Pals grant dying wish by buying dad ’s DIY SOS council house

A GENEROUS boss secretly did up a dying workmate’s home then helped raise the cash for his widow to buy it.

Addam Smith staged his own version of the BBC makeover show DIY SOS when he discovered employee Keith Ellick had terminal cancer

But fencer and landscape gardener Addam, 42, went one better than Nick Knowles, who hosts the show.

A crowdfunding page raised £58,000 to buy the council house so Keith’s widow Sasha Hogan, 28, and son Leighton, six, have a permanent home.

The deal, under the right-to-buy scheme, is due to be completed in the next few days.

Addam was devastated when, in January 2016, Keith told him he had throat cancer and j ust 12 months to live. Addam said: “But all he talked about was how Sasha and Leighton would manage without him. Keith was a proper grafter and he worked so hard for me in the 10 years I knew him.”

Four months later company director Addam used Facebook to recruit a 50-strong team to refurbish the two- bedroom home in Lincoln.

The plumbers, builders and gardeners gave up their time off and, fuelled by bacon butties from wellwishers, worked seven days straight to install a new kitchen and bathroom, lay new flooring, redecorate each room and landscape the front and back garden. In classic DIY SOS style, Keith didn’t know Addam and his team were hard at work as he enjoyed time away at a holiday chalet with Sasha and Leighton. The amazing makeover, which would have cost £ 60,000 in labour and materials, was finished before the couple’s wedding at Lincoln register office later in May. Many of the builders attended the couple’s big day and there was a surprise guard of honour of comrades from Keith’s former RAF regiment. Addam was congratulated by Nick Knowles and has now applied for charitable status for his team, called the Band of Builders, to continue to help others in the building trade who fall on hard times through ill health or injury. Keith died aged 42 in March. Sasha said: “I know Keith is resting in peace because Leighton and I have our own home which was something we dreamed about together when he was still alive.

“What Addam and the Band of Builders did for Keith and us was amazing. I know it meant the world to him to know the people he loved were being looked after. The house is still a beautiful memory of the time we had.”

Dad-of-two Addam said: “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Knowing Sasha and Leighton are going to have a roof over their heads was what worried Keith the most.

“The week we spent doing the house was the most rewarding thing ever and I think I speak for the rest of the lads when I say that.” The crowdfunding page gofundme.com/ Liftkeith has exceeded the amount needed to buy the house.

The extra cash will be used to set up trust funds for Leighton and Keith’s four other children from previous relationships.