Deaf couple break down in tears as 150 volunteers arrive to help rebuild home they share with their three children...after rogue builder fled with £72,000 and 'crushed their dreams'

A deaf couple who were harassed out of their life savings by a rogue builder and left living in a 'dangerous' unfinished home with their three young children for months were moved to tears after 150 volunteers stepped up to complete the job. 

Tonight's episode of the BBC One show DIY SOS follows Rifat and Ahmed Ali's ordeal after they were 'pressured' into paying the builder £72,000 before he abandoned the project.

Last April, the couple from Southampton commissioned the builder to carry out a ground floor extension that would make it easier to keep an eye on their children, including son Adam, who is autistic. 

'We wanted to change the house because of Adam's autism and the layout just doesn't really work for deaf people,' Ahmed said using British Sign Language.  

'We'd got this vision for the building work, we were so looking forward to it, and now we're here,' Rifat said, over visuals of their home lying in ruins. 

By the time presenter Nick Knowles arrived at the property in Bitterne, the family had been cooking meals in their bedrooms for three months, after the kitchen was gutted and exposed wires, broken walls and gaping floors made the home a hazard.  

'He crushed our dreams and damaged our home and left us in this mess,' Rifat added.

Tonight's episode of the BBC One show DIY SOS follows deaf couple Rifat and Ahmed Ali's ordeal after they were 'pressured' into paying the builder £72,000 before he abandoned the project

Rifat and Ahmed Ali in their home. Nick was taken aback by the state of the property as he realised it was extremely 'dangerous' while noting several structural issues that made it uninhabitable

Giving Nick a tour of their ripped-up three-bedroom property, Rifat and Ahmed explained how they ended up living on what was essentially a building site, with construction waste piled high in every corner of their family home. 

The couple use sign language to communicate with their three young children, Ishmael, Hibba and Adam, who are all hearing, and wanted to change the house's layout so they could keep an eye on them. 

They recruited a builder to extend the ground floor but became worried when they noticed the work had stalled. 

'The building work wasn't progressing at the speed it should be,' Rifat said. 'The builders would go off, and they wouldn't come back, and he started to pressure us for the money.' 

They claimed the builder 'pressured' them into paying £72,000 for materials 'that never arrived' and eventually abandoned the project after Rifat and Ahmed discovered he had been taken to court before. 

'The children can't go out into the garden, there's wires hanging out of the ceiling, we can't cook, we don't have a kitchen,' Ahmed added. 

When Nick arrived, Adam was sleeping in one room with his parents, while Ishmael and Hibba were sharing a bedroom. 

After draining their accounts to pay the builder, they didn't have enough money for repairs, as footage showed Rifat using kitchen appliances like the air fryer and microwave in the one surviving room on the ground floor. 

Pictured: The army of volunteers who stepped in to help renovate the family's home. The couple use sign language to communicate with their three young children, who are all hearing, and wanted to change the house's layout so they could keep an eye on them

By the time Nick Knowles arrived at the property in Bitterne, the family had been cooking meals in their bedrooms for three months, after the kitchen was gutted and exposed wires, broken walls and gaping floors made the home a hazard

'We try and stay positive for the children, but it's really hard with our youngest son, who has got autism and wants to roam around downstairs and have his free space,' Rifat said.

Nick was taken aback by the state of the property as he realised it was extremely 'dangerous' while noting several structural issues that made it uninhabitable. 

He advised the family to move out of the house as his voice broke, before adding: 'It's impossible for me to leave you in this situation.' 

Three weeks later, Nick was back with an army of builders, plumbers and electricians, as the sight of the volunteers gathered outside their home brought tears to Ahmed's eyes. 

'It's amazing, just thank you, thank you for coming,' the father-of-three told them. 'It's been quite a dark period, and I just feel like this is the light at the end of the tunnel.' 

An emotional Rifat added: 'I can't believe that you're going to change our house and make it home again. We just can't wait to come back. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts.'

The tearjerker episode ended with Rifat and Ahmed's homecoming after the DIY SOS volunteers finished 'six months' work in about seven days' – including the 'most ambitious electrical set up' ever attempted on the show. 

Rifat and Ahmed repeated 'it's beautiful' as Nick showed them around their new open-plan home, adding: 'It's beyond our wildest dreams.'

The team added thoughtful details like sensors in the children's bedrooms that are connected to a lighting panel that flashes if they shout or cry, and a vibrating fire alarm in Rifat and Ahmed's room. 

After the emotional tour, Ahmed thanked the builders for making their dream home a reality, adding: 'It's warm, it's bright, you are amazing, amazing human beings. 

'It really shows you what people can do when they come together.'