House to Home – Story of a Project Manager

My name is Melanie Taylor. I am a self-employed Human Resources practitioner and a member of a Carlisle Ambassadors. Having been involved to a smaller degree than I wanted to be in Give a Day 2015, when the dates for the 2016 initiative were released I cleared my diary to allow me to play a more active role.

I met with Andy Fearon and Miriam Lowe on 13 April 2016 to offer my support, and was asked if I’d be willing to lead a project called House to Home, which would aim to renovate some of the uninsured properties that had been affected by Storm Desmond in December 2015. Having always watched DIY SOS with admiration for what the team achieve – as well as a tear in my eye – this was too good an opportunity to miss and I agreed. At the Carlisle Ambassadors meeting the next day, Andy launched Give a Day 2016 and invited members to support the House to Home project. Three of the core team – Tristan Josh (Eco-tech Systems), Collette Butterworth (Responsible Consulting) and Anne Sowerby (Sassy Property Styling) – came forward at that meeting, and they were joined a week or so later by Colin Aimers (Kingmoor Consulting).

Initially, my time was spent meeting the owners of the houses that had been on the radar of Carlisle Vineyard church and other voluntary organisations since the floods, and assessing what needed to be done to bring them back to homes.

I was also desperately trying to raise funds for the project, being aware that an expectation that all supplies and trades would be offered free was a little optimistic. I set up a crowdfundng page and worked with colleagues from Carlisle Vineyard and Carlisle Ambassadors to make applications for grants from Cumbria Community Foundation’s Flood Appeal for 2 of the 3 houses we planned to help.

On 7 May 2016, I held the first meeting of my team – just a month before the GAD week in June! We discussed the fact that the timescales for this type of project were incredibly tight. Being aware that the dates were not flexible, we agreed that the approach of the project would be use the GAD week of 6-12

June 2016 as a launch week for the project, but that the work would continue on throughout the remainder of the year. We agreed this was the only way to ensure the project was completed to a high standard, and that we the required planning time. From day one the team were very clear that they did not wish to simply do a superficial spruce up of a property, only to leave the home-owners with a legacy of issues to deal with later.

The first property we helped belongs to George and Diane. Their home had been flooded with 9 feet of water, affecting 2 living rooms, kitchen, bathroom and stairway. George is a retired plasterer who had been receiving radiotherapy treatment for cancer at the time of the flood. Since that time, and with no insurance cover, he had worked to complete as much of the house as he could himself. When H2H got involved, he had managed to replace floor joists, re-plaster and re-fit the kitchen and bathroom. But doing this had taken its toll and George was tired. The couple needed a final push to return their house to a home. Added to this, the couple had been offered help from a number of trades in early 2016 which had never materialised. I therefore realised that, as well as the core aims of the project, we needed to build trust with these people.

The second property belongs to Jem and his dog Badger. Five doors down from George and Diane, Jem’s house had been flooded with 9 feet of water too, and this had affected his living room, kitchen and bathroom. Having no insurance, he had been unable to do anything more than strip the property out, and was ‘camping’ there with just a kettle, microwave and cool box for a kitchen. When H2H got involved with Jem’s property, his bathroom was still in situ – tastefully tiled in white and blue with a 3-piece bathroom suite. He had been advised that this would dry out over time, but we quickly realised this was not going to be the case and our first job was to strip the bathroom back to breezeblock walls and concrete floor to allow it to fully dry out.

Our third property belongs to Janine, who lives alone and whose house was flooded by chest-height water. This affected her living rooms, hallway and kitchen. Her property had just been issued with a drying certificate and the plaster and flooring was sound, so the requirements in her property were more cosmetic than at Jem’s. Janine was living with her mother nearby but was desperate to return home as soon as possible.

All three house-holds had 2 things in common – they had no insurance to cover the cost of repairs to their homes, and they were so grateful for any help offered. The lead up to the project was a blur of activity – assessing the properties to create schedules of work and required supplies, trying to raise funds and encourage trades to ‘give a day’. A couple of highlights stand out – like the day that Harris Iqbal from Penny Appeal contacted me to confirm his charity would like to complete the work required at George and Diane’s house.

I’d first met Penny Appeal in December 2015 when I was volunteering at Greystone Community Centre in the week after Storm Desmond. Penny Appeal visited with Amir Khan to host a lunch and take hot food and food parcels to some of the affected families. I’d shared details of the project with Harris in the hope that Penny Appeal could help to spread the word, but never imagined they would make such a generous offer of support.

Another highlight was finding out that our grant applications had been approved – this gave us a pot of cash, albeit much less than would have been required for a commercial renovation. As you’d expect, there were also low points. ‘Black Wednesday’ as it will always be remembered, was a day when the project became a little overwhelming. With no confirmed funds, few offers of trade help and time running out, I wondered if I’d taken on more than I could manage. I remember Andy Fearon and Miriam Lowe both speaking with my by phone to offer reassurance and encouragement to go on. And, given what we achieved, I am so grateful that I did carry on.

Give a Day week commenced on Monday 6 June 2016, however Penny Appeal wanted to renovate George and Diane’s house over the weekend of 4/5 June and so my week started early. They brought a contractor and a team of volunteers to re-decorate the property, fit flooring in the living rooms and stairway, and address a leak on the roof that had been a source of worry to the couple. Penny Appeal brought along ‘Citizen Khan’ actor and comedian Abdullah Azfal to rally their volunteers. Many of their volunteers were young Muslims who had travelled on buses from Wakefield, setting off at 6.30am to decorate the house of a couple they had never met, in a city that they had no connection with. This is not the image of young Muslims that is so often portrayed in the media and I was blown away by their enthusiasm as well as their sensitivity to George and Diane.

So by Sunday night, before GAD week had even started, H2H had completed its first property, and the project had been the lead item on the Sunday evening Look North news bulletin to boot. Talking to Diane and George in the following days, the change in their demeanour was visible – they were smiling and happy. They were delighted to have carpets back underfoot, commenting how living with concrete floors had taken its toll. This was a fantastic reminder for me of the things I take for granted every day.

Give a Day week itself was a hive of activity. Running two properties and co- ordinating over 70 individuals from around 30 different organisations was a challenge to say the least. It won’t go down in history as my finest example of project management – an evolving brief and lack of planning time meant the week itself involved far too much running about to get supplies than I would have liked, but needs must.

The sites were busy but great fun – many of us haven’t laughed so much in a long time. We worked incredibly hard, raising the bar as we went through the week and realised we could achieve more than initially expected. The team- working was fantastic to see, with people genuinely wanting to do their absolute best for the owners of the houses.

Within 8 days we had transformed both Janine’s and Jem’s houses back into homes again. The generosity shown by companies and individuals during the project was amazing to see. More than one group of trades arrived on site to offer a day’s help, only to reschedule their commitments for the following day when they understood what we were trying to achieve, and returning to help for a further day. We also did pretty well in getting the necessary supplies for nothing or for a very low cost – again, once people understood what we were trying to achieve they were happy to help as much as they could.

At Janine’s we have fitted 40 square metres of laminate flooring through the hall and 2 living rooms, reinstated all the skirting boards and architraves and helped to complete the decoration in these rooms. We also fitted two fireplaces and put plans in place to obtain a brand new kitchen and have the wood-burning stove installed. During the week, Janine acknowledged that she was struggling to make decisions and so, whilst it was clear that she wanted to play an active role in the process, the H2H team provided support to enable her to make the decisions required to move forward.

Without wishing to have favourites, Jem’s house has to be the star of the show, as this property required the most attention to bring it back to being a home. During GAD week we managed to completely re-fit the bathroom (plastering, first and second fix plumbing, new bathroom suite, new flooring and decoration), fit a donated 20-year old kitchen and make it look like new, insulate and plaster a long hallway, decorate and carpet throughout the ground floor.

Over 70 individuals helped to make the House to Home project a resounding success. Almost 1000 hours of time were donated by trades and volunteers. We brought the project in just under budget, spending around £6,000. Due to the number of supplies given free or at a much reduced rate, it is estimated that the ‘commercial’ cost of materials would have been in the region of £12,000.

It’s now 2 weeks since the project ended and, to be honest, I’m not sure I’ve fully taken in just what we achieved. The week itself was so busy and the focus was constantly on having things and people in the right place at the right time, or trying to resolve issues that inevitably cropped up. Now that the dust is starting to settle I can see that I and my team have changed the lives of three families in the city. Not just by restoring houses, but by showing compassion and kindness, and taking time out to talk and listen. Many of the house-owners were a little overwhelmed that a group of strangers would take time to help them. And Jem summed it up with a comment that “a shiny new home would be nothing without the support I have been given”. The concept of Give a Day is simple and can be achieved by anyone. I and my colleagues on the project know that we got more out of the experience than we put in, and have a huge sense of pride at what we managed to achieve. In a world often dominated by negative events and stories, I found it so refreshing to step into a world where people are willing to hold out the hand of friendship and help to those who, through no fault of their own, need a bit of support to get back on track. I can’t wait for GAD 2017, although I have no idea how any future project is going to top the House to Home project!

Melanie Taylor

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