BoB volunteers complete retired builder’s home

​​​​​​​A former tradesperson and his wife with dementia can finally go home after living in a caravan for two years, all thanks to the help of Band of Builders (BoB)

Mike Shrimpton, a retired Bishop’s Stortford builder, was overcome with emotion at his first glimpse of the renovations completed by volunteer tradespeople.

The charity answered a call for help after the work he was carrying out himself halted because he was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer.

The diagnosis torpedoed Shrimpton’s efforts to complete the extensive work required to create a safe ground-floor space for his wife Christine, who has dementia.

The couple had been living in a caravan for the past couple of years until national construction charity Band of Builders (BoB) stepped in.

After setting foot in his house for the first time in nearly a month, Mike was full of praise for the charity.

It was able to call on 60 tradespeople and volunteers from its UK-wide community of supporters and local trades to complete the project in three weeks.

This project involved installing structural steel, completing the first and second fixes on the plumbing and electrics, and installing a new boiler and heating system. The ground floor was insulated and plasterboarded.

A new top-of-the-range kitchen was donated by Howdens and installed by kitchen fitter Tom Easter.

Externally, the failing flat roof and skylight were replaced, and new patio doors and remedial work were needed at the rear of the house. 

Joint-project leads Kent Taylor and Tracey Healy both took three weeks away from their own businesses to oversee the delivery and completion of this project.

The Shrimptons initially had a battle on their hands to get a diagnosis for Christine for what they suspected was early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

They also struggled to get Christine the care she needed. At the same time, her husband, Mike, a builder for more than 40 years, set about making adaptations to their home to make life easier and safer for his wife. The plan was to knock through some of the ground-floor rooms to create a larger open-plan space. 

Work had ground to a halt on the project and had left their home uninhabitable – but Mike felt under pressure because Christine’s medical team said that if she couldn’t move back into a safe home environment very soon, they ran the risk of her going into residential care.