Jacob Austin 00:00:00 Hi all. Is Jacob Austin here from QS.Zone. And welcome to episode 134 of the Subcontractors Blueprint. Now, if you've been with me for a while, you'll know that this show usually focuses on contracts, cash flow, and the practical stuff that keeps your business moving commercially. And we'll be back to all of that next week. But today's episode is a little bit different, and honestly, I think it might be one of the most important I've put out. Today I'm taking part in something called podcast Thon. It's a global initiative where podcasters from all over the world dedicate one episode simultaneously in a coordinated release to a charity of their choice. This is the fourth time it's happened, and last year, over 1500 podcasters from more than 40 countries took part. That's a lot of voices all pointing in the same direction or saying this matters. The charity that I've chosen is one that sits right at the heart of our industry. It's called Band of Builders. And by the end of this episode, I hope you'll understand why I didn't hesitate for a second in choosing them.
Jacob Austin 00:01:12 So let's get into it. Every movement starts somewhere, and for Band of Builders, it started with a man called Keith. Keith Eilecc, who is a construction worker and one of our own, when he was suddenly diagnosed with terminal cancer. His friend and fellow tradesman, Addam Smith wanted to do something, not a card or a collection. Tin passed around the site, something real. So Addam put a call out on social media, asking if any construction workers would be willing to give up a bit of their time to come and help landscape Keiths garden, just to make life that little bit easier. To give Keith something better to look out at. And what happened next was extraordinary. Construction workers came from all over the UK. They didn't know Keith. Some of them had never even met Addam. But they showed up with tools, materials, know invoice to follow. And what started as a garden project became a full transformation of Keith's home. That response, that instinct to show up for one of your own.
Jacob Austin 00:02:35 That became the foundation of Band of Builders. By 2019, that spirit had grown into a full registered charity, and since then it has never stopped moving. So what does Band of Builders do? Practically speaking, their focus is on supporting people from the construction industry, tradespeople, construction workers and their families who are facing what the charity describes as life changing or limiting circumstances. That means serious illness, disability injury or unexpected financial hardship. The support they offer comes in three forms practical support. This is band of builders at their most visible volunteer tradespeople. People just like you, giving up their time and their skills to carry out real construction work for people in need. We're talking accessible bathrooms, kitchen renovations, roof repairs, and sometimes full home adaptations work that would cost thousands. Done for free by professionals who know what they're doing. They also give emergency grants and financial assistance for those who've hit crisis point. Testimonials on their website say it all. One person said that shopping vouchers they received literally kept them, and their daughter fed through one of the hardest periods of their life.
Jacob Austin 00:03:55 Another said the support lifted a weight off their shoulders and gave them a future they could look forward to. These aren't abstract outcomes, they're lifelines for people in need. They also offer wellbeing support, mental health and wellbeing guidance for those who need it. Because we all know, or we should know by now that the construction industry has a serious problem with mental health. Band of builders acknowledges that and they address it. And here's what I find really remarkable about the model. The delivery value of completed projects is now over £2 million, and none of that is coming from government backed funding contracts or a culprit budget. It's coming from people in our industry choosing to show up. I want to take a few minutes to walk you through some of what Band of Builders has already accomplished, because when you see the scale of what's been done and the stories behind those projects, it changes your understanding of what this charity really is. They've completed 48 projects to date. So I'm going to tell you about just three of them.
Jacob Austin 00:05:01 I mentioned Keith earlier. The man whose diagnosis started all of this. But let's just go a little bit deeper into what happened during that first project, because it sets the tone for everything that followed when Addam Smith put that post on Facebook. Keith had sadly been given 12 months to live. Cancer had spread from his use, Ophiuchus to his liver and in his blood. He didn't ask for much. He just wanted a fence put up. But what he got was staggering 50 volunteers, tradespeople driving from South Wales, Essex, Oxfordshire and the Midlands. Plumbers, builders, Tylers, plasterers and landscapers all giving their time for nothing. Addam raised enough money to send Keith and his family away on a nearby holiday so that they could work without Keith having to watch, and in five days, that team transformed his home from top to bottom. New kitchen, new bathroom. New decoration throughout. New flooring. The garden landscaped. Local companies donated materials and well-wishers turned up with bacon, booties and cakes to keep the volunteers going.
Jacob Austin 00:06:10 That story made the national press. Someone called them the Band of Builders and the name stuck. Sadly, Keith passed away in March 2017, but he went knowing his family had a safe, comfortable home, leaving behind him something far bigger than he could have imagined. A movement that has now helped dozens of families in need across the whole of the UK. That's Project one, where it began. And fast forward to this year, and you start to see how far Band of Builders has come. Mike Shrimpton is a builder with over 40 years of experience. When his wife, Christine was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. Mike did what any tradesperson would do. He rolled up his sleeves and started adapting their home himself. He had a plan to knock through the ground floor and create an open space that would be safer and easier for Christine to navigate. But then Mike's own house gave way. First, a prostate cancer diagnosis that he'd been ignoring because he was too focused on Christine. Then a serious heart condition requiring a stent.
Jacob Austin 00:07:17 Understandably, the work stopped, but it left the house uninhabitable. A building site with no end in sight. And to make matters worse, Christine's medical team told Mike that if she couldn't return to a safe home environment soon, she was going into residential care. The pressure on Mike's shoulders a builder who spent his whole life making things, now unable to finish the most important project of his life. It just must have been unbearable. Band of builders stepped in and over 24 days volunteers completed the full structural work steel installations, plumbing, electrics, a new boiler and heating system. Heldens donated a top of the range kitchen for them. The failing flat roof was replaced and new patio door was installed. The house that had been a building site became the open plan home that Mike had always envisioned, but there's an incredible final twist to the story. Once the work was complete, he told Band of Builders he wanted to use that open plan space as a place where other families living with early onset dementia could come together and share their experiences.
Jacob Austin 00:08:25 Not just a home for Christine, but a community space for people going through the same thing. That's the kind of person this industry produces and the kind that deserves your support. Not every project is a full home renovation. Sometimes it's something smaller, but no less meaningful. Stevie Taylor was eight years old when she was diagnosed with Batten disease, which is a rare life limiting condition affecting fewer than 200 children in the UK. It causes the nervous system to deteriorate progressively by the time band of builders got involved. Stevie, still only a teenager, had already lost her sight. Her memory and speech were being affected and the next stage was likely to bring on sieges. Stevie's dad, Paul, had been a gas fitter, but he'd shifted to doing paperwork so that he could be home to care for her. He and his wife, Karen, had sold their home and remortgage to buy a bungalow that they could adapt. Paul threw himself into making that work, but the costs spiralled. The budget ran out and the garden.
Jacob Austin 00:09:32 Stevie's favourite place, the outdoors she loved, was left unusable. Band of builders stepped in to transform it, installing accessible block paved pathways that Stevie could navigate with her cane raised borders that she could reach and explore an A seating area so she could sit in her favorite outdoor space. All future proofed for when she'll need a wheelchair. Karen said afterwards that the garden gave Stevie back her independence, that she wasn't trapped indoors anymore, that she was able to get out and fully explore it. That story is really moving for me. A 16 year old girl and her garden and a group of tradespeople, strangers to her, turning up to make sure she can enjoy it. That's the kind of work that Band of Builders does. It's not just bricks and mortar to the people that live there. It's giving people back their dignity, independence, their quality of life. And they've delivered over £2 million worth of value in the work they've completed so far. Behind every single one of those projects is a person, a family, and a story.
Jacob Austin 00:10:39 Just like the ones I've told you. The full list of completed project is on the website Band of Builders. If you want to see the scale of what this community has built and encourage you to go and have a look, it's truly humbling. Now let me just tell you about a few projects that they've got on right now, because this is where the theory becomes real. They've got Martin's project in Torquay for Martin Johnson, a self-employed builder, and right now the flat roof over his kitchen is in a right state, letting in water, causing damp, making home life genuinely difficult. So band of builders are heading to Torquay to fix it, because when one of our own can't fix their own home, whether that's down to health, finances or circumstances, this is where band of builders step in. We've got Jay's project in Ipswich in August 24th. Jay was working on his house when he sadly received a diagnosis that stopped everything cancer of the spine. So, understandably, his renovations have ground to a halt, but that's meant that his family have been left without a functioning kitchen, living in essentially what is a building site.
Jacob Austin 00:11:49 So band of builders are going to Ipswich to finish what J had to stop to give his family their home back. And then we have Karen's project in Burnley. This one involves a daughter advocating for her mum Karen, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's three years ago. The project is about adapting Karen's home so she can live in safety and dignity as her condition progresses. That's what practical support looks like in practice. Three different stories, three different types of need, all of them connected by the same thing. People from the construction world are connected to it, facing impossible circumstances and needing their community to show up. And that community does show up every single time. And that's what's so remarkable about the Band of Builders movement. Now, here's the part I really want you to listen to, because band of builders can only do what they do. If people like us make it possible. There are three ways to get involved and they suit different people at different stages. Firstly, you can volunteer your skills if you are a tradesperson, be it a roofer, plumber, electrician, joiner, labourer, whatever.
Jacob Austin 00:13:01 You can volunteer on an upcoming project. You don't have to commit to weeks. Some projects are completed in a single day, so you turn up, you work alongside other tradespeople. You leave knowing you've made a real material difference to somebody's life. And you can find a full list of upcoming projects, including the ones I've mentioned today at bandofbuilders.org/upcoming-projects . It only takes two minutes to sign up. Donate some of your time, make a life changing difference to somebody's circumstances, and be part of something that will stay with you for a lot longer than the time committed. You can also volunteer your time if you're not a tradesperson. If you're not able to get to site. There are other ways to support because band of builders need people who can help with fundraising, events, admin and community building. If you've got time and energy, they can use it and you can sign up for that. At bandofbuilders.org/volunteering and you can also donate if what you can give right now is financial support in whatever size, then please do, because every pound goes directly towards funding the practical work, the emergency grants and the wellbeing services.
Jacob Austin 00:14:17 There's no fluff here. The money goes where it's needed. You can donate at bandofbuilders.org/donate Construction workers build the world that everybody else lives in. We build the hospitals, the schools, the homes turning up in all weathers. And there's been plenty of those weathers recently, sometimes called on at all hours and get the job done. But here's what I think of Band of Builders and what it represents, and why I think it matters beyond just charity. It's proof that this industry has a soul, that it cares that beneath the contracts and the cash flow and the program, which yes, I know we talk about a lot on the show, there are good people who genuinely care about each other. Addam Smith didn't start a charity. He wanted to do something for his mate Keith. And that instinct, that simple human instinct to show up, created something that's now changed hundreds of lives. The motto of Band of Builders is Stronger Together, and I think that says everything. If this episode has moved you, if it's made you want to get involved in any way, then don't let that feeling pass.
Jacob Austin 00:15:31 Go to the Band of Builders website. Find a project near you sign up to volunteer. Or make a donation if you can. And share this episode with someone in the industry who might want to know about them. Because awareness is the first step. And thank you for listening to the Subcontractors Blueprint. I'll be back next week with our regular programming. But today. Today I just wanted to talk about something that reminds us all why we do what we do. Take care of yourselves and if you get the chance, take care of each other. You can find much more information about Band of Builders on their website BandofBuilders.org You can also visit the links that I've mentioned earlier today, which I'll also drop in the show notes for you to click through to their site. Thanks all. I've been Jacob Austin and you've been awesome.
