Episode 12 Cowboy Trap

Up and down the country,

rogue traders are blighting people's lives.

It got to a point where I was giving him all this money,

I couldn't see any of the materials on site and I certainly couldn't see any progress with the work.

And, cowboy builders, I'm here to expose your dirty tricks,

so that homeowners can ride you out of town.

He did not come to work here for a good five to six weeks.

It was raining, it was pouring.

All the water would come inside.

I know the best ways of sorting the good guys from the bad.

He wasn't doing any more work on the house,

but he was coming in and out of my house, using all the facilities -

helping himself to food out of the cupboard and the fridge, making tea and coffee.

And I'll be sharing that advice in the hope that it will prevent you from falling into the cowboy trap.

Today we're in Greenwich, London, where a keen cook

dreamed of a perfect kitchen to entertain her guests.

It was all going to be nice and sleek and classic.

For me, I was just really excited and looking forward to it.

But a bodging builder turned it into a kitchen nightmare.

It was completely unusable. None of the electrics were connected.

Um, and... I couldn't use... I couldn't cook.

And we're in Leamington Spa, where a growing family needed to extend their home.

'Sangeeta got pregnant.'

We thought, "We need to extend this house,"

because the little one was coming.

But their builder didn't deliver

and left the family living in a half-finished house

and a trail of destruction into the garden.

There was water coming through the electric bulbs.

Wherever there is switches, there's water coming through that.

First up, we're in Greenwich, south-east London,

where Zoe Banfield has lived happily for almost 10 years.

With friends, family and neighbours often popping in,

her fantasy was a fabulous new kitchen

where she could cook, dine and entertain.

Basically, we chose a kitchen that was in my budget, because I didn't want to spend too much money.

But also was a really practical design,

but gave the kitchen a completely different feel.

Dreading the upheaval, Zoe delayed her building dreams for a few years.

But then, when she was ready to go, she went for it full-on.

She wanted a new kitchen, French doors to the garden, redecoration throughout and smart new floors.

A local builder quoted £8,000 for labour and Zoe agreed to buy the materials.

She paid £2,000 to get the job started.

But paying up-front wasn't her only mistake.

He was very trustworthy, he said that he would do a really good job for me.

He was very reassuring. He completely had my confidence and all my trust.

I felt more than happy at that point to hand over a copy of my house keys.

Follow my top tips to stay out of trouble.

You wouldn't give your keys to a stranger,

which is exactly what your builder is.

Take time off to oversee building work

or arrange for someone you trust to be there for you.

If you hand over your keys,

who knows what will happen by the time you come home.

When Zoe got home, her builder had started work in lots of different rooms.

Towards the end of June, I just noticed that more and more things in the house were being taken apart.

It almost seemed to me as if he was taking apart the kitchen

and then moved onto the hallway and took the hallway apart

and then moved onto the bedroom and took that apart.

It became quite stressful.

Even though Zoe's stress levels were rising, she tried to stay calm.

That is, until the builder started asking for extra cash to purchase materials.

He kept asking for more money and saying that I was holding up the job.

That what I needed to do was give him the money to go out and buy the materials himself.

I just said, "If you give me a list of materials, I can go and buy them or get them ordered."

He said it would be much easier if I gave him the money.

Zoe was reluctant to hand over so much money and repeatedly asked for receipts.

During this period, Zoe's insurance company was paying another firm of builders to fix some subsidence.

Concerned about her rising costs, she asked one of the new builders for advice.

They offered to look through all of the receipts he gave me for materials.

On the whole they said most of the receipts, the materials wouldn't have been used at my house.

They weren't anywhere on site.

While the bill for materials was rising, Zoe's home was becoming practically uninhabitable.

There was no kitchen, electricity, gas or plumbing,

so she couldn't cook or do laundry.

She's had to spend lots of time over at her mum's house.

It was very difficult for her because I was having to come over practically every weekend,

do all my washing here

and then also be cooking food and taking it back to my house.

I did have a microwave. So I could have some food.

But, for me, it just wasn't really, you know, practical.

It's not particularly healthy, either.

Zoe was at her wit's end.

The job was still unfinished, but when she refused to hand over more cash for materials,

the builder stopped work. Zoe was forced to take action.

I'd contacted Consumer Gov. I'd taken advice from them.

They told me about sending him a letter and actually relating his work to the aspects of the law

and the fact that he hadn't carried it out with reasonable care and attention,

it hadn't been done to a reasonable standard or for a reasonable price.

Zoe's builder promised he would renovate her kitchen and decorate the entire house for £8,000.

Zoe handed over £6,800 - almost all the money - but was left with a shell for a kitchen.

You know, it drives me nuts that cowboy builders target women and, in particular, single women.

So, just how did Zoe fall for this guy's tricks?

I've come to see the damage for myself.

Hi, I'm Clive from Cowboy Trap.

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

I believe you've had problems with cowboy builders?

-Yes, I have.

-Would you mind showing me the damage?

-No, no.

-OK, let's go.

OK. We're in a state of semi-disrepair.

OK. So, what have the problems been?

First of all, what did you want in here?

Well, I wanted a brand new kitchen installed.

I wanted the floor and the walls tiled

and the rest of the decoration work painted.

And then recess lights in the ceiling as well.

What were the other problems that you've got in here?

Well, really, none of the electrics are connected for the washing machine, dishwasher.

Obviously I was concerned because all the exposed electrical wires, some have been cut through.

-I'm not sure whether they're live.

-Wow, I just noticed that.

I can see bare copper under the PVC from here.

-I'm intrigued to know what that is.

-And it's running water.

So I have to make sure I've put some sheets behind there

to cover it so I can actually do the washing-up.

But essentially, all the electrical work is questionable and the oven's not working.

There is gas supplied to the hob, but I'm not using it because I'm just so concerned

that none of it's done properly and really from a safety aspect.

OK, that's a good idea.

Particularly if you didn't know that the guys who installed it were Gas Safe registered.

Would you have known that?

Now, because of all the other problems, I'm not sure at all.

All of the reassurances I did have, have basically been undermined by all the dishonesty.

OK. Well, it certainly does look a bit of a mess at the moment.

I'm really worried about the exposed electric cables in Zoe's unfinished kitchen.

We definitely need to get this sorted.

We do know good guys and we're going to get good guys into your property.

What would you like us to do?

I just think it's back to the original dream, the kitchen.

The kitchen would just be amazing because...

Just the simple things -

just to be able to cook a nice meal, not keep living off take-out.

Having my friends round - I really do miss that.

I wouldn't dream of inviting anybody round because I'm so embarrassed.

It's high time Zoe got her kitchen.

And our team is standing by, ready to right the wrongs.

Coming up, there's an emergency at Zoe's

and we have to evacuate because of the bodged gas work.

Done the pressure test, straight off the gas meter.

Noticed straightaway there was a drop.

Next up, we're in Leamington Spa, where the waters have healing qualities.

But there was nothing therapeutic about the way the Prabhakar family's cowboy treated them.

Travel agent, Sangeeta, and shop manager, Rohit,

wanted a new extension to accommodate their growing family.

As well as the extra space, they needed a new roof

and a landscaped garden so their children would have somewhere safe to play.

We were looking for an individual bedroom for each child and a spare room for the guests.

We wanted to put an annexe with it because at times we have family visiting from India.

So we wanted an attached annexe with it.

And we wanted...with the master bedroom we wanted en suite.

We wanted a new kitchen, new bathrooms.

Basically, we were changing everything in the house.

Sangeeta and Rohit had grand designs for their new extension and hired an architect to draw up the plans.

Cost us a good six grand to get the whole thing designed.

You know, we were ecstatic

when it got through the planning permission.

When Sangeeta and Rohit's planning permission was granted by the local authority,

they suddenly found they were inundated with offers from builders to do the job.

It all got sanctioned and we started getting letters from lots of builders, local companies,

companies from different parts of the country,

saying, "You've put an application for an extension,

"so we'd be more than happy to carry out work for you."

We invited a few builders to have a conversation.

Follow my top tips when you're planning a new build.

When you apply for planning permission,

the local authority announces your request in the local press

to find out if there are any objections.

Builders read these notices too and use them to find their next job.

But just because a builder approaches you,

don't assume they are good.

You must do all the usual checks,

which is exactly what Sangeeta and Rohit did.

We checked the references he had given us. Everybody recommended him.

They said, "He's a good builder, he's worked for us and he's quite reliable, he's local."

We asked him to show us some work,

physically take us somewhere where he is working.

So he did take us to a construction site.

Happy with the builder's references and the job they'd seen, the Prabhakars signed a contract.

They took on a large mortgage to pay for the work.

The builder immediately brought in diggers for the foundations

and removed the old roof tiles from the main house.

In the beginning, he came with lots of people, they were very regular.

They would come around 8.30 and they'd be here until 5.00.

The initial impression was, "I think he'll finish quicker than 16 weeks, the way he is doing it.

"It's going to be much quicker."

We were happy with the way it was going.

But a few weeks into the four-month job, the builder disappeared.

But after maybe three or four weeks,

he suddenly vanished.

He stopped answering the calls.

At that point, he had stripped the roof off the front rooms of the main house.

And he did not come to work here for a good five to six weeks.

And it was raining, it was pouring.

All the water would come inside.

The builder left the family without a roof and 18 grand out of pocket.

They tried phoning and writing, but he never replied.

Then, seven weeks later, he did something surprising.

He came back.

He said he'd been through a bad time but he was back on the job now.

He was like, "I'm really sorry. I went through a bad phase."

I had a good hint here that he is lying at some point.

But still, we thought, "OK, let him come back. He'll finish the work."

Work continued in fits and starts

until the Prabhakars had handed over a grand total of £58,000

and work stopped for good.

The house was almost uninhabitable, with parents and two children all living in just one bedroom.

We were paying a mortgage

for a house that was basically worth nothing.

And we were living in... a one-bedroom house.

The house was left with no roof, no stairs, no floors, no electricity and no gas.

The Prabhakars had to pay new builders 36 grand to complete their extension.

But there was no money left to sort out

the trail of destruction the builder left behind in the garden.

The family have worked really hard to repair the damage the cowboy builder left behind.

But their resources can only stretch so far.

So it's time for me to meet them and find out what I can do to help.

-I'm Clive Holland from Cowboy Trap. How are you?

-I'm all right, thank you.

I hear that you've had cowboy builders in the property.

-Yes, we did.

-Do you mind showing me the damage they've caused?

-Sure, no worries.

-Great, let's have a look.

-Please come.

Sangeeta and Rohit have already paid new builders to put right all the damage inside the house.

But they can't afford to fix the builder's trail of destruction outside.

And, ironically, they paid him £1,600 to landscape the garden

and £400 for labour to build the decking.

-OK. So, he did this decking as well, yeah?

-Yes, he did.

OK, well, first thing I can see is the fact that there is no gap between the actual decking at all.

There should be at least a four or five mil gap between each of the pieces of decking.

Right.

Oh, yeah. Right, OK. So, that's no good.

The thing is, it is a living, breathing thing, timber, as you know. It will swell and shrink.

We weren't aware of how it has to be done for the big decking we needed for the children.

So we paid him to get it sorted.

It's certainly something that needs taking a look at. Right, Sangeeta.

Looking at these, these spindles here are too far apart.

The legal distance apart to meet building regs has to be a maximum of 100 mil.

Normally, a lot of builders will do it to 99 mil.

I always say that round about 90-95 mil should be your spacings between there.

Looking at it, it's started to come apart.

-Yes, it has.

-Yeah, look at that.

I don't think it's very well supported.

If my kids lean against it, it's quite dangerous.

I think if anybody leans against that...

Particularly that long length over there I would imagine is even more dangerous.

The garden looks a real mess as well, doesn't it? Is that all from the build?

Yes. It's all from the build.

Well, he did hire skips in between, but most of the time

he would either burn the stuff here or he would just dump it over here.

OK. The fence panels there, they're actually missing.

-What's happened to those?

-He used half of them for burning the rubbish.

When he was getting the stuff out from the main building,

instead of hiring the skip and binning it in the skip,

his people would just put lots of stuff here,

put some wooden panels, break it into pieces and burn it over here.

That is actually terrible, the fact that he's burnt your fence panels, that were perfectly good.

It's just absolute nonsense, isn't it?

You must have some great neighbours. To have that debris and rubble,

-I wouldn't like that in my garden for the length of time that's been there.

-I fully agree.

It's absolutely crazy. This is my opinion.

The whole thing needs ripping up.

Rip it up and start again.

The garden is too dangerous for Sangeeta

to allow her young children, Bhaveeni and Dev, to play outside.

I hope we can change all that.

What could we do that would make your life a little happier?

The decking needs to be sorted out.

-Fencing.

-The fencing needs to be done.

He's taken £1,600 for the garden. Have you seen my lovely garden(?)

I have seen that lovely garden.

He's taken £1,600 for that.

We would like the fencing to be done, decking to be sorted.

OK. If I said to you,

we could rip up that old decking and renew it,

put it in properly so it's nice and secure,

would that go some way to making you smile?

-Yes.

-Definitely.

That, my friends, is a deal.

We've got a big job ahead to transform the Prabhakars' wrecked garden

into a safe play area for Bhaveeni and Dev.

We've got to remove all the debris, we'll have to rebuild the dangerous decking the cowboy builder erected

and install new fence panels to make the garden secure

so the children can go in and outside to their heart's content.

The family have been living in these conditions for way too long and I'm not having that.

It's time to bring in the good guys.

And believe me, there's plenty of them.

Coming up, an independent inspector delivers a damning verdict on this cowboy's mess.

If the customer asked me for an opinion,

I'd say, "I'm sorry, take it apart and rebuild it from scratch."

Back in Greenwich, London,

Zoe Banfield saved hard for a new kitchen,

somewhere special she could cook, socialise and entertain.

But when Zoe refused her builder's demands for more and more money,

her kitchen was left with bare walls,

no electricity and dangerous gas - hardly the heart of the home she longed for.

I trusted this person to come into my home to do this work.

I'd given him all this money and I...

I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

While our team gets ready, I've asked independent building inspector, David Wadsworth

to give me his verdict on the work.

What are your findings in general about the work that had been carried out here?

Well, there is clearly a lot of finishing to be done.

The builder, I didn't feel, when I first came to have a look at it,

was competent to do a lot of the work that he actually undertook.

According to Zoe, she just took it on face value

that this guy was actually qualified to carry those works out. Obviously he wasn't.

No, and the building regulations now...

All electrical work - and indeed all gas work -

has to be done by accredited, trained, qualified people.

And at the end of the work, it has to be signed off as being done by accredited people.

What sort of score would you consider giving it?

Based on what I have seen so far, four out of ten at the most.

Four out of ten? That is a shocking score!

Our team is getting on with correctly installing the kitchen units at Zoe's house.

We're going to test and make safe the electrics and gas.

While they get stuck in, Zoe and I are over at her mum's house,

and I want to know why she was so confident when she gave the builder the job. And I'm in for a surprise.

He was actually doing work for my sister at the time, and because it was indirectly close family,

I felt more confident in hiring somebody rather than picking somebody randomly out of the phone book.

So you were picking somebody that was word-of-mouth, your sister for a start,

so she had had good work done by this guy and recommended him?

Yes, he was actually still working at my sister's house when he started working at mine.

I had heard that he had done good work,

so he started work on my house,

and a week or two in, everything was going OK,

so my sister was looking for someone and I recommended him to her.

With the builder now working at both sisters' houses,

he started a game of cat-and-mouse, as Zoe's sister, Lucy, explains.

Things started going wrong kind of after...

About a week into him starting on my sister's house.

He would leave mine and say he was going to my sister's,

and then I'd find out later, he hadn't been at either.

Zoe handed over £1,000 a week, and added to materials, it soon reached £6,800.

But she had little to show for it, so she called Lucy.

I asked her, "Are you sure he is OK, because I am really worried now.

"I've given him all this money, and he hasn't really done anything."

And she assured me, "No, no, he is slow sometimes doing the work, but he will do a good job.

"He has assured me, as well, because the work is going slowly at my house,

"but that he knows what he is doing."

So that give me a bit of reassurance.

But soon the sisters realised the builder wasn't slow, he was slippery.

Feeling they'd been had, they told the builder there'd be no more money, and work ceased.

Our team is now here to put things right, but events are about to take a dramatic turn.

Suddenly, everyone has to down tools and leave the house immediately.

As if there isn't enough mess in that property as it is,

and the fact that Zoe has had so much pressure going on in there and so much mess,

we are going to cause a bit more. Since Steve arrived, our gas expert...

He only came to do the pressure test and give us a gas certificate, but he has found a leak.

Let's find out how our good guys discovered the gas leak.

Basically, the first thing I done,

I made sure cooker, boiler, everything was switched off.

I done the pressure test straight off the gas meter,

noticed straightaway that there was a drop.

-Which means...?

-Which means there's a leak.

A gas leak? Great, that's all we needed.

Yes. So basically, I have switched the gas off now,

so that nobody can touch anything or do anything on the gas side to cause any problems.

-So, how long do think that has been leaking? Some time?

-Possibly.

Obviously, because of lack of air bricks in the building,

obviously gas has stayed within, underneath the floor,

so it could have been leaking a month, it could have been leaking a couple of years.

The plan is now, we'll pull the floor up.

So we are going to lift up the floor and find where that leak is.

How easy will it be to spot?

Basically, as I say, I've got a gas spray,

so we'll switch the gas back on, spray all the joints and everything

-so that we can make sure all the joints are solid, and then basically just trace it back from there.

-OK.

Her life and ours is in your hands, and I'm going to shake one of them.

Thank you, squire.

The gas work was not only left in a terrible state, it was potentially dangerous, too.

If you smell gas, or suspect you have a leak,

telephone the National Gas Emergency Service straightaway.

They will send an engineer within the hour

to identify the source of the leak and make it safe.

This service is free.

When you phone, they will give you a clear instruction

about what to do before they arrive.

'Coming up, I can't wait to see Zoe's reaction when we show her what the good guys have done.'

Oh, my God! I can't believe it.

It is amazing!

Meanwhile, back in Leamington Spa,

the Prabhakars planned a new extension for their growing family.

They were left with a huge mortgage when their builder walked away,

leaving them living in just one room.

It was completely unfinished.

There were no doors to the house,

and most of the structure was quite unsafe when he left.

The Prabhakars paid new builders 36 grand to make the inside of their home habitable.

But the cowboy's mess extends all the way outside,

and Sangeeta and Rohit don't have any more money left

to make the garden safe for their young children to play in.

Well, my son, since he is born,

I don't think he has ever been out in the garden on his own.

If he would go out, it was only up to the decking I would let him go,

and I would be sitting there watching where my kids are going.

And my son is four years now.

He has never accessed the garden on his own.

Our good guys can't wait to get started.

James is leading our landscaping team today and he has a grand plan.

We have thankfully got some great contacts around locally.

We have got a mini digger coming in.

So we are going to clear the ground, regrade it back and landscape it.

Then hopefully we are going to rotovate the ground,

prepare it for turf and - fingers crossed -

if you are lucky, I might be able to sort out some turf for you.

That would be fantastic if you can. That would be a great surprise.

Before we get the dangerous decking dismantled and rebuilt,

I want to get the verdict of independent inspector, Chris Farr.

Through the balustrades.

Chris, this is a mess, isn't it?

It's awful.

The centres aren't right, it's too loose.

Talking of the centres, let's have a measure up.

You know yourself, it should be 99 mil. We're looking there, 120.

Further down, 140.

You've got a 140 mil gap.

As you rightly know, 99 mil,

that is your maximum allowed gap between those spindles.

Yeah, correct. There's insufficient support.

You can see where they've wedged up sections of joist underneath, just onto bare ground,

to try and stop it deflecting.

I would expect to see a four or five mil gap between each of the timbers

to allow for yearly expansion and contraction.

They've done nothing like that. They didn't have a clue what they were doing.

If the customer asked me for an opinion,

I'd say, "Sorry, take it apart and rebuild it from scratch. It's just not right."

You've seen the level of workmanship here.

What I always ask our independent surveyors is this -

what would you give that builder - mark out of ten - for the work they've carried out?

Three at the most. And then I think I'm being generous.

Our huge team is going to pick up the pieces.

We've drafted in reinforcements from the local horticultural college to clear all the debris.

Our builders will make the decking safe.

We'll have to replace the supporting posts and erect new steps and handrails.

Then James and his team will transform this garden with new lawn and exotic planting.

While they get going, I've got a question for Sangeeta and Rohit.

Why did they let their builder back on the job

when alarm bells should have been ringing?

What prevented you from saying, "Let's cut our losses here?

"We're 18 grand down."

Anybody we contacted wouldn't take that project on.

Nobody would come and do the remaining work?

It's something like once bitten, twice shy, you know.

We tried everything on the book

for his references, we'd gone to see, we'd visited his work.

Everything after that, you realise this is not the right person,

how can you go and take another person and believe he's going to be right?

We were in that situation.

So we had to carry on with what we had.

So, he arrives. I am guessing,

correct me if I'm wrong,

that he comes in and he says, "Right, from now on everything is going to be fine.

"But I need some money."

He would most of the time come up with an excuse like,

"Oh, I've got to get some material from some place.

"Is it possible to give me some cash?"

We tried giving him cheques, most of the time.

But 99% of the time he would come up with some urgency

that he can't wait for the cash.

Sangeeta and Rohit should have trusted their instincts.

Follow my top tip.

Agree a schedule of work with your builder before the project starts.

Make sure the builder sticks to the timetable.

If he has problems organising the work as agreed,

there's a good chance there's even more going wrong behind the scenes.

Meanwhile, our team of students is hard at work,

clearing the debris ready for the gardeners to plant and turf.

Dean is doing our decking project and he's discovered

the decking is even more dangerous than we first feared.

You can put your crowbar down a minute, Dean.

I'm telling you, mate, when I look at this sort of thing,

it's not about what the cowboy builders do on the surface,

it's what cracks off underneath. Explain what you've found.

A load of this of this is hidden.

The actual supports are just packed up underneath.

That's it. They're just noggins of timber, there!

So, in real terms, what have you got left in terms of preparation?

Preparation, we're going to

-put some extra supports down on most of these rafters.

-Yeah.

-We've got the decking coming this afternoon.

-OK, cool.

Balustrades are here and hopefully it should start taking shape in the next...day or two.

Sangeeta and Rohit paid their builder 58 grand by the time he disappeared.

They spent 36 grand more to fix the damage.

So, what would they like to say to him now?

Why did he ruin so many years of our life?

He knew in the beginning what he was up to.

He conned us of £58,000.

58,000?

-It's a big money.

-Frightening.

We borrowed it from the mortgage, it was extra mortgage borrowed.

OK, look, we've got the telephone number in the phone.

What we'll do, Sangeeta, is sit tight,

let Rohit go with the phone call and hope for the best.

If you'd like to start now, then.

We'll see what happens.

'Please check the number. If you need help...'

This number is not recognised, it says.

Sadly, these are the sort of things that these guys do. They're very cowardly.

Although the builder didn't speak to us on this occasion,

he told us previously that he didn't complete the work because he wasn't paid for six months,

he's not responsible for the decking because he subcontracted the job

and he denies all responsibility for the state the garden was left in.

I've got a message for cowboy builders everywhere.

You know who you are and now we know who you are.

And by revealing the tricks you cowboys use,

we'll help prevent others from falling into your trap.

'Coming up, I can't wait to see the family's reaction

'when we show them their amazing new garden.'

Oh, my God!

-The kids have gone!

-Ooh!

Back in Greenwich, the good guys are putting the finishing touches to Zoe's new kitchen.

She was left in the lurch by a cowboy who left her

with lethal electrics and a dangerous gas supply.

Zoe made the mistake of giving her builder the keys to her house,

so even when she'd thrown him out, he kept coming back.

He wasn't doing any more work on the house,

but he was actually coming in and out of my house

and using all the facilities -

helping himself to food out of the cupboard and the fridge, making tea and coffee.

If you make the mistake of giving tradesmen the keys to your home

and you're concerned about your security, get the locks changed.

The cost of a new locks is more than worth your peace of mind

and will safeguard your personal safety.

Tom, I was speaking to your colleague Barry yesterday.

He was telling me all the problems that you had with the electrics.

What have you done to solve that problem and what's left to do?

We took everything out and started again.

This wasn't in a physical state to leave as it was, so we started from scratch.

New fuse board in there?

New fuse board, all the positions right, the sockets in line.

Then the relevant circuits for the points that were needed.

So what is now left to do?

Basically, we're ready to stick and fix now.

Everything's been plastered, so we can put the faceplates on and get it working.

While Tom and the guys finish up, I want to find out from Zoe what lessons she's learned.

I think that I have to be far more cautious.

I think we're all cautious when we step outside our front door every day.

But in terms of doing business and having somebody come into my home and do work, who I don't personally know,

not a relative or friend, then I need to be almost...

Not untrusting, but far more wary, ask a lot more questions.

Businesslike. It's a business transaction between you two guys.

Do a proper written contract, get it all signed.

It might seem a bit extreme, but from the experience I've had and the circumstances,

definitely get everything in writing, get it all signed and agreed.

Do proper research.

Yeah, and actually personally check out the references.

If possible, try and go to where he's done work, actually look at it myself and ask those people.

And don't give them any keys, like you rightly say. They're not your friends.

They are complete strangers operating in your property.

As long as you can learn from your mistakes that you've made,

you won't be ever, in the future, falling into the cowboy trap again.

I can't wait to show Zoe what we've achieved in such a short time.

I'm hoping, fingers crossed, that you like what we've done. All right?

-OK.

-So, are you ready?

-Yes.

Therefore, you can turn around and head into your kitchen.

-OK.

-Here we go.

Oh, my God!

I can't believe it. It's amazing!

It does look a little different, doesn't it?

It's completely different. It's beautiful.

I can't believe it.

It's beyond my imagination.

No, it's fantastic. I love it. Thank you.

-Cooker hood. All the cabinets in there, your cooker works.

-Wow.

One of the most important things was the electrical side of it.

Remember, cables hanging out?

Yeah. It's amazing.

-I can't believe it!

-Are you happy?

Yeah. Honestly, I'm just so moved.

It's just... I can't believe I was ever going to get to this stage...

-I'm glad you like it.

-..for a long time.

-I'm very glad about that.

-Thanks.

The thing is for me, one of the most important things that you can't see,

although you can see the sockets are now on the wall,

the most important thing, your fuse board has been replaced

and brought up to 17th edition regulations.

We do have an electrical safety certificate to give to you as well.

So that has been passed for all the work that's been done in here.

That's peace of mind, more than anything else.

The good guys have removed and reinstalled all the kitchen units,

levelling and aligning them correctly.

We've refitted the worktops and plumbed in the appliances -

washing machine, dishwasher, sink and hob.

We've tested and rewired the electrics and fitted

smart new under-cupboard down lights to provide a contemporary look.

We've made good all the walls and, once the plaster is dry,

Zoe will be able to select the tiles for her splashbacks.

It's the perfect setting for Zoe to host dinner parties.

It's amazing! Honestly, I can't believe it.

Back in Leamington Spa, we've almost finished transforming the Prabhakas' building site

into a garden safe for young Bhaveeni and Dev to play in.

James is adding the finishing touches.

Basically, since you were here last,

cleared it all back, graded all the ground back.

Brought in some topsoil from one of our suppliers.

One of the UK's top lawn suppliers has supplied us with the lawn, which has been brilliant of them.

So, that's all gone in.

We were going to go for a usual sort of shaped lawn.

But what we've done is gone for something that's a little bit more interesting.

We've put these circular patterns in.

With what we've had to use, we feel that we've got the best out of it.

You've called in loads of favours.

I know you've done a great job for us, an absolutely stunning job.

So you're planting out at the moment,

how long do you think it's going to take before you've all finished?

I reckon we'll probably give it another hour, hour-and-a-half

and we'll have everything in and looking fairly pristine.

Then just a clean down, prune through and we'll be all done.

While they're finishing up, I want to find out what Sangeeta and Rohit have learned

from their building nightmare.

I think we did everything that was required.

We did the research, spoke to people, we asked him to give us a contract,

we visited where he was working.

But the whole experience... is quite a nightmare.

And I don't think I would ever get any building work done again.

You've got to, though. I don't want you to do that, you see.

That's an easy out at this stage.

I just want to...pick the bones out of that a little bit.

You did do a lot, you did tick a lot of my boxes. You did get a contract,

you did go and look at his previous work.

If I remember rightly, it was ongoing works.

-It wasn't completed works.

-It was ongoing and the owner was not there.

So, we don't know how that ended up and whether that particular homeowner was ripped off, too.

So we have to make sure it's a finished project,

the builder isn't there with us and we talk to the homeowner.

But I don't want you not to have builders or to think that way.

There are great builders out there.

Sangeeta and Rohit have learned an expensive lesson.

But now it's time for them to see that there really are some great guys out there.

Now, before we go out and show you what we've done,

just remind us, Sangeeta, what it was like out there before we arrived.

Well, in the back garden, the fences were all broken.

There were lots of muck dumped there.

There was lots of pieces of rubble there.

So, was there a garden?

It wasn't a garden. It was a back yard.

It was a rubbish tip.

Yes. I would never let my kids out because it wasn't safe. It wasn't secure.

-Are we ready, are we excited?

-Yes.

-Are we really excited?

-Yeah!

Good. OK, follow me. Let's go.

-Here you go.

-Oh, my God.

Wow!

Keep going forward, let's take a closer look.

Oh, my God.

-The kids have gone!

-Ooh!

-What do you think?

It's beautiful. It's amazing.

So, what we've got is new decking down. 32 mil thick.

Much, much better, obviously, than it was originally.

-Yeah, definitely.

-The balustrades, the stairs, the whole thing.

-What do you think? Good?

-It's amazing, I can't believe it.

And then how about that garden?

It looks just amazing. It doesn't look like, you know, my house.

It doesn't look like your house!

I agree with you.

-It agree with you.

-It's beautiful.

-And quite secure.

-Very secure.

The good guys have transformed the rear of the Prabhakars' family home

from a building site into a safe and tranquil garden oasis.

We've removed all the building debris, dismantled all the decking and reassembled it,

ensuring that the supports are in firm foundations.

We've erected a new fence to keep the children safe

and we've gone so much further.

We enlisted students and former students from the local horticultural college

to help clear and then landscape and plant the kind of garden you'd see featured in a magazine spread.

There's a beautiful new lawn and exotic planting.

It's just the kind of finish you can expect when you call in the professionals.

Guys, step in. We've got Warwickshire College guys here.

We've got James and his team.

-These are the guys responsible.

-Thank you.

-It's quite all right.

I think they've given you now what was a bit of a bomb site

-to a beautiful garden oasis.

-Definitely.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

Well, how about that?

One beautiful garden oasis and a very happy family indeed.

I'm off to track down some more dodgy builders

in the hope that it prevents you from falling into the cowboy trap.

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