More than 60 builders spent a week battling against sub-zero temperatures recently to transform the home of a sick little girl. Members of the Band of Builders, with the support of builders’ merchant, Jewson, travelled from across the country to spend eight days working round the clock to revamp the Hertfordshire home of toddler Sadie Jenkins and her family.
Sadie, who’s two, spent the first 10 months of her life in hospital after being born with a range of complications.
After hearing about her family’s plight, the Band of Builders – an organisation which helps tradespeople in need – decided to transform the home, adding a downstairs toilet for Sadie’s carers to use overnight without waking the family as well as making a bedroom fit for a princess for Sadie’s sister Isla, aged four, and Sadie herself when she is well enough to move upstairs.
Using state-of-the-art plaster and paint to limit any negative effects on Sadie’s breathing, they also redecorated the rest of the house, installed a new boiler and landscaped the family’s garden to create a safe place for Sadie and Isla to play.
Band of Builders also paid for the family to go to Center Parcs – their first holiday as a family – while the work was carried out.
Despite the problems of the ‘Best from the East’, which hit during the project, the group completed the project, unveiling the Jenkins’ transformed home to them in an emotional occasion attended by the builders as well as members of the local community.
Sadie’s mum Nicola, 33, said: “Seeing the house for the first time was absolutely overwhelming, it really will change our lives. At night our carers usually have to leave Sadie to go to the bathroom upstairs which isn’t ideal – having a downstairs toilet changes all that. And the rest of the house is beautiful – absolute perfection.
“Today is one of those days we will never ever forget. We will treasure this moment forever.”
Sadie was born with a hole in her heart and a narrowing of the aorta, as well as Pierre Robin sequence – a set of abnormalities affecting the head and face including a small lower jaw and blockage of the airways.
Dad Carl, 32, a plasterer who has helped on previous projects with Band of Builders, said: “I had no idea how much they were going to do, the whole house is amazing. The extra storage means I’ve even got my dining room table back, which we haven’t had space for since Sadie was born, so we can finally sit down and eat dinner as a family. This really has changed everything.”
The project was supported Jewson, which crowned Band of Builders founder Addam Smith Trade Hero of the Year in 2017 as part of its Building Better Communities awards. Other materials were also donated from companies, including plaster, a new boiler, kitchen doors and more.
The project is the latest undertaken by Band of Builders, which is currently applying to become a charity.
The organisation was founded by Addam Smith, who carried out a project to renovate friend and colleague Keith Ellick’s home after he was diagnosed with cancer, enlisting help from tradespeople from across the country.
Addam said: “When we heard about little Sadie and everything she and her family have been through, we just wanted to do something to help.
“This has been the hardest project we’ve done – the Beast from the East really tried to break us but it didn’t manage it to. Thanks to the efforts of the guys and the amazing support from the local community, we got it done and have really made a difference to Sadie, Carl, Nicola and Isla’s life at home.”
