Episode 9 Cowboy Trap

You know, we shell out over one billion pounds on bad building work every year.

There was dry rot, wet rot and rising damp.

It's not just the trail of destruction they leave behind

with their dodgy workmanship, it's the mess they make of people's lives.

For three years

my life's been a wreck.

I'm fed up to the back teeth of seeing what these so-called builders

do to hard-working, honest people.

I'm here to right some wrongs.

SHE CRIES

If you stick with me, I'll show you how to spot the bad guys and avoid falling into the Cowboy Trap.

Today on Cowboy Trap, we're in Glasgow, where the Allisons discovered their brand new flat

was not only riddled with dry rot, but their building developers

caused as much heartache as the builders they employed.

I was ready to have a nervous breakdown to begin with because the thought of it was just so horrendous.

And in Barking, Essex, Lucille Bowden had always dreamed of

a country kitchen, only to be led up the garden path by a cowboy builder.

You just feel so angry. You think, "How am I going to get through this mess?"

The chaos and upset inflicted by cowboy builders sometimes takes my breath away.

Cowboy builders couldn't give a monkeys

about the lives they are disrupting.

To them, you're just a cash cow, pure and simple.

And that drives me crazy.

I've spent over 20 years in and around the building trade

and I've got loads of insider knowledge on the industry and I would like to pass on

the benefits of my experience so that you can spot the bad guys out there.

Joyce and Arthur Allison sold their family home and bought their dream retirement apartment

in Glasgow's highly desirable West End.

But little did they know, the problems that were hidden under the floors.

They plan to spend their retirement in this refurbished, two-floor maisonette,

which cost over £500,000.

When they bought the apartment, they were initially delighted with their purchase

and being newly refurbished, the Allisons assumed all would be fine.

That couldn't have been further from the truth.

The developers bought the property,

stripped the building out completely and built these nice, three apartments in the building.

So we thought we would have trouble-free living

for the rest of our lives.

And then to our horror, we noticed a crack

in one of the skirting boards, which led to a discovery of

huge dry rot problems underneath the house with serious repercussions.

The floors of two of the bedrooms,

two of the bathrooms and the hall had to be totally replaced.

We got an independent surveyor to estimate exactly the work that was required

and the total cost will be around £30,000.

Naturally, we couldn't stay in the property, so we had to move out.

This is a bit of a disaster.

We had put all of our money into our house and we have money to live on

and that money is certainly not going to grow now that we are both retired.

The basement floor of the Allison's apartment was riddled with dry rot

because a damp-proof membrane had never been laid. Always recommended, especially in an older building.

They couldn't claim on their insurance and were about to

sue the property developer, only to discover he had already dissolved the company.

You'd think that spending over half a million pounds

on a newly refurnished property would give you peace of mind,

but not so for the Allisons.

To date, Joyce and Arthur have had to shell out at least £20,000 on remedial work.

It has cost a further £10,000 to rent another flat.

This all adds up to £30,000 before they can move back in.

£30,000 for ripped up floors, dust, dirt, dry rot

and huge disruption to their lives. And all that money is coming straight from their retirement fund.

Just how did the Allisons end up in this mess?

We saw it on the Friday morning, talked about it over lunch and came back

on the Friday and decided that we would go for it

and had it signed and sealed at the end of Friday.

The chap who sold us the house had told us he had originally intended to live in the house himself.

Buy in haste, repent at leisure.

Never rush into buying anything,

especially something

as expensive as property.

Don't be pressured into a sale

by fear of losing it.

This property developer doesn't seem to have inspected his builder's handy work at all.

For £500,000, one would expect a tad more attention to detail.

I want to see the Allison's property for myself.

I have decided to pay a visit and take a look at the evidence first-hand.

Hi, Arthur. I'm Clive Holland.

-I hear you've had one or two problems.

-Please come in.

Remedial works for the dry rot have been going on for months.

Arthur takes me directly to where it all started.

..three bedrooms and three bathrooms down here.

This is the main bedroom and it's got an en suite bathroom and a dressing room.

It's the dressing room which has become the focus of our lives for the last four months.

Because four months ago, we noticed a crack in the skirting board just down here

which turned out to be the first symptom of dry rot.

The first thing that I did was to cut up the floor boards

in the dressing room and there I saw the most horrible dry rot.

It was horrible because of these long white tenderings they send out.

There is no membrane at all?

There was no membrane at all. That's when we knew we had the trouble.

Their dressing room is a building site. That's what we need to tackle.

While their remedial work is taking place, the Allisons

have been stuck with cluttered rooms and possessions stacked everywhere.

They need a clean and tidy place to keep their clothes. And that's what we'll give them.

Before our team gets started, we wanted an independent opinion,

so we invited building surveyor Danny Farren to assess what was wrong.

The main defects that I noted was the lack of a damp-proof membrane

in the property.

That's a visqueen cover that prevents moisture coming from

the original solum into the new building.

So, if you were thinking about a mark out of ten for the original guys, what would you give them?

It would be a very low mark of zero or one.

Right, I've heard enough!

It's time to send the boys in.

Well, whether it's zero or one, I'm not surprised.

This couple bought a beautiful property from the outside.

But on the inside, it had lots of hidden problems.

Their situation has been quite demoralising.

I just don't want to live here any more. I want to move.

Our second story takes place in Barking, Essex, where one woman had

her hopes for a new kitchen dashed, all thanks to a cowboy builder.

You just feel so angry.

You think, how am I going to get through this mess?

Meet Lucille Bowden,

Mum of two grown-up sons. She lives with her partner in this two-up, two-down terraced house.

What she wanted was a simple single-storey extension

to accommodate her dream country kitchen.

What she didn't bank on was a builder who'd ruin her dreams.

There was something missing in our life and that was a kitchen.

A dining room table to sit at and communicate round as a family.

Lucille's builder came recommended by a friend and they agreed a cash payment schedule.

Though a contract was never to be seen.

It started fine. He asked for money. We handed over the money.

He wouldn't accept cheques. He only accepted cash.

I asked him where my contract was.

Basically, he said he hasn't had time to pick the paperwork up.

And no contract ever appeared.

In good faith, she kept making her cash payments. But the work never got finished.

Basically we was left with a shell...

..with half the roof done incorrectly. No flooring.

No plumbing. No electrics. If you can just imagine an empty match box, that's what I was left with.

12 weeks' work became 16.

At that point, he left them with not much more than a shell.

Appalling brick work, no utilities and foundations that were shaky at best.

To top all that, he took their entire £16,000 budget - a loan from the bank.

They then had to re-mortgage to get the extra £20,000 for the remedial work,

leaving them with a whooping £36,000 debt.

I'd like to have a word with this builder and ask him what went on.

Like all unfortunate householders who get caught up in the cowboy trap,

Lucille make mistakes like paying cash and not getting that all-important contract.

What I want to know is, why she agreed to those terms?

It's time to look at the evidence first-hand.

So, on my guided tour of her home, it's straight to the kitchen.

-It looks quite nice.

-As good as that(!)

I can't really tell that a cowboy builder's been in.

So you must have done a lot of remedial work?

Definitely. It cost us another £20,000. Would you believe that?

-Wow.

-But even though it's like this, there's still no tiles on the floor.

Lucille's worked hard to put right the shoddy workmanship her builder left behind.

She's had the electrics fixed and a new window installed in the roof.

She's fitted some traditional country-style kitchen units and sorted out the plumbing.

All might look finished, but there are still some major jobs to tackle here,

like that rough concrete floor and those bare walls.

Do that and her dream kitchen will be complete.

I'm going to get our boys cracking so we can start to see a big grin come back on your face.

-Lovely, thank you very much.

-It's a pleasure.

And I've just spotted an added extra.

Lucille has told us she'd always wanted some old country beams

to give her kitchen that rustic look.

We began to treat the builder as one of the family.

And when we think he even used to bring his daughter here and

she used to sit in my house, watching my telly and eating my food...

It pulls your insides out to think how somebody can do this to someone.

It's not right.

A good builder will always

respect your home

and keep the work area tidy

at all times.

Always agree

a written payment schedule

based on the works completed

and include it in your contract.

With £36,000 worth of debt, Lucille can't afford to put the finishing touches

to the kitchen she'd always wanted.

We can fix the bricks and mortar for this house-proud mum, but other scars have still not healed.

I have my table and chairs, my kitchen units and even though the extension is liveable,

I have not felt up to socialising one bit.

I still cannot believe that some three years on from starting her dream kitchen,

Lucille doesn't feel comfortable still about inviting friends and family round to her home.

I know our guys can't wait to get stuck in to finish off that kitchen.

Hopefully, fingers crossed, we might even get a dinner invitation.

Our guys have got their work cut out. Better get cracking.

First up, that ugly concrete floor which needs sealing before laying the tiles.

At the same time, preparing the unfinished walls for the splashback around the cooking area.

Lucille's dreams of a family kitchen turned into a three-year nightmare of epic proportions.

Coming up - will Lucille manage to get an explanation

of why her builder treated her in this way?

Back in Glasgow, our team have started work on the Allison's apartment.

For £500,000, Joyce and Arthur bought what they thought would be their dream retirement home.

But lurking under the floor boards was a nightmare waiting to happen - dry rot.

When they bought their three-bedroomed maisonette, little did they know

that a damp-proof membrane had not been put in and within a couple of years,

the Allison's new home was rotting from the ground up.

We were faced with a complete demolition

of the basement room of our house.

Including rental costs, the Allisons estimate it has cost them £30,000 to remedy the rot problem.

At the moment, they can't move back into their own apartment until it's sorted out.

The whole sorry story began when they found a mark on their skirting board.

When Joyce tried to wipe it away, her finger went straight through the rotting wood.

They brought in a dry rot consultant to advise them what to do.

He confirmed their worst fears.

No damp proof membrane and loads of dry rot.

And just look at what happened to their dream retirement home!

It's no wonder they had to move out.

After four months, I retain a sense of anger at the developers for their carelessness.

Even at the authorities for their lack of control.

Sadly, not even a survey might have spotted the problem.

Unless the surveyor had picked up visible evidence

that there might be a problem underneath the floor,

then he would have seen no reason to look under it.

I think he would not be able to pick up the problem at that stage.

A specialist company is tackling the dry rot problem.

But our guys are getting to grips with transforming the dressing room,

the place where Joyce first spotted the trouble.

While they crack on, I want to find out if the property developer was willing

to accept responsibility for any of this mess.

Give us some detail on what happened when you contacted the developer.

The only response that ever came back was a letter from the developer's solicitor, saying,

"The company to which you refer has been dissolved and there is no claim against it."

So it was a complete brush-off, that's the only communication that has ever come from the developer.

What were your feelings at this time with regard to the developer themselves?

I don't think that's repeatable, actually.

The most annoying thing is it would not have cost them very much.

It has cost us a lot

because we don't get insurance on it. We have to pay for it.

But it would not have cost him very much to have rectified the situation

had he done it at the time when the property was being renovated.

From an emotional aspect, what was that like?

I just wonder how it's ever going to be back to a state in which we can live again.

It's filthy and I just don't want to live here any more. I want to move.

That may happen, but we will have to wait and see.

It really has ruined the property as far as we're concerned.

I don't think I'll ever feel comfortable in it again.

I have nothing but sympathy for Joyce and Arthur.

It could be some time before their apartment is fully habitable again.

Take these tips from me, and you might avoid the headaches they've had.

Preparation is key to protecting yourself.

Official websites can be full of information.

And make sure your builder

hasn't had any county court judgments against him

or persistent complaints to Trading Standards

or even gone into insolvency, only to trade again some time later.

Joyce and Arthur bought a property that was beautiful on the outside,

but literally rotting away on the inside.

If you suspect that you might have a similar problem with your own property, take a look at this.

When the Allisons discovered the on-set of dry rot, they decided

to call in the specialist and he invented these babies,

dry rot sensors.

All you have to do with these is, bore a hole into any timber

that you are unsure about, maybe you have dry rot in -

seven mm hole - and then drop one of the sensors in and leave it for a couple of weeks.

It's coated with a re-agent and that will react to the fungi

that's actually growing in the timber, if there is any.

All you have to do then is withdraw it out and find out if you have got dry rot.

It can happen where the dry rot is in a couple of places

down the depth of the timber or just on the tip and they're great ways of monitoring as well.

Do you know what? They'll even work in brick work.

Now they're both retired, the money the Allisons have spent

on remedial works is coming out of their savings.

Their insurance wouldn't cover them and they were advised to sue the property developer.

But the developer had dissolved the limited company that built

the apartments, making it very difficult to pursue him legally.

It's time for us to contact him and ask a few hard questions.

What if I was to say you've got the opportunity to give him a call?

It's a chance for either you to make that phone call or I will make it on your behalf.

-I'm going to give you that opportunity.

-Well, I'll certainly take that opportunity.

OK. Give it a try. Let's find out what he's got to say for himself.

OK, good to speak to you again.

The answer of course is no, we're not very well.

We're at the end of a four-month...

problem with the basement.

I think perhaps you knew about it.

The quality of workmanship underneath the floor was very bad.

Did you know that? But you were responsible.

Your company was responsible.

I know the company was dissolved after that.

It's one of the serious concerns about the company being

set up and being dissolved and set up and being dissolved.

It's a serious problem in our mind.

It's a serious moral problem.

You develop basements and you don't bother putting down a damp-proof course.

The thing is, we bought our dream house from you

and we are desperately unhappy.

Yes, well, I know you regret it.

Yes, I know the quality of the development has been seriously deficient.

It's cost us £30,000 and it's very, very sad.

Thank you very much. Goodbye. He's not a builder, he didn't know.

They contracted a builder to do the work on the floor. I said to him,

"For basements of this sort, do you not think a damp-proof membrane is essential?" He replied,

-that was a technical question to which he didn't know the answer.

-Rubbish.

If I asked him about lead roofs he would not be able to answer that either because it was technical.

The guys running the company took over £500,000 from the Allisons alone

and there were two other flats in the property.

Despite taking their cash, the developers cut corners

and made basic building errors which could have spelled disaster.

If the Allisons hadn't exposed the dry rot problem,

that could have spread and threatened the whole house.

The owners of the company should be well and truly ashamed of themselves.

You know what you did.

Now we know what you did.

And pretty soon, I'd imagine Trading Standards will know what you did, too.

The property company did get in contact with us.

They said they understood the previous owners had done extensive guaranteed

rot treatment work and a completion certificate on the refurbishment was issued by the local authority.

All in all, they feel they're not at fault and that doesn't help the Allisons one jot.

The Allisons' retirement has been ruined as a result of the dry rot they discovered in their apartment.

Even now, their run of bad luck hasn't quite come to an end.

Oh, my God!

Back in Barking, Essex, Lucille Bowden is still reeling from a mess left behind by her builder.

She wanted an extension for a new family kitchen and had dreams of it being the centrepiece of the home.

What she got instead was a nightmare. Shaky foundations,

bad walls and brick work, no utilities and shoddy workmanship all round.

She then paid an extra £20,000 for remedial works and that was on top

of the £16,000 she gave her builder before he did a bunk.

A total of £36,000.

You know, he's seen me as an easy street. He took advantage of a good person.

Their builder made such a botch of things,

it cost more to repair his mistakes than the original quote and there is still lots more work left to do.

So, our boys are getting to grips with those unfinished jobs.

I think the standard of work left behind was shocking.

You don't just have to take my word for it, though.

We invited an independent building surveyor, Gordon Kirby, to take a look.

The finish now is a lot better than it was.

There's the floor tiling to do, the splashback to the worktops.

-What sort of figure would you give it?

-Five out of ten.

Now, five out of ten.

I have to quantify that by saying our independent surveyor didn't get a chance to see the original work

and all that remedial work now looks so good. I think he would give a much lower score if he had.

What I want to know is, just how did Lucille get into this mess in the first place?

Her builder came recommended by a friend,

and with that peace of mind, the building work got underway.

When was the first alarm bell sounded that you thought, this isn't quite right?

He had taken a lot of time off.

Excuses like hospital appointments, back hurting,

got no money for petrol.

Got no money to put on his phone to let us know that he's not turning up to work.

Too hot. Too cold.

You accepted the excuses a few times but when it carried it on and on

and on we were finding this a bit disrespectful.

Lucille and her builder didn't have a contract, but they had drawn up a payment schedule.

She kept her end of the deal.

Obviously we are getting nearer and nearer to the end of the £16,000.

There is still electrics to do.

There's still the plumbing to do. There is still the flooring to do.

The roof wasn't completed

and he kept telling us the money was safe.

The money was safe where?

He was saying he was keeping it in safe hands.

It was not long before the builder had taken the entire £16,000.

At this point, Lucille decided enough was enough.

I said to him, no, you're not having any more money

and at this stage I felt absolutely worn out, exhausted,

totally depressed.

I'd just about had enough.

It's always important

to trust your gut instinct.

If you feel something is wrong,

it probably is.

If that happens,

start talking to the builder

about your worries straight away.

Due to the financial and emotional strain, the pressure in the Bowden house became unbearable.

Her 18-year-old son even left home.

He couldn't take the pain he saw his mum suffering.

He thought that was the best thing to do.

As a direct cause of having a cowboy builder in your property?

It's hell, Clive, it's absolutely hell.

It just drains you.

You don't want to go out.

You don't want to socialise.

These con men, they don't only steal your money, they steal your energy.

As cowboy builders lurch from job to job, they often leave a telltale trail

of destruction behind them. Not only in bricks and mortar, but in emotional terms, too.

Jackie witnessed first-hand just what effect this so-called builder had had on her friend.

She's always been a very bubbly character,

very outgoing, liked to socialise.

Liked to be round her friends and stuff.

You know, she was always tired, with all the stress and everything.

She started having trouble sleeping.

She wanted to entertain or cook a meal - she could not do that any more.

She couldn't have friends round for dinner or lunch like she used to.

So it really sort of... I think that probably affected her as a person as well,

the fact that that side of her socialising, she couldn't do any more.

It's good to see Lucille has loyal friends.

Time to see how the guys are getting on.

Oh-ho! That is looking tile-icious.

I'm loving that. That is the business.

So quick in such a short space of time, we've got all the splashback on there.

What's left to do now, Chris?

Basically, tidy up what we're doing today.

Tomorrow we'll get the tiles above the cooker hob there.

I'm going to do all the cuts while he finishes off the floor tiling.

Our team still have a way to go.

I wonder if they'll have enough time to get those surprise beams in place.

When selecting tiles for your kitchen floor,

it's important to take note of a few things.

Aesthetically pleasing is all well and good.

However, you've got to think about the care for them for the years to come.

This first tile I want to show you has been protected

with boiled linseed oil and it's got a lovely smooth finish.

If I put some soil on it,

the soil doesn't even want to stay on it,

it's that good.

I'll get a damp cloth, wipe that off

and hey presto, look at that. It's lovely and clean.

However, if you choose tiles like these which are

untreated or not naturally glazed, they've got open pores.

If I get some more soil here and show you on this particular tile.

Rub that in. That really does want to stick, no doubt about that.

Even when I take a cloth to it,

what's happening is, the soil is going deep into the pore surface.

That needs treating. No doubt about it.

The tile that Lucille has chosen is magnificent.

This is a natural quarry tile.

If you have dirt on there, it doesn't really want to stick.

If I take my cloth to that, wipe it over,

it's as good as new. Perfect. Excellent choice!

Over the last three years, Lucille has had

no joy in contacting her builder with either phone calls or letters.

So, will she be any luckier today?

If you had the opportunity to speak to the builder now, what would you like to say to him?

Why did he do it to us?

Why did he con us in the way he did with the building work

and why did he con us out of £16,000?

I tell you what, I'm going to offer you the opportunity to talk to your builder.

We've got a series of telephone numbers here.

Would you like to do it yourself?

Or would you like me to do it on your behalf?

I would definitely like the opportunity to do it myself.

What I would say is, stay as calm as you possibly can

-and get your points across nice and calm.

-Yeah. OK.

There are the telephone numbers.

If you want to take that one first.

We've got three mobile numbers for her builder.

Though I'm not holding out much hope.

RECORDED MESSAGE: Sorry, there is no reply. Sorry there is no reply.

Let's try the second one.

This is all so typical of a cowboy builder.

There's nothing.

It's dead. OK, so that's another one.

Will the third one give us any joy?

RECORDED MESSAGE: Calls are not currently being connected to this number.

My guess is, over that period of time he could have had anywhere upwards of, who knows,

a couple of dozen numbers by now, because he doesn't want to be found.

This cowboy builder left Lucille's dream kitchen in tatters

and cost her time and money that she can ill afford.

It is unforgivable what these guys try and get away with.

I'm hoping to flush them out of their hiding places.

We know what you've done, now we know what you've done

and I imagine pretty soon Trading Standards will know it, too.

Your time is running out.

We left messages for him to get in touch with us, but he never did.

Surprise, surprise!

It's been an incredibly hard three years for the Bowdens.

It is clear that this builder left them

financially and emotionally bankrupt, so I can't wait to see

the look on Lucille's face when she finally realises that her kitchen calamity is a thing of the past.

Oh, my God!

Back in Glasgow, our team are working hard

to give Joyce and Arthur Allison a dressing room they can use.

When eventually they move back into their home, they'll need a room in which to store their clothes.

The Allisons still have further remedial works to eradicate

the outbreak of dry rot from their apartment.

But with a bill for nearly £30,000 and all the mess from

the building works, it's certainly not the retirement they had foreseen.

It's quite expensive,

particularly when it has to come out of your savings.

Because both of us are retired

and our savings have been diminished rapidly over the last few months.

-Moments after Joyce spoke to us, Arthur had more bad news.

-Why, what's happened?

The whole thing has collapsed and fallen down,

50 feet of cast-iron pipe, and smashed our windowsill.

Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

A cast-iron drain pipe has fallen from the back of their building

and crashed down into the garden.

Oh, brother. Right!

This couple really are on a run of bad luck.

The heavy pipe had run from the flat above Joyce and Arthur's all the way down the building.

While this is probably original,

the connecting pipe running into the flat is modern.

Whoever made this modification didn't have safety in mind.

Only a single bracket was supporting the weight of about 15 metres of cast-iron piping.

On this occasion,

the Allisons can only hope their insurance will cover the damage.

And they're just glad no-one was hurt.

If anyone had been here at the time, that could have been fatal.

There is a good...

I bet it's not far off a tonne of metal in that as it's falling. That's for sure.

It's another reminder of what can go wrong in your own home, often without warning.

Later, and while our team are finishing off the dressing room,

I ask the Allisons about their experience.

Joyce, Arthur, I want to sort of ask a few questions now

about what you've learnt since buying the property.

I don't think I would purchase property quite so quickly, even though

it did have all the criteria we were looking for.

I trusted the people because they had a big reputation and I thought

because of that, things would have been done properly.

So that's another mistake from me.

We should have had the property surveyed.

I'm not sure that they would ever have found the problems

because they were so hidden underneath the floor. Deeply hidden.

Well, let's hope from this point on we can at least move forward with your lives.

Whether it's buying a property

or employing a builder,

don't rely on

their reputation alone.

Always do your research.

Once the limited company

has been dissolved,

it's extremely difficult to make

the directors financially liable.

Finally, a survey

may not have helped the Allisons,

but it's still good practice to have a survey done

any time you buy a property.

With the dry rot problem in hand, our team are coming to the end of their work on the dressing room.

They've installed shelving, cupboards and clothes racks and they've painted throughout.

It's nearly time to reveal all.

Just take me back to what the room behind you was like before we arrived.

It was a completely empty shell. Rather small, narrow, with a dirty floor.

And all the bad connotations, of course, because that was the source of the dry rot.

-OK, are you looking forward to taking a look?

-Yes.

OK. Good. In we go. Take a look inside.

Oh, that's fantastic! It's totally transformed.

It's lovely. It's all clean. It's all clean and white.

-Shiny.

-Do you know what I like?

My old rails were narrower,

they bent with the clothes on them.

And these rails are much thicker and they're really good.

Well they are 32ml chrome rails.

That's fantastic. That's a big improvement.

-And more space here.

-And I've got more space, yeah.

And you've got space behind you for your accoutrements

Oh, hey! Well, that's... That's terrific.

It's so much better. Much better made.

And looks much neater and tidier.

-Thank you for all your help.

-Thank you for helping us.

You have made a big difference. It looks great.

We've given Joyce and Arthur a dressing room which will serve them well when they move back in.

We have painted the untreated wood work and installed clothes rails.

We've fitted some beautiful built-in cupboards and nice wide shelving.

Wide enough even for shoes.

The bare walls have been painted a sparkling white,

set off by some beautiful brass fitments.

This bare shell, once the source of the dry rot

has been converted into a spacious and functional dressing room,

that the Allisons hopefully can enjoy for years to come.

Well, it's home. That's what makes the difference.

You've got your own things, your own furniture, your own clothes,

own memories, photographs, everything like that.

That's what makes the difference.

Arthur and Joyce learned their lessons the hard way.

But luckily for such a nice couple they can look forward to enjoying their retirement.

Remember, spending big money is no guarantee of quality,

so don't assume high prices mean high standards.

Remember, keep your wits about you, take on board all our advice

and that way you too can avoid falling into the Cowboy Trap.

Back to Lucille Bowden in Barking, Essex,

where our team have been working hard to put right what went so badly wrong.

The builder who took on Lucille's dream extension and kitchen

left a nightmare behind him, costing £36,000.

And there are still things left to do.

We're busy at work on the tiling and have just enough time left to make those lovely old country beams.

It's three years since Lucille's builder did a bunk and she's still angry.

Imagine someone coming into your castle

and doing the damage, taking money from you under false pretences.

It's wrong. It's just totally wrong.

'The transformation is almost complete.'

Sorry to interrupt your tiling there, you're doing great job.

-Going a real pace now.

-Getting there.

-Lots has got done.

Have you got any tips for us?

On a concrete floor, always PVA it to seal it in.

-It stops the adhesive grabbing so fast.

-OK.

Find the centre, chalk the line through, work from there and you get the right flow

and ambiance for your kitchen.

-How long do you reckon before we finish the job?

-I'd say another half a day.

I'll come back and see you later and find out how you're getting on.

-Well done, cracking job.

-See you.

Lucille is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

She's a lot wiser from her experience.

I've learnt by experience never take a builder's word, always check out what you are told.

You don't only want mobiles, you want land lines.

I would never, ever pay a builder with cash.

Always pay with credit card or a cheque.

When checking out references,

make sure you look at work that is similar to what you're looking for.

Feel free to ask the builder about the sub-contractors' previous work

and make sure you check that too.

Try to avoid cash payments

at all costs.

But if you do have to pay cash,

always get a receipt.

We've put our backs, hands and knees into transforming Lucille's country kitchen.

We've tiled the splashbacks, laid the flooring, placed a lovely ornamental plaque above the hob

and that extra finishing touch, those rustic wooden beams.

-It is now time to show you exactly what we've done.

-I'm so excited.

-Before that, remind me, what was the kitchen like before we arrived?

-I was missing something on the floors.

I had concrete floors.

I wanted tiles on the wall.

Even though it was a home, it didn't have that homely feel.

-Are you ready?

-I'm ready.

Come on, missis, let's have a look.

Go in, missis, mind the step.

Oh, my God!

Oh, it's so nice!

What do you think to your feature? Look at that!

It looks brill. It really does.

-Do you like it?

-What a difference, Clive!

What a difference!

I'm chuffed for you.

Can I give you a nice big kiss?

If you want to!

Get the kettle on.

We've given Lucille that rustic country kitchen she's always dreamed of.

There's new colour-co-ordinated splashbacks on those bare walls.

And beautiful terracotta tiles have been laid on the floor to cover up that ugly concrete.

And last but not least, those old wooden beams Lucille's always wanted.

They look like the originals.

And in pride of place, the table, all ready for visiting friends and family.

This is for a lady who hadn't invited anyone into her kitchen

for three years, thanks to her builder's shoddy work.

I think Lucille will be the happiest cook in the kitchen.

I haven't had no life for the last three years

and now I feel life is about to start all over again.

Lots of cooking, lots of friends round, lots of socialising,

even maybe snapping open a bottle of champagne, that's how good it feels.

Cowboy builders across the country should be well and truly quaking in their boots.

For every bodged job we fix, we are making more and more people aware of their tricks.

So, if you take on board our advice, and all our top tips, you too can avoid the Cowboy Trap.

If you've had a problem with builders and you'd like to tell your story on Cowboy Trap please call us.

Help us round up the cowboys.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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