Grand Designs (1999–…): Season 2, Episode 6 - The New England House, Sussex - full transcript
It's all that I've ever dreamed of-
owning my own house and have it...
and having it exactly
the way that I want it.
Generally speaking,
self-builds always are tough.
If I had known...
Er... I wouldn't have done it.
- Why are you doing it?
- Why am I doing it?
- Yeah.
- Well, I want a house, anyway.
And...
... I want a house.
Owning your own home
can seem an impossible dream for anyone,
but even more so
if you're on a low or assisted income.
But here in Birmingham,
a local housing association
are running an innovative scheme
where a group of people
who can't afford to buy their houses
have been given the
opportunity to build them.
Most of the 11 self-builders here
are on low or assisted incomes.
They're a multicultural group selected
by local housing association Accord
to work as part of a team,
building their own and each others houses.
None of them
had any previous building experience,
so they spent two years being trained
and started on site in May 1999.
With 11 houses to build,
this project'll take them four years
from start to finish,
but they each have powerful reasons
for taking on such a huge commitment.
I've got a son and he's already
boasting to his friends at school
that, you know, his mum is
building his house so...you know.
So I'm doing it for him
and I suppose I'm doing it for me, as well,
but it's a hard slog.
Pelrona is a single mum who hasn't decided
which skill she'll specialise in yet.
Carol, the only other woman in the group,
knew she wanted to be an electrician
from the beginning.
What attracted me to
building my own property
was because I'm
on the council, yeah?
And I've got two children
at home - two boys,
I'm more or less stuck
in that flat till probably
they grow up and leave
home, type of thing,
and the area in which I live in
is not very nice, neither.
Paul Young is training to be a bricklayer.
He was working on
the railways before and
sees this as an
opportunity for a new career,
as well as having a new home
with his three-year-old son.
Where I live now,
I'm in Nechells at the moment,
in a...a block of flats,
top floor...so, do you know what I mean?
I haven't got a choice, really.
I either stop there, in a 12th-floor flat,
or do my own house - build my own house.
At 48, Calvin is one of the oldest members
and, as the senior citizen of the group,
he's been voted in as team chairman.
Well, I'm the chairman
plus the foreman of the bricklayers
and I tend to keep the group together.
There 'II be 11 houses in all,
eight with three bedrooms,
two with four bedrooms
and one with five.
They'll form a kind of horseshoe, tagged on
at each end to the neighbouring estate.
The houses will all look exactly the same
and apart from their difference in size,
the group have had a very limited input
in their design.
They're all the same basic layout.
Each house is constructed in exactly the
same way - concrete basis, timber frames,
partition walls, roof trusses,
tiles and traditional brick cladding.
Each house will cost
approximately £30, 000-40, 000 to build.
Their current estimated value
is £60, 000-70, 000.
In return for building the houses,
they'll each own 25%
of their finished home.
This is called 'sweat equity'.
So you're in a group of first-time builders
who are having to learn on the job.
They've got a tight schedule
and an even tighter budget
and perhaps their biggest challenge is that
they're having to work together as a team.
Angela works for the housing association.
It's her job to hold the team together.
These people -
the group that have come together-
how did they get
together in the first place?
We just advertised
to members of the local community,
Asian papers, housing offices, churches...
We just went to all the necessary places.
Some things pass by word of mouth and
people came along to meetings and slowly...
We started off with four people,
then slowly, from there,
we just built as a group.
Do they all have to be here every week?
Is that the rule?
Yes, everybody's got to be here every week,
but we've worked out a system
where you can sort of bank hours.
If you do more than your required
site hours, you can bank some hours.
Self-build can take over your life
and when people come to join the group
I say to them,
"If you're doing this,
imagine you have no life.
If you have a partner,
tell her she isn't going to see you."
But at what stage
was it made clear to them
- that it would be that kind of commitment?
- From the start.
I'm a great believer in telling it as it is
and not glossing it up,
so they come along to the
meetings and I say, you know,
"if you have any problems with this...
We're a multicultural group. Things like...
Again, if you have any racial problems,
don't bother staying."
The other person employed by the housing
association to run the build is Peter.
A site manager, he brings
40 years' experience in the building trade.
As I'm coming
to the end of my working life,
I'd like to give something back, and I
think this was an ideal way of doing it.
I'm running it like a small business,
so therefore it's my business.
I also work on the site hands-on.
And what about the schedule?
They're not...
They're a little bit behind, aren't they?
We're a little bit behind
- we started in...May.
We got our services in.
They will start picking up.
Each team member
has to give 20 hours every week
for the next year and a half,
in return for which
they will own a share of their own home.
Now, at any point in the future,
they can increase that share
by buying back more from the housing
association - say, with a mortgage,
or they can carry on paying rent
to the housing association,
or they can sell their share on.
Whichever route they choose,
every self-builder here
has the opportunity to become a homeowner.
It's early December 1999.
Four houses are already standing,
put up during a special training phase
when the group received extra help.
That phase ends today.
There are seven new houses
to start from scratch and just over
one year to complete the project.
The first to go up will
be houses 5, 6 and 7.
The timber frames have
been fabricated off site.
All the frame building team have to do
is get them off the lorry
and nail the pieces together.
It's like a house in flat-pack form,
and we all know how easy
the instructions for those are!
Yeah...
This is the first time the team
are doing everything without outside help.
The method of construction they're using
is really popular in America,
but it's fast catching on here, as well.
All they do is lay down a damp-proof
membrane straight onto the concrete floor,
put a base plate in,
and what they've done here, on top of that,
is build the entire structure in timber-
not only the internal walls,
but also the inner skin of
the external wall, as well.
While this team are specialising
in timber-framed building,
others are developing different skills
on the build.
- All right, Carol?
- Hiya.
- How's it going?
- Fine.
- You're an electrician, aren't you?
- I am, yeah.
- What level are you at, then?
- I've done City & Guilds Level 1.
It qualifies me to actually go in
and just do domestic wiring.
What were you doing before then?
Well, I work part time behind a bar,
anyway, and I'm still continuing with that,
so there's a lot of late nights
and early starts, type of thing.
Plus I've got two children
that I have to get in to school.
- Oh, my goodness!
- So er...
- So what do you do during the holidays?
- I work.
- School holidays?
- Yeah, I work.
- What do you do with the kids, then?
- They're looked after.
- You bring them here, give them a hammer?
- No, they're not allowed on site.
They're looked after
by my partner's mother.
- Hello, Mr Azad.
- Hello, how are you?
You're a painter and decorator,
but you're carpenting today?
- I learned nearly everything, you know.
- Have you?
- Yeah.
- What, brickying as well, have you?
What are you doing at the moment?
Well, I work as a
security officer at night.
- And you work here by daytime?
- Yeah, yeah.
So when do you sleep?
I don't know, myself.
I get about four, five hours, you know.
- I finish seven o'clock and then get up...
- And you have a family, don't you?
- Yeah, that's why I need...
- A large family?
Yeah, large family -
that's why we need a big house.
- How many children?
- Seven.
Seven children! How many wives?
Wife is one yet.
One!
The outer skin of the houses
is conventional brick and mortar.
Bricklaying is hard work,
and already the strain is showing
on the bricklayers Paul and Tab.
Now that we're behind a couple of weeks...
you know, they want
everyone to do more hours.
I think the people who are working
are going to find it hard,
and the majority of us are working.
It's just me, Calvin and Paul, really,
who aren't working
and are doing part-time college, like.
Doing building work of
any type is hard enough,
but for this group,
the greatest difficulty is
finding the time and energy
to work on their project.
Each group member
still has to go to college,
look after their kids
and earn their day-to-day living,
and after doing all that,
when most of us are ready for a good rest,
they've still got to put in 20 hours a week
of hard graft on a building site,
for which they receive no extra cash.
It's even more difficult
for Calvin, the group chairman.
He's been off sick for six weeks
and he's back now doing light work,
but he's worried about making up
all those hours.
Cannot lift 90 degrees,
so it will be a bit difficult for me to do
any heavy-duty work at this moment in time,
so I hope to get fit as quick as possible.
I'll be doing a lot of light
work for the meantime,
until I get fully fit to do the brickwork
and, afterwards, the tiling.
It's early December
and already the group are finding it hard
to put in enough hours on the build.
The frames for houses 5, 6 and 7 should
be up by now and the roofs should be on,
but they're only just beginning to work
above first-floor level.
It's still early days, but Petrona,
for one, is close to breaking point.
I knew it was going to be hard, but er...
...it's harder than that, even.
If I had known...
Er...I wouldn't have done it.
Well, I think that, generally speaking,
self-builds always are tough,
and I don't think people who go into them
at the very beginning,
especially people who haven't had any
experience of the building trade, as such,
realise that it's just hard work.
You've just got to get
stuck in and get working,
so I think people get
a little bit of a shock
there, who've not been in
the building game before.
But this team are just
not getting stuck in.
They're simply not building enough,
so Angela calls everyone
for an emergency meeting.
Site hours and morale.
I know the winter months
are starting to set in
and I know that -
through about three or four group members -
some people are concerned about the morale
and about the hours, and so forth,
that are being done on site.
One of the first things I want to do
is to thank Paul and Tab
who have really, really
been putting in their
hours, and so forth,
and working hard, above and beyond
the call of duty whenever needed,
while here during the day.
We're not pointing the finger at anybody
who is not during the day,
because people's
circumstances are different
and what they can put into the scheme
is different,
but I am concerned
that the winter months are setting in now.
Christmas is coming
and, you know, when the cold bites,
people aren't really enthused
to come out of their homes.
And Ramadan is coming up soon.
I'm conscious
that Ramadan is coming up, as well.
You're doing well,
but experience from the previous groups...
This is the point where
the groups start to falter,
because the winter weather's coming
and that level of enthusiasm isn't there.
Does anybody want to say anything?
Mm. Well, I had a word with you, didn't I?
- Mm-hm.
- I'll be honest.
I was thinking about leaving the scheme.
Erm, I explained to Angela the reasons
and some of them are to do with my
domestic arrangements, and whatever,
and also because I felt that I didn't
have the flexibility to do the extra hours
and so I couldn't bank any time,
so I could never have any time off
and I thought that was quite difficult.
It's only two months since I first came
here and already things are going wrong.
Morale is low, they're falling behind
schedule and if that's not bad enough,
some of the group members
are even thinking of pulling out.
Now winter's setting in...
and what was always going to be
a difficult project
is turning into an even bigger challenge.
It's the New Year, but has Angela managed
to bring new energy and commitment
to the self-build team in Birmingham?
It's a good opportunity and I'm
grateful for having the opportunity,
but I don't think I'll
do it again, cos it...
...it goes into everything, man, don't it?
- I know, yeah.
- It takes up...
..a lot of time.
It does, you know, and your kids suffer.
Your relationship could suffer.
Your workplace suffers, if you work...
I work pan time, as well...
so everything suffers, in the end.
Do you know what I
mean? And you don't
realise that - you
don't realise all of that.
- Until you come on...
- ..and you're doing it.
The building work is still mostly outdoors
and the weather is appalling.
With all the rain and the team still
struggling to put in their hours on site,
Peter, the site manager,
has a tot to battle against.
Let's go down now and check these out.
I think we lost in the December month
192 production hours...
...and we lost in November, too,
and we lost in January, too,
because it's the plaster boarding
that's really put us behind.
We just haven't been
able to get on top of those.
Nailing up plasterboard isn't difficult,
but it is a repetitive and tedious task
which nobody in the group
appears to want to specialise in.
What makes it even
more frustrating for Peter
is that, with the bad weather,
this is one indoor job
on which the team
could really be catching up time.
And to add to his problems, they
also have to deal with vandalism on site.
We've got to put up with all these
little things that keep happening.
Break-in, Sunday evening.
Not excessive.
They didn't do any damage internally,
which was a blessing,
but then again, it's time and money
and, you know, you're looking at
250-300 quid before you turn around.
But it's not all bad news.
Petrona, at least, is trying to
put her difficulties behind her.
You had a problem before Christmas,
didn't you?
I took some time off.
I took some time off to spend with my son
and recharged my batteries, which I've
done, and which is why, you know, I'm back.
Were you not thinking, maybe,
that it wasn't for you, at a certain point?
Oh, you always think that.
You always think that you'd rather
be at home doing something else,
or, you know, sort of
concentrating on other things and...
You know, the whole idea is
to get it finished, get it done
and then, you know,
you carry on with what you want to do.
So it's a chapter in your life,
but, you know, there is an end to it,
so I'm just looking forward to that,
seeing it finished.
By February, houses 8 and 9 are up
and ready for the roofs to go on.
Roof tiling is a fairly specialised skill,
plus you need a head for heights.
Petrona, Calvin and Tab
are among those rising to the challenge.
- They've been laying them themselves?
- Oh, yeah.
This wasn't something
they intended to do?
No.
Weren't you going to
get roofers in to do this?
Well, we was, but the thing is that we...
we got in touch with Redland
and they actually do courses.
Right. So you sent
them all off on a course?
Including myself.
Right. And you've done the whole thing?
We've done all those.
Those was ours.
All those was ours, yes.
Angela is keen to do whatever she can
to keep up the new momentum of the build.
Things have improved
in the past three weeks.
- Wouldn't you say so?
- I think so.
Yeah, cos on the time sheets I can see
that the hours are improving.
Now that the summer daylight hours
are coming along, as well,
the group are committed to putting in
a few more extra hours
to try and take the process forward.
There has been problems with timekeeping,
and things like that,
and there were, like, some people that
were doing, like, sort of...very long hours,
really unsociable hours, and
needing a break, feeling a bit burnt out.
The wintertime really does seem to
be that point where morale tends to drop
and I think the early darkness, and
all that sort of thing, does that to you.
You see night-time coming.
Night-time just means it's time to go home.
It's spring, and the frames
for the last two houses, 10 and 11, are up
and their roof trusses
are starting to go on.
As ever, Peter's there
to guide and push everything along.
It's unusual for self-builders
to do the roofing,
but Peter is determined
that everyone on
site should learn as
many skills as possible,
and by putting up their own trusses
and doing their own tiling,
the group have made a substantial saving
of £15,000,
which they can now plough
back into the build.
All 11 houses are now up
and in a month or two,
the first four will be ready to move into.
This provides a welcome inspiration
for everyone.
Carol's working hard doing the electrics
in Calvin's house, to help him get in.
- How much more have you got to do?
- In here?
Just these.
And that's it? That's
the house done, then?
No - we've still got to
drill the...for the lights.
He's having 42 spotlights in here.
- How many?
- 42, or thereabouts.
So this is what you
call "second fix", isn't it?
Yeah.
Your cables are in and
you stick the fittings in.
Yeah.
So we're all getting a
little bit more excited now,
because the house has actually gone up now
and the frame's up.
The roofs have got to
go up this week, as well.
So when do you move in?
I'm hoping to move in
by the 29th to the 5th of June.
Right that's very, very
soon. Are you excited?
Yes, I am.
I bet you are! And you've got your family,
as well, to bring in, yeah?
- Yeah, my daughter.
- Yeah?
It's all painted
different shades of green!
Yes.
Why did you consider doing the whole place
in different shades of the same colour?
It's soft colours and I'm a soft person,
so that's how I...
That's howl love it.
Mm! So how are you going to furnish it?
We're having big cushions - poufs, right? -
on the floor, cos I don't like furniture.
Oh, right - so this will
be very free-style, then?
Yes, it's going to be
like a bachelor's place.
- Oh, yeah? Are you a bachelor?
- Yes, yes, yes, yes.
And so I also hear you're going to have...
I think the electrician told me - Carol-
42 spotlights?
- Yes, because...
- Yeah, why?
The reason is that I
don't like wires hanging
down, because I
think it's old-fashioned.
Well, I'm going to have
dimmers in here, so...
I can dim out certain lights and switches
to switch off certain lights.
It's going to be quite
a groovy pad, isn't it?
It is.
I already figured out
where I'm having my boxes already.
I'm going to give Mr Azad...hell!
So where do these
want to go, then - in here?
Big kitchen!
Yeah. Nice, isn't it?
Ooh, God, I've just broken one.
- No, that's all right.
- Sounded awful.
It's about five times as big as my kitchen,
I have to tell you - it's enormous.
It's a big kitchen, you know,
so some money I paid from my pocket.
- Oh, really? Over and above the budget?
- Yeah, over the budget.
It's the best one we chose, I think.
- Best one? Best quality?
- Yeah.
Absolutely.
So how much extra did it cost you?
- £500, I paid.
- Well, that's not outrageous, is it?
All this is very beautiful,
but you are still behind.
- Yeah.
- How far behind still now?
I reckon that by now,
we should have been at least halfway.
We should have had
at least six houses completed by now.
- So?
- We've only got four.
- What's that, three months behind?
- Yeah, probably two months.
And you wanted to be in by Christmas?
These schemes cost money
and we can't afford to waste money,
cos money for the group members
is sweat equity.
So the sweat equity they're all getting
and the percentage value
in return for their labour
- is getting diminished?
- Yeah. You're eating into your ownership.
- So you need more effort? Even more?
- Yeah.
And Peter's going away
on holiday to Australia?
Yes, yes, yes.
Peter's going away in Australia to see his
family and, you know, my concern was that,
because he's not here,
things are going to slip again.
Before Peter leaves,
he has to ensure that the pace of the build
keeps going while he's away.
He's decided that he has to push
the plaster boarding forward
and so he's organised certain members
of the group into a focused team.
He's called it the A-team.
So what's your reasoning
behind putting them together as a team?
Well, to try and move the production along,
because we've got to try and get people in
by December 31st,
so if we try to board a house
using as much labour as I can...
- When are you off?
- I'm off a week Sunday
but I won't be back again till...
after the August bank holiday.
Yeah. So how are you lot going to manage?
You're chair of the committee, Calvin.
Are you going to be
running...running the site?
Yeah.
- Are you?
- Yes.
So, with Peter away the
whole month of August,
Calvin as group chairman has to step in
and take responsibility for the site.
Mr Azad's is almost finished.
I don't want nothing to do with the Azads'.
That's going to be started next.
Hello? Hello?
I'll put it in No.2, for now.
See you laters. Bye.
Alex!
I'll be with you in a minute, mate.
Do we have to have you this morning?
I'll just son out the men outside.
How many more?
I'm going to kill somebody.
Honestly, do we have to have you?
Definitely!
Can't you go away?
Stressing. Stressing.
Despite all Calvin's hard work,
progress has been slow.
Unfortunately, the majority of the group,
including the A-team,
are suffering a dip in motivation.
This isn't good news for Peter,
when he returns from holiday in September.
I would have liked to have come back
and seen 5, 6 and 7 boarded
and unfortunately, we're still stuck
in 5 and 6 and we're nowhere near...
we're nowhere near finishing them two.
We've certainly got to pull our finger
out now to finish by the...by Christmas.
There isn't any doubt about it.
Peter and Angela
are so worried about progress,
they've called everyone to another meeting.
After the experience
of last winter, they want
to propose bringing
in outside contractors
to help meet their Christmas deadline.
Two minutes. Quick, quick. Thank you.
So, the reason I called
this meeting is that
I need you, as a group,
to look at yourselves
and ask yourselves realistically, and in
conjunction with discussing with Peter,
whether you feel that you're going to be
able to commit the hours and time required
to finish your properties
by the end of January at the latest.
For every week past that
that we don't finish,
it costs you £1,000 a week.
So that's a grand a time
that's been logged onto your scheme,
so that grand a time
is eating into your equity money
that you're entitled to for the labour.
If we come to the
decision that yes, it is...
it does make sense
to bring contractors in,
um...would it make...
and we do get into our houses December,
January - do we lose sweat equity then?
- No.
- We don't?
Because my whole point in saying why
we should look at bringing in contractors
is that they will make sure to help
that you achieve that equity
and hopefully help us
finish this scheme by the
end of January and
everybody's in their house.
I fully endorse what Angela said,
because you need help.
Let's get people in by Christmas.
At least people will be in their houses.
So I'd like you all to show hands
of whether you're for or against this
motion for us to bring in some contractors
to help out on the scheme.
For- one, two, three,
four, five, six... OK.
Seven, eight. Eight for.
Anybody against?
No. Well, the ayes have it.
There are 4 months to go.
Even with outside help, getting all
these houses finished by Christmas
wilt mean even more hard work for everyone
and there's another winter to get through.
It's October and the new
contractors are on site
concentrating on specific tasks,
such as finishing the exterior carpentry.
Indoors, they've taken over from the A-team
and are getting on with
the plaster boarding.
Our group are still
required to put in their hours,
but it seems the only people around
during the day are the contractors,
so where are the self-builders?
The group have been a victim
of their own success.
They're all working now -
most of them, bar about two,
so therefore we have
no daytime labour
available, cos most of
them work during the day.
So, rather than waste those hours,
we've brought some contractors
plus trainee assistants on site,
and then the group members come in
during the evenings and on the weekends
and put in their hours, as normal.
So of those group members that trained,
how many of them have got work?
Of the entire group members,
nine of them have got work.
That's a lot. That's really good.
And they were all on the dole before?
All of them were on the dole bar three,
when we first started.
OK, and have they all gone
into construction work?
Have they used the
skills that they've learnt?
Some have.
Some have gone, like the bricklayers.
They've landed jobs
in terms of bricklaying,
and others carpentry,
and so forth.
Take Calvin. He's not pushy
with his personality, or anything,
but since he's been
chairman of the group, he's
learnt to get the respect
of the self-builders,
organise, get things done.
He has really developed
in personality and, son
of, what I'd call
"site-administration skills".
Paul Young - he's gone on
to get himself a new job
and again, he was really quiet, actually,
and he's done his bricklaying
and he's just this whiz now
at mathematics, and he cannot believe
he's achieved something.
Something like that
is what he never came here to learn.
Carol's moved on and
is working at Star City.
It wasn't actually that she was shy,
but she wasn't as confident in herself
and she's come on leaps and bounds
in terms of what she wants to achieve.
So are they going to be able to keep the
motivation up all the way until Christmas?
There's no "are they going to" -
they will keep the motivation up.
- They've got to?
- They've got to.
Because to achieve, to get into
their homes, that's what they must do.
The scheme's on track -
it's down to the self-builders.
I've set all the things I can in place,
to encourage them to deliver, basically.
And it just comes down to
how bad do you want it, really?
Well, I'd say they want
it pretty bad, because
after a full day's
work at their new jobs
they're coming down here every night
to put in their hours.
I wonder how the
experience of building their
own houses has helped
them in other ways.
So did you get your job at the club,
effectively, because you were working here?
- Did it help?
- I think so.
Confidence-wise, yeah,
because obviously, I've got a lot more
confidence with doing the self-build,
because you meet different people
day in, day out - you know.
You've just got to have a good personality,
as well,
which also comes across good
if you go for a job interview
that's going to involve
dealing with customers.
- What are you doing? What's your job?
- I'm a bricklayer.
You've gone from bricklaying here
to bricklaying for a job?
Yeah.
Do you find working nights a bit slow
compared to working during the daytime?
All this problem of artificial light and...
Yeah. What it is,
everyone in the day is fresh, you know.
They have a nice sleep
and they come to work and they be fresh
and whilst we're coming from work,
and we'll be quite tired,
and everything, so...
Yeah, it is a lot slower in the night-time,
obviously.
Yeah. You walk out into the gloom
looking for a screwdriver or a...
- You can't find it.
- Exactly.
Or a sheet of plasterboard,
and it's pitch-black.
Mm.
It's not enough to work hard.
The buildings have to pass
regular monthly inspections.
Eric Marshall, the site inspector,
has been visiting for a year and a half
and I want to know what he
thinks of the quality of the work here.
They'll have to be taken off.
They need to be square
with the window there.
Absolutely, yeah.
They've got to be done again.
And if you look over
here, they've got the tape.
It's far too near the surface...
- and it hasn't been covered. Look.
- So it's split?
It's split. It's coming near the surface.
I'll just go up the stairs now
and see what the rooms are like upstairs.
See if there are any more defects.
Do you find many?
They seem quite small points to me,
but does Eric think
these houses are up to standard?
How do they rate against
commercial builders?
Well, they're not too bad at all, really.
And when they've put
all these things right,
it will look as good as
a professional builder.
The technical success of these
self-builders is a real achievement
and socially, this scheme
feels very progressive.
However, I do have reservations
about the architecture
and I wanted to ask the head of
the housing association, Chris Handy,
why these houses look
so like Brookside Close.
Walking down this street,
these houses don't look that different
from those that are put up
by a commercial developer.
They're not - how shall I say? -
architecturally that innovative,
nor are they particularly
innovative in terms of
environmental friendliness
- their green value.
They're conventional brick-built houses,
aren't they?
We don't want social housing
to look as though it's social housing,
because there's been a
problem of some stigma
attached to social
housing in the past,
so we're trying to get away
from, if you like, showing housing
to be, if you like, for needy groups.
So your brief to the architect here was,
"Design something which looks similar
to what's going on up the road?"
It wasn't our brief to
the architects. It was
the self-builders.
That's a critical issue.
Oh, really?
The group itself wanted
housing of this nature,
of traditional construction.
And there's another
advantage in that, as well,
in that what we wanted to do
as part of this project
is to, I suppose, equip people
with real technical skills
so that they could get
jobs on the job market,
so the traditional construction techniques
have helped them do that.
It's no good teaching people
unusual building skills
they won't be able to
use in the job market.
It's late November
and for the self-builders the rewards
for their efforts are finally in sight.
The budget for the build includes £1,000
per house for kitchen units and appliances,
but that's it.
They have to pay for
all their own furniture.
Members of the group
are now concentrating on their own houses.
This build has been underway
for 18 months now
and it's now December
- this is the month in
which they were
supposed to have finished,
and actually, they pretty well have.
Calvin's house is No.3, and he's already
moved in and is making it a home.
Hey, what a pad!
I remember you saying
you didn't want any...
- you didn't want much furniture, and look!
- No - just poufs,
the stereo...
- And your sound system.
- And my sound system.
That's a major piece of furniture here.
My goodness!
Yes, that's LOCO-watt Pioneer here.
- This is going to be a club, this place?
- Oh, who can say?
Where my friends can come, chill out...
and we can play music, sit down,
talk about Rastafari, and all that.
And it's...
it's huge, Calvin.
- Kitchen. It's massive.
- It is massive, isn't it?
Dining area here, breakfast bar...
- Everything.
- Units...
- What's this? Dishwasher?
- No.
Washing machine, tumble dryer...
And fridge - it's got its own house.
- Yes.
- Fridge freezer.
- How many bedrooms have you got?
- Four bedrooms. Four.
Yeah, very...I mean, you know, small,
but I grew up in a bedroom that size.
What, airing cupboard in here?
No, it's...a tank.
Tank and airing cupboard.
Nice bathroom.
- Another bedroom.
- Yes.
They're all a good size, aren't they?
- And this is yours?
- Yes. Flooring ain't finished yet.
But was there a time there, Calvin,
during this build,
where you felt, actually, you know,
"It's not within my grasp. I don't
think I'm ever going to...to get it"?
Or was there a time when you thought,
"I'm just going to give up"?
No, I never thought that,
cos it's too much of a strong hold.
I've waited five years,
so...no, I didn't think of giving up.
- Mm.
- Never once thought that.
But what was the worst time?
It's when I was off sick.
- Oh, really? With your back?
- With my back. I couldn't come in.
I wanted to come in, but the
doctor said, "No, you can't come in."
- How long were you off for?
- About two months.
So how did you make up all that time, then?
- I just came in and I just work.
- Really?
What was the best time?
What was the greatest moment in all of it?
When all the brickwork finished.
- Oh, really?
- Yes!
And I walked down here and I went,
"Oh, yes! The brickwork."
What, just because you were relieved
to get it all done?
Yes, because that is the hardest
part, I think, is the brickwork.
Paul, one of the other bricklayers, lives
right across the street from Calvin's.
He's ready to start decorating.
I never thought I'd end up,
like, building my own house.
You know...
But you know, now I know I can do it.
- Yeah.
- Well, most of the things, anyway.
Yeah, you know.
And at the end of the day, like,
we know all our neighbours
and we, like, we help each other now,
you know?
If we need anything,
we'll be more conciliatory to each other.
It's a bit different
to moving into a brand-new estate
and taking five years
to get to know your next-door neighbour.
That's it. We know each other already,
so...that's the good thing about it.
Yeah. The community's there
before you've all moved in.
That's it. Now we've got
our own little community now.
Yeah.
But, Peter, you...you certainly thought you
might be retiring after this one, but...
have you found a new energy,
a new excitement, working with these guys?
Well, it's a good way of finishing off
your career or, you know, your trade,
that you are helping the others,
which has been the main aim for me
right from the beginning.
You said that you've taken
so much out of the industry over the years,
- you want to put something back.
- It's been good for me,
so to be able to put it
back in has been a plus
and when these people are now working,
got a good life in front of them,
earning some decent
dough, that's good to see.
- Are you pleased?
- I'm very pleased indeed.
One of the things
that we've geared ourselves towards
is the quality of the work
that's carried out on the site.
As you said, the Clerk of Works
has come down and snagged
and the things that have been found
are just minor things.
We've had the building inspector
from Birmingham City Council come down
and he's expressed how high-quality the
work is, considering they're just trainees,
so I'm really pleased.
That's what it's all about
- them and their skills,
and also earning a proportion
within the properties they've built
to increase that sense of ownership -
"This is ours. Yes, we built it
but we also own some of it, as well."
Even the very last house that'll
be finished is ready for decoration.
For Petrona,
this means a whole new inspiring start.
Well, I bought this cat, originally,
and that was going to be
like a centrepiece of the room.
- There's actually two of those.
- Will this be an Egyptian room?
It's going to be inspired.
I don't want it Egyptian.
I'm not going to go way over the top
and have all kinds of Egyptian
kind of furniture, things like that.
I just want to incorporate the colours,
so you just walk into the room
and you kind of...you
can see what it's
meant to be by looking
at these with the gold
- and the designs and the eye there.
- Yeah.
- And the hieroglyphics?
- Yeah, I'm going to do that.
- What are you going to do?
- With the hieroglyphics what I'll do is,
I'm going to put my name backwards,
and my name backwards is Anortep,
- which sounds Egyptian.
- It does sound Egyptian.
- Which sounds Egyptian.
- You're not Egyptian.
I'm just going to put... No, I'm not.
No. No, I'm not, but
I'm going to sort of
use that and do like a
signature in the room
just so, you know...
Been planning this
scheme for about four years.
- As long as...?
- Yeah, yeah.
As long as you've been thinking about
the house you've been planning this?
Yeah, yeah. The Egyptian idea, yeah.
Did this motivate you to build the house -
to get involved with the project?
No, no, but I must admit, though, if you
get an opportunity to build your own house,
you know, when it comes to decorating it,
you do tend to, sort of, use...
you know, come by ideas that, you know,
you wouldn't normally get to do,
so it's all been very, very inspiring.
It's just a way of just,
you know, ending it all.
Freedom, in other words.
Having a blank canvas to work on.
Come and show me your kitchen.
Hey, it's all in.
It's currently unfinished.
You've got your
machines to go, haven't you?
Yeah.
They're going to be all
stainless - is that right?
Unfortunately, no.
Only the cooker is going to be, yeah.
Well, that's kind of nice,
cos that's the thing that's on display.
The handles are wrong.
- They need to be changed.
- To something kind of groovy.
You need
something a bit more...
I want stainless
steel or nickel on those.
In all of this,
what was the worst moment for you?
I think it was last
winter - the winter of '99.
It was the first winter that we'd...
that we'd had and...
You were building through.
Yeah, we were building
through and we didn't
quite realise what it
would take, you know,
to keep coming on site in bad weather,
when it was cold
and we were hungry, and we
wanted to go home, and things like that,
and people started to think,
"Ooh, I'd rather be at home," or whatever.
That, as well-
I think we all got a shock with that.
What's kept you going?
Knowing what it could
be when it's all over.
Knowing that it's a fresh start for me,
it's a fresh start for my son.
Knowing that he's looking forward to it.
He's looking forward to showing his friends
around and you know...
my family seeing it, as well.
Yeah. And the big plus
for you then, personally,
I mean, to say that you've
achieved that, presumably?
Knowing, yeah-
the knowledge that I've actually done this,
that I did this off my own steam
and I was determined to do it.
I talked myself into doing it.
That, you know, has been...cos it's been
quite an experience. It's been hard work.
And what was the best moment?
What was the highlight?
Walking in and seeing my kitchen.
Oh, really?
- Yeah.
- When did you do that?
Last week. I walked in and seen it.
- Very exciting...
- Yeah.
It looks like a house.
It looks like a house.
It's got a kitchen.
Suddenly it's got
a kitchen in, yeah.
For Carol, too,
it's a first chance to make her own home.
These are wall placards...
that I'm going to
erm...put up on the walls.
Yeah. How much stuff
like this have you got?
Quite a bit, actually.
I didn't realise just how much I had.
This is a sort of glazed bread, glazed...
- Have you been buying all this, Carol?
- Yeah.
Amazing. You're going to decorate
the whole place to look...
- I bought these.
- This is your fantasy home, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
My kitchen - I want my kitchen
and my living room...
When did you start to
plan and buy all this stuff?
Buy all this?
When did you start
getting the bug for it?
About three years ago.
That far ago? Even
before you'd built the house,
you'd already dreamed
what it would look like?
Yeah.
I just don't want...one room to look nice.
I want all rooms to look nice.
I want it to look like a show house.
Because it's all that I've ever dreamed of-
owning my own house
and having it exactly
the way that I want it.
And this - this is the only
way I can do it, by going out...
I mean, I probably brought too much, so...
But I'll find
somewhere for it.
You'll find somewhere
for it to go, won't you?
But I mean, it is exciting.
I've got a big dolphin
coffee table, as well.
It's just been stuck in a box since 1997,
cos that's when we brought it...
...and it's a big, massive
dolphin table. It's lovely!
I was going to ask you what, you know,
what the best moment of the build has been,
- but it's kind of...
- All of it!
It's almost pointless - the best
moment for you is going to be moving in.
Well, basically, yeah.
Moving in and getting all my stuff out
and putting it in different areas
and my colour scheme, as well.
Like I say, I'm going
to keep it neutral with a
green ivy going through
the top of the ceiling
and trailing down the walls.
The hall,
I'm going to colourwash it a warm colour.
The living room's going to be
a marbled effect on the walls.
The kids' bedrooms - I've let them choose
their own colours, really,
so they're going to have four
different colours on their walls.
And the bathroom and shower room -
I've even gone for a dolphin-tile effect.
Yeah?
Yeah, on the bathroom
and the shower room.
It's all very exciting now, but there must
have been times when it was really hard.
What was the worst moment for you
in this build?
- Truthfully?
- Mm.
If you're not careful, er...
...it can ruin relationships.
We haven't been a family for four years
because we're never all together.
Yes. So it hasn't been
so much a worst moment
as just a trial getting
through the whole thing?
Yeah.
It's hard to explain to
the children, as well.
You know, I try and say to them,
"I know where we're living at the moment
isn't very nice,
but we still have to live here,
we still have to look after it."
Do you know what I mean?
But, you know, like I was saying before,
you feel guilty sometimes,
cos you can't devote your time to them.
But hopefully, it'll be a future where...
...what we're proud of
and the children will be proud of, too.
Yeah.
I see this as an
investment I can leave them.
- Yeah.
- Do you know what I mean?
I've been really quite privileged
for the last 18 months
watching these people change and grow
as they build their houses.
Of course, these aren't exactly
stunning pieces of architecture,
but what they do give everybody here
is something that many of us take for
granted, and that's a permanent home,
a secure base
on which they can now build their future.
owning my own house and have it...
and having it exactly
the way that I want it.
Generally speaking,
self-builds always are tough.
If I had known...
Er... I wouldn't have done it.
- Why are you doing it?
- Why am I doing it?
- Yeah.
- Well, I want a house, anyway.
And...
... I want a house.
Owning your own home
can seem an impossible dream for anyone,
but even more so
if you're on a low or assisted income.
But here in Birmingham,
a local housing association
are running an innovative scheme
where a group of people
who can't afford to buy their houses
have been given the
opportunity to build them.
Most of the 11 self-builders here
are on low or assisted incomes.
They're a multicultural group selected
by local housing association Accord
to work as part of a team,
building their own and each others houses.
None of them
had any previous building experience,
so they spent two years being trained
and started on site in May 1999.
With 11 houses to build,
this project'll take them four years
from start to finish,
but they each have powerful reasons
for taking on such a huge commitment.
I've got a son and he's already
boasting to his friends at school
that, you know, his mum is
building his house so...you know.
So I'm doing it for him
and I suppose I'm doing it for me, as well,
but it's a hard slog.
Pelrona is a single mum who hasn't decided
which skill she'll specialise in yet.
Carol, the only other woman in the group,
knew she wanted to be an electrician
from the beginning.
What attracted me to
building my own property
was because I'm
on the council, yeah?
And I've got two children
at home - two boys,
I'm more or less stuck
in that flat till probably
they grow up and leave
home, type of thing,
and the area in which I live in
is not very nice, neither.
Paul Young is training to be a bricklayer.
He was working on
the railways before and
sees this as an
opportunity for a new career,
as well as having a new home
with his three-year-old son.
Where I live now,
I'm in Nechells at the moment,
in a...a block of flats,
top floor...so, do you know what I mean?
I haven't got a choice, really.
I either stop there, in a 12th-floor flat,
or do my own house - build my own house.
At 48, Calvin is one of the oldest members
and, as the senior citizen of the group,
he's been voted in as team chairman.
Well, I'm the chairman
plus the foreman of the bricklayers
and I tend to keep the group together.
There 'II be 11 houses in all,
eight with three bedrooms,
two with four bedrooms
and one with five.
They'll form a kind of horseshoe, tagged on
at each end to the neighbouring estate.
The houses will all look exactly the same
and apart from their difference in size,
the group have had a very limited input
in their design.
They're all the same basic layout.
Each house is constructed in exactly the
same way - concrete basis, timber frames,
partition walls, roof trusses,
tiles and traditional brick cladding.
Each house will cost
approximately £30, 000-40, 000 to build.
Their current estimated value
is £60, 000-70, 000.
In return for building the houses,
they'll each own 25%
of their finished home.
This is called 'sweat equity'.
So you're in a group of first-time builders
who are having to learn on the job.
They've got a tight schedule
and an even tighter budget
and perhaps their biggest challenge is that
they're having to work together as a team.
Angela works for the housing association.
It's her job to hold the team together.
These people -
the group that have come together-
how did they get
together in the first place?
We just advertised
to members of the local community,
Asian papers, housing offices, churches...
We just went to all the necessary places.
Some things pass by word of mouth and
people came along to meetings and slowly...
We started off with four people,
then slowly, from there,
we just built as a group.
Do they all have to be here every week?
Is that the rule?
Yes, everybody's got to be here every week,
but we've worked out a system
where you can sort of bank hours.
If you do more than your required
site hours, you can bank some hours.
Self-build can take over your life
and when people come to join the group
I say to them,
"If you're doing this,
imagine you have no life.
If you have a partner,
tell her she isn't going to see you."
But at what stage
was it made clear to them
- that it would be that kind of commitment?
- From the start.
I'm a great believer in telling it as it is
and not glossing it up,
so they come along to the
meetings and I say, you know,
"if you have any problems with this...
We're a multicultural group. Things like...
Again, if you have any racial problems,
don't bother staying."
The other person employed by the housing
association to run the build is Peter.
A site manager, he brings
40 years' experience in the building trade.
As I'm coming
to the end of my working life,
I'd like to give something back, and I
think this was an ideal way of doing it.
I'm running it like a small business,
so therefore it's my business.
I also work on the site hands-on.
And what about the schedule?
They're not...
They're a little bit behind, aren't they?
We're a little bit behind
- we started in...May.
We got our services in.
They will start picking up.
Each team member
has to give 20 hours every week
for the next year and a half,
in return for which
they will own a share of their own home.
Now, at any point in the future,
they can increase that share
by buying back more from the housing
association - say, with a mortgage,
or they can carry on paying rent
to the housing association,
or they can sell their share on.
Whichever route they choose,
every self-builder here
has the opportunity to become a homeowner.
It's early December 1999.
Four houses are already standing,
put up during a special training phase
when the group received extra help.
That phase ends today.
There are seven new houses
to start from scratch and just over
one year to complete the project.
The first to go up will
be houses 5, 6 and 7.
The timber frames have
been fabricated off site.
All the frame building team have to do
is get them off the lorry
and nail the pieces together.
It's like a house in flat-pack form,
and we all know how easy
the instructions for those are!
Yeah...
This is the first time the team
are doing everything without outside help.
The method of construction they're using
is really popular in America,
but it's fast catching on here, as well.
All they do is lay down a damp-proof
membrane straight onto the concrete floor,
put a base plate in,
and what they've done here, on top of that,
is build the entire structure in timber-
not only the internal walls,
but also the inner skin of
the external wall, as well.
While this team are specialising
in timber-framed building,
others are developing different skills
on the build.
- All right, Carol?
- Hiya.
- How's it going?
- Fine.
- You're an electrician, aren't you?
- I am, yeah.
- What level are you at, then?
- I've done City & Guilds Level 1.
It qualifies me to actually go in
and just do domestic wiring.
What were you doing before then?
Well, I work part time behind a bar,
anyway, and I'm still continuing with that,
so there's a lot of late nights
and early starts, type of thing.
Plus I've got two children
that I have to get in to school.
- Oh, my goodness!
- So er...
- So what do you do during the holidays?
- I work.
- School holidays?
- Yeah, I work.
- What do you do with the kids, then?
- They're looked after.
- You bring them here, give them a hammer?
- No, they're not allowed on site.
They're looked after
by my partner's mother.
- Hello, Mr Azad.
- Hello, how are you?
You're a painter and decorator,
but you're carpenting today?
- I learned nearly everything, you know.
- Have you?
- Yeah.
- What, brickying as well, have you?
What are you doing at the moment?
Well, I work as a
security officer at night.
- And you work here by daytime?
- Yeah, yeah.
So when do you sleep?
I don't know, myself.
I get about four, five hours, you know.
- I finish seven o'clock and then get up...
- And you have a family, don't you?
- Yeah, that's why I need...
- A large family?
Yeah, large family -
that's why we need a big house.
- How many children?
- Seven.
Seven children! How many wives?
Wife is one yet.
One!
The outer skin of the houses
is conventional brick and mortar.
Bricklaying is hard work,
and already the strain is showing
on the bricklayers Paul and Tab.
Now that we're behind a couple of weeks...
you know, they want
everyone to do more hours.
I think the people who are working
are going to find it hard,
and the majority of us are working.
It's just me, Calvin and Paul, really,
who aren't working
and are doing part-time college, like.
Doing building work of
any type is hard enough,
but for this group,
the greatest difficulty is
finding the time and energy
to work on their project.
Each group member
still has to go to college,
look after their kids
and earn their day-to-day living,
and after doing all that,
when most of us are ready for a good rest,
they've still got to put in 20 hours a week
of hard graft on a building site,
for which they receive no extra cash.
It's even more difficult
for Calvin, the group chairman.
He's been off sick for six weeks
and he's back now doing light work,
but he's worried about making up
all those hours.
Cannot lift 90 degrees,
so it will be a bit difficult for me to do
any heavy-duty work at this moment in time,
so I hope to get fit as quick as possible.
I'll be doing a lot of light
work for the meantime,
until I get fully fit to do the brickwork
and, afterwards, the tiling.
It's early December
and already the group are finding it hard
to put in enough hours on the build.
The frames for houses 5, 6 and 7 should
be up by now and the roofs should be on,
but they're only just beginning to work
above first-floor level.
It's still early days, but Petrona,
for one, is close to breaking point.
I knew it was going to be hard, but er...
...it's harder than that, even.
If I had known...
Er...I wouldn't have done it.
Well, I think that, generally speaking,
self-builds always are tough,
and I don't think people who go into them
at the very beginning,
especially people who haven't had any
experience of the building trade, as such,
realise that it's just hard work.
You've just got to get
stuck in and get working,
so I think people get
a little bit of a shock
there, who've not been in
the building game before.
But this team are just
not getting stuck in.
They're simply not building enough,
so Angela calls everyone
for an emergency meeting.
Site hours and morale.
I know the winter months
are starting to set in
and I know that -
through about three or four group members -
some people are concerned about the morale
and about the hours, and so forth,
that are being done on site.
One of the first things I want to do
is to thank Paul and Tab
who have really, really
been putting in their
hours, and so forth,
and working hard, above and beyond
the call of duty whenever needed,
while here during the day.
We're not pointing the finger at anybody
who is not during the day,
because people's
circumstances are different
and what they can put into the scheme
is different,
but I am concerned
that the winter months are setting in now.
Christmas is coming
and, you know, when the cold bites,
people aren't really enthused
to come out of their homes.
And Ramadan is coming up soon.
I'm conscious
that Ramadan is coming up, as well.
You're doing well,
but experience from the previous groups...
This is the point where
the groups start to falter,
because the winter weather's coming
and that level of enthusiasm isn't there.
Does anybody want to say anything?
Mm. Well, I had a word with you, didn't I?
- Mm-hm.
- I'll be honest.
I was thinking about leaving the scheme.
Erm, I explained to Angela the reasons
and some of them are to do with my
domestic arrangements, and whatever,
and also because I felt that I didn't
have the flexibility to do the extra hours
and so I couldn't bank any time,
so I could never have any time off
and I thought that was quite difficult.
It's only two months since I first came
here and already things are going wrong.
Morale is low, they're falling behind
schedule and if that's not bad enough,
some of the group members
are even thinking of pulling out.
Now winter's setting in...
and what was always going to be
a difficult project
is turning into an even bigger challenge.
It's the New Year, but has Angela managed
to bring new energy and commitment
to the self-build team in Birmingham?
It's a good opportunity and I'm
grateful for having the opportunity,
but I don't think I'll
do it again, cos it...
...it goes into everything, man, don't it?
- I know, yeah.
- It takes up...
..a lot of time.
It does, you know, and your kids suffer.
Your relationship could suffer.
Your workplace suffers, if you work...
I work pan time, as well...
so everything suffers, in the end.
Do you know what I
mean? And you don't
realise that - you
don't realise all of that.
- Until you come on...
- ..and you're doing it.
The building work is still mostly outdoors
and the weather is appalling.
With all the rain and the team still
struggling to put in their hours on site,
Peter, the site manager,
has a tot to battle against.
Let's go down now and check these out.
I think we lost in the December month
192 production hours...
...and we lost in November, too,
and we lost in January, too,
because it's the plaster boarding
that's really put us behind.
We just haven't been
able to get on top of those.
Nailing up plasterboard isn't difficult,
but it is a repetitive and tedious task
which nobody in the group
appears to want to specialise in.
What makes it even
more frustrating for Peter
is that, with the bad weather,
this is one indoor job
on which the team
could really be catching up time.
And to add to his problems, they
also have to deal with vandalism on site.
We've got to put up with all these
little things that keep happening.
Break-in, Sunday evening.
Not excessive.
They didn't do any damage internally,
which was a blessing,
but then again, it's time and money
and, you know, you're looking at
250-300 quid before you turn around.
But it's not all bad news.
Petrona, at least, is trying to
put her difficulties behind her.
You had a problem before Christmas,
didn't you?
I took some time off.
I took some time off to spend with my son
and recharged my batteries, which I've
done, and which is why, you know, I'm back.
Were you not thinking, maybe,
that it wasn't for you, at a certain point?
Oh, you always think that.
You always think that you'd rather
be at home doing something else,
or, you know, sort of
concentrating on other things and...
You know, the whole idea is
to get it finished, get it done
and then, you know,
you carry on with what you want to do.
So it's a chapter in your life,
but, you know, there is an end to it,
so I'm just looking forward to that,
seeing it finished.
By February, houses 8 and 9 are up
and ready for the roofs to go on.
Roof tiling is a fairly specialised skill,
plus you need a head for heights.
Petrona, Calvin and Tab
are among those rising to the challenge.
- They've been laying them themselves?
- Oh, yeah.
This wasn't something
they intended to do?
No.
Weren't you going to
get roofers in to do this?
Well, we was, but the thing is that we...
we got in touch with Redland
and they actually do courses.
Right. So you sent
them all off on a course?
Including myself.
Right. And you've done the whole thing?
We've done all those.
Those was ours.
All those was ours, yes.
Angela is keen to do whatever she can
to keep up the new momentum of the build.
Things have improved
in the past three weeks.
- Wouldn't you say so?
- I think so.
Yeah, cos on the time sheets I can see
that the hours are improving.
Now that the summer daylight hours
are coming along, as well,
the group are committed to putting in
a few more extra hours
to try and take the process forward.
There has been problems with timekeeping,
and things like that,
and there were, like, some people that
were doing, like, sort of...very long hours,
really unsociable hours, and
needing a break, feeling a bit burnt out.
The wintertime really does seem to
be that point where morale tends to drop
and I think the early darkness, and
all that sort of thing, does that to you.
You see night-time coming.
Night-time just means it's time to go home.
It's spring, and the frames
for the last two houses, 10 and 11, are up
and their roof trusses
are starting to go on.
As ever, Peter's there
to guide and push everything along.
It's unusual for self-builders
to do the roofing,
but Peter is determined
that everyone on
site should learn as
many skills as possible,
and by putting up their own trusses
and doing their own tiling,
the group have made a substantial saving
of £15,000,
which they can now plough
back into the build.
All 11 houses are now up
and in a month or two,
the first four will be ready to move into.
This provides a welcome inspiration
for everyone.
Carol's working hard doing the electrics
in Calvin's house, to help him get in.
- How much more have you got to do?
- In here?
Just these.
And that's it? That's
the house done, then?
No - we've still got to
drill the...for the lights.
He's having 42 spotlights in here.
- How many?
- 42, or thereabouts.
So this is what you
call "second fix", isn't it?
Yeah.
Your cables are in and
you stick the fittings in.
Yeah.
So we're all getting a
little bit more excited now,
because the house has actually gone up now
and the frame's up.
The roofs have got to
go up this week, as well.
So when do you move in?
I'm hoping to move in
by the 29th to the 5th of June.
Right that's very, very
soon. Are you excited?
Yes, I am.
I bet you are! And you've got your family,
as well, to bring in, yeah?
- Yeah, my daughter.
- Yeah?
It's all painted
different shades of green!
Yes.
Why did you consider doing the whole place
in different shades of the same colour?
It's soft colours and I'm a soft person,
so that's how I...
That's howl love it.
Mm! So how are you going to furnish it?
We're having big cushions - poufs, right? -
on the floor, cos I don't like furniture.
Oh, right - so this will
be very free-style, then?
Yes, it's going to be
like a bachelor's place.
- Oh, yeah? Are you a bachelor?
- Yes, yes, yes, yes.
And so I also hear you're going to have...
I think the electrician told me - Carol-
42 spotlights?
- Yes, because...
- Yeah, why?
The reason is that I
don't like wires hanging
down, because I
think it's old-fashioned.
Well, I'm going to have
dimmers in here, so...
I can dim out certain lights and switches
to switch off certain lights.
It's going to be quite
a groovy pad, isn't it?
It is.
I already figured out
where I'm having my boxes already.
I'm going to give Mr Azad...hell!
So where do these
want to go, then - in here?
Big kitchen!
Yeah. Nice, isn't it?
Ooh, God, I've just broken one.
- No, that's all right.
- Sounded awful.
It's about five times as big as my kitchen,
I have to tell you - it's enormous.
It's a big kitchen, you know,
so some money I paid from my pocket.
- Oh, really? Over and above the budget?
- Yeah, over the budget.
It's the best one we chose, I think.
- Best one? Best quality?
- Yeah.
Absolutely.
So how much extra did it cost you?
- £500, I paid.
- Well, that's not outrageous, is it?
All this is very beautiful,
but you are still behind.
- Yeah.
- How far behind still now?
I reckon that by now,
we should have been at least halfway.
We should have had
at least six houses completed by now.
- So?
- We've only got four.
- What's that, three months behind?
- Yeah, probably two months.
And you wanted to be in by Christmas?
These schemes cost money
and we can't afford to waste money,
cos money for the group members
is sweat equity.
So the sweat equity they're all getting
and the percentage value
in return for their labour
- is getting diminished?
- Yeah. You're eating into your ownership.
- So you need more effort? Even more?
- Yeah.
And Peter's going away
on holiday to Australia?
Yes, yes, yes.
Peter's going away in Australia to see his
family and, you know, my concern was that,
because he's not here,
things are going to slip again.
Before Peter leaves,
he has to ensure that the pace of the build
keeps going while he's away.
He's decided that he has to push
the plaster boarding forward
and so he's organised certain members
of the group into a focused team.
He's called it the A-team.
So what's your reasoning
behind putting them together as a team?
Well, to try and move the production along,
because we've got to try and get people in
by December 31st,
so if we try to board a house
using as much labour as I can...
- When are you off?
- I'm off a week Sunday
but I won't be back again till...
after the August bank holiday.
Yeah. So how are you lot going to manage?
You're chair of the committee, Calvin.
Are you going to be
running...running the site?
Yeah.
- Are you?
- Yes.
So, with Peter away the
whole month of August,
Calvin as group chairman has to step in
and take responsibility for the site.
Mr Azad's is almost finished.
I don't want nothing to do with the Azads'.
That's going to be started next.
Hello? Hello?
I'll put it in No.2, for now.
See you laters. Bye.
Alex!
I'll be with you in a minute, mate.
Do we have to have you this morning?
I'll just son out the men outside.
How many more?
I'm going to kill somebody.
Honestly, do we have to have you?
Definitely!
Can't you go away?
Stressing. Stressing.
Despite all Calvin's hard work,
progress has been slow.
Unfortunately, the majority of the group,
including the A-team,
are suffering a dip in motivation.
This isn't good news for Peter,
when he returns from holiday in September.
I would have liked to have come back
and seen 5, 6 and 7 boarded
and unfortunately, we're still stuck
in 5 and 6 and we're nowhere near...
we're nowhere near finishing them two.
We've certainly got to pull our finger
out now to finish by the...by Christmas.
There isn't any doubt about it.
Peter and Angela
are so worried about progress,
they've called everyone to another meeting.
After the experience
of last winter, they want
to propose bringing
in outside contractors
to help meet their Christmas deadline.
Two minutes. Quick, quick. Thank you.
So, the reason I called
this meeting is that
I need you, as a group,
to look at yourselves
and ask yourselves realistically, and in
conjunction with discussing with Peter,
whether you feel that you're going to be
able to commit the hours and time required
to finish your properties
by the end of January at the latest.
For every week past that
that we don't finish,
it costs you £1,000 a week.
So that's a grand a time
that's been logged onto your scheme,
so that grand a time
is eating into your equity money
that you're entitled to for the labour.
If we come to the
decision that yes, it is...
it does make sense
to bring contractors in,
um...would it make...
and we do get into our houses December,
January - do we lose sweat equity then?
- No.
- We don't?
Because my whole point in saying why
we should look at bringing in contractors
is that they will make sure to help
that you achieve that equity
and hopefully help us
finish this scheme by the
end of January and
everybody's in their house.
I fully endorse what Angela said,
because you need help.
Let's get people in by Christmas.
At least people will be in their houses.
So I'd like you all to show hands
of whether you're for or against this
motion for us to bring in some contractors
to help out on the scheme.
For- one, two, three,
four, five, six... OK.
Seven, eight. Eight for.
Anybody against?
No. Well, the ayes have it.
There are 4 months to go.
Even with outside help, getting all
these houses finished by Christmas
wilt mean even more hard work for everyone
and there's another winter to get through.
It's October and the new
contractors are on site
concentrating on specific tasks,
such as finishing the exterior carpentry.
Indoors, they've taken over from the A-team
and are getting on with
the plaster boarding.
Our group are still
required to put in their hours,
but it seems the only people around
during the day are the contractors,
so where are the self-builders?
The group have been a victim
of their own success.
They're all working now -
most of them, bar about two,
so therefore we have
no daytime labour
available, cos most of
them work during the day.
So, rather than waste those hours,
we've brought some contractors
plus trainee assistants on site,
and then the group members come in
during the evenings and on the weekends
and put in their hours, as normal.
So of those group members that trained,
how many of them have got work?
Of the entire group members,
nine of them have got work.
That's a lot. That's really good.
And they were all on the dole before?
All of them were on the dole bar three,
when we first started.
OK, and have they all gone
into construction work?
Have they used the
skills that they've learnt?
Some have.
Some have gone, like the bricklayers.
They've landed jobs
in terms of bricklaying,
and others carpentry,
and so forth.
Take Calvin. He's not pushy
with his personality, or anything,
but since he's been
chairman of the group, he's
learnt to get the respect
of the self-builders,
organise, get things done.
He has really developed
in personality and, son
of, what I'd call
"site-administration skills".
Paul Young - he's gone on
to get himself a new job
and again, he was really quiet, actually,
and he's done his bricklaying
and he's just this whiz now
at mathematics, and he cannot believe
he's achieved something.
Something like that
is what he never came here to learn.
Carol's moved on and
is working at Star City.
It wasn't actually that she was shy,
but she wasn't as confident in herself
and she's come on leaps and bounds
in terms of what she wants to achieve.
So are they going to be able to keep the
motivation up all the way until Christmas?
There's no "are they going to" -
they will keep the motivation up.
- They've got to?
- They've got to.
Because to achieve, to get into
their homes, that's what they must do.
The scheme's on track -
it's down to the self-builders.
I've set all the things I can in place,
to encourage them to deliver, basically.
And it just comes down to
how bad do you want it, really?
Well, I'd say they want
it pretty bad, because
after a full day's
work at their new jobs
they're coming down here every night
to put in their hours.
I wonder how the
experience of building their
own houses has helped
them in other ways.
So did you get your job at the club,
effectively, because you were working here?
- Did it help?
- I think so.
Confidence-wise, yeah,
because obviously, I've got a lot more
confidence with doing the self-build,
because you meet different people
day in, day out - you know.
You've just got to have a good personality,
as well,
which also comes across good
if you go for a job interview
that's going to involve
dealing with customers.
- What are you doing? What's your job?
- I'm a bricklayer.
You've gone from bricklaying here
to bricklaying for a job?
Yeah.
Do you find working nights a bit slow
compared to working during the daytime?
All this problem of artificial light and...
Yeah. What it is,
everyone in the day is fresh, you know.
They have a nice sleep
and they come to work and they be fresh
and whilst we're coming from work,
and we'll be quite tired,
and everything, so...
Yeah, it is a lot slower in the night-time,
obviously.
Yeah. You walk out into the gloom
looking for a screwdriver or a...
- You can't find it.
- Exactly.
Or a sheet of plasterboard,
and it's pitch-black.
Mm.
It's not enough to work hard.
The buildings have to pass
regular monthly inspections.
Eric Marshall, the site inspector,
has been visiting for a year and a half
and I want to know what he
thinks of the quality of the work here.
They'll have to be taken off.
They need to be square
with the window there.
Absolutely, yeah.
They've got to be done again.
And if you look over
here, they've got the tape.
It's far too near the surface...
- and it hasn't been covered. Look.
- So it's split?
It's split. It's coming near the surface.
I'll just go up the stairs now
and see what the rooms are like upstairs.
See if there are any more defects.
Do you find many?
They seem quite small points to me,
but does Eric think
these houses are up to standard?
How do they rate against
commercial builders?
Well, they're not too bad at all, really.
And when they've put
all these things right,
it will look as good as
a professional builder.
The technical success of these
self-builders is a real achievement
and socially, this scheme
feels very progressive.
However, I do have reservations
about the architecture
and I wanted to ask the head of
the housing association, Chris Handy,
why these houses look
so like Brookside Close.
Walking down this street,
these houses don't look that different
from those that are put up
by a commercial developer.
They're not - how shall I say? -
architecturally that innovative,
nor are they particularly
innovative in terms of
environmental friendliness
- their green value.
They're conventional brick-built houses,
aren't they?
We don't want social housing
to look as though it's social housing,
because there's been a
problem of some stigma
attached to social
housing in the past,
so we're trying to get away
from, if you like, showing housing
to be, if you like, for needy groups.
So your brief to the architect here was,
"Design something which looks similar
to what's going on up the road?"
It wasn't our brief to
the architects. It was
the self-builders.
That's a critical issue.
Oh, really?
The group itself wanted
housing of this nature,
of traditional construction.
And there's another
advantage in that, as well,
in that what we wanted to do
as part of this project
is to, I suppose, equip people
with real technical skills
so that they could get
jobs on the job market,
so the traditional construction techniques
have helped them do that.
It's no good teaching people
unusual building skills
they won't be able to
use in the job market.
It's late November
and for the self-builders the rewards
for their efforts are finally in sight.
The budget for the build includes £1,000
per house for kitchen units and appliances,
but that's it.
They have to pay for
all their own furniture.
Members of the group
are now concentrating on their own houses.
This build has been underway
for 18 months now
and it's now December
- this is the month in
which they were
supposed to have finished,
and actually, they pretty well have.
Calvin's house is No.3, and he's already
moved in and is making it a home.
Hey, what a pad!
I remember you saying
you didn't want any...
- you didn't want much furniture, and look!
- No - just poufs,
the stereo...
- And your sound system.
- And my sound system.
That's a major piece of furniture here.
My goodness!
Yes, that's LOCO-watt Pioneer here.
- This is going to be a club, this place?
- Oh, who can say?
Where my friends can come, chill out...
and we can play music, sit down,
talk about Rastafari, and all that.
And it's...
it's huge, Calvin.
- Kitchen. It's massive.
- It is massive, isn't it?
Dining area here, breakfast bar...
- Everything.
- Units...
- What's this? Dishwasher?
- No.
Washing machine, tumble dryer...
And fridge - it's got its own house.
- Yes.
- Fridge freezer.
- How many bedrooms have you got?
- Four bedrooms. Four.
Yeah, very...I mean, you know, small,
but I grew up in a bedroom that size.
What, airing cupboard in here?
No, it's...a tank.
Tank and airing cupboard.
Nice bathroom.
- Another bedroom.
- Yes.
They're all a good size, aren't they?
- And this is yours?
- Yes. Flooring ain't finished yet.
But was there a time there, Calvin,
during this build,
where you felt, actually, you know,
"It's not within my grasp. I don't
think I'm ever going to...to get it"?
Or was there a time when you thought,
"I'm just going to give up"?
No, I never thought that,
cos it's too much of a strong hold.
I've waited five years,
so...no, I didn't think of giving up.
- Mm.
- Never once thought that.
But what was the worst time?
It's when I was off sick.
- Oh, really? With your back?
- With my back. I couldn't come in.
I wanted to come in, but the
doctor said, "No, you can't come in."
- How long were you off for?
- About two months.
So how did you make up all that time, then?
- I just came in and I just work.
- Really?
What was the best time?
What was the greatest moment in all of it?
When all the brickwork finished.
- Oh, really?
- Yes!
And I walked down here and I went,
"Oh, yes! The brickwork."
What, just because you were relieved
to get it all done?
Yes, because that is the hardest
part, I think, is the brickwork.
Paul, one of the other bricklayers, lives
right across the street from Calvin's.
He's ready to start decorating.
I never thought I'd end up,
like, building my own house.
You know...
But you know, now I know I can do it.
- Yeah.
- Well, most of the things, anyway.
Yeah, you know.
And at the end of the day, like,
we know all our neighbours
and we, like, we help each other now,
you know?
If we need anything,
we'll be more conciliatory to each other.
It's a bit different
to moving into a brand-new estate
and taking five years
to get to know your next-door neighbour.
That's it. We know each other already,
so...that's the good thing about it.
Yeah. The community's there
before you've all moved in.
That's it. Now we've got
our own little community now.
Yeah.
But, Peter, you...you certainly thought you
might be retiring after this one, but...
have you found a new energy,
a new excitement, working with these guys?
Well, it's a good way of finishing off
your career or, you know, your trade,
that you are helping the others,
which has been the main aim for me
right from the beginning.
You said that you've taken
so much out of the industry over the years,
- you want to put something back.
- It's been good for me,
so to be able to put it
back in has been a plus
and when these people are now working,
got a good life in front of them,
earning some decent
dough, that's good to see.
- Are you pleased?
- I'm very pleased indeed.
One of the things
that we've geared ourselves towards
is the quality of the work
that's carried out on the site.
As you said, the Clerk of Works
has come down and snagged
and the things that have been found
are just minor things.
We've had the building inspector
from Birmingham City Council come down
and he's expressed how high-quality the
work is, considering they're just trainees,
so I'm really pleased.
That's what it's all about
- them and their skills,
and also earning a proportion
within the properties they've built
to increase that sense of ownership -
"This is ours. Yes, we built it
but we also own some of it, as well."
Even the very last house that'll
be finished is ready for decoration.
For Petrona,
this means a whole new inspiring start.
Well, I bought this cat, originally,
and that was going to be
like a centrepiece of the room.
- There's actually two of those.
- Will this be an Egyptian room?
It's going to be inspired.
I don't want it Egyptian.
I'm not going to go way over the top
and have all kinds of Egyptian
kind of furniture, things like that.
I just want to incorporate the colours,
so you just walk into the room
and you kind of...you
can see what it's
meant to be by looking
at these with the gold
- and the designs and the eye there.
- Yeah.
- And the hieroglyphics?
- Yeah, I'm going to do that.
- What are you going to do?
- With the hieroglyphics what I'll do is,
I'm going to put my name backwards,
and my name backwards is Anortep,
- which sounds Egyptian.
- It does sound Egyptian.
- Which sounds Egyptian.
- You're not Egyptian.
I'm just going to put... No, I'm not.
No. No, I'm not, but
I'm going to sort of
use that and do like a
signature in the room
just so, you know...
Been planning this
scheme for about four years.
- As long as...?
- Yeah, yeah.
As long as you've been thinking about
the house you've been planning this?
Yeah, yeah. The Egyptian idea, yeah.
Did this motivate you to build the house -
to get involved with the project?
No, no, but I must admit, though, if you
get an opportunity to build your own house,
you know, when it comes to decorating it,
you do tend to, sort of, use...
you know, come by ideas that, you know,
you wouldn't normally get to do,
so it's all been very, very inspiring.
It's just a way of just,
you know, ending it all.
Freedom, in other words.
Having a blank canvas to work on.
Come and show me your kitchen.
Hey, it's all in.
It's currently unfinished.
You've got your
machines to go, haven't you?
Yeah.
They're going to be all
stainless - is that right?
Unfortunately, no.
Only the cooker is going to be, yeah.
Well, that's kind of nice,
cos that's the thing that's on display.
The handles are wrong.
- They need to be changed.
- To something kind of groovy.
You need
something a bit more...
I want stainless
steel or nickel on those.
In all of this,
what was the worst moment for you?
I think it was last
winter - the winter of '99.
It was the first winter that we'd...
that we'd had and...
You were building through.
Yeah, we were building
through and we didn't
quite realise what it
would take, you know,
to keep coming on site in bad weather,
when it was cold
and we were hungry, and we
wanted to go home, and things like that,
and people started to think,
"Ooh, I'd rather be at home," or whatever.
That, as well-
I think we all got a shock with that.
What's kept you going?
Knowing what it could
be when it's all over.
Knowing that it's a fresh start for me,
it's a fresh start for my son.
Knowing that he's looking forward to it.
He's looking forward to showing his friends
around and you know...
my family seeing it, as well.
Yeah. And the big plus
for you then, personally,
I mean, to say that you've
achieved that, presumably?
Knowing, yeah-
the knowledge that I've actually done this,
that I did this off my own steam
and I was determined to do it.
I talked myself into doing it.
That, you know, has been...cos it's been
quite an experience. It's been hard work.
And what was the best moment?
What was the highlight?
Walking in and seeing my kitchen.
Oh, really?
- Yeah.
- When did you do that?
Last week. I walked in and seen it.
- Very exciting...
- Yeah.
It looks like a house.
It looks like a house.
It's got a kitchen.
Suddenly it's got
a kitchen in, yeah.
For Carol, too,
it's a first chance to make her own home.
These are wall placards...
that I'm going to
erm...put up on the walls.
Yeah. How much stuff
like this have you got?
Quite a bit, actually.
I didn't realise just how much I had.
This is a sort of glazed bread, glazed...
- Have you been buying all this, Carol?
- Yeah.
Amazing. You're going to decorate
the whole place to look...
- I bought these.
- This is your fantasy home, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
My kitchen - I want my kitchen
and my living room...
When did you start to
plan and buy all this stuff?
Buy all this?
When did you start
getting the bug for it?
About three years ago.
That far ago? Even
before you'd built the house,
you'd already dreamed
what it would look like?
Yeah.
I just don't want...one room to look nice.
I want all rooms to look nice.
I want it to look like a show house.
Because it's all that I've ever dreamed of-
owning my own house
and having it exactly
the way that I want it.
And this - this is the only
way I can do it, by going out...
I mean, I probably brought too much, so...
But I'll find
somewhere for it.
You'll find somewhere
for it to go, won't you?
But I mean, it is exciting.
I've got a big dolphin
coffee table, as well.
It's just been stuck in a box since 1997,
cos that's when we brought it...
...and it's a big, massive
dolphin table. It's lovely!
I was going to ask you what, you know,
what the best moment of the build has been,
- but it's kind of...
- All of it!
It's almost pointless - the best
moment for you is going to be moving in.
Well, basically, yeah.
Moving in and getting all my stuff out
and putting it in different areas
and my colour scheme, as well.
Like I say, I'm going
to keep it neutral with a
green ivy going through
the top of the ceiling
and trailing down the walls.
The hall,
I'm going to colourwash it a warm colour.
The living room's going to be
a marbled effect on the walls.
The kids' bedrooms - I've let them choose
their own colours, really,
so they're going to have four
different colours on their walls.
And the bathroom and shower room -
I've even gone for a dolphin-tile effect.
Yeah?
Yeah, on the bathroom
and the shower room.
It's all very exciting now, but there must
have been times when it was really hard.
What was the worst moment for you
in this build?
- Truthfully?
- Mm.
If you're not careful, er...
...it can ruin relationships.
We haven't been a family for four years
because we're never all together.
Yes. So it hasn't been
so much a worst moment
as just a trial getting
through the whole thing?
Yeah.
It's hard to explain to
the children, as well.
You know, I try and say to them,
"I know where we're living at the moment
isn't very nice,
but we still have to live here,
we still have to look after it."
Do you know what I mean?
But, you know, like I was saying before,
you feel guilty sometimes,
cos you can't devote your time to them.
But hopefully, it'll be a future where...
...what we're proud of
and the children will be proud of, too.
Yeah.
I see this as an
investment I can leave them.
- Yeah.
- Do you know what I mean?
I've been really quite privileged
for the last 18 months
watching these people change and grow
as they build their houses.
Of course, these aren't exactly
stunning pieces of architecture,
but what they do give everybody here
is something that many of us take for
granted, and that's a permanent home,
a secure base
on which they can now build their future.