Episode 22 Cowboy Trap

Up and down the country, cowboy builders are blighting people's lives.

We're all very, very tearful, you know.

Cos you don't know what to do.

I'm here to expose their dirty tricks

so that homeowners can ride them out of town.

It was left in a complete state.

We've probably got to spend 17,000 to £20,000 to put it all right.

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

-Oh!

-Oh, my God!

I'll be sharing that advice to help prevent you from falling into the cowboy trap.

Today, we're in Croxley Green, near Watford in Hertfordshire.

We're meeting a couple with two children, who've been together 17 years.

They're about to get married.

They decided to move in with the bride's mum

and extend their house to create a granny annexe.

But plans for the wedding were thrown into chaos

when they hired a cowboy builder to build their extension.

I have not enjoyed any preparation for the wedding.

My mum is mother of the bride.

She should have been out choosing flowers and favours for the tables

and stuff like that. No.

The wedding almost turned into a funeral

when the cowboy builder turned their house into a death trap.

They told us we needed to switch off the gas supply straight away

because with the flu pumping into the premises,

we could all die from carbon monoxide poisoning.

We're in Hertfordshire, where office manager Angela Green

and DJ Michael Bickham are about to get married.

They've been together 17 years and have two children,

five-year-old Charlie and 11-year-old brother Ryan.

When Angela's dad died, they moved in with mum Shirley

and planned to build her a granny annexe on the side of the house.

My parents bought the house when I was 11, so 27 years ago.

My dad worked really hard, paid the house off.

I lived here until I was 26, when I met Michael.

He had a flat in Watford and I moved in with him.

In Watford. We then had our son Ryan.

And we then got a house in Watford.

Then we had Charlie. When Charlie was two years old,

my dad suddenly passed away.

Shirley and her husband paid off the mortgage some years ago.

The family would take out a new mortgage to pay for the work.

The existing garage would be converted and extended

to create a new bedroom, shower room and larger kitchen.

They decided they'd come and live with me, otherwise I'd have had to sell the house.

I couldn't afford it on my own.

So they decided they'd build the extension on the side

so that I could have my own space and they could have the rest of the house

so we wouldn't be on top of one another.

Angela's fiance Michael would decorate the new extension

to help keep the costs down.

Then the builder came up with another way to reduce his final bill.

He quoted £25,000 and that was to build our entire existing garage

and to make it so it was a usable and liveable area.

That included a utility room, where we had to supply the utility,

a shower room with us supplying the shower and toilet and so on.

And I had to decorate it.

He then gave us a cash price for £22,500.

And we decided to go with the cash price because we thought we were getting a deal.

The builder started the job in the first full working week of the New Year.

The extension would be completed by March,

in plenty of time for the June wedding day.

It started off fine.

And then it got to... They were here for a little while

and then because of the snow they had to stop for about a week,

then they started again.

And they used to get here about quarter to eight in the morning

and they always made sure they were gone before my daughter got home from work.

Because all he was doing was asking me for more money, more money, more money.

At this stage, the builder offered to do extra work.

But for extra cash.

Towards the end of the building going up and the roof going on,

he approached us about the driveway

saying he wanted to get it done because of the flooding we used to have down the side of the building.

It always flooded our drive and went down into the side of the garage.

He knew my mum had a big issue with this. She's a worrier and it really worries her.

He said, "We need to get the driveway done because when it rains it'll run into the drive

"and go into the foundations and your extension will fall down."

He gave me a price of £4,500 to do the drive.

That was for concrete, not block paving.

I said, "I can get it done for less than that for block paving."

He said, "You can't." I said, "I've had three quotes already.

"I've had local builders round and they've all given me the same quote, which is a lot less than yours."

I then said, "If you can't match that price,

"I'll get someone else in to do it."

He didn't like it that I was going to get somebody else involved on the site,

so he said, "OK, I'll do it for £3,000."

By this time, the builder knew Mum Shirley was the one with access to the cash.

So he phoned her while the couple were at work

and asked her to get the money straight away.

So she went down to the bank again.

£3,000. He dug a hole, put loads of rubbish on the front,

put a board over the hole and left it.

Mud in and out of the house,

just rubbish everywhere.

The builder quoted a cash price of £22,000 for the extension,

to which he added £6,000 for the kitchen

and now he'd increased the cost of the job to £29,000, with a new drive.

Michael can't believe what the family got for their money.

We gave the builder a £3,000 instalment

to do our driveway.

He's dug it out to this point

and pretty much left it like this.

It's supposed to go down to the extension and through the gate.

I haven't got a clue how to do a drive.

My partner's got to come out to this on her wedding day

and get into the car. Probably ruin her dress or maybe trip over on her big day.

I don't think it's going to be nice for her to come out to this

on her special day.

So the builder didn't lay the new drive before he left,

even though he took all the money up front.

Hopefully he made a much better job of the new granny annexe extension.

This is the front of our lovely new extension.

As you can see, it's not finished!

The window was supposed to be the size of where the blockwork has been taken out to.

Which he's not bothered to change.

The rendering on that side of the building has not been done.

His comment to that was "I can't do the rendering on the side

"because of the lean-to here." It's clear corrugated plastic which could easily be removed

and replaced at a cheap price.

If you want to come in, I'll show you the rest.

We've got no floor in the extension,

which he was supposed to screed.

He's left exterior rendering where there should be plasterboard.

The flue to the gas where he's built

the roof round where the flue was still in, and pumping out on us.

The council have said this needs to be tied in properly

to support the concrete, or it must be removed.

We might need the roof removing when that's done.

The shower room.

The walls move!

The walls don't line up properly,

so if there was a door to be put on, it wouldn't line up.

He's left exposed sewer pipes, exposed drain pipes.

There's four exposed drain holes in here.

The council have told us, the inspector has told us,

that this area is too small where he's built and it needs to be redone

cos he's not put the right size wood in and the right insulation won't go in there.

There's supposed to be built in cupboards here so there's space for my mother-in-law's clothes.

We've got no floor in the liveable area of the extension.

It's an absolute nightmare.

I just wouldn't know where to start

if I was to come in here and start sorting things myself.

I'm not a builder.

Six months ago,

Michael, Angela and mum Shirley took out a loan and paid their builder £29,000.

The extension is uninhabitable.

This door that leads into the garden...

..it doesn't shut properly.

It's not been fixed properly, the whole lot.

It moves.

We can't lock this door so we've got no security on the extension that's been built.

There's no rendering on the exterior of the extension.

The windows he's put in are wrong.

They should have a triple vent on the top of all the windows

to stop damp building up inside the room.

It obviously needs re-doing where he hasn't put the right ones in.

This wall here was part of the original garage which he's built in to.

I approached him because the wall was actually wobbling.

I don't know if you can see, he's tried to repair this part of the wall again.

So we can't close the door now, or lock it.

He started to do some rendering on the building over there.

He's done probably 1.5 metre square rendering and then just stopped.

He explained to me he couldn't render the other side of the extension

because there's a tree there. There's a tree a foot from the extension.

The building's not watertight.

The blockwork, he's just left it like this

so it'll get damp if it's not sorted.

Down the other side of the building, it hasn't even got a first skim of cement on the walls,

so that is exposed to the elements.

I can't believe this is what the family's been left with

after parting with so much cash.

Coming up, I find out just how bad this build really is.

I'm thinking to myself, "Where are the genuine skills of the builder here?"

We're in Hertfordshire, where a family's plans to add a granny annexe to the house

so they could all live together comfortably, have gone horribly wrong.

Angela and Michael have been together 17 years

and have two children, Ryan and Charlie.

But they're also just about to get married.

When Angela's dad died unexpectedly, the couple decided to move in with mum Shirley

and build an extension to create extra space.

Work started in January, but the job has come to a complete halt.

The unhappy couple have been jilted by their builder.

This family were left thousands of pounds out of pocket

and their dream in tatters.

It's time for me to meet them and find out exactly what happened.

In just two weeks' time, Angela and Michael are getting married.

But they've barely thought about the wedding because of the mess they've been left in.

There will be four generations of family here on the big day

and amazingly, it was a relative who recommended their builder.

How did you go about finding the builder to do the work?

I went on the internet, the local directories.

I got a few local builders to come round and give us quotes.

Then my great uncle, who's an electrician,

did some work for this particular builder

and he passed on the number to us.

So originally we had them round before we applied for the mortgage

so we knew how much to take out.

And he came round. He wasn't the cheapest quote,

but he wasn't the most expensive.

-So you had three quotes?

-I think we had about five quotes.

Great. The more, the merrier, I say.

This guy, did you feel came recommended from your relative?

Yeah, I suppose so because if he thought he was going to be bad,

he wouldn't have passed on the number.

-Yes.

-So that, sort of, to me, I thought,

"He's going to be a safer bet than the other ones."

Just the fact that my uncle had done work for him and passed the number on,

-I thought he had to be sound.

-It cemented the deal, to a certain degree.

Even though, did you go and look at any of his previous work that he'd done?

-No.

-OK, so it was more or less the reason this guy won the deal

-was because he was recommended.

-Yeah.

'Angela and Michael made a common mistake

'when they took a family member's recommendation for a builder.

'He'd worked with the builder, but hadn't seen a finished job.'

Take my tip. Your family and friends may know some great builders,

but don't just take their word for it.

For any builder you're considering hiring,

go and see some previous finished jobs.

'Unfortunately, Angela and Michael didn't do this.'

We said "We still have to apply for the mortgage." We wanted to know what it would cost

so we knew how much to take out.

He then over the 18 months constantly phoned and phoned

-"Do you want the work done? Do you want the work done?"

-Over 18 months.

-So he was constantly phoning you up, "Do you want the work done?"

-Yes.

-And you were saying?

-Um, well, he was quite clever

because he'd try and always speak to my mum rather than with me or Michael.

-He never...

-Why?

-Soft touch!

-So he knew that you guys were tough nuts to crack.

-Yeah.

-So he was talking with Mum.

-Yep.

-OK.

One particular morning, Michael wasn't at work

and the phone rang and he came downstairs and he said it was him.

"Do you want this done or not? I don't want to lay off my labourers."

-Michael just said, "When we're ready, we'll contact you."

-Well done.

After this happened, I found out from Mum that he'd been ringing her every month

to make sure it was still on, but she never told me.

Angela's really worried the house she grew up in looks such a building site.

I wonder what we can do to help Angela and Michael before their special day arrives.

What I'd like to know is what can we do

that would make your life brighter

and help for that big day in the short space of time we've got.

-Driveway!

-The driveway done.

-So she hasn't got to come across the drive in her dress on the day.

-Course!

The dress! You couldn't go over that drive the way it is at the moment.

And my 86-year-old... Cos my dad's not here,

my 86-year-old grandmother is going to give me away.

Aw! How sweet is that?

That's fantastic!

So we need to come across a nice drive to start with. To begin with.

That's for sure.

Before the good guys come in and start work,

I want to have a look at what the builder left behind.

The thing that really worries me the most is this gas flue.

The dangers of all those emissions that are coming out of that exhaust

could have put the family at risk. Fatal risk, the worst-case scenario,

and then hospitalisation. It's awful.

And as I look around more and more,

I just think to myself,

"Where are the genuine skills of the builder here?"

I don't get it. Check this out.

Where he's put the window frame in and the door. First, the door doesn't fit correctly.

In fact, I'll try and open that. You can hear it.

You can hardly shut it back again.

I'd have to lift that up to sit it in properly.

But worst of all... Let me just do that.

Look at this.

I could push that out altogether. It could just collapse

down into the actual patio area.

Just outside the patio area, what have we got?

It's like a children's picnic area.

That is deadly. It's dangerous.

The whole place is just an absolute mess.

Considering that they have now spent £29,000 on this build,

I've got to be honest, in my opinion, a total disgrace.

There are way too many problems here for us to tackle.

But the driveway is the pressing issue.

With all the family due here for the wedding in a few weeks' time,

getting the outside safe is the top priority.

I know just the team for the job.

It's time to bring in the good guys.

Coming up, an independent chartered surveyor

gives his verdict on the gas flue the builder left pumping toxic fumes into the extension.

They really need to think about it.

If it gets up to about 12,500 parts per million,

three breaths and you're dead.

We're in Hertfordshire with Angela and Michael

who were left jilted by their builder eight weeks before their wedding.

Like most brides, Angela wants to leave for her big day from the family home.

We're going to clear up the mess the builder left

and lay a new drive in time for the wedding in two weeks.

Paul is leading our team of good guys. What's the plan of action?

-Paul, good to have the good guys on board.

-OK.

-There's a lot of bad things have gone on in this property, as you see.

-You could say that!

What is your plan for the next few days?

We're going to dig it out. That's the first thing.

Set in a new soakaway.

Sort the drainage out. Put scalpings down.

Then some sand, and they want it block paved, so we'll lay some blocks.

-Thanks for that, Paul.

-No problem, Clive.

They'll be well chuffed with what the good guys can do.

While the good guys get started outside,

I want independent surveyor Arnold Tarling

to give me his verdict on the quality of the builder's work inside.

Arnold, you've had a chance to have a good look round this place.

Let's put it like this, it's a nightmare!

It certainly is, Clive.

What have you seen that is not to your liking

apart from that driveway?

Apart from the driveway, well, first of all,

was the horrendous fact that they left the gas flue installed in an enclosed space.

That is lethal.

You really need to think about it.

If it gets up to about 12,500 parts per million,

-three breaths and you're dead!

-Yeah.

This is it. They're playing with people's lives.

They're coming and doing jobs, undertaking work - electrical and gas work -

that they're not qualified to do and so this sort of thing happens.

For me, that's got to be the worst part about his whole build.

It was the worst part. The tragedy was, they didn't actually do any gas work.

They should have done the gas work, but didn't.

Just basically, when you think about this,

you're building an extension round a gas flue.

Surely that should send alarm bells to the builder. "I can't do that. I've got to sort it out

"before I even consider enclosing it off."

Definitely. There is no excuse for the builder to have left that in there.

What about the rest of this extension? There's loads going on in here that just isn't right.

-What have you spotted?

-What have I spotted?

The bathroom. The fan goes straight into the roof void.

There's no duct, so all the damp from the shower will go straight in there and cause rotting.

Doors and windows aren't installed properly.

There was missing insulation.

Do you believe that this guy had any building skills whatsoever?

I think some of his workmen did.

The brick and blockwork looked fairly OK,

but he certainly didn't know much beyond that. I think he was relying on other people's knowledge.

Let's cut to the chase. Your input is so valuable to us, Arnold,

as our independent surveyor.

What mark out of ten would you give these guys for the work they've carried out.

I was going to give them one for turning up,

but with the gas, it's off the scale.

I can't think of a number low enough.

You can't think of a number low enough for the gas

-and one out of ten, just for turning up.

-Yeah.

Arnold's mark for the lethal gas flue is off the scale.

It's time I sat down with Angela and Michael to find out why the builder left mid-job.

They didn't know anything was seriously wrong until they called in a plumber to quote for a new boiler.

When was the first stage there was real problems and you needed to talk to the builder?

When our plumber came to give us a quotation for the new boiler system to go in.

Describe what the problem was.

It was the fact that the builder had left the gas flue to our original gas boiler

pumping out into the extension which he'd built.

He'd built the roof round the actual unit that held the flue in.

He didn't bother to tell us. If it wasn't for the fact that our plumber told us,

"You've got gas fumes pumping out into your extension."

So we had to cut our gas supply off straight away

because obviously we didn't want anyone to die because of it.

And that's the first that I had any real problems.

I had a problem with the time it was taking him.

I could see he wasn't putting in full days.

-Enclosed space. Carbon monoxide fumes pumping out.

-For about a month.

And he didn't recognise that that was a problem?

That is ridiculous. I just don't get it.

He would have known that that was an exhaust flue for that boiler.

He ignored what was going on.

When I confronted them, the guy stood there, shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know."

My words to that - I went ballistic.

I've got children. There's five people living in the house.

I ripped him to pieces. I didn't physically abuse him, but I verbally went mental at him.

To prevent the serious risk to the family,

relocating the gas boiler should have been planned from the outset.

Because the family's builder built the extension around the gas flue,

potentially lethal fumes were pumping directly into their home.

Once you found out from the plumber that the gas flue was dangerous,

what was your immediate reaction, even before you phoned the builder?

I was horrified. Absolutely horrified to know that that could have killed all of us.

Absolutely horrified and gobsmacked at his incompetence as a builder.

Absolutely gobsmacked.

His reaction, when I mentioned the flue was he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know."

He doesn't know!

I just ripped him to pieces. I went round the whole build, dragged him round - not physically,

but I dragged him round the whole build and pointed out everything. That took a while.

-What was his responses?

-He just didn't care!

He didn't have an answer for anything. He was like a little boy who didn't know what was going on.

It was like a headmaster having a go at a pupil

and the pupil stands there like... all cowed.

Unbelievable!

I just don't understand it.

I can't understand why you're pointing out...

-I'm assuming you're not a builder, Mick.

-No.

-Right.

So you're pointing out problems

and he is just going either, "That's not a problem",

or "I can rectify that" or "There's nothing wrong with it."

He didn't say he'd change it. He wasn't interested in what we had to say.

His words were, "I don't care."

-Did he return after that time?

-Um...

-Yeah.

After I'd kicked off at him that day about the flue and the rest of it,

he disappeared off the site for three days

-and he refused to come back.

-He came back with the plasterer.

I'd spoken to him on the phone.

He said, "I feel really intimidated", blah, blah, blah.

I said, "I had every right to scream at you the way I did with how you left us."

I said, "If that hadn't happened, I wouldn't have had to kick off."

-He comes back.

-He came back after the phone conversation I had with him.

-He came back with another labourer of whatever.

-Plasterer, wasn't it?

They started to do a square-and-a-half, a metre square,

of rendering on the outside of the building.

We disappeared out to pick up the children from school.

In that time, he'd loaded all his tools up and gone.

He took that opportunity as soon as you left the property. He was off.

He'd got 29 grand and he left you in a real state.

What do you do?

I was still gobsmacked again.

Gutted. He'd left and I realised he'd left and done one with our money

and left us in that state and I didn't know what to do.

I just... I almost cried.

-Mum did. I did.

-It caused a few arguments in the household.

It's caused rows between us, rows with the mother-in-law.

"Why did you give him the money?", and so on.

So we got a quantity surveyor out to go round the build.

-He was gobsmacked as well!

-He reckoned it would cost about £7,000

to complete what work was there.

Obviously he didn't check the building thoroughly to see all the problems he has caused.

Michael's reaction, when he found out the family had been at risk, caused the builder to leave.

Coming up, I find out from an expert

about the huge risk to the family

from the gas pumping out of the boiler flue.

Unfortunately, in the last 12 months, 18 people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

In Hertfordshire, we're helping Angela get ready for her wedding day.

There are four generations of family coming to celebrate.

But mum Shirley is ashamed of the way the front of the house looks

since their builder abandoned the job.

If it had been left like it was, I couldn't have watched her walk out.

No way could I have watched her walk out. It's going to make so much difference.

It makes the whole house look different.

The builder, despite taking three grand extra to lay a driveway,

walked off without laying a single block.

Fortunately, our good guys are on the job now.

Hey, Paul. The boys are back in town! It looks good.

Already you've made a massive impression on this drive. Tell us what you've done.

We're putting down concrete now.

We've just finished the backfill of the soakaway.

Now we're going to put the scalpings on. The lads are loading it up.

-OK.

-Then we'll whack it down with this vibrating plate.

And compact it all. The next thing is sand.

-Sand's on board. And then the blocks.

-Great!

-We're going great guns.

-I'm amazed in such a short space of time,

how quick you've got on with this driveway.

It's been a bit easier than I thought it would be.

We've got a good team working together.

-Brilliant. I'll leave you to it. I'll see you later.

-Lovely.

When the builder built the family's extension over the outside gas flue without cutting off the boiler,

he put the family in grave danger.

I've brought in Gas Safe technical manager Jamie Cooper to explain why.

What were the real dangers of escaping carbon monoxide through that exhaust

that was now fully enclosed in an extension?

The danger is it's fatal.

Unfortunately, if that boiler wasn't working correctly

and producing more carbon monoxide than it was ever intended to do,

and it was coming into this enclosed space, we've got a doorway here,

an old extractor fan up there,

there's avenues for the carbon monoxide to get back into the house.

That's when you'll start feeling unwell - headaches, nauseousness, breathlessness.

They're all first signs that something's not right.

In the last 12 months, 18 people died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

About another 350 were exposed to the effects of carbon monoxide

and were hospitalised for a matter of hours, possibly weeks.

It's those incidents we need to get to and investigate to stop them happening.

Of course, in this case, it's been just bad news all round.

Explain where you think this builder, although it's really obvious, where he went wrong.

Obviously the builder, for whatever reason,

has decided to build the extension out without getting the boiler moved.

They've put the extension out and completely enclosed the flue.

Even a correctly operating and well-maintained boiler

still produces small levels of carbon monoxide.

But they're designed to go in the atmosphere, to get diluted by air so they're not a hazard.

But coming into a space like this, then instantly the room will start building with fumes.

It'll feel stuffy and uncomfortable and you'll have carbon monoxide in there.

Another thing about this particular boiler is it draws its air to burn from in here. OK?

So all the air is going back into the boiler. And if it's taking in bad air,

full of fumes as it would be here,

then it starts a cycle of creating more and more carbon monoxide.

So if that had been left on, and this room kept filling up with carbon monoxide,

it would create more and more carbon monoxide.

The more it builds up, the more it can come back into the house and that's where the massive danger is.

Total negligence. This guy could have caused, let's face it,

-a fatality.

-Yes.

-At the end of the day.

Even worse, it could have been more than one.

To help prevent the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in your home,

there is a simple step you can take.

These devices are readily available from hardware and DIY stores.

They cost a relatively small amount of money

for the peace of mind and safety they provide.

About £20 will buy an alarm

which gives audible and visual warning

when carbon monoxide is detected.

A carbon monoxide alarm would have given the family adequate protection.

Coming up, I want to know just how out of order things really got when Michael confronted the builder.

On a scale of one to ten,

with one being the most gentle, and ten being the most aggressive, where were you?

We're in Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, helping a young family

whose plans for a granny annexe went badly wrong.

They paid their builder £29,000

but the extension is uninhabitable.

Abandoned new extensions are one of the biggest problems I come across.

So here are my top tips...

Don't be sketchy with your dreams.

Get a qualified architect in to draw up your plans.

Don't let your builder interpret your dreams on the back of an envelope.

Get your plans approved by the local authority

before work starts.

If your builder says you don't need planning,

don't take his word for it.

If you don't, the authorities can order your new extension is demolished.

Get at least three builders to price up your plans and give you a detailed quote.

The most common mistake

is to hire the first builder in the door

or the middle quote and then hope for the best.

Be clear about which stage your builder will stop work.

Don't extend on the cheap.

You could pay dearly in the end.

If one of the quotes sounds like a bargain price, be very wary.

A cut-price job usually means lots of corners cut.

Never pay up-front. Always insist on a contract with detailed stage payments.

The cowboys love cash.

Pay up front and you'll be lucky if they're still around at the end of the job.

Hold back a percentage in case there are any snags later.

No need to worry with our guys.

They've almost finished work on the new drive.

Now the front of the house will be safe when the family arrive for Angela and Michael's wedding.

My mother-in-law is giving her away.

My mother-in-law is 86.

No way could she have walked across there.

Angela would have had to carry her across!

-Stop yourself there, Paul.

-Hi.

-How you doing? All right?

-All right, mate.

-This looks the bee's knees.

-Thank you.

Tell you something, the change from the last time I spoke to you is amazing.

Just tell us what you've done and what you've got left to do.

What we've done, we've had to dig it out and get all new levels.

Compact the ground. The put a thing called MOT, or scalpings down, compact that.

Then sand, compact that again.

Then we put the blocks on and we had to compact them as well!

So everything is rock solid.

So even if a heavy vehicle came on here, there'd be no welling or anything.

Then we've got to put on the silver sand, put that in the joints.

-We compress it again.

-That's the kiln-dried stuff, yeah.

And it just locks all up then. Locks the whole thing up.

What's the final bit to do? I know you're ready to fire up the wacker.

That is the final bit, really. We just go over it one more time.

Get rid of any blemishes, get the sand right into the joints. That's it.

-Your boys have done a cracking job. I'll let you carry on.

-Thanks, Clive.

Tremendous job. I can't wait to show Angela and Michael what the good guys can do.

They'll be excited to see this.

This build ended badly for two reasons.

First, the poor and dangerous quality of the work.

Second, Michael's reaction when he confronted the builder about the potentially lethal gas flue.

The builder said he felt intimidated and refused to continue.

So we're not going to phone him today.

But I want to know just how out of order things got.

Now, you say, "absolutely kicked off with him."

I need to get to the crux of this, mate.

On a scale of one to ten,

with one being the most gentle and ten being the most aggressive, where were you?

Verbally at number ten.

-You were verbally at number ten on the scale.

-Yeah.

I almost stepped over the edge and lost total control.

I ended up walking off.

Screaming my head off at him, and said, "Looks like you're fleecing me."

As I walked off, I said, "Trading Standards, you're going to get the lot, mate."

And his words were, "Sue me."

Looking back again, with those wonderful hindsight glasses on,

do you believe that maybe you went over the top?

Or do you believe that it's fully justified?

Cos I'm a big fan, before you say anything,

I'm a big fan of dialogue.

And if this was the first time you'd noticed everything,

maybe, I don't know, do you think you should have been different in that approach?

When I approached him, I was calm.

I was pretty calm about the situation.

It was the reactions I got from him started ticking in my head

thinking, "What the hell have we done employing this guy?"

Maybe I could have gone about things a different way.

Maybe not been so verbal or so aggressive with my voice and that,

but no, I think I was well within my rights to react the way that I did.

Michael has learned the expensive way

how not to negotiate with your builder when things go wrong.

The builder told us he was too intimidated to return to work on the property.

But he admits he made a mistake when he built round the gas flue and he shouldn't have done.

Take my tip.

If you find yourself in Michael's shoes, don't let anger rule your head.

It's important to hear what he has to say

in case you've misunderstood something or made a mistake.

If you can't agree, call on the experts like Consumer Direct.

Take their advice about how to resolve your dispute calmly.

Coming up, I hope our good guys' work can make Angela and Michael's big day complete.

-Oh!

-Oh, my God!

With the wedding just around the corner,

our team of good guys' work is done. But before I show them their new driveway,

I want to ask Angela and Michael to describe just how bad it looked

before we arrived.

Just remind us what it was like out there.

-It was a nightmare.

-Like a junk yard.

They'd dug all the dirt up, there was dirt everywhere.

-Great big hole in the middle.

-It was dangerous.

A board over the hole to walk over.

It was an absolute mess.

How long had it been like that?

About six weeks.

-Maybe a bit longer.

-Six, eight weeks.

It was pretty tricky, wasn't it, to clamber over that board and whatever.

-Generally, it absolutely looked a mess, didn't it?

-Yeah.

What would you do differently next time when you're getting a builder in?

Get some good references.

-Loving that.

-A portfolio of their work

so you could see for yourself, maybe go round to a property they've worked at.

You said "maybe" go round and have a look.

I want you to definitely go round and have a look.

Anybody can create a portfolio.

-I'm happy you've picked up on those points.

-We've learned from this.

-Yeah!

-The hard way.

It is a hard way. Sadly, it still looks like it's an ongoing problem.

But what are you hoping for?

A nice new drive that she can walk across on her big day without tripping over loads of mess.

Some nice photographs.

-That's important to you, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Big style.

I hope you'll like what we've done. Those guys have worked fantastically well.

I hope you're really going to enjoy it.

So are you ready to take a look at what that threshold is going to be like

for when your Mick here carries you over after you get married?

-Let's go!

-Come on, then!

Angela and Michael are in for quite a surprise.

The front of the house has been transformed from demolition disaster

to dream driveway.

-Oh!

-Oh, my God!

Wow!

What a difference!

-It's unbelievable.

-That is amazing, isn't it?

That's what the good guys are capable of.

But not only that,

they noticed that your wall could do with a bit of a painting.

Look at that!

They've actually painted the wall as well.

OK? The paving goes all the way round the side.

They've re-hung that set of doors as well, cos they were hanging off.

So they've re-hung those and they've paved all the way

to what is still not a very nice extension!

-But at least it's paved. That's the main thing.

-Excellent.

-I can't believe it.

-They've done a good job!

So when you're stepping out now, on that big day,

car's waiting for you,

you won't have to be thinking about walking over a piece of flexible chipboard!

You'll be able to now walk out, proud as punch,

ready for that big day.

-Thank you!

-You're welcome.

-Thank you!

When we arrived, the house was stranded in the middle of a building site.

With the wedding day looming, Angela dreaded she'd ruin her dress leaving the house she grew up in

before she even reached the bridal car.

Our team of good guys has banished those blues

with something not old or borrowed, but brand spanking new.

A lovely block paved drive

so that Angela can depart in style. And after the honeymoon,

groom Michael can carry her over the threshold with a smile.

You know you've got the good guys in when they don't stop at the beautiful paving.

We've whitewashed the house and re-hung the gates too.

All I'm going to say now is, have a cracking wedding day.

I hope it's a fantastic future for you.

I know there's still things to do. Try not to get too stressed out.

Just have a damn good time!

-Fantastic.

-Great.

-Thank you very much!

-It's been an absolute pleasure. Hope you enjoy it.

-I do hope you can move on. Congratulations, missus!

-Thank you!

-All right?

-Thank you, sincerely.

You take good care of yourself now. And have a good time.

Enjoy that wedding. Charlie, you've gone all shy!

Take it easy and enjoy!

-Thanks very much.

-See you soon. Good luck.

You know, now I think Angela will be able to leave the house one happy lady.

I hope that we've paved the way to their future happiness.

But remember, always keep your cool and be firm and clear with your builders.

That way, you won't go falling into the cowboy trap!

Two weeks after we completed the driveway, the wedding day came around.

Angela was given away by her 86-year-old gran,

and when the bridal car pulled up,

they were able to drive away in style.

I'm glad our team of good guys was able to help Angela and Michael

begin married life with a smile!

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