A charity in the UK organized a team of volunteer builders to add an extension onto the house of a disabled man who’s been forced to sleep in his dining room for 3 years.
58-year-old Paul Kitterman hasn’t been able to walk since getting an abscess on his back three-and-a-half years ago, but without a bedroom on the ground floor, he’s had to sleep in the dining room.
But now, thanks to a team of volunteer builders, gathered together by the charity ‘Band of Builders,’ Paul will have a bedroom and bathroom of his own.
The team, of at least 25 laborers, started building the extension to the three-bed home home in Addlestone, Surrey, that Kitterman shares with wife Sasha, their son, and Paul’s mother-in-law, in March 2025.
The project was labeled by the English media outlet SWNS as a “DIY SOS” after a famous British television show of the same name.
“The first night was the best sleep and the best shower ever,” said Kitterman, speaking with SWNS.
“I can’t thank everyone enough—the volunteers from Band of Builders for giving their time and expertise, and all the builders’ merchants who have donated the materials… It’s overwhelming to realize that people would do this for me.”
Kitterman felt an excruciating pain in his back in October 2021, and after developing a fever and collapsing repeatedly, he was taken to St. George’s hospital. He was found to have an abscess on his spine, which required surgery to remove that resulted in sepsis and pneumonia.
He was put in an induced coma for a week, and upon waking, doctors said he wouldn’t be able to walk again because the abscess had crushed his spinal cord.
After 6 months of recovery and rehab, Kitterman went home but has been confined to the downstairs where he sleeps on his hospital bed in the dining room.
Sasha contacted Band of Builders—a charity which pulls together volunteers and donations for projects to help construction-industry workers battling illness or injury—while he was still recovering in the hospital.
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They agreed to come and help in March, and put out a call for volunteers to work on the extension. The volunteers work for free and all the materials are donated. Paul estimates the project has a market value of nearly $200,000. Friends and family raised over $25,000 to put towards the work.
“I still can’t believe that all these people are turning up just to help me—this makes me feel very lucky!” said Kitterman. “This will make a massive difference to my life. I think things will feel a bit more normal.”
Tim Winstanley, senior brand manager for DeWALT, a company which has contributed to the project, said that when he heard about Kitterman’s situation “we knew this was a project that we wanted to help with.”
“Our team is excited to donate their time to the project, alongside the tools required to complete the build, as we all know it will make a real difference to Paul’s life, and that of his family.”
Pro bono work from professionals has been in the news feed at GNN recently, with a story of a surgical team donating time and expertise to help deliver a baby grown inside a transplanted womb in March followed by the story of a local landscaping business that built a garden retaining wall for an elderly couple for free after hearing they were scammed by another contractor.
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