Christmas tree was LED fairy lights

stapled in the shape of a Christmas tree to the bit of wood covering the back door.

How much of a change have you seen in him since he has known we're coming to try and sort it out?

It has been immeasurable.

He has been so excited.

And so much happier that he's got something to look forward to.

In a matter of days, he's going to have a home to go home to, instead of just a building site.

That is the idea, but right now it is still a right old mess.

Julia, how are we going to turn it into a home?

Right, this very narrow little space here is going to be the sitting room. It's been a nightmare

to design because it is so narrow and you've got the staircase coming down.

It will be a bigger staircase in here as well.

It is, and a rather more attractive one.

I am trying to use colour in a psychological way because colour

-is important to your mood.

-You say that, but is it?

-It is, very.

-You say that, but is it?

-When you look at a colour, if you at red, what do you think of?

-Bullfighting.

There we go, passion, anger, spirit, vitality.

-Dining room and conservatory.

-Absolutely. Best use of the space out here,

so it can be indoors-outdoors, opening onto the deck if we get that far.

These boys have done an amazing job. This was mounded up here when we came out. They have done nothing

-but shovel and wheelbarrow.

-I would like to design the garden.

-Design what?

-Design the garden. I have been told I can have a go.

-I love gardening.

-Who's going to lay it for you and plant it?

I have no idea. I will do the planting.

-Where will we...

-I don't know, I do not know!

La la la la la la la!

That is hardly a negotiating technique, is it?

SHE LAUGHS

DRILLING You let the drill do the work.

Billy is all about technique - unfortunately it means he works really slowly.

He ain't finished yet.

Look at that, mate. That is a drill!

Done. Look at that - seconds.

Not an hour of you....

Yeah, but when you push the cables through it is going to push up.

I was drilling it square so the cables could pull straight through.

He's talking rubbish, in't he?

It is all about pulling and pushing!

-It isn't.

-It is!

-It isn't!

-Where is the next he's going to do?

It'll go in a loop and go up...

I would rather have it straight through so you go direct.

His way is quicker! We are not here for four days!

Done!

Done!

Tell you what, we work well together.

He has a go at me not being fast, so someone comes along and does 'em quicker.

Nice one, Nick. Like it, son, know what I mean?

All right, Phil?

The flint experts have arrived to build the new wall but the building inspector has spotted a problem.

The steel holding up the front of the house is corroded.

This steel could potentially rust and delaminate in the same manner as that

and it will compromise the wall, so first prize would be to hoick it out.

This is quite a serious moment for us, isn't it?

Yes, because it could all potentially go.

If it goes, it is like an hourglass or a sand timer.

It will start to break down and start falling in on itself.

If we lose the front of the house, that bit there...

Game over. They will not be able to rebuild that in the time we've got.

No. Because it is such a slow process.

So it is out with the old and in with the new - carefully.

And quickly. Those metal props are holding up the front of the house.

It is all gone off. Once they support that, then he'll be able to do the job he turned up to do.

It'll be about eight hours behind by then.

-At least.

-A day.

-A day.

That is not the only thing that has got behind schedule.

We have seven rooms to do from top to bottom, all of which need

multiple layers of damp-proofing and we're not even close to where we usually start a big build.

In three days, the kitchen is supposed to be fitted.

We're not going to be ready.

When is it coming?

-The kitchen? Sunday morning.

-We have got no chance.

-That is not going to happen.

-I have to agree with Mr Nick.

-Can he not do it Monday?

He is booked up.

Seriously, have we been put that much back by all this?

Yes. Yes. When are we going to get the kitchen fitter back?

If he is booked up, he is booked up. He cannot start cancelling jobs.

Pain laugh. His back is obviously gone.

-He said something funny about me and has hurt his back.

-It does not happen that often.

Take yourself out.

ALL: Ooh!

Yours went, didn't you? It has been a few years since yours went, how did you cure yours?

-I lost weight.

-Is that what it was?

-Yeah.

LAUGHTER

I'm only just round the corner!

Thankfully, there is one part of this build guaranteed to get us back on track.

Fire in the hole, go for it!

MACHINE WHIRS

The base for the conservatory will be built on a fancy new

system of piles that are screwed a couple of metres into the ground.

Within a few hours, we will be able to get cracking on that new conservatory.

-So how far do you pile in here?

-I'm hoping about three metres.

It might go slightly lower. Normal pile depth is roughly around four metres, but we're close to the sea.

And at the front of the house, the flint guys are catching up as well.

It is beautiful, isn't it?

Extraordinary. Where are you going? Why walk out of shot?

This is a television programme. When the cameras swings round...

-Yeah.

-..you stand and say something interesting.

Actually, that's over-ambitious.

Well, I'll tell you how ambitious it is. That...

DRILLING DROWNS OUT SPEECH

That noise is the sound of a journey to the centre of the Earth. We're not supposed to be doing that.

10 metres.

-About 11½ now.

-11½ metres?

-That is not good, is it?

-It's not the best.

I've got a sneaking suspicion that what we have is...

The vibration draws water into it, so makes it run faster.

So you have just thumped one of these 10½ metres. How high is that wall behind you?

-That will be five...

-Double the height of that in the ground so far.

-We know there's sand underneath here.

-Yeah.

-We think there may be

-a lot of water in the sand.

-I suspect there is.

This is precisely the problem in earthquake zones where they build on beaches and things

-cos the earthquake shakes it and water comes to the surface...

-Sonic fluxion.

..and the buildings sink. Exactly!

We will make a phone call after we put this one in the ground and get

the test rig down, I can't see any other way out of this.

That big vibrating pile-driver thing is causing the new flint wall to suffer from sonic fluxion too.

-You've got vibration out here as well, have you?

-Yes.

Thing is, give us another hour, that'll go off.

-Really?

-Give us another hour.

The vibration out here is causing the corbel in the corbel wall to vibrate

and their wall is going to fall.

It needs an hour for the height that he has got to go off enough for it not to vibrate out.

So you have a choice.

Well, we don't really have a choice, do we?

-You can stand here for an hour, can you?

-Are you sure?

-Yes I'm sure.

It's frustratingly slow progress today.

But for the last two years, Mike has had no progress.

His friend Teresa has seen the impact on Mike and his sons.

Given how depressed he has been about the whole thing,

can this genuinely make much of the difference?

Yes, very, very much.

Because of the change in lifestyle for him, because he will be reunited with his boys?

Reunited with his boys. He can then feel like most men, they like to feel they're providers, don't they?

He can now provide a nice venue for his friends to come

in return for the fact that they have invited him to their houses for the last few years.

So he can now do that again.

We talk about coming in helping people out and we say it can make a big difference to people's lives,

but will it make that much of the difference?

Yeah. Because he would phone me,

"I cannot bear being here."

He'd say, "It is not a home, I need a home. I have not got a home."

He felt he was not landed.

This will, I promise, this will make a huge difference to him.

'But that is only if we CAN get it done.

'The front flint wall is finished but after eight hours of drilling,

'the conservatory base is nowhere near ready.'

Funnily enough, after two days of having 25 people on-site and working

like crazy, we are not quite at the stage where we would normally start DIY SOS, but we have achieved a lot.

We are winning.

I do feel we're winning. We are winning, aren't we?

Someone tell me we're winning...

It is day three and, oh dear, the guys are still drilling for Australia.

This was meant to be finished yesterday, but the piles are down to 15 metres now.

Piles in there.

Mary had a little lamb... No, Mary had a little bike, she rode it on the grass.

No!

Mary had a little lamb, the midwife was amazed.

She would be. I would be.

There is still work to be done.

The tanking is finished and it is time to give this little house walls.

I've got to get that lot in there upstairs and just keep everyone going.

You know? It is very noisy today. It is nice for you, Bobby.

Lovely.

A noisy, tiny building site is not a happy place.

Especially if you're from Devon and your name is Jules.

Do you like living, do you?

Are you getting irritable?

-I have been irritable all morning.

-Why?

-It's a nightmare, isn't it?

Too much to do, not enough space to do it.

It is just, you know, everyone is working on top of each other. There's been noise all morning.

Yes.

It's giving me a headache. I've had nothing to eat yet today.

Have you worked on a building site before, ever?

Oh!

That's your lot!

My shallots? My shallots just took a beating, thank you very much.

What is the matter with you all this morning?

I am fine. We're fine.

Just got to get on. It is a very small, confined space.

A very busy day today. That's all.

What about him?

It's the noise.

'He's gone, hasn't he?'

That noise has sent him over the edge.

Someone please explain why we're still plagued with this infernal racket!

The pile is very much akin to

If you think, a standard foundation is like an elephant's foot or a clog, yeah?

Our piles are more like a stiletto heel.

If the ground you're walking on like in your stiletto like your lawn, and the conservatory has a certain amount

of weight in it, if that ground underneath the stiletto is not strong enough,

you will push it into the ground and fall over. Which is not what we want.

'There's a man who knows his stilettos.'

-Did we hit Australia, or...?

-We came close.

We bottomed out on the Opera House roof but we haven't damaged any tiles. I think we'll be all right.

Those two there are in and those two.

-They are solid. They have to set at 13½ metres.

-13½ metres?!

They are a long way down.

This will tell us whether at the sand at the shallower depth

is capable of holding up the load.

That tiny little pump is going to pull the piles upward with five tons of pressure.

-If they stay put, we're onto a winner.

-That gives us a very happy facial expression.

-There we go. That'll do for us.

-That is five tons?

-Just short, four-and-a-half.

Now we know these piles are holding up for us to build on top?

-We'll cut these off now.

-Beautiful. Beautiful!

It was supposed to take four hours. It took 12 because of the sand.

Foundations for a conservatory usually take the best part of a week, so we're still doing OK.

I've news for you.

-What's that?

-No more compression-hammering noise.

-That's nice.

-You tell me something.

Was there any need to get excited try and strangle me with a piece of plasterboard?

You just need to say, "This is beginning to upset me, " and I'll deal with it.

It wasn't me that tried to strangle you. It was the others.

That's one job out of the way - not the strangling, the piling.

Only 347 to go. There's seven rooms to plaster, decorate,

a kitchen and conservatory to build, new stairs, ceilings and electrics.

The boys are putting the insulation in, so we've come to check our wiring is right

and we've realised two of the downlighters are missing.

So we're quickly putting them in now. It's...it's the way we work.

We work at 100mph, mistakes are going to happen.

We got to it before the ceiling went up, so we're happy.

What we're going to do, we get the plan and make sure it's all right before the boys put everything up.

Have you seen the plan?

Honestly, he's terrifying, isn't he?

Nothing is going according to plan with this house.

When Mike bought this mini monster three years ago,

it came with an enormous ivy growing through the side of the building.

This has really caused problems to the integral structure of this wall.

It's dug its way in here and it's meant, I understand,

that rather than being able to render the inside,

we've now been told we're going to have to put steels right the way through the building top to bottom

to hold the building up because of the damage caused by that.

Not great news.

With only six days left and a mountain of work,

what we need right now is to keep the build simple.

I want to build a new blockwork wall up from the front of this so we've got a nice surface to render...

-Why do you...?

-Because this is rubbish.

Extend this wall around the back a little bit so we can get some more planting in the corner there.

Are you really having a laugh?

-No.

-I think you are actually. You're having a laugh.

Let me tell you what I genuinely think you might get away with.

-You've got a wall which is lovely.

-No, it's not.

-It adds character.

-No.

-I'll tell you what, there's no chance of that happening, absolutely no chance.

I wasn't asking you, thank you very much.

Look, we're building a bloody house.

When we first talked about this, you were going to come and build this.

Now you're not going to be building block walls and laying a foundation and rebuilding that wall.

You were going to do this, not draw on a piece of paper.

I don't see you building block walls and new frigging fences round there.

We haven't even got the house finished.

He's got very emotional recently, hasn't he?

Hasn't he? Did he not have any lunch today or something?

He does have a point in as much...

-I'm having it.

-Can't have it.

-Having it.

Anyway, back to the steels.

Without some serious structural support, the house might fall down.

Luckily, we've got some experts on hand with the latest equipment.

Go to the left. Hit it on the right.

Quality communications, isn't it?

Any more? Is that it?

-Another inch.

-To the left?

-Yes!

That'll do.

I think that's it.

-Are you happy with the way it's going so far?

-Over the moon.

-Julian?

-Yes, very happy.

-Are you happy so far, Christopher?

-Yes.

-There you go, we're all happy

because people have turned out to help us out.

One way or another, this tiny little irritation of a house

will turn into a wonderful, glorious place to live by the time we've finished.

-Who'd have thought that something so small could be so irritating?

-It's amazing, isn't it?!

See you tomorrow, all right.

I hate him.

Today I'm not going to be able to get in to work very much.

As you know, that comes very hard to a person like me who likes to roll his sleeves up and get stuck in,

but it's plastering day.

One two three, on the old shoulder.

Nice to see Julia getting on with that garden.

Oh, man!

The perfect shoes.

We were here yesterday plastering and we're here today plastering.

We're probably going to be here tomorrow plastering.

You can't get bored with plastering. Every wall is different.

It is all nooks and crannies. Slows it down.

Makes it awkward, everybody gets a little bit bad tempered.

Don't pressurise me, man. I'm a fat bloke in a very small, confined space.

Sorry about my language. Yeah, you can't get bored with plastering.

Rebuilding this house is more than just giving Mike, Jack and Sam somewhere to live,

they haven't spent any quality time together for years,

so bonding over a sailing lesson was a good place to start.

A nice opportunity this for the guys to work together, spend some time together and re-find that.

After we've gone, they might take up doing this kind of thing more often.

I'm going to go up the mast and start pulling up this sail.

You take the slack up here and when I call, grind,

you start grinding that handle and it'll tension the sail.

Ready to go about.

Keep going. ..Keep going.

Nice racing turn. I don't suppose you guys have had a lot of chance

to do this kind of stuff together over the last couple of years.

I haven't seen the boys smile for so long.

I tell you what, this building business isn't as hard as you think!

-Nice to see your dad smiling so much as well.

-Definitely.

If we get you back in the house, more time to spend with the boys,

-which has got to be a good thing.

-Yes. I can't wait.

We're all really thrilled about that.

Even when you're absolutely rocking along the bottom,

things can change that you've never imagined.

If we pull this one off, it would be extraordinary and, genuinely, we're not there yet,

but they are working very hard, the boys.

These people that don't know you, that have helped us out this week,

from the local area, the various tradesmen that have given their time and their money,

what have they done for you?

They've kick-started my life and my life with the boys

to such an extent, it goes beyond imagining.

If there's a chance for as many of them as possible to come down

and just...shake their hand.

Back at the house, Julia is building a garden.

Oh, no she isn't, she's still just thinking about it.

No rush, Julia, in your own time.

Luckily the conservatory guys are a bit speedier.

This has all come together nicely. One thing that's nice about this is,

normally, it gets roasting hot in the summer.

First bit of sunshine - or in the winter - you can be roasting hot,

but they're using a solar glass that's reflective on the outside

so you don't end up getting loads of heat coming in.

You can sit in here and it can be a comfortable temperature.

Chris and Jules have finally made it out of plastering hell.

-Nice to be outside, innit?

-It is nice to be outside.

Guess what this is? This is Julia's garden.

I stopped at those patio doors, didn't I?

I wasn't going any further.

Where is Julia? ..Julia?

Right, good. Can see the wood for the trees now, just about.

Don't look over there just at the moment because that's not very pretty.

She has made a start.

What's she doing?

That stuff has turned up for Julia's garden she's taking on.

That's all going to be dropped off here and taken through the house.

She'll be busy. She's taken on more than she can chew.

-Couldn't they go over the top?

-It would've been helpful.

Instead, I've got to cart it all through myself.

-Good luck.

-Thank you, thanks for offering to help.

We did tell you, Julia.

She's doing the garden construction.

She's green-fingered.

-Does she know she's green fingered?

-I don't think so.

Inside the house, Paul the building inspector is here to hopefully give us the stamp of approval.

It's made a profound difference, absolutely.

-What do you think of the standard of work?

-Very good.

Even though we bombarded it with 40 blokes?

Yes, it's been a bit tight in there, lots of issues to juggle.

-The rot to resolve, all the damp-proofing.

-Steady, Julia.

He's going to be so chuffed.

Oh my God!

She's a bit grumpy because when we put the conservatory up, she decided she wanted to do the back garden.

-So we've said, "Nothing to do with us, you get on with it." She's a wee bit grumpy.

-Clock is ticking.

The kitchen is coming along too. We have a happy kitchen fitter.

-Never fear, we're going to get it done.

-High one!

-High one!

-'And a grumpy plumber.'

-My room.

-'He's got a heart of gold really.'

-What part of "my room" don't you understand?

-'Honestly he does.'

So we're cooking with gas.

Houston, we've got a problem. We've got no gas supply for that just yet.

We were told it was all electric.

-Who told you that?

-Billy.

-Why on earth would you ask Billy anything?

-He's an electrician.

-Like I say, why on earth...?

He put the electricity in for it.

For the electric oven.

Plus the drawing shows an electric hob. It doesn't show a gas hob.

-What drawing?

-The drawing for the kitchen.

-I've just got round circles to indicate the hobs.

They're the round circles you have on electric ones.

Gas is a different drawing.

-It's my drawings.

-I know the difference.

Yes, I'm the one who made up the flipping drawing.

I don't have any symbols for gas.

I don't have the time.

-Stay calm.

-He thinks it's funny.

I'm not laughing.

I've had it, I have absolutely had it this afternoon.

An absolute nightmare.

Everything has taken five or six times longer than it would do in normal circumstances.

We asked two or three people, is it an electric hob?

What turns up, gas over electric.

It gives you something to whinge about, doesn't it?

Oh dear, this is not a happy house.

Two days to go. We've got so much to do.

I think we need some music, this will get everyone up.

This will pick the pace up.

MUSIC STARTS

Come on, John.

We need to get skirting boards in, do all the painting,

get the new stairs in, finish the front of the house

because tonight we've got to get the floor fitters in...

What's she doing?

Good old British bulldog spirit,

when your back's against the wall, you've just got to fight, dig in, dig deep.

We'll fight on the beaches. We'll fight in the streets.

And then everybody joined in and off we went. It was like soldiers.

-We were like soldiers.

-Beautiful.

No grammar at all but what a heart.

Julia has found someone to help with the garden.

She couldn't have done it herself really.

The new stairs have arrived but they do present a bit of a problem.

Obviously the pressure is on these boys

because we can't get anybody up the stairs and get work done upstairs.

So that's going to be a problem because today is a real turning point on the decoration side of things.

Decorators standing here, waiting to get up the stairs. What can we do?

How about you make them fit because I'm stuck upstairs with Julia being made to work.

This is actually specifically atmosphere purifying paint.

It's a genius technology.

This absorbs 98-99% of all solvents, VOCs, chemicals that are in the atmosphere

and this will absorb for the lifetime of the paint.

In 10 or 15 years, this will continue to absorb all of those nasty chemicals out of the air.

-And it's sage, isn't it?

-French grey actually. French grey.

-How is it grey when it's green?

-It's French grey.

So we can start doing colours in the rest of the house now?

-Start chucking it all over the place?

-Yes, definitely.

I now declare these stairs open.

Perfect timing, there are only 12 hours left for us to get this house finished. It's all hands on deck.

All under and over each other. No-one falling out at the moment.

As well as the local professional help, Mike's Mob has shown up.

These ladies have been supporting Mike online for the last two years.

-It's the first time you've ever met?

-Yes.

-Never met in person.

We only know each other through what we write online

so it's a bit of a fright when you actually see what people look like!

-Why have you decided to come along?

-Just to try and help Mike really.

A lot of us are here today because we can do a tiny little bit. Work a screwdriver perhaps.

I can't tell you how much this will lift the weight off his shoulders.

That is a really nice red, a happy red.

It does cheer you up, looking at it. It is vital.

What we have here is a video entry system.

-Hello?

-That is beautiful, isn't it?

-Anybody there?

If you ever get a call like this, you actually don't answer the door.

This is Julia's design feature to hide the steelwork on the wall.

I don't know what it is either but it will have some lovely LED lights behind it.

-Looking at the top of that wood...

-Billy's plastic trunking.

Looks lovely.

-Did you do that?

-Do what?

-Look at the top of the wood.

-The wood feature.

-Yes.

-What can you see?

-Bit of trunking.

-You don't want to see that, do you?

-All right. What shall we do then?

-Put it behind the wood so we can't see it. You've got a cable gap.

-If we can get it down there, we will.

It's always me you have to pick on. A bit of trunking out of all that we've done. Always the same.

-Look what you've gone and done now.

-Am I wrong?

With only a few hours left, Julia's garden doesn't even look close to ready.

-And as for the upstairs bedrooms...

-Mess.

That pretty much describes the kitchen too. What is going on?

OK, that's interesting. More worrying than interesting

when you've only got five or six hours to finish all this off.

-We need a plan.

-OK.

-I think you and I should walk round,

work out exactly what there is left to do,

start appointing people to get rooms cleared out and getting them in the rooms with the furniture.

I think you can have the back room now.

Just put the door on the front bedroom so that's two rooms.

-What are you doing, Matthew?

-I'm going to make a knob.

-Make a knob?

-I'm slightly worried on the time. Help. Are you happy to do that?

-Yes.

-What are you doing?

-It looks like I have been lumbered with the job of the shower door.

Seriously, you need a degree in... degree-ness to fit this thing.

Look what a community can achieve together.

I can take care of the housing for this and the doors for this.

I have never seen anything in this town come together like this project. This has been phenomenal.

Absolutely incredible to have so much support from all the local trades people.

They've been astonishing this week.

This is going to change Mike's life.

Now we can bring him together with his boys, back into the same house to live together,

to do things Dad and boys do. Bringing families together is brilliant.

We've saved the most difficult part of the entire build till last. The shower door.

The brace bar goes on when we fit this side before we fit this side.

-Pardon?

-It's going to be a long night.

-Just put it in, man.

-No, your boot's in the way.

Nine days ago, this house was a shell,

a constant reminder for Mike and his sons of the impossible situation they found themselves in.

About as far from a home as you could imagine, making them ill and unhappy.

This really has been the most difficult challenge we faced.

From stopping the house falling down to damp-proofing the entire place.

From removing 40 tons of rubble, to building a conservatory

and turning this shell of a house into a home.

But after some amazing help from the local community,

after dozens of men and women gave up their time and energy to work together,

Mike, Jack and Sam finally have somewhere to share a future together.

We've given them a modern and sleek kitchen where Mike can prepare proper family meals for his boys.

We've put the heart back into their home.

In Jack and Sam's rooms, the blow-up beds have gone, replaced with stylish and exciting design.

Mike's new living space is full of ultra-modern lighting

and relaxing colours, with a spacious dining area and a new conservatory.

It's now a bright and uplifting social space.

We've transformed the dumping ground at the back of the house

to a contemporary courtyard garden where Mike can entertain friends and relax with his boys, day and night.

It's now a place where they can feel safe, healthy and happy,

where they can get on with the rest of their lives together.

I hope you like what we and so many new friends

that we have made here in Littlehampton have done for you.

Open your eyes.

Oh God!

Bit of a shock?

It is absolutely gorgeous.

I don't know how you did it in the time. Thank you so much.

It's a bit special, isn't it?

I have visualised this so many times over the past two years or so,

as a way of keeping going.

Just thinking it is going to be like this one day.

It is absolutely fantastic.

That is incredible.

New staircase.

I had a ladder and then somebody lent me a staircase. That is gorgeous.

Are these the things that you'd visualised?

This is just like a model of what I wanted but so much better.

What we've done is we have added you a conservatory to treble your downstairs space.

That is just... I am so grateful, that is going to make such a difference.

It is just... Wow!

-You like?

-I just love it.

-What you need now is a kitchen.

-Yes.

Do you want to come and have a look?

Lead on, it is just through there.

I'm not sure I can take this.

In you go.

Have a little stroll in.

-I have never seen anything so nice.

-It is beautiful, isn't it?

It is too much to take in.

Take a look at your cooker.

Beautiful sink on your left. Is it what you'd hoped for?

It is just streets ahead of anything I would have imagined.

If the view wasn't the same, I wouldn't think it was the same house.

Oh, this is going to make such a difference.

-You need an upstairs.

-Oh God, I hadn't even thought of that.

In you go.

-Oh wow.

-Family bathroom.

-Oh wow, isn't that beautiful!

-A couple of others to show you.

Wow.

Step into your new bedroom. Pretty cool, huh?

It is so much better than what I thought it would ever be.

I am just getting overloaded by how much work people have done and how generous they've been.

Wow.

Why don't you pop up and have a seat.

Oh wow.

This feels like a dream.

-Not bad, is it?

-Is it the same place?

This is madness.

You should see all of it. It is just incredible.

No more spag bol for Christmas dinner.

You can do a turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings.

Somebody is going to have to learn to cook.

Dining room area, an area for you and your friends to come round, have a few drinks.

This is better than we could have imagined. This is stunning.

Incredible, amazing.

Oh my God. Wow!

That is incredible.

-A proper bed.

-It's not an inflatable.

-It's not an inflatable.

-It is not going to blow up.

-No dust on the floors. No dust anywhere.

One of the key things we've done is we've used air-purifying paint

which sucks all of the toxins out of the air.

This room specifically has been done with you in mind so you're not going to get these asthma attacks again.

That is amazing, thank you.

I can't think of any words. It is better than I could've thought.

Oh!

Wow!

It feels so much bigger. This is stunning.

Do you want to try it out? It's not inflatable,

-it doesn't lie on the floor.

-Is it going to pop?

-It is a proper bed.

Welcome home.

-Your dad's in a bit of shock at the moment.

-Yes, I noticed that.

-He says it is for all of you guys, but you were very keen that it happened for him.

-Definitely.

-Will this make a difference?

-Just seeing him down there, he's beaming.

I have never seen him so happy.

It is stunning. Words can't explain.

The next few weeks, in fact the next few hours, we'll see a difference.

It is absolutely astounding.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Brilliant. Stunning.

-That is so clever.

-There used to be a garage door there, remember?

What you have done this week is extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary.

You can see the difference it's made to Mike and Sam and Jack here.

It's done something else which is to show people that good things can happen.

You've come out, given your time and made a massive change to a family

who genuinely thought it couldn't happen.

On behalf of the DIY SOS boys, I'd like to say thank you very much to all of you.

I was trying to think last night, what do you say to this?

I just want to say thank you, particularly to the people that worked on it.

And all the supporters that have been there online.

It is really like waking up from a really bad dream.

Thank you so much.

-I want to say thank you to everyone.

-The nightmare is over.

-Absolutely gorgeous.

-It is wonderful, it made me cry.

Brilliant.

-Thank you so much.

-You're welcome, mate, if anyone deserves it, you do.

-You can do father and son things now, can't you?

-We can do anything.

Beautiful cottage, a beautiful beach, beautiful place.

Love you lots.

Everybody has a time in their life where they feel they just can't get by,

that they've reached the bottom or that nothing's going to change.

Mike certainly felt that, but look at what has happened.

Local people have come out, given their time for nothing, to make a change to Mike and his sons.

That's the key thing. You've got to believe good things can happen and there are good people out there.

This lot have proved it.

If you know someone who needs our help, give us a call.

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