The Big Build - Isle of Sheppey DIY SOS

The Isle of Sheppey in Kent is home to one extraordinary family...

-ALL:

-Hello, we're the Ratcliffe family!

..two boys and two girls, brought together by two dads.

We adopted four vulnerable kids

because we wanted to give them the best life we possibly can.

We wanted to give permanency to the kids -

a forever family.

It's a family built on the firm foundations of love and devotion.

Three of the children have severe disabilities,

a challenge that most of us would find overwhelming.

They are superheroes. It's very much a way of life for them,

and I never hear them complain.

-But this happy family life is under threat.

-Boo!

Crammed into a tiny bungalow,

it's their home that threatens their future.

I can be in the bath. There can be another child on the toilet,

having an enema with another child on the potty.

Most kids have a bedroom. He doesn't.

We need space and dignity for all of those kids.

And that's why we're here - to take on a massive challenge

unlike any we've ever faced.

We have just nine days to build a whole house from the ground up.

Yes, a brand-new home from scratch! We'll need to aim higher...

-I think it's possible. Do YOU think it's possible? ALL:

-Yes!

..dig deeper... Oh, he's gone all emotional. Oh!

-..and keep cooler...

-It's just literally cut out on us.

..than ever before.

I don't want to worry you, but tarmac is here in half an hour.

I want to get out of this one.

And, as always, we're relying entirely on the goodwill

and tirelessness of the local community and trades.

Doing something for a family that means the world to them,

it's a privilege.

We have to work out where we're going to get an army of builders.

What's happening in that marquee over there?

Is it just me or can anyone else smell cake?

-What are you lot doing? ALL:

-Waiting!

-I don't suppose you can help out on a DIY SOS, would you? ALL:

-Yes!

LAUGHTER

This is DIY SOS: The Big Build! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Kyle and Garry Ratcliffe became civil partners ten years ago.

As a social care worker and a primary school headteacher,

they were both used to caring for other people's children.

But really, they wanted family of their own.

It was ten years ago and it wasn't the norm

for two gay men to be adopting kids,

so we applied to be foster carers and that's how it all started.

The first one to join our family was Haydn

and he came when he was six years old.

In the advert, it said this little boy had cerebral palsy

and that was fine for us

because my background is working with kids with special needs.

The first time I saw Haydn, it was in his foster carer's house

and he was sitting in a chair expectantly,

not knowing, himself, who's going to walk through the door

and we saw him and fell in love with him

from the first time we met him, really.

He had a smile that went from ear to ear,

but there was a bit of sadness and vulnerability

behind that smile, I think.

Despite Haydn's needs, Garry and Kyle were smitten

and took steps to go from fostering to full adoption

and become his legal parents.

And in that time, they were still open to fostering others.

We had this very vulnerable little boy

who started to come and stay with us,

just for respite, and that was Curtis.

Curtis' needs were even greater.

As well as cerebral palsy, he's severely epileptic,

blind and prone to life-threatening chest infections.

We were told that, you know,

Curtis won't get to his first birthday and then he did.

And then we were told he wouldn't get to his second birthday

and we did.

And now we're waiting for him to get to his sixth birthday.

Sorry.

The possible risk and heartache of losing a child

didn't stop Garry and Kyle falling in love again

and adopting Curtis as well.

He came, he fitted in,

Haydn became a big brother overnight,

and it was the right thing.

And then these girls turned up on our doorstep,

just for fostering, again.

We hadn't ever thought we were going to have girls in our family

and having Haydn and Curtis was quite enough.

Bella and Phoebe were already sisters by birth

but they'd been taken into care when their parents couldn't cope.

Bella has Down syndrome and both have had a rough start in life.

We weren't really ready for the girls when they walked in,

cos they were dirty and practically bald from the head lice.

We went into practical mode, you know, Team Ratcliffe.

I went out and I bought new clothes and soap and shampoo

and a few toys and we started again from scratch that night.

Phoebe didn't know her name. She didn't talk for the first ten days.

Bella was confused.

She's gone from living with her birth parents

to suddenly being with two guys that she doesn't know

and two boys that she doesn't know and that's confusing.

It wasn't long before Kyle and Garry fell in love with the girls.

How many tomatoes are here? Can you count them?

After a fairly short period of time,

we began the adoption process for the girls as well

and overnight, our world completely turned upside down.

Garry and Kyle had already shown social services

that they were amazing parents and here they were,

offering a ready-made family, a lifeline to the girls.

Taking on four children with so many needs is a challenge

but they faced a further hurdle.

The six of them live in a tired and tiny three-bedroom bungalow

and every room is bursting with medical supplies.

Today is my birthday!

At 13, Haydn's a growing lad and desperately needs some independence.

He's a teenager now and he wants his own privacy

and he wants to be doing things himself.

He can't get himself into the bathroom,

he can't get into the kitchen, he can't get out of the back door.

He can't get out of the front door without somebody helping him.

As soon as he comes home, he's disabled from...the house.

Bella is 11. She has a makeshift bedroom in the boot room.

Ready, Curly-Wurly? Your turn.

And Curtis, who has the greatest medical needs,

sleeps in the living room, which is also their dining room.

-You're good at eating now, aren't you?

-Yeah.

-Mm.

Mealtimes are tough because the amount of equipment we have.

Just setting up for dinner takes a long time,

let alone actually sitting together and eating.

We do everything we can to be outside,

so we don't have to be inside.

And it's only when it comes to bedtime and bath time

that we come in.

But with just one toilet in the only bathroom,

they lack the most basic facilities.

In the crudest sense, I can be in the bath, there can be another child

on the toilet, having an enema, with another child on the potty.

And yesterday, God forgive me,

but Haydn or Curtis was on the toilet

and Phoebe actually went to the toilet outside

cos she couldn't wait.

That's not a great position to be in, really.

We adopted four vulnerable kids because we wanted to give them

the best life we possibly can and we're not doing that at the moment.

We need some space and dignity and privacy for all of those kids,

for lots of different reasons, really.

Make no mistake, Garry and Kyle have built an amazing family,

so we must build them a home to match.

So, what do you need then, Haydn?

-Presumably, we need some more rooms for your brothers and sisters.

-Yeah.

-Unless you want to share with Phoebe.

-No.

-No!

-Why don't you want to share a room?

-Cos Phoebe wakes me up.

-Yeah, at the morning time.

-They are typical brother and sister,

in that they bicker constantly.

Very much the way that our building team

are a very dysfunctional family. THEY LAUGH

-But you did ask us to come and extend.

-Yeah.

But the fact of the matter is that it's impossible to do so.

The structure of the house is not strong enough,

but the good news is we're going to knock it all down and start again.

Which is...

The upside is that we can actually, because we're building from scratch,

design something that is absolutely bespoke to your needs.

-That's amazing.

-What do you reckon, Haydn?

-Good.

-Good?

-Yeah.

-Just good?

-That's good.

-Amazing.

-Good.

-Well, I'm glad.

-And you think so too, do you, Phoebe?

-Yeah.

-That's good.

Excellent.

With the kids' seal of approval, there is no going back.

I'm going to press the button. You can say, "Three, two, one, go."

-Go.

-Three, two, one, go!

'OK, got it.'

Wave bye-bye to the house.

Yes, this is truly a first for DIY SOS - a complete house build,

from start to finish.

-Right, it's starting to rain.

-Yeah.

-And we've got a lot of knocking down to do, so we'll let you go.

-Thanks.

-I'll come and see you during the week.

-Thank you.

But next time you come back down this road,

-we'll have a new house for you.

-Wow.

Just to get to the starting line,

we have to flatten their existing bungalow

before we can take on building an entirely new home

from the ground up in just nine days.

Normally, it can take six months, a year, two years.

We're doing it on a very specific timeline, so it is nerve-racking.

Doable, we think, but we only think, cos we haven't done it before.

To give us an outside chance of finishing,

in the few weeks running up to the main build,

we're relying on an army of volunteers working day and night

to build a platform totally insulated

but complete with underfloor heating.

We can't thank these guys enough.

Their incredible efforts to get it ready

for this lot to build a brand-new home.

We are going to do something never tried before,

which is build a house from the ground up in just nine days.

-I think it's possible. Do YOU think it's possible? ALL:

-Yes!

-Are you going to pull it off? ALL:

-Yes!

Then let's get to it! THEY CHEER

-Go!

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

-See you tomorrow.

Billy might not have much to do until there's a house up,

but there's a team of 14 guys here to build the timber frame.

The one in charge of getting it up on time is Alwyn.

A bit of a challenge, yeah, yeah, but we'll get there.

By the end of play today, we'll have most of the trusses up

and then we'll finish off tomorrow

with the flat roof section which is in here.

-By lunchtime tomorrow, we'll be out of here. That's the plan.

-Get out!

-Really?

-Your roofers are booked. Mark has booked the roofers for 12.

-Oh, is that right?

-So, I'm under pressure.

It's all got to fit like a massive jigsaw puzzle.

-And only you can mess it up at this stage.

-Thank you, Nick.

THEY LAUGH

'Well, that's not entirely true.

'Some of our team are highly skilled at messing it up and...

'Hang on! Isn't there a load of underfloor heating down there?'

We've got a soil stack just at the wrong place here.

What we've got to do is take out part of the screed

but we have it all mapped out

so, hopefully, we won't hit any underfloor heating.

Ha-ha! Hopefully, hopefully.

Yes... Until we've built a basic shell,

our boys haven't got much to do.

For the thinking man's electrician, it's some precious downtime.

-RECORDING:

-'My name is... Ich heisse...your name.'

Ich heisse Billy.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum are a bit redundant too.

-Loads of materials on site.

-For the inside?

-For the inside.

-Nothing for the back garden.

-Is it not happening?

-Nothing whatsoever.

I can hear a bit of annoyance in the tone of your voice.

-We're missing all this glorious weather.

-Yeah.

Then all the materials will turn up, and it'll rain for six days.

They're like caged lions, trying to get at it

and they're going to have to wait a bit longer.

I told you you couldn't cut a hole there!

Unfortunately, if we look down here...

-Can I move you for a second?

-Yeah.

So, where we've dug it out, where we thought there were no pipes,

there are, in fact, pipes, and we've cut through them,

so we now have to get the plumbers back.

Can you get me the underfloor heating guys on the phone?

I need to speak to them immediately.

'We won't know quite how much damage we've done

'until we've dug out the screed,

'but we don't want to make things easy for our brand-new designer.

'Sophie Robinson may have over 20 years of design experience

'but this colour-loving, pattern-clashing cushion hugger

'has never done a DIY SOS before.

'She's in for such a treat!'

-Excited?

-Very excited!

-Got everything?

We've got to check cos, obviously, we're on site.

-You've got everything? All your PPE? Steel toecap boots?

-Yes. Check.

-Hard hat. Check.

-High vis.

-Check.

-Blue bow.

Giant bow, big earrings. Check.

Always very important we try to make sure...

Mark, Mark, can you come over and join me?

Cos, obviously, important,

and the boys here like to make you feel comfortable.

You look beautiful! Very on trend.

I'm glad you've come with all your PPE.

So, looking forward to it or are you a bit apprehensive?

Oh, my God, it's totally terrifying

because to build a house like this in nine days,

I can't actually get my head around it.

-This does not happen in the real world.

-It does here!

Clad almost entirely in black larch,

this single-storey home nearly doubles the size of its predecessor.

It's set around an internal glazed courtyard, allowing light in

and giving sightlines through the whole building.

A huge open-plan kitchen-diner and living room

will allow the whole family to be together.

Then, via double-width hallways with level access,

each of the kids will have their own rooms.

Haydn and Curtis will have a bedroom

either side of their own huge accessible bathroom.

The girls will also have their own rooms

and a share of a second bathroom.

And Garry and Kyle will have a master bedroom suite to themselves

with direct access onto the courtyard.

For a first-timer, she's not holding back, I tell you.

-This build is so big, it has a courtyard in the middle of it.

-Yeah.

-That's kind of out there, isn't it?

-Well, why not?

If you're planning something from scratch,

you can have whatever you want and, obviously,

a really important thing to Kyle and Garry

is that they can see the kids a lot of the time

and monitor how they are, so having this glass courtyard

in the centre of the house means you've got sightlines

from bedroom to bedroom, from living room to bedroom,

so they can always see what the kids are up to,

as well as just a nice safe place to play,

if you don't want to take everybody outside.

So, you haven't just made this up on the back of a fag packet.

This has been planned and sorted through and...

Yeah, and, I mean, this is really tough, right,

doing a build from scratch. I can see, for the guys, it's a nightmare.

But it means, from a design point of view, we can have our wish list.

'As the panels fly up, there's one person

'who hasn't even broken a sweat yet - old Billy No-Mates.'

Bill, what are you up to?

Well, as you see, I can't get in the building,

I can't do any electrics, so I've got my grandson's Lego and voila.

This is what we are building.

This is like a scale model, mate.

So, we've got the kitchen,

-we've got the bathroom and this is an aprium.

-Almost.

-It's outside.

If we had an ape in it, it would be an aprium. It's an atrium.

-An atrium.

-Yeah.

-We've got an atrium here

and I was going to put a tree in it

but I think it'll take too much room up.

It's fantastic, Bill. Alwyn, come and have a look at this.

-How long did it take?

-Look!

-Took me about three and a half hours.

It's exactly what you're building to scale.

-Isn't that incredible?

-Yeah.

-You've even put your roof lights in.

-I like that. That's a nice touch.

-Yeah, that's our polar sanels.

-Polar sanels?

-Polar sanels.

Solar panels! Polar sanels...

These teeth - I've got to get rid of them!

'Second languages are all well and good, Billy,

'if you've got the hang of the first one!'

While he changes his teeth,

the team are building the life-size version of his model,

and they're almost as quick.

That's a wall up already, look!

Whilst I was looking around,

they've actually got a whole side of the building up in one go.

You've got to love timber frame, haven't you?

'As each piece slides into place,

'the pressure's on to get the floor fixed.'

So, how much of a mess did we make of the underfloor heating?

Er, just a little bit.

So, basically, we managed to cut through everything, did we?

-Um...yeah, pretty much. It's repairable though.

-It is?

-Oh, yeah.

We'll fix it.

'With the underfloor under control,

'the internal walls can up apace and, despite the setbacks,

'in less than a day, the entire wall structure is up.'

I thought it might be nice for you

to look at just how big this building is. Go take a look.

'Space is what the family really needs

'and that's exactly what we're giving them -

'over 160 square metres of it.

'All we need now is a roof,

'which was originally scheduled to be going up tomorrow.'

This is incredible! What do you think then?

I am loving it!

-It looks awesome, doesn't it?

-Yes.

-And now we're seeing rooms appear.

How come you're so enthusiastic all the time because I go through,

all of us go through pits and troughs?

There's usually a sense of misery and distress and worry

because it's all happening so fast.

-Maybe it's just, like, new girl optimism.

-Yeah.

This is my first project

and I am completely bowled over at the generosity.

I call someone, ask for the moon on a stick

and can I have it yesterday,

and they go, "Yeah, we'd love to do that."

And it blows my mind. I can't believe it.

'Well, this is DIY SOS.

'It's always astounding how trades go the extra mile.

'This is quite simply awe-inspiring.

'Then again, so is the family we're doing all this for.

'One person who knows just how incredible this family is

'is Jenny Whittle, the councillor who supported them

'through the whole fostering and adoption process.'

They don't see themselves as doing anything special

or out of the ordinary but it is an extraordinary undertaking.

They are superheroes.

Garry is a headteacher of two primary schools in Kent.

He's responsible for the education of 1,500 children.

He comes home and then, with Kyle,

looks after four children of his own.

And Kyle is extraordinary as well.

He does an extraordinary number of hospital stays,

particularly with Curtis.

He'll stay overnight in hospital when Curtis is staying there.

He'll come back in the morning to make sure the other children

have breakfast and get to school safely.

It's very much a way of life for them and I never hear them complain.

So, how difficult is it to get children with complex needs adopted?

How many people are out there

that will consider taking on that responsibility?

I think all councils across the country struggle

to find adopters to look after children with disabilities,

because it almost comes with a label, but Garry and Kyle do it.

They see the child, they don't see the label.

And I think here, we've seen each of these four children

have very much their own individual personalities,

but they're just the most fabulous family

and I've been really privileged to work with them over the years.

For us, the work has only just begun.

We're one day in and, whilst there's not been much action in the garden,

for the first time ever, on the house,

we may even be ahead of schedule.

So, we've got to what would normally be the end of the day, but...

DIGGER DRIVES AROUND NOISILY Do you mind?

-I'm trying to do a piece to camera here.

-All right, carry on.

As you can see, we're still working and will be till a great deal later.

Normally, at the end of the day, I take you around the building,

but I don't want to do that because...

..I want you see what it's like when we've done...

That's it. I'm not...

-Seriously, if you're not going to take this seriously...

-Oh, sorry.

See you in the morning.

As you can see, it's a beautiful day and we're very happy

because we set the timber frame people

one and a half days to build a house.

They've actually done it by the end of last night

which means the batonners and roofers can get on straightaway.

We should have this waterproof by the end of today. Fantastic!

'With the shell up, Billy's now got some friends to play with.'

We've got an army of lovely sparks.

Some are even lovelier than the others.

And outside, we're at last getting plans together for the garden.

So, looking out over what can only be described as a barren landscape,

this is not a garden that fills you with excitement, really.

I think, from my point of view, the worse it looks at the beginning

is better for me, cos it makes me look cleverer at the end, you see.

-That's very good. I like that.

-So...

What are you actually going to try and do with it?

It's been a bit tricky because it was thrown on me

three days ago that there's a big water treatment plant

going right in the middle of my lovely garden.

A sewage plant. So, we're digging a hole there,

which is going to be three metres by three metres wide

and about eight metres deep.

So, we're going to somehow make the best of it.

Maybe we can cover the lid with another lid and put pots on it.

-I'm not sure yet. But the idea is we'll have a nice patio.

-Yeah.

We'd like to create a bit of a cosy area so they can sit in the sun.

-The evening sun is here...

-Yeah.

-..which makes sense.

And it's got to be child-friendly

and make a special place for them to be.

I would love to be able to build them some raised beds,

-some sleeper raised beds.

-Yes.

-They're really easy to plant.

-Yeah.

Looks lovely.

Whether it's the calling to help a family in need

or just the smell of bacon sandwiches,

the builders keep on coming.

There's even the roofer's dog getting in on the action.

# Up on the woof. #

-How we doing?

-I'm very well. You?

-Very good, thank you.

-Good, good.

-You're on slate.

-Yeah.

What are we looking for timescale here?

We're going to go for Friday night as a plan.

'That's just two days to slate the whole roof!

'It's definitely a tall order.

'Inside, the electricians are making headway on the wiring.

'One of them, Chris, has his own reasons for being here.'

-Me and my other half are foster carers as well.

-OK.

-So that was the reason we got involved.

-That's amazing.

-How many kids have you helped?

-Just one.

We've got one little boy that we've had from start to now

and we've got permanence, so he'll be with us till he's 18.

-That's brilliant.

-Till the end.

-That's so good.

You've got some idea of what these guys are doing

-and why they're doing it and what it takes.

-I take my hat off to them.

What we do is hard work but I can't imagine what they go through.

Must be horrific sometimes, but it's very worthwhile,

-very rewarding.

-Yeah, and I think you and the guys here

are making a real difference in these kids' lives

because what would happen to them

-if there weren't people like you prepared to take them on.

-Very true.

For Garry and Kyle, fostering was a route to adopting

and a way to build the family they wanted.

You have chosen to take on something

that most of us wouldn't even consider doing.

To take on adopting children is one thing.

To take on children who probably won't be adopted

because of the difficulties that they face

is an extraordinary undertaking.

It's like superhero status.

And that's what we don't get, I think.

We don't see that superhero status bit.

-Do you not at all, not even a little bit?

-No, really not.

We weren't asked to adopt these kids. We did it ourselves.

It was our choice.

We met Haydn and just fell in love with him and HAD to adopt him.

We were Haydn's...

..maybe fourth sets of carers when he was six

and we didn't want to let him down again,

so we had to really think carefully.

And we had to think more carefully with Curtis.

The thing with Curtis was we could have fostered him or adopted him

and he could have died within weeks.

But we fell in love with him really quickly.

We had to adopt him as well.

As fosterers, you're not very effective

-cos you keep adopting the children.

-No!

When the girls came along, our first thought was,

"No, we'll foster these until they find a beautiful home

"and they'll go off and skip into the sunset

"and we'll have done our job."

But then it came clearer, as time went on,

that there may have been a plan to adopt the girls separately.

-There'd be the risk that they'd be split up.

-Yeah.

It's actually quite a ruthless market, you know.

Almost a catalogue. "I like that one. I'd like to see that one.

"I'd like that one. Mm, probably won't have that one. Got Down's.

"We don't want to be lumped with a Down's child."

And Bella could have ended up in care for the rest of her life.

And no matter what our own circumstances,

we could not have let them move forward

with being adopted separately.

One of the other things I was going to talk to you about

is your other half, Kyle.

He's the one, actually, who holds all the family together.

Cos I go off to work and I have eight hours away from it all

and he's the one who's, literally, on a daily basis,

keeping Curtis alive,

making sure that Haydn's doing what he should be doing.

And I think, if anyone's a hero, it's him, really.

Neither Kyle nor Garry HAD to prevent

two sisters from being split up,

nor did they HAVE to take on children with such difficult needs,

but they did and that's why we HAVE to build them a fitting home.

-So, Julian's lunch has arrived.

-That's our treatment plant.

There we go. Look at that.

THEY SING THE THUNDERBIRDS THEME TUNE

One of the joys of being in the sticks

is not being on mains drainage.

This state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant

replaces their traditional tank

and will save the family thousands of pounds in emptying costs.

We've just got to get it in the garden,

and with a big house and scaffold in the way, radical action is needed.

-IN EXAGGERATED IRISH ACCENT:

-Here we are today,

in the middle of a field and we're going to cut some lovely trees down.

Some of the nicest trees in the country you ever saw,

but I don't really care.

I've got to get an eight-tonne digger into the back field

but I'm really excited about it.

But the lads have turned up in their big jeep with really sharp chainsaws

and they're going to cut the trees down. Oh, it's grand now.

I'm off. I'm off to see my mammy.

He's bonkers!

Incredibly, the neighbours have given us permission

to take these trees down and access through their back garden.

Try not to squash these plants here.

Well, to make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs.

Here's a hole in next door's fence which we made

and a very large bin coming through it.

It may not be very glamorous, sewage, but it's really important

and you'd be really upset if you didn't have it.

-It's quite a big thing just outside your back door, isn't it?

-Yeah.

So, we're going to try and build some kind of feature

-around the top of that...

-I assume so, yes.

..which we can then lift out, like pots,

you can lift out to get access to it and then... OK.

'This is a big obstacle in a huge garden.

'And though there's a plan to cover it up

'and build a load of raised beds,

'it all relies on one thing - good old-fashioned railway sleepers.'

There's a mass shortage of railway sleepers.

-Well, it's big wood, when you think about it.

-Big wood and also...

You have to take down chunky trees to get a sleeper out of them,

-don't you?

-Hello, Ma.

'Hello, son.'

Ma, is there any chance you can try and source us

about 100 railway sleepers?

'100?'

Yeah, can you have a wee look into that,

-if you have any contacts in that world?

-'Yeah, I'll give it a go.

'Are you coming home for your tea tonight?'

I'm on camera, Ma. You can't be asking me things like that.

Yes, I'll be home at about... What time are you making it at?

-'Half seven.'

-I'll be home at quarter past seven, all right?

'Love you, son.'

"Love you, son." Well, someone does. That's nice.

-What did she say?

-Love you, son.

-Did she?

Ah, he's gone all emotional. Ah! Oh, mate. Oh, I know, I know.

The idea that anyone loves you is as surprising to us as it is to you.

In the house, however, there is love and materials aplenty.

These are super guys. They're great. Working WITH us and not against us.

-Isn't that right?

-Out of my way, Billy, so I can get on!

THEY LAUGH

The plasterers have got their work cut out to get this place boarded,

ready for the kitchen to go in.

All right, tiger? Good man, good man.

Love it, love it, love it.

They're fitting windows outside and in the courtyard.

-Ah...

-HIS VOICE QUIETENS AS DOOR CLOSES

-Ah...

-All of them come fully tested for soundproofing.

And as Mark's ma has come good with the sleepers, even Jules is happy.

It's just nice to see it happening.

This is our hardcore base. This is our patio.

We're going to build a seating arrangement around the tank.

Planter that side, planter that side.

I feel a lot happier now things are happening,

so I apologise for being a little bit grumpy.

I might come across a little bit grumpy. I'm sorry about that.

But, no, I'm happy. Happy Jules.

You're not forgiven.

But as we approach the halfway stage, on the roof,

things have come to a grinding halt.

What's happening with the flashing kit for the Veluxes, do you know?

And with the scaffold booked to come down in the morning,

they have to meet their deadline.

So, we've got a Velux window to fit next to the courtyard.

The flashing kit wasn't in the packaging,

so we're waiting now for that flashing kit before we can get on,

so it's holding up the roofers now and the solar installation.

Last I heard, it was Scotland, in Fife.

-Yeah, so, hopefully, it's on its way.

-Well, at least it's close!

Unfortunately, when you're building at speed,

the smallest setback can escalate,

especially when things don't get passed on,

and the next morning, there's one crucial call we should have made.

Scaffolders have turned up to take the scaffold down today.

There's absolutely no way it can come down.

They're not going to be happy.

Oh, my God, what am I going to do?

How am I going to get out of this one?

I believe we're about to witness what's known as the "blarney".

Watch and learn.

Here's our artists.

Here it comes. Listen, listen.

-How you doing, Mark?

-Not very well.

-What's happening?

-I've just been up on the roof.

-And?

Chatting to the roofers and they're not going to be finished

till Monday. Come and have a look. Keep calm.

You're a professional climbing tubular technician.

You need to keep... You get a lot of grief, don't you?

You pull up in the road, park up the road,

everybody wants you to move, get out of the way.

-They treat you like rubbish, don't they?

-Yeah, they do.

All the time, yeah.

We respect what you've done and we think you've done a brilliant job

and can you please help us out with this here?

He is laying it on a bit thick, isn't he, with the Irish charm?

But these guys don't look impressed.

-You're not done here, lads?

-No.

We ain't going to be ready until Monday dinnertime-ish.

-Can we please push it to Monday?

-I'd have to make a phone call.

We've got a big demolition job in Camberwell.

They've got half a million pounds-worth of machinery,

sitting there, waiting to go.

The roofers haven't finished and they're asking,

"Can we take this scaffolding down Monday?"

Luckily, it's not just the Irishman. We've got a man on the inside.

My mum looks after Curtis, five-year-old Curtis,

and she told me about DIY was coming in.

-We asked a mate, boss Brian.

-Yeah.

So, here I am today. I'm scaffolding for DIY SOS.

What do you think then?

To do something so close to home and do something for a family

that means the world to them, it's a privilege, so here we go.

Yeah, you sure?

All right then, mate.

-Yes!

-We can do it Monday for you.

Come here!

Ooh, I love you!

See, "Keep calm, I'm a professional..."

See, everybody thinks scaffolders are horrible, grumpy,

park in the middle of the road, awful people. They're lovely!

-They sorted us out! Thank you, boys!

-No worries.

The scaffold is essential for the roofers to finish

and also for the carpenters to get going on cladding

the outside of the house

with 1,600 linear metres of this elegant pre-stained larch,

calculated to fit the house exactly.

I'm just nervous because the cutting list that's been supplied here

is so tight that we don't know how much wastage we've got.

If we do balls it up, we run out of wood.

With the clock ticking on the scaffold,

there's added pressure to get it right.

We get the first piece right,

then everything should run nicely off of that.

But up above, there's good news. The roofers are back in action.

This was the piece that held everything up,

sitting on the outside in the middle of these windows.

Been a bit of pressure, pushing things on, but we'll get there.

Finishing the roof will make the building watertight.

So will the cladding,

which Mark's crack team of chippies are on the case with.

My boy.

And with the kitchen going in, a bit of paint on the walls,

and even some tiling, everyone's pulling together to catch up.

They've all got different reasons for being here.

It's giving something back.

People say communities are dead - clearly not. It's a great feeling.

Unless you've done it, you can't describe the atmosphere here.

It's brilliant. Everyone's in it for the same reason

and I'm definitely going to come and do it again.

I've just turned up and started doing something.

-You've just turned up?

-Just turned up.

-Off the street?

-Literally.

Walked past, seen people here, grabbed one of these, cracked on.

-I've always wanted to meet you cos I'm a big fan.

-Are you really?

-No.

-At least he's honest.

-Take it away, Jay, last tile on the roof.

-ALL:

-Three, two, one.

THEY CHEER AND APPLAUD

And as the joiners finish off the last of the cladding,

we can finally let the scaffold go.

This is how tight a big build is.

You've got the scaffolders taking the scaffolding down

and right behind them are the joiners fitting the cladding.

It's literally like that.

As the scaffold comes down, for the first time,

we can see the outside in all its glory.

And with the inside to think about, Haydn and Phoebe have demanded

a high-level discussion with the designer.

-Well, I like red.

-What do you think of those two together?

I like red and purple and pink and orange and purple.

-So you like bright colours.

-Yeah!

-You are my dream client.

You really are. I don't do white or beige.

-What do you think little Bella's going to like?

-Princesses.

-Princesses.

-Princesses, handbags...

-Princesses, castle, palace, all of that.

-Yeah.

-Quite grand, would she like that? And theatrical.

-Yeah.

-Got it.

Good wish list.

The kids have clearly thought about this,

but it's not just the decor we can help with.

There are the everyday practical needs.

With just two days left, we're concentrating on access.

-Morning.

-Don't let him in!

In the garden, we're laying a gravel patio,

using a special honeycomb grid that will enable wheelchairs to cross.

And there's one builder who knows

just how important the garden is to them.

-I didn't realise...

-How are you?

-Hello, Nick.

-I didn't realise you were Kyle's brother.

-Yeah.

-So, what do you reckon?

-Love it. It's great.

-Kind of puts the pressure on for you a bit, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

Cos if you've got somebody who actually knows the family

-next to you whilst you're...

-Been a nightmare.

We've been having arm wrestles to decide curvy or straight lines.

-Curvy.

-I think he's winning.

-Curvy.

-But he's not.

To a certain extent, we're having to cut our cloth to what we can get.

We were going to go with that gravel and hexagonal stuff all the way up.

-Yeah.

-Can't get enough of it.

There's not enough of it in the country.

Can't get hold of it in time.

There's enough to do the back there, which is nice,

-then I think we're going to have to go tarmac up this.

-Yeah.

And tarmac up that,

just to give them a surface to roll the wheelchairs on.

They can, but if we can finish it off and get some tarmac in,

pull in on all our old friends from the last four or five years

and seeing if anyone can come up.

Finding 70 tonnes of tarmac at a day's notice could be the one thing

that slips us up, but at least there's plenty going on inside.

We've got new floors in these rooms here,

decorators working all the way through the hall.

The guys are building a new studwork cabinet in here

and getting the meter box put in, which is nice.

-You went in on that one?

-Testing.

-Testing, lovely.

Billy's going through here doing all the second fixing,

getting all the lights in position.

This here has to be filled up this afternoon,

so we've got to get this filled up with clean chippings.

Another room getting decorated, and all the hoists are going in there.

Back down in here, the guys have got the kitchen in here

and we've floored up to this section.

And then out there is the land of Julian.

OK, so I'm not really sure what's happening out there.

Can you keep the dust down? How are you supposed to drink tea

and eat scones with all that dust around?

Well, you can take the boys out of Devon

but you can't take Devon out of the boys. Cream tea for Jules.

For everyone else, it's builders all round,

served lovingly by the neighbours,

who have bent over backwards all through this build.

-Morning.

-How may teas did you do?

-We just had a count-up.

1,530.

NICK LAUGHS

We haven't got anything else to do, you see.

-That's a lot of tea-making.

-Yes.

It just seems everybody wants to help this family.

Even the kids' nursery workers have turned up.

It's not just great, what everybody's doing,

but because they're such an inspirational family,

it's brilliant. The way they live their lives...

Looking after children.

The way they are, their personalities, their nature.

-They're so much fun. They're such a fun family.

-They are.

It's obvious Team Ratcliffe is much loved around here.

Kyle is the stay-at-home dad who not only holds the family together

but also, as far as young Curtis is concerned, keeps them alive.

It must be difficult to look forward

and see what the future holds for you.

Do you ever do that or do you just try to live in the present?

Er, we know that Curtis has a life-limiting condition.

-Mm.

-He shouldn't be here now,

cos he gets chest infections which turn into pneumonia

and then he can be fine one minute, then six, seven, eight hours later,

he can be in a high-dependency unit

with machines doing his breathing for him

and us getting a phone call, saying,

"You need to come in and say goodbyes".

-We've had that twice.

-Wow.

And that's hard cos it's a case of, you know,

you don't ever think you're going to be in that position

with your four or your five-year-old.

But normality for the kids at home has to continue.

The kids never know that we're worried.

So, you know, our kids are never going to grow up thinking

that we were ever worried about anything.

-We may be.

-Yeah.

-But they're not going to see that.

So, you have been worried, you just haven't been showing it.

'Yeah, yeah.'

Just cough.

For those builders that have turned up and given their time,

what will they not realise that they're doing for you?

The house, as it stayed...

..it wouldn't be big enough for five adults, six adults to live in it.

And it would mean that we'd have to look for somewhere

for Isobella to live as an adult

and for Curtis to carry on growing as a young man, the same as Haydn.

So, this isn't just instantly going to help,

this is going to be helping for years into their adulthood.

This is actually going to keep the family together.

How many builders do you think there's going to be?

I think there's going to be hundreds of the builders.

-That's lots of cups of tea.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-And cake.

-Yeah, tea and cake.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, it's a lot of tea and cake, it really is.

Whether it's keeping them together in the future

or simply keeping them alive, it's impossible to overstate

what difference this home will make to the family.

As we come to the last day of the build,

we're giving them all the help we can -

from cameras for monitoring the children

to a super-efficient high-tech ventilation system

that will not only heat the air but purify it.

So, this system that you've put in for us

actually monitors the quality of the air, is that right?

Yeah, working in harmony with these devices here.

So, if there's poor pollution in here,

whether that be carbon dioxide build-up, particulate matter,

it will then make the unit circulate the air faster

so it will change the air flow quicker.

So, it's like a super-intelligent system talking to itself

in all the different rooms all the time.

Yeah, I think this is one of, if not,

one of the first to work this way.

-In the country?

-I believe so, yeah.

-Mate, we're on the money.

We are cutting-edge. Very rare we can say that.

This level of technology is a first for us

but I'm not sure everyone appreciates it.

Let's just see how many obstacles we can put in the way

to plasterboard this room.

Now, to be fair, on a scale of one to ten,

they've maxed out, haven't they? It's a full ten.

Yeah, they've really done well here, so if you don't mind,

I need to get on and I don't feel like sharing the love.

Bit tense.

Jules is having a few technical issues too.

Just literally cut out on us, stopped dead.

So, we're going to have to ring the hire company and get them out.

That's the last thing we needed today, weren't it?

Got tarmac coming in a couple of hours,

got to reduce all these levels... Oh, my...goodness!

With Julian struggling to lower the levels on the driveway,

we're relying on good old manual labour

to raise the levels in the courtyard.

You've got to be slightly worried when you see wheelbarrows of gear

going through the middle of the house

on the day you're supposed to be finished.

'I can't help thinking it's all a bit last-minute.'

You all right? You look nervous. What's the matter with you?

I'm beginning to feel a little nervous

-cos I've only got today left.

-Yes, you have.

And I'm seeing a building site.

-But it's almost there, isn't it?

-Yeah, I... This is the thing for me,

I suppose. This is my first one.

I've never ever seen an undertaking like it

and in my professional head, I'm like,

of course this isn't going to be ready by tonight.

-They're still shovelling gravel in the middle of the house.

-Yeah.

But everybody I speak to, who's seasoned, like yourself,

is telling me it's going to be fine, so I'm just going with that.

It'll be fine. It'll be fine.

What colour of brown would you describe that as?

-That is dark cocoa.

-That's not what the builders are calling it.

-No.

-They've given it an altogether different name.

But there was a recent survey of which colour best promotes

-healthy loving in the bedroom.

-Healthy loving...

Healthy loving in the bedroom,

and brown came out as the top colour for romance.

I don't think brown is something you should ever wear

or ever use in a room. I just don't think it works.

-What colour's your hat?

-'All right.'

Yeah, but that's... 'She's got a point.'

All right. 'But we don't have time to stand around arguing.

'The digger man's turned up and it's game on for the driveway.'

Right, digger's fixed. Well, temporarily fixed.

OK, I don't want to worry you, but tarmac is here in half an hour.

'Nobody seems to be listening to me. This is important!'

Half an hour, this has to be prepped and everything off it -

coats, everything off it, ready to go in half an hour.

Inside, as the chippies and decorators pull out all the stops

to get this house looking like a home...

-All right, girls, you can come out now.

-It's a bit warm in there.

..it seems like there might be half a chance of finishing.

The inside of the house, amazing.

The outside is still a bit Glastonbury.

Outside, all we can do is prepare for Tarmacgeddon.

And true to their word, the boys from the black stuff have arrived.

What's he doing in the front?

70 tonnes of asphalt.

We're going to have a driveway.

-You know the family's coming back tomorrow?

-Yeah, it'll still be warm.

Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, and it'll still be warm!

We won't need to heat the house, at least, will we?

With less than 24 hours' notice, these guys are onsite

with 450 square metres of the black stuff. Not bad.

As everyone pulls together for a last push into the final night,

there is an overwhelming and fully-deserved sense of pride.

In nine days, we've achieved nine months' worth of work, easily.

It's just phenomenal. People coming together to do this is amazing.

Inside, there's some last-minute touches too.

Oh, my goodness! How fabulous is this?

This wallpaper, it's rather special, so they can't mess it up.

-It's been made to order.

-At £1,400 a roll,

this has to be the most decadent donated decor in DIY history.

I'm just glad I'm not hanging it.

I'm getting all... Look at this. Look, I'm getting all hot already.

I know, I can feel the stress in here.

As night closes in, there are over 100 people on site, finishing off.

But we won't really see how we've done until the morning.

A few weeks ago, the Ratcliffes were squeezed

into a three-bedroom bungalow

that was bursting with all their equipment and supplies.

With Bella in the boot room

and Curtis forced to sleep in the living room,

their only escape was the garden.

But in these conditions, keeping them healthy

and together as a family was a challenge

even Team Ratcliffe would struggle with.

We adopted four vulnerable kids because we wanted to give them

the best life we possibly can and we're not doing that at the moment.

So, we built them a new home.

Clad in sleek black larch

and set around an incredible internal courtyard,

this home will give the family all the space, light and access

they could ever wish for.

A far cry from the living room they shared with Curtis,

their new family room will allow them to spend time together,

especially at mealtimes.

And everyone gets their own bedroom.

Bella's room is fit for a fairy princess

and Phoebe is going to take up residence

with the woodland animals in an enchanted forest,

and they both get to share their own bathroom.

Haydn will no longer be surrounded by equipment.

Now it's neon and superheroes in his new bedroom,

built for easy access -

the independence he'll need as a teenager.

Curtis has his own room for the first time in his life.

He'll be surrounded by colour and lights for stimulation

and the latest, potentially life-saving equipment.

He'll also get to share a huge bathroom with his brother.

And Garry and Kyle say goodbye to their nappy-filled bedroom.

They have a sanctuary for themselves,

a bit of long-overdue luxury they deserve.

No more narrow corridors and doors to run into,

this is a house for the kids to run free.

And outside, the barren garden, that was their only escape,

is now a garden to love and tend and build memories in.

We've never built a house from the ground up before.

Everybody worked so hard, but it's not a bad effort, is it,

for just nine days?

We hope you like what we've built.

This is your new home.

Three, two, one, open your eyes.

-Whoa.

-Pretty, isn't it?

-Wow.

-It's absolutely stunning!

I expected to just see our old bungalow,

but a new version of it, and it's totally different.

-It's gorgeous!

-Yeah.

-Wait till you see the inside.

-Yes!

-Please.

-Yeah?

Welcome to the interior of your new home.

Whoa...

THEY LAUGH

It's absolutely beautiful! Our kids are going to love this, aren't they?

-We can actually sit around a dining table.

-Yes, you can.

Everything is about access.

That's just beautiful.

The kids can actually play out there, in a safe area

where you can keep an eye on them, to get out in some fresh air.

Everything's been thought of.

My feet are really warm.

Right, so underfloor heating throughout the house.

Also, more importantly for you,

there's an air treatment unit in here,

so it has sensors in the major rooms, like Curtis's room,

so you can get perfect clean air,

which is critical for Curtis's health.

Yeah, he just gets chest infection after chest infection

and the bugs and, you know...

-That's...

-That's amazing for him, isn't it?

I just can't believe the detail and the thought that's gone into...

-..actually our kids.

-I know.

-Because it's all just about our kids, isn't it?

-Yeah.

One of the other things that we've done is we've made sure

that there are cameras and there are cameras in the kids' rooms too.

-Ah...

-So, you can link up to your tablet

-and you can always see them wherever they are.

-Yeah.

Sorry.

Oh...

It's everything. It's literally everything.

You've thought of everything.

It's enabling our kids to be more than they are...

..which is really important.

-It's great.

-Do you want to see the rest of it?

-Yeah.

-I'll try not to cry about the rest of it.

-Come on.

Ooh!

THEY LAUGH

-Look at the lights!

-Oh!

Look at his bed!

You know he lives in our living room. Now he's got his own space.

-You all right?

-Mm-hmm.

-Your turn now.

No, no, I just... He's never had anything of his own, has he?

-Oh, God, I'm going again.

-The thought of...

Oh!

Probably one of the most important things of all is, obviously,

the hoist system. The hoist system is really, really important

and really, really clever.

-So, this connects up in here.

-Oh, come on.

It is just a stunning, beautiful bathroom.

There's a fully automated toilet over there as well

that will do washing and drying,

so for someone like Haydn, as a teenage boy,

it gives him independence and a bit of dignity,

-whilst he's doing that, as he's getting older.

-Perfect!

OK, so, one of the things that's nice about this as well...

You'll notice the track goes that way as well.

THEY GASP

Oh, my God!

Oh, Haydn is going to absolutely love this, isn't he?

-He's going to burst.

-He is going to burst.

-Very fond of his superheroes, right?

-He loves superheroes!

Right, well, that would have been it,

if you had actually stuck at two boys, but you didn't, did you?

-Yeah, no.

-No.

-Bella was in that boot room.

-Yeah.

-She's going to go absolutely...

Princess's bedroom, isn't it? It's a palace.

Oh, she's going to absolutely love it!

-Ah.

-Oh!

-Phoebe's room!

THEY LAUGH

She's going to absolutely love this bed!

She's got her own house.

It's really important for Phoebe to have her own space

because she's surrounded with kids

that are often sick, poorly, you know,

can't do everything that she can do right now.

-And sometimes she needs that space, doesn't she?

-Yeah.

Where are you two going to be? Haven't done that yet.

-OK.

-Come on, this way.

Oh, my goodness me!

-I can't believe it's our home.

-No.

I absolutely love it! This is just stunning!

It is hand-printed.

-It's really peaceful.

-And there's no boxes of nappies.

And the clever thing is, if I go to this side, then...

So, this opens out onto the courtyard,

but it also means that you can actually see across

to Curtis's room, lounge area.

It's like one of you could come and take a relaxing half hour,

read a book, chill out,

but without having to be out of contact with them.

This is our forever home for our forever family. It really is.

I'm going again. Oh!

-Shall we get your family in to look at it?

-Yes!

-Yes!

-Let's get them in.

'For these kids, being adopted by Garry and Kyle

'was a huge change for the better in their lives.

'Hopefully, this home will be another.'

Everything is all beautiful in here.

-Is it? Do you like it?

-Yeah.

-Amazing!

-The first thing I noticed

was you driving through the door on your own.

You don't need anyone to help you get in or out of the house.

-No.

-That's cool isn't it?

-Yeah.

-That's never happened before, has it?

-No.

'With new rooms for all of them...'

Whoa!

-What do you think, Haydn?

-Excellent!

..they'll have the new-found freedom they deserve...

Look at you!

-Night-night.

-Night-night.

..and every chance of the best future possible.

And you've got lights. Can you see them on the ceiling?

Can you look up here? Good boy.

Can you see them on the ceiling?

-It's a princess.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Who's a princess?

-Bella.

-Bella's a princess.

'And, of course, there's one more surprise for them all -

'easy access into a garden they can cherish.'

Ha-ha-ha! Go, go, go, go!

PHOEBE LAUGHS

-Oh, Bella's got her pram out.

-Oh, look, Bella!

Can I introduce you to some of the team that have done this?

Yeah, you need to.

-Come and say hello, have a chat.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Everything that's been achieved is all down to these guys,

girls, people, volunteers...

magicians.

Every time I open my mouth at the moment, I just start crying,

so you're going to have to bear with me.

Just walking around the house,

the love and the thought that's gone into it...

KYLE LAUGHS

It's brilliant, seriously. Thank you so, so much.

We love our kids very much, as you can probably tell,

and we've always thought we were quite independent

and...we could do things on our own.

And we could never have done this on our own.

And we also call ourselves Team Ratcliffe

and Team Ratcliffe's just got a bit bigger today.

LAUGHTER

And not only...have you given us

a beautiful house and garden for today,

but for our children, they're going to be with us forever,

and you've sort of future-proofed our lives for us, really.

So...

GARRY GASPS WITH EMOTION

Thank you, thank you.

You need to be very proud of yourselves, you really, really do.

I'm sorry I'm crying again! I don't cry!

I've not stopped all morning.

LAUGHTER

Thank you, everyone, for helping me be independent. Thank you.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

We've always had this ambition on DIY SOS that we could build a home

from the ground up in just nine days - a big ambition.

We just needed to find the right family to do it for.

What we found here was a group of people who had built a family

but couldn't find a house that suited all their needs.

Well, that was the perfect opportunity, wasn't it?

And with the help of all these amazing people,

we've built that home for them,

a proper home that's future-proof - that was the expression they used.

How wonderful is that?

You know, we can't help everybody, but everybody can help someone.

Thank you.

Oh, my darling, I'm glad you like it.

Ah.

I'm Tom. I did the plasterboarding. How you doing? All right?