The Big Build - Manchester DIY SOS

Hello and welcome to DIY SOS.

This week, we're coming to you from Greater Manchester.

So, here we are in Coronation Street.

Well, not really, but this close-knit community is just

a few miles from that fictional world.

We're here to help a mum, dad, and triplets trapped in a tiny house.

-Depressed.

-Yeah, it does get you down a bit.

To be honest, a lot of the time, I get on with it

cos you have to get through the day with the children,

but some days, it does bear down heavy on me.

It's every night for her. It's horrible.

How she manages to keep a brave face on and just get on with it,

it's amazing.

The whole family is involved. Granny...

People might just think, "Triplets? I've had three children."

But not all at once, you haven't. It's so much harder.

Grandpa...

Obviously, grannies help out and great-grandmas and everybody,

sisters, brothers, you know, everybody.

Everyone mucks in, but she's still left with them on her own.

It's very hard work.

Even Great-grandma...

I never, ever thought anybody would do

anything like this for our family.

It may be a small house, but it's a big build.

But all we're doing on this one, look...

We're just going backwards.

This was going to be a little one.

-This was going to be a manageable one.

-How far are we behind?

I reckon we're two days behind, actually.

As ever, we'll be relying on

the generosity of local trades to help out.

Sometimes, it's better to give back than it is to receive.

All the usual suspects are here, but we're not enough.

We need an army. Luckily, we have one!

CHEERING

This is DIY SOS: The Big Build.

Rebecca and Steve are a one-in-8,000 family.

They are parents to naturally-conceived triplets.

In 2010, Rebecca gave birth to Archie, Isabel, and Grace.

This is where they live.

It's damp, dilapidated and dangerous.

OK...

Dad Steve's work often takes him away.

He was doing what he could to the house,

but then Rebecca went for her first scan.

I remember sitting there thinking, "I'm having triplets."

And even now, I don't think it's ever something that can sink in.

I just see them as my three children, but, yeah, we were really shocked.

Rebecca had joined an incredibly select club -

just one in 8,000 pregnancies are naturally conceived triplets.

The whole pregnancy was really worrying,

because I had to have scans every two weeks.

and be referred to an obstetrician,

cos it's a high-risk pregnancy, and they did tell us, you know,

to be prepared for a loss of one of the triplets

or for all of them not to have been born,

but luckily, everything was fine.

Like all triplets, Rebecca's babies had to be delivered early.

They had the big sheet up, and I just kept thinking,

"Please, all cry," and I can never even, Steve, as a mother,

I can never put into words the relief that you feel when they cry.

Because some babies don't come round,

and I was just convinced that one of them wouldn't or something wouldn't.

Even now, if you could bottle that feeling, it was just...

-Brilliant.

-Yeah, it was nice, wasn't it?

It was a bit heartbreaking, because honestly, I couldn't hold them,

they had to take them straight away from me.

But when they all cried, I'd been so worried for nine months,

because I was convinced that something was going to go wrong,

I'll never forget that sound. Ever.

Both of us have still said now, we've never got over it.

People say, "Oh, how do you get your head round that?"

And it's like, we still haven't.

They know they're blessed, but the children have been home

for nearly two years now,

and the house is just getting worse and worse.

It's affecting Rebecca's health.

-Depressed.

-Yeah, it does get you down a bit.

To be honest, a lot of the time, I get on with it,

cos you have to get through the day with the children,

but some days, it really does bear down heavy on me.

OK, let's go upstairs.

With Steve away rigging stages and sports events,

there's no way they can get this sorted.

I could be away three weeks of a month.

And we're fighting, because I'm resentful that Steve's...

not that he's got to go to work,

but that I'm here with the children all day,

-but that I'm here with the children all day, every day.

-It's horrible.

How she manages to keep a brave face on and just get on with it,

it's amazing, you know what I mean?

In this house...

You're just constantly running around after everything.

They haven't got any room to do anything.

They can't even watch me cook. The kitchen is just...

Doors are falling off. It's damp on the wall,

they're running their hands on the wall where the damp is and things.

So I have to feel like...

I just don't think I can face another winter.

You can see your breath in the kitchen,

and you have to stand there with a coat on in the kitchen.

Of course, Steve's done what he can.

I've thought I'm doing really well,

and then as soon as they were born, I don't think any amount of money

that I could earn could afford to pay for what the kids need.

You never seem to have the money to finish anything, you know?

Every penny and every minute goes on three lots of everything.

There's nothing left for fixing the house.

Rebecca is left trapped and isolated.

She can't take the triplets out without help.

I feel like I'm cooped up in a padded cell, in this...

You know, this safe little room,

where I've blocked it off for the children.

It really, really gets me down.

Everyone suffers.

The two bedrooms mean constant sleepless nights for the parents,

and their restless toddlers.

Even now, sometimes they have nights where you put them in bed,

and in half an hour, they're up again.

You put them back down, and another half, you're back in.

The thing is, most people with one child would leave them,

and say, "Oh, well, you leave them for a bit,

"they go back to sleep" or whatever, but with ours, if you leave them

to cry for two minutes, they wake all the others up.

They've woke the other two up.

If not for my mum and Steve, I literally cannot...

And I'm like this, I'm in tears.

I've had a bad night with the children.

I think I'm never going to get to this day,

never be able to get through the day.

I can't cope with the crying any more. There's three lots of crying.

An extended family can only do so much to help,

which is why we are here,

and Rebecca and Steve have moved out.

They're staying at Steve's gran's while we do the build.

What do you think people don't understand about having triplets?

Just how hard it really is, how demanding of time,

how there's just three of everything.

Whether you pick one up and do something for one,

the other two come over to you.

-Climbing on you.

-Yes, you can only pick up two at a time.

When you go out...

Grace!

-This is a climbing one, this one, isn't it?

-Yes.

When you go out...have you thought of buying a sheepdog?

LAUGHTER

I don't have...

ALL: Oooh!

Come on.

This is almost impossible, to have a conversation with you while we're...

Why don't we just bail out at the moment and come and meet

the guys outside, and we can get them off to work straightaway.

There you go, look. There's another one!

There's another one as well. They go.

How are you doing, Steve?

-All right?

-How are you doing, bud?

-Nice to meet you.

-All right, mate?

THEY GREET EACH OTHER

-Chris. Pleased to meet you. You're a juggler?

-Yes.

LAUGHTER But I've only got two hands.

Can you stay still, young lady? That's it. Do what you're told.

See, the discipline I've got with children!

If it's contained, it's a bit of weight off your mind,

but anywhere that's open, on your own, is just a nightmare.

You find they keep each other amused.

If my parents had put me in one of them,

I might be a bit taller.

There are six of us,

and the children are running rings around us, to be fair.

Time to beat a hasty retreat.

Out of nothing but the goodness of their hearts,

the trades of Manchester have turned out in force, thank goodness.

I guarantee you'll have fun

and enjoy yourself whilst working really hard.

But there is no money in return, and it's also for the BBC,

so there's no advertising either.

So, on that basis, would anybody like to leave now?

There you go. See that? Amazing.

People always say to me, "They don't really do it for nothing."

Yes, they do. So thank you very much.

There's a really good sense of community around here.

Many of the trades come from just around the corner.

Stuart and Dave, nice. What are you doing for us here?

I've come to do the central heating. The boiler and radiators.

-The plumbing for us.

-The plumbing, yeah.

-Lovely.

And why have you decided to join in and get involved?

We just think it's a good cause, don't we?

You're not going to get paid for it.

You're not going to be able to advertise.

You haven't seen how much I eat.

LAUGHTER

That we can look after, mate. That's funny.

So why did you decide to join in, then?

I'd like to think that somebody would do it for me as well, you know?

-So it was just a good cause, really.

-Yeah.

-Happy to join in?

-Yeah, brilliant.

-You got kids yourself?

-Yeah, three kids, yeah.

-What ages?

-Oh, hell...

HE LAUGHS

-Oh, no!

-You've put me on the spot now! Er...

35...

..28 and 27, I think.

Or 29 and 27.

How old are you?!

Old enough.

He's in trouble when he gets home, isn't he?

Now, here's a question for you.

How do you fit five people into a two-bedroom house?

I don't know the answer, but I know someone who does.

Our designer, Gabrielle Blackman.

Downstairs, they've really only been living in one room,

so in the sitting room, because the kitchen is just unusable

and dangerous, and she didn't want the kids anywhere near it.

The space that we are turning into the kitchen was freezing cold

and really unpleasant, so they were in this one,

tiny room to eat, live and play.

Here's Gabby's plan.

The old kitchen has been knocked down, so we can replace it

with the utility room to deal with the mountains of washing.

The back room becomes a kitchen diner with French windows

onto a new, low-maintenance garden.

The front room gets a more grown-up treatment. Very posh.

Upstairs, Archie gets a room of his own.

The girls move to the front, and we're adding a whole new floor

so that Mum and Dad can have a room of their own.

It fits, but only just. As long as nothing changes, we should be fine.

Now, to get this job done,

we had to do a little prep work before we could start.

So what was here before was a wreck of an old red-brick building.

Guys came in, they've dug all this out, they put the foundations in,

the slabs in, they've even moved the drains around.

We've got to put a pitched roof on this, little slate pitched roof.

-Like that one?

-Yeah.

But we're going to put some little roof windows into it.

It'll be pretty and nice, and lots of light in it as well.

-It's not the hugest house, is it?

-No.

It's tiny. That's what it is.

Very much like the builder I was just talking to.

Tight old space, isn't it? Only a little house.

Very small, isn't it?

We can't really throw a lot of people at this, can we?

-No, it's going to be very managed, this one, I think.

-Yeah.

-The right people in the right places all the time.

-Yeah.

-No dead weight.

-So move.

-That's a nice start to the day, isn't it, really?

Assessing space is one of Chris' many fortes.

20ml in here, and next door will be 50, 62.5, 62.5.

So it'll be 70ml. So you're 5ml over.

Genius, Chris. He's full of surprises.

Shame it doesn't run throughout the whole team, though.

This is what we've got.

We were trying to write "intermediate",

but we've got "imedit..."

"Imedictate".

"Imedicate".

But then, it's got better.

That's the second attempt.

So, because I couldn't spell it, I'm going to put "2 gang 2-ways".

It's easier.

-I can spell that.

-Clear as mud, Billy.

Thanks very much for not clearing that up.

There's a lot to do before the loft company get stuck in.

The family needs space,

so I reckon we should take that chimney down

right through the house. Think of the room it'll make.

-Whose idea was it?

-I don't want to say. I don't think it's important.

-It's not...

-You don't want to mention whose idea it was?

I don't think there's any need. It's not about that.

It's about the end product. It's not about who...

It's not about who comes up with those great ideas.

Give Nick a round of applause for his fantastic idea, please.

Thank you very much. Well done.

THEY APPLAUD

-He's so humble!

-What an incredible guy.

I'd just like to thank my agent, and...

There is, of course, no 'I' in "team",

but there is one in "Nick".

One person's bright idea is a designer's nightmare, of course.

So, because the chimney breast is now coming out,

it opens up a lot of possibilities,

which is really, really exciting and brilliant,

but sort of really stressful to do it right now,

because we'd ordered Kitchen A with the chimney breast situation,

and now that's changed, so I've got

the guy from the kitchen company coming down.

Yada, yada. You just can't please some people, can you?

We've just given her a load more kitchen.

Surely she can persuade Brian to do something great with that space?

So now, this is coming out completely.

Now we're taking it all out. A quick redraw...

Oh, Brian, that's brilliant.

And we've managed to then lift the cooker away from the kiddies,

so it's in a safer place.

That's really lucky, cos the schedule,

unfortunately, has not moved.

The chimney breast has moved, but the schedule remains the same.

That's not lucky at all.

What we've taken on is more than just the house.

It's where Rebecca was born. She went to the school opposite.

While her sisters look after the triplets, I grab the chance to talk.

Why is the house such a big deal?

What is it about it that you don't want to leave?

Well, obviously, because I grew up there, so it's got a lot

of memories for me, and Stephen grew up on the street behind,

and we both went to the school across the road at the same time,

and I want my children to attend that school.

It's the very house where their love story began.

You got together how long now?

Well, when we were children, we used to play together

and he used to live on the street opposite.

But not snogging or anything?

We had our first kiss together when we were very young.

-Before we went to secondary school. In the house we live in now.

-No!

-Really?

-Yeah, because his parents used to live at the back of us.

So we had our first kiss together.

-Did you kiss him or did he kiss you?

-He kissed me.

-Are you sure? Really?

-Yes.

-You didn't force him?

-No!

-Because he was younger, wasn't he?

-Yeah.

SHE LAUGHS

'Of course, Steve can't praise Becky highly enough.'

Words can't describe how hard it must be for her, you know,

when I'm not there and she's on her own.

I've done it on me own, you know, she's a credit to 'em.

They're really lucky that they've got a mum like Becky,

you know what I mean? She's just great fun, you know,

we always just have a top laugh together.

She's like me best mate.

'This build will make three small children very happy.

'But one big kid isn't his usual smiling self.'

I think I'd sooner be somewhere else today cos it's a special day.

It's only his birthday.

'He should know better than that.

'This is DIY SOS, and we've got in cake!'

ALL: # Happy birthday to you! #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-That's my slice...

-That brick there.

..full brick, and then quarter bricks for the rest of you.

'Trouble is, our celebrations are a little premature.'

What's happened with the loft?

The company that was doing the loft have unfortunately pulled out.

-Now? Today?

-Day One, they've legged it.

People say to us, "D'you have a lot of problems with people?"

And the truth of the matter is we don't.

-Well...

-But if you are going to pull out,

if you decide to join in and you want to pull out,

pull out two or three days beforehand

so that we can find someone else.

Now, we're halfway through the first day,

and now we've suddenly decided,

or they've decided they're not involved.

'We need to sort this and fast. No loft is not an option.

'The telephones will be red hot

'while we press on with the rest of the day's work.

'The loft company may have let us down

'but there are 40 trades here putting their all into it.

'Look, the new extension is already up!'

-All done and dusted?

-All done and dusted.

How long did this take? Six hours?

-Yeah, five, six hours, something like that.

-Smashing.

My mate Mike. Whilst you've been out the front yapping,

me, Mike and the boys, we've been out here, stripping wallpaper,

-knocking this one up.

-Is he helping you?

-No, he was texting most of the time.

-Was he?

I have been checking what's for dinner.

'We're doing this for Rebecca, Steve and the triplets,

'but now we've got a visit from the previous owner, her mother,

'and one of Rebecca's sisters.'

-Recognise it?

-No.

-Not really.

-This used to be your house, didn't it?

-It did, yes.

-Before Rebecca bought it off you, this was your house.

-Yes.

This is where you grew up.

Yeah, never lived anywhere else apart from here.

-So this is home for you.

-Yep. Well, not now.

-This is Julian.

-Hi.

-Hi, Julian.

-How are you, all right?

-D'you recognise him at all off the telly?

-Erm, sort of vaguely.

Put your hand up like this.

-Imagine him with a cake in his hand.

-Ah, now, yeah!

THEY LAUGH

-You lived here, what's the community like?

-Everybody's very neighbourly.

There's neighbours who live on the other street

and I've known them, we've known them,

I'm 23, I've known them all my life.

So it's no great surprise to you

that we've had all these people volunteer,

come forward and help out?

Oh, no. All we've had is a good response.

Everybody's said she really deserves it.

She really, you know, she really needs it.

We're really happy for you.

'The extended family are dotted throughout this neighbourhood.

'Great-grandma Joyce lives just around the corner.'

What do you make of the fact

that everyone's turned up to sort out the house?

I can't express how I feel, to be truthful.

I never, ever thought anybody would do anything like that for our family.

I really didn't.

Also, what a godsend if it could be done,

cos you saw what it was like, you know.

If the house gets sorted out, how does life change for the family?

I think it would be easier to get them to go to sleep at night,

cos they've got their own rooms, whereas it's chaos at the moment.

I can get Archie to go to sleep easy on his own,

but as soon as he hears the girls, or vice versa, they're awake, you know.

"Oh, they're up, I'm up," you know.

So, for 'em to have a room of their own,

they won't all be in Becky's and Steven's, you know.

And as they get older, they'll be able to bring their friends home.

You couldn't have brought them home to the house previously.

'Let's face it, they wouldn't want to bring them back to this either!

'That kitchen chimney breast is coming down in double quick time.'

Normally take about a week to do that.

Four of us, four or five of us.

About seven hours.

You think to yourself, "Do they really do it in that sort of time?"

And I think that's just proved it.

-Gentlemen, top effort.

-Appreciate it.

I think one of your colleagues has just collapsed upstairs.

Look at the extra room they're going to get in there now.

Take that horrible little cupboard thing out in the corner,

suddenly it's a decent space, innit?

All we can say is it's a good job you're here(!)

Them boys would have struggled, wouldn't you, lads?

You would have struggled, wouldn't ya?

Thanks very much, that's very nice of you(!)

'Everyone's a comedian, aren't they(?)

'I feel great now, actually. But this house is no good

'without a room for mum and dad in the loft,

'and we still don't have one.'

It's been an absolute nightmare, so at this stage, we would normally

have the floor in, we would have the structure up for the dormer...

At the moment, it's still full of rubbish.

I've never known a start in SOS like this ever.

It's been a nightmare.

'Mark is genuinely worried, as are we all.

'If we don't get this sorted, we simply won't finish on time.'

'After a night of pulling in favours,

'I'm very relieved to say a loft company is on their way.

'But they have changed the plan one tiny bit.'

Basically, we've got to take the whole of the roof off

and drop all these ceilings. It's a bit more than we thought,

but at this stage of the game that's what's...

It's going to be a really mucky, dusty day today.

'So, it's back to the drawing board for Gabby again.

'And whilst he's doing that there's the small matter of

'getting the steel ridge in for the roof. Here it comes.'

We're going to drag it over and past.

Somebody's going to support it at that end for safety.

-Six lads then will lift it on top, job done.

-Right, lovely.

You could learn a thing or two from him, you know.

So it'll come out from here directly all the way to the edge of

the building, which will make this a substantial sized room.

A lot of work to get there, though.

The first stage of the chaos. I can't even tell what time it is,

but...got to have all the builders here inside the next hour,

so we've got to have all this down and out.

Running out of time rapidly.

You were covered in mess yesterday, and now here you are again

-and we've taken down another 100 years worth of rubbish.

-Yeah.

-Nothing else better to do at the weekend?

-Got loads of things to do.

-Look at the state of the house, so...

-Yeah, I know.

'I've lost count of the number of skips we've taken out of this place.

'There isn't going to be anything left

'and we're running out of time to rebuild it,

'but we are ready for the lofting.'

All in, all in, here we go.

This has been a serious uphill struggle trying to get this loft done

and thank yous all very much for coming here at the last minute

and pulling it out because otherwise it would not happen

if yous hadn't turned up.

So have we got a problem with the stairs?

Yeah, but we'll overcome that.

-What's the problem?

-He's on holiday.

-No!

So we'll try another number tonight.

Right, OK. I'm going to hand it over to you boys

and hope yous can get it done in a couple of days!

-No worries, mate, we'll get it sorted.

-Thank yous very much.

'Yeah, but guess what?

'The loft team want even more changes.'

You asked for, what, an extra couple of walls to be taken down?

Yeah, just on the stairs. They were a bit unsafe, so...

A bit wiggly, were they?

Yeah, better to take 'em down, be on the safe side

and just do 'em back up, like, so, make a better job anyway.

Is there anything else to take out of this house now?

Let's just take the rest of it, take all the walls upstairs.

Yeah, if we took the whole thing out and left that new timber frame

extension at the back, that'd be nice, wouldn't it?

A really nice front door on it.

THEY LAUGH

'It's a good job we've got a sense of humour.

'Not sure Gabby's laughing though.

'Yeah, best to leave her alone, I think.

'I know, let's go and find Billy.'

Doing all right down there, sunshine?

Yeah, doing a bit of fishing at the moment. I think it might be there.

Look at that. To be that size again, eh?

What we're doing at the moment, we're trying to get the feeds

from where the consumer unit's going to be into the utility room.

-You going to catch up all right?

-Yeah.

-Thursday night.

-Thursday night we promised.

-That's tomorrow night.

-Yeah.

-For the whole thing?

-Yeah.

Yeah, all the way.

'Ambitious fools! No chance.'

The other wall.

NOISE OBSCURES SPEECH

'How can such a tiny house give us so many problems?

'They're stacking up everywhere.'

Because of the way the loft has been built this time,

we haven't been able to really firm up the drawings.

We've just had to build it,

which makes me really nervous, cos of course, as you know,

furniture does take a bit of time to make, doesn't it?

-Absolutely.

-And so we need to kind of make it.

At the moment, I have no furniture to put in that room.

-Well, we'll see what we can do.

-That would be amazing.

So how long do you think you could spare to help us?

-Till Sunday night.

-Really?

-No problem.

-Where did you come from like this?

-From Heaven!

-It's amazing!

'We still need a bit of divine intervention.'

How far are we behind?

I reckon we're two days behind actually.

How can we be when we're two days into the job?

We're not wired, we're not plumbed and we're not plasterboarded.

That's where we should have been in two days.

We've created more mess than we were supposed to.

-We weren't supposed to take this roof off.

-Look at it!

We weren't supposed to drop this floor,

we weren't supposed to take a chimney stack out all through the house.

If you go downstairs, at the top of the stairs there's nothing here.

And we haven't got a staircase.

Or internal walls, cos we took them out as well.

And we took the internal walls out!

So we've sort of gone back, back, back,

but now we're starting to move forward.

-Tomorrow's a positive day.

-Not today?

-No.

'Welcome to the positive day.

'This area is so important for Rebecca and Steve,

'the school opposite is still a key part of their life.

'It's where Rebecca takes the triplets for nursery.

'At times these weekly get-togethers have been the only

'opportunity for Rebecca to escape the confines of her home.

'Quite simply, they're a lifeline.'

She did lack confidence when she very first came to the centre.

'Michelle manages the nursery sessions.

'She's worked closely with Rebecca since the triplets were born.'

It took quite a few months to get her out

and build up the relationship, checking that she was OK,

and that she wasn't going under cos Steven was working away.

We would, generally, I would give her a phone call,

check she was all right, or...

Just cos we were over the road as well,

pop over and make sure that she's fine.

'The mums Rebecca's met here help each other through difficult times.'

I do put on a brave face a lot of the time, Dawn can see through that

when I'm not OK.

I say I'm OK but I'm not OK.

I ring you up sometimes, you come down and watch the children

for an hour, I go back to bed for an hour and stuff like that.

If I didn't have the support I get from my friends and family,

I would not be able to do it.

'Fixing the house won't solve all Rebecca's problems

'but it will give the triplets a safer, happier future.

'So, we'd better get on with it.'

'Now, Gabby hasn't made it into the loft yet.

'That's because it's not just the changing plans

'that have got our Gabby rattled.'

-I'm trying not to show fear but I'm not keen on the ladders.

-Are you not?

We haven't got any other way of getting into the loft

and we need to talk about the loft space.

I know, I'm going to do it, it's fine, but I am, yep, it's fine.

You go up, I'll go up behind you, and if you fall you fall on me,

I'll catch you. How's that?

Is it attached to stuff? It doesn't feel like it's attached.

It's fully secure and attached.

'We're not being cruel, this is the only way up.

'There's no stairs inside.'

Hold onto that.

SHE SIGHS

How did you get up?

The ladder. On the ladder.

She can't, she's having difficulty speaking at the moment.

She wasn't very keen on the idea of the climb but has made it anyway

because I said either she came up

-or we decided where the walls go.

-Oh, right.

'We need to decide the shape this room has to be, and guess what?

'Gabby and I disagree on where to put the new wall.'

-We have to fill this in, do we?

-No.

We've taken away an attic. They need some area for storage.

'What is it with designers?'

I would keep this shape

and all the various shapes, we've got a chimney and all that too.

Designers like to box everything out

and make them all square and lose all the interest.

Look at all our buildings these days, they're all squares,

they're all blocks, they're uninteresting.

Look at buildings built from the Georgian time or Edwardian or

Victorian, look up and see the glory of the top of the buildings.

Here, they're just flat blocks of glass and metal.

That's what everybody's trying to do,

they're all trying to paint everything grey, and it's true.

All the houses that are built now, they're all like boxes.

Square, boring boxes, ain't they? Where's the architectural interest?

Where are they putting our skills to the test in creating shapes?

-Nothing.

-Oh, God, it's like Henry V!

You need to have walls that are flat to put furniture into rooms,

and this is a room that needs some furniture in it

otherwise it's not going to work.

'Actually she makes a very good point.

'But while we're talking about putting new walls up,

'the old ones haven't finished with us yet.'

Everything you touch, look, it just falls to pieces.

That's what we're up against.

It's Day Three now, and predominately, on Day Three,

we're putting it back together again.

And all we're doing on this one, look...

We're just going backwards.

Hopefully tomorrow we've got an army of plasterers coming in,

and what I want to do is spend the whole day plasterboarding,

and then on Day Five, we'll be plastering.

That's...and I'm hoping they're all up for it and very nice plasterers,

which I'm sure they are, and we can, erm, we can spin this one around.

That's what we need.

Yeah. A positive army of plasterers.

Yeah, you said it would get better yesterday.

See any plasterers, anyone?

# Hallelujah... #

Oh, there's one! And another...

And, oh, look! A trowel of them.

I made that up, actually, it's not really a trowel.

We can split some of your guys, say,

"Right, you have that ceiling, you have that ceiling,

"and them walls, board it, patch it, turn round and skim it."

And we can start spreading people out over this house.

What a sight!

More local boys rescuing a family in need.

About time, too. We're nearly halfway through,

and no way are we halfway through the work

Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen!

Thank you!

Look, they're all grabbing the glory here, eh?

No - collectively,

it's starting to look a bit like a house again, innit?

We're getting there.

Bit of plasterboard on the ceiling, bit of patching on the walls

and it's halfway there, innit?

Definitely halfway there.

They say an army marches on its stomach.

Some more than others.

-What?

-I told you I'd get some wages.

-Yeah.

-You having a bit of salad?

-Yeah.

Bit of salad with me chips.

Speaking of large appetites,

Jules' girth has followers far and wide.

Get it? Wide.

I've always wanted to know if that's a real belly.

Hmm.

I thought you were pregnant.

That's a lot less than what it used to be.

Yeah, but look inside there.

Don't - yeah, you'll find the fluff, if you look inside.

-There's lots of fluff in there.

-There is, isn't there?

-Mm, yeah.

-But it's good, though, innit?

-It's a real man's belly, that, mate.

-Real man's belly.

Like mine.

-Yeah, see, that's not hairy enough.

-Mine's a baby belly.

-Yeah, thanks for that.

-You're all right.

-Are you happy now, are you?

-I'm very happy.

I don't know about anyone else,

I found that all very disturbing.

We're here because of yet another family member -

it was Rebecca's mother-in-law Lorraine who wrote in to us.

She too lives locally, and was worried her family were going under.

Rebecca would deny it, but I know that it's depressing Becky.

Because of the comments she makes.

"Ooh, I can't get my bloody kitchen done,

"I'm never going to get anything done."

And she won't - she probably won't,

until they've all left home and got married.

People might just say, "Oh, triplets," you know?

"I've had three children." But not all at once, you haven't.

It's so much harder.

It's hard.

I've tried to get all three asleep on my own...

It's impossible.

But if we change the house round and get it completely done up,

there are still three children to look after,

and still her, predominantly, to do it.

But it will be... I think, instead of walking into to mouldy old kitchen,

she'll walk in and think, "Oh, this is a nice place to be."

And I think...

I think, if Mum's happier, the kids will feel that as well.

What do you make of the fact that you sent us a letter

and now there are between 30 and 60 people crawling all over the house?

-All volunteers.

-I think that's why I've had to drive past,

just to prove that it's actually happening.

When I got the phone call back, I thought, "Ooh, that was quick!"

And then, you know, she was saying, "Don't get your hopes up,"

and I thought, "Oh, well, at least they're semi-interested."

And as time's gone on, I've thought, "It's getting a bit closer, this."

And then Becky rang and said, "They're starting it,

"we've got to move out," I thought, "Oh, my God, it's real."

It is very real.

Stairs!

But maybe our luck is starting to change.

Stairs!

What's arrived? What's arrived?

That means everything's sort of in the house, now.

Well, if they fit.

That means the house is actually starting to work as a house again.

-Are you all right?

-Flipping 'eck, you turned it round for us!

-Turned it round!

-Top man.

-How's things?

-All right, yeah.

-Confident?

-Confident, yeah.

-You should be.

-We're always confident.

Yet another last minute hero. This house is full of them.

"To you, to me..."

Now, I may be tempting fate, but with four days to go

it seems Rebecca and Steve will get their own room after all.

That looks suspiciously like a loft to me,

and Mark is looking a bit more relaxed.

This last little hole, here - when that closes off,

that's the roof closed in,

then the roofers can come in and start roofing the whole thing,

and we can start making the building watertight again.

And I'm sort of starting to feel

that we're moving forward a little bit.

Which is nice.

And then two steps back.

That was Bill, the voice of doom as usual.

The roofing team have been waiting day after day.

Now we can unleash them, gazelle like.

So, you actually get up on the roof and do a bit, do you?

Because you're really not...

Without being rude,

you're not really the size for a natural born roofer, are you?

-I am! From here.

-Yeah!

I must admit, I struggle when I roof - it's legs and that,

I just can't do it, man.

-I can set them up and leave them to it.

-Yeah.

Wind them up and let them go.

At last, we are catching up.

But we're so behind we're having to cram everyone in at the same time.

It's such a tiny house we're overflowing into the street.

What's making it manic? It's just the sheer volume of people.

We've co-opted the school for space.

It's fantastic, what's being done over there. It's just unreal.

You know, there's so many people working - for nothing.

And they're still doing a good job, they're not trying to cut corners.

-You know? It's all good.

-Are you enjoying it?

Loving every minute of it.

Normally when you work on a site,

you're getting in everyone's way and everyone's angry -

everyone in there, is just having a laugh

-and getting on with it.

-Why is that?

It's because everyone's - I personally think it's because...

You know how you get people paid different wages and stuff like that?

Everyone's doing it for free, everyone's in the same boat.

We're all jumping in. I was sanding banisters today - I'm a plumber.

But now I'm doing flat-packing.

-It's been so frustrating...

-Frustrating!

Very frustrating, because every room I've had to redesign

while we're here.

-Everything we've had to do, we've had to redo.

-Yeah.

You know? We went to put a wall up, the wall wasn't strong enough.

We had to take another wall out to put a wall in.

We put another wall in there, removed a wall and put another one in.

Took that out and put another one across

to make the whole thing stronger.

We had to put the roof up, take the roof down again,

put loads of noggings in there to make the roof even stronger.

It wasn't strong enough, so we took it out and redid it.

Building Control came and said they wanted more in it,

so we retrimmed all that.

That was the roof, so we came down the stairs and put another wall in.

This was going to be a little one,

this was going to be manageable, wasn't it?

-I know.

-We were quite excited about this one.

I was really excited about this one, but I got it wrong.

Yeah, but nothing can stop us now - unless it rains a lot.

People say it's all about money and all the rest of it,

end of t'day, there are families out there who are unfortunate.

But for us to give a couple of days of our time,

sometimes it's better to give back than it is to receive.

I take my hat off to yous.

But I'd better put it on very quickly,

-cos health and safety are around.

-Yep!

We've got the bit between our teeth now,

the weather's not going to stop us, the insulation's going in,

the garden's getting sorted and the kitchen's being fitted.

So, what made you give up your Sunday for us?

I got a call. Last minute, got a call off the kitchen company.

Basically I heard about the plight of the family here,

so I thought I'd come and help out.

-Got a free weekend, why not?

-Brilliant. great stuff.

-So you didn't go to church today, then?

-No, no.

-Temple was closed, as well.

-Oh, was it?!

Yes, no wonder Billy was rejected by the diplomatic service.

But the mood on site is changing.

HARMONICA PLAYS

THEY CHEER

Didn't realise you were so talented!

-Oh, yeah.

-Well done!

He went in for another belly rub, then, didn't he?

He's not the only one with hidden talents.

-Plainly, you're wasted as a builder.

-Yeah, I know.

I reckon there's a bit of an opening

when Rolf's door closes, Jules' opens.

Yeah, don't hold your breathe, though, Jules.

At last something's going right for Gabi.

-Whoa, look at that!

-Oh, look at the triplet bench, that's amazing!

Ahh.

What was that made from, then?

-Reclaim something?

-No, no, this is all new oak, so...

-But you can see this line here, through the grain...

-Yeah.

It's through there, as well. It's all made out of one board.

So, one plank's made all this.

Bespoke furniture - how do they all get involved?

-Persuaded him. Roped him into it.

-Yeah!

I knew about this one evening in the pub, basically.

He said to me, "Oh, I've applied to build this cabinet for DIY SOS,"

and I said, "Yeah, why not?

"I'll come out with you, Andy, it's a good day out. It's a good day out."

It IS a good day out - they've come from Norwich!

It shows people like us in a good light, rather than cowboys...

-Yeah.

-It's just refreshing to see.

And very nice to hear.

What an incredible bunch we have here.

I wasn't actually supposed to be here until Saturday, Sunday and Monday,

-but I seem to have been here...

-All the way.

-You get addicted to it, a bit.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-What is it that's addictive, then? Cos it is a lot of hard work.

You start it, you want to see it through to the finish.

"Finish" is a lovely word,

but it's not something we're going to encounter soon.

We've only got a couple of days left.

That's Steve's dad Terry.

Rebecca and Steve rely heavily on their family.

Great-grandmas and everybody, sisters, brothers, you know,

-everybody.

-Yeah.

-Everyone mucks in.

But she's still left with them on her own.

It's very hard work.

A day and a half to go - would you say that this building

is a day and a half away from being ready?

No, I wouldn't.

But the way you work, and the way it's organised and everything,

I can see you'll be there or thereabouts.

-It'll be close.

-Yeah.

-It'll be touch and go.

-Yeah.

It's not like we're making it up, pretending that it's touch and go,

it actually really is on this one.

-We lost a day on the first day.

-I know. It's awesome.

It's absolutely awesome. It is.

And, of course, he's not the only parent on site.

-Have you got kids?

-I have. I've got one, yeah.

Could you imagine having three babies all at the same time

-to look after?

-No.

It'd terrify me!

And so we go into the last day.

Traditionally this is the point at which our Gabi gets stressed,

and she's had to think on her size 8 feet on this one - a lot.

So I should make sure she stays calm, really, shouldn't I?

-We'll get there.

-I know, but it's... Oh!

It will take years off of your life

-each time you do one of these...

-I know.

-But that's not important right now.

-I'm only 17.

And look what's happened.

Stone.

Ow!

Ow! Ow!

So rude!

A mean, plainly you're not 17 stone.

You're a good - what? Stone off of that? I'd have thought...

Stone and a half? Two stone.

Four stone. You must be about six stone off of that.

At least nine stone.

That's probably double your weight, isn't it?

That's probably at least... Help.

Me and my big mouth.

When you think how much time we lost at the start of the build,

it's nothing short of a miracle what these trades are pulling off.

Usually, I would say that's on the outside.

Do you know which side's the front and the back?

That's to go on there and that's to go on there.

There's so little time left, but no-one's cutting any corners.

Luckily, the lawn's quick to lay.

The triplets will have a field day on this.

It's like having a garden without all the work.

And what happens when it rains?

Filters straight through the membrane, through the base,

just filters into the ground, away.

All we need now is a front door.

That's good! This one has a secret.

It's remote controlled. No, really.

DOOR BEEPS Just like with your car.

That's it open...

-And I'm in.

-Cor, that's going to be handy -

when you're trying to keep three kids going and everything,

just to be able to blip it and then get the kids up and...

To get in...

..and open it.

And we're in.

MUFFLED RECORDED VOICE Equally...

What's the - what's the voice on it?

She's telling you if the door's locked or unlocked.

-BILLY:

-"It is unlocked."

THEY LAUGH

We're trying to hear the door.

I was being the door.

I was being a ventriloquist - a door ventriloquist.

Do you think I'll make a future out of that?

You sound like someone off of an instant potato advert.

Oh, that was good. That was good.

"And they eat them with their knives!"

I liked that one.

That was one of my favourites.

Honestly, it's like walking into the Twilight Zone,

having a conversation with him. Now, if you wouldn't mind keeping quiet,

we want to hear the thing.

Nice and quiet, everybody. Get the microphone in nice and close.

RECORDING: Lock closed.

Six days ago, this house was as good as derelict.

There was no roof on it, there were no internal walls upstairs,

and it was covered in muck.

Now, with only four hours to go -

well, we only need the finishing touches. So...

we've got half a chance of finishing.

When we arrived, we found a house that was suffocating Rebecca, Steve

and their instant family.

It's horrible.

How she manages to keep a brave face on and just get on with it -

it's amazing.

But it was still home.

Why is the house such a big deal?

-What is it about it that you don't want to leave?

-Well, obviously

because I grew up there, it's got a lot of memories for me,

and Steven grew up in the street behind,

and we both went to the school across the road at the same time,

and I want me children to attend that school.

The whole family has been involved.

I don't think that she believes

that it's going to be what it's going to be.

We've had to convince her a lot, you know?

"It'll be this, Becky."

"Oh, no, they won't do that. Oh, no, they won't do this."

I said, "You wait and see it."

She's watched the programme on television, so she knows.

But I just don't think that she thinks

that she'd ever get anything like that.

A lot of us are like that,

"Ah, well, they've got it - it'll never happen to me." You know?

-So...

-You looking forward to seeing it yourself?

I can't wait.

Three must be their lucky number,

because now it's the home they've always dreamt of.

We've taken the unloved shell of a back room

and turned it into a spacious kitchen diner

where Rebecca can cook and play, with Grace, Archie and Isabelle

to their hearts' content.

The old kitchen's been knocked down,

replaced by this warm, insulated utility room.

There's new flooring throughout.

With the house now child-friendly,

the front room is no longer a padded cell.

It's a grown-up room

with the electronics raised away from prying hands.

Upstairs the bathroom's had a complete facelift.

We've added a new room, the loft clad in beautiful local slate.

And what a room!

The calm, indulgent space for Steve and Rebecca to call their own.

There's a dressing table and the bed has a handcrafted headboard.

The whole house has been rewired and the attention to detail that

we've come to know and love from Gabriel is on show.

With Rebecca and Steve upstairs,

there's now space for Archie to have his own room for the first

time ever, with space to play and to grow.

Grace and Isabelle move into the front room,

wherever wallpaper with a bird motif, sumptuous blinds

and bright colours provide a very girly space.

There's even somewhere for them to have tea.

With new windows throughout, insulation

and central heating, this house will be warm and cosy,

and that's just the inside. Outside...

..the garden has been transformed.

The all-year round lawn provides that vital playing

area for Archie and his sisters.

There's raised beds with lighting and their very own sandpit.

With a talking door to cap it all off, the house where Rebecca

grew up can continue as her family home for another generation.

Will they even recognise it?

Three, two, one, open your eyes.

-Oh, my God.

-Wow.

-HE LAUGHS Oh, it's gorgeous.

-Oh, my God.

HE LAUGHS

Oh, look at the kids on the wall.

-Oh...

-SHE SOBS

It's amazing, isn't it?

I never thought it would be like this.

God.

The key thing about it was to give you a beautiful kitchen to work in,

which you haven't had before.

Somewhere to prepare all the bottles that you need to prepare.

The workspace to be able to cook and play together.

Nice oven, nice hob, all the usual things.

And you might want to pull that little handle there.

Wow! HE LAUGHS

Yay!

Why's it such a big deal to you, this kitchen?

Cos this is where I spend all the time with the kids,

and look at all the room they've got to watch me cook.

SHE SIGHS

Prepare paints or...whatever I need to do for them.

Oh, look.

Oh, it's... Oh, wow. This is something else.

This is a handmade piece, in oak,

specifically for you and the children,

with the names carved in the back. It's a triplet chair.

BOTH LAUGH Going to feel so grown up.

Is it the space you need for you and the kids?

Definitely, yeah. It's brilliant.

-I can't believe this is the same back room.

-And you don't...?

The fire used to be here.

-There's a chimney rest there.

-Very good. So you've noticed.

There's a basic little cupboard. It's worth having a look.

-Go and open that door.

-There?

-Yeah.

Oh, my God.

Oh, look at the wellies!

God. Look at it.

It's amazing, isn't it?

Eh?

I don't believe it. I really don't.

-We used to live in here.

-Toilet down here for the potty training.

So, basically, you have a little place

to put all their boots and coats. This is all thermally insulated.

You've got new windows, I don't know if you noticed.

You'll notice that as you go round the house - there's new windows everywhere.

Things are getting on top of me with the kids and I'm having a bad day,

I can just put my washing in here, shut the door,

and then carry on playing with them in there without having to look at it all.

It piling up in the kitchen or them pulling it out everywhere.

-Marks out of ten so far.

-15 million!

You can imagine, doing all this work, it's been fairly busy,

so there's only so much we can do around the rest.

Do you want to come and see the front room?

Just turn that handle.

-Oh!

-Oh, look.

-Oh, wow.

It's beautiful, isn't it? Look at the pictures.

Wow! Look at the blinds.

That's fantastic.

This is a handmade cabinet, specifically for you.

It's made to take your TV, the size that it is.

Make sure... You can put child locks on the inside of here.

All the things that you need, electronics wise,

are up and away from the kids,

-where they can't put sandwiches in the disc slots.

-Yeah.

He's found spoons in the DVD player. He's gone mad.

-It feels strange, doesn't it?

-It's brilliant.

Here we are then.

THEY LAUGH

I wondered where the old loft hatch was, but I didn't expect to...this.

Yeah. We've changed things around a little bit.

-Oh, my God.

-Oh, my God.

So the question is - where shall we start?

-Cos there's a whole load of doors to go through.

-This one.

-You want to start with that one?

-Yeah.

-Cos it's the nearest one!

-OK. Turn around.

What is this?

SHE GASPS

Oh, my God.

-It's beautiful, isn't it?

-It's gorgeous. Look.

-I can't believe this is our bathroom.

-I know.

Before, you used to burn your legs on the radiator

because it was right in the way of the toilet.

We had to worry about the children burning themselves.

-So whose room is this?

-It's Archie's.

-Is it Archie's room?

-Oh, yeah.

-This is Archie's room.

-Oh, look.

Oh, look.

I can't believe he's got his own room.

-He's going to love it, isn't he?

-Oh, his digger.

Oh, look at it.

SOBBING: Oh...

I love it.

-Oh, look at his bed.

-I know.

-Archie's little cage.

-ALL LAUGH

What's nice...

He gets a bit pushed around by the girls, doesn't he?

So he has his own little escape space.

-So how is it? Archie's little room?

-Amazing.

-Brilliant.

I can just imagine him here, playing with his trucks.

With his little trucks and everything.

-All right for a boys room then, Steve?

-Yeah, brilliant.

-Absolutely amazing.

-Fantastic.

-Isn't it?

-I can't believe it.

What do you think about the people who have been working on it?

I just can't... Words can't describe how grateful we are.

Just completely overwhelmed.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

It's fantastic. I can't believe it.

For once, I really have got nothing I can put into words.

-I'm speechless.

-It's amazing, isn't it?

There's... No amount of words can ever say out gratitude.

Well, it's all very well Archie having a room,

but, of course, the girls need a room too.

-Ready to see the next one?

-Yeah.

-Yes.

So this is Grace and Isabelle.

SHE LAUGHS

-It's lovely, isn't it?

-Look at the little tea kettle.

Oh, it's so girly.

-It's lovely, isn't it?

-All the birds on the wall.

They're going to absolutely love this.

We've got somewhere for Archie and we've got somewhere for the girls,

but that means we're kind of short of a bedroom, aren't we?

The shed. THEY LAUGH

-In the utility room.

-I think we can probably do a little bit better than that.

And if you turn the corner...

There's a set of stairs. Oh, my God.

So what's at the top of the stairs?

Oh...

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God!

SHE LAUGHS Oh, it's beautiful.

Oh, it's... Oh, my God. Wow. This is...

-Look at the table and the mirror.

-Go and have a look.

You've got a dressing table.

I've always wanted a dressing table for the longest time.

Look at the bed.

-Look at the space in it.

-I know.

Could you imagine having so much space up in the roof?

I still can't believe this is...

I just can't believe this is our house.

This is my room. THEY LAUGH

Well, technically, both of your rooms.

No, this is just mine. He can sleep on the sofa.

Does it feel really weird or...?

Cos it was always home to you,

so to mess about with it would be kind of messing with your memories.

I thought that's how I would feel.

I thought it won't feel like my home any more,

but it feels like this is how it was always meant to be.

Shall we get the children and show them their rooms?

-Yeah. They're going to love it. Wow.

-Look.

-Look.

Oh, look.

SHE LAUGHS

Yay!

Patio doors leading out onto your new patio.

To your extension.

There's a perfectly safe environment for them to run around in.

This is what they should be able to do. Is it good?

Do you like it?

Wow. It's your sandpit. Look.

Just look at them now.

Their faces say it all.

THEY SHOUT

Amazed at what you have done. It's...

-It's humbling, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is. It is.

Some of the people that have done this are waiting out the front.

-Are you going to come out and say hello?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

And out you go.

APPLAUSE

These are the little ones that you've been making the house for.

As you can see, they're a bit of a handful.

They're desperately struggling to get away.

For the benefit of everybody here who hasn't had the chance to

chat to you all week, would you like to explain to them

what this change in the house,

from the moment you walked out to the moment you walked in, has been?

-It just means everything. So much.

-Yeah.

The kids have had nowhere to play.

They've just been stuck in one room.

Really, really can't thank you enough. Really can't.

I'm literally overwhelmed.

And people who know me...I'm speechless. I really am.

-LAUGHTER

-For once.

It just means so much to the kids.

What about all these people that are stood in front of you?

I can't believe what you've all done for us. It's amazing, isn't it?

-It's really amazing.

-SOBBING:

-Thank you so much, honestly.

APPLAUSE

Absolutely amazing, isn't it?

-No, thank you.

-Thank you all, yeah.

Yeah. Oh, thank you so much.

Thank you.

ALL TALK OVER EACH OTHER

Oh, it's gorgeous.

Do you like it, yeah? Good.

I was wondering this week, when did we become so cynical as a nation?

I heard someone saying,

"I don't mean to be cheesy, but it was a really nice thing they did."

Almost apologetically. We don't need to apologise for doing good things.

These people have done an amazing job here this week,

against all the odds, in order to give a young family a decent start,

a better opportunity.

Why is that something you should apologise for?

Maybe you know who somebody who needs your help.