A family are devastated after a fire destroyed the uninsured dream home they spent £200k and three years renovating - weeks before they were due to move in. Sabrina, 34, and Peter Chadwick 47 were weeks away from moving into their renovated bungalow before it went up in flames.
The mum-of-five noticed smoke coming from the laundry room when she was getting her daughters uniform out the tumble dryer on 8 March. Fortunately, she got her children to safety, but flames ravaged through the family home.
The family had been living in a caravan and had deprived themselves of all luxuries to pay for the build. Peter, a mechanic, did all of the manual labour himself and Sabrina says 'it nearly killed him'.
Sabrina a hairdresser from Hythe, Kent said: “It would have been our forever home, now it’s gone forever. "The whole house is trashed - it’s just utterly heartbreaking.
“For years we put our hearts and souls into building that house. I remember my husband putting in the first bricks. Now he’s a broken man. I’ve never seen him this way.
“He’s nearly killed himself doing all that work and he says he can’t do it again.”
The mum-of-five estimates the renovation cost them £200,000 in total - including building materials and Steve's labour. The tiles alone cost £20,000.
She said: “I will never forget that moment - the realisation of what was about to happen. But the only thing I could think of was getting my children to safety. I got them in the car, drove away from the house and left my 13-year-old to look after the little ones.
“But when I got back to the house the fire was in full force and I couldn’t get anywhere near it. I’ve never been so frightened and sad in my entire life. It was absolutely awful.”
Sabrina and Peter have five children aged 13, six, five, two and one. Police closed down part of the road for several hours as seven fire fighters were sent to the home.
The couple had relied on their wages to finance the project and have been scrimping to afford the home since 2019. This house has been our wholes lives,” she said.
“If we didn’t have a takeaway, or we couldn’t have a holiday, it’s all been because we’ve been saving for the house. My younger children have sacrificed everything - they’ve not had proper Christmas or friends over to play, because we’ve been living in a caravan while all the work was being done.
“They’ve asked us why is mummy going to work at night and we’ve tried to teach them the value of working and hard saving for the thing you want.”
Prior to the renovation, Peter and Sabrina lived on a houseboat but wanted their children to have a safer home on land.
Sabrina added: “It’s dominated their lives. I think it’s been most upsetting for my six-year-old. He’s been sat with his dad with the digger, and he really wants Daddy to fix it.
“They believe their dad can fix anything and he thinks, well why can't you just fix this?"
The couple are unsure what their next move will be and had not been able to secure insurance for the home before it set alight. We’re still just trying to pick ourselves up," she said. “We’re not sleeping or eating. It feels like we haven’t woken up from the nightmare.
“We’re going to do anything we can, but we’re being mindful. “We put our kids though this once because we thought we were doing the best for them, but is it fair to take that time out of our children’s lives again?”
Right now, they are trying to make the remains of the structure water-tight. They are hoping to raise £20k to through their GoFundMe page to make the bare-bones repairs to the dilapidated home. They have already raised nearly £8k.
Sabrina said: "I am absolutely humbled and overwhelmed. We are people who mostly keep to ourselves, and so to see the sheer kindness coming for everyone has been incredible."
