Episode 23 Cowboy Trap

I'm on a journey across the UK

exposing the sharp practices of cowboy builders and rogue traders.

It was terrifying. I mean, I had my little daughter with me

who at the time was only one, and the weight of those pillars is shocking.

You can't even lift them. And it was terrifying.

Hopefully, by exposing these cowboys' tricks,

we can prevent others from making the same mistakes.

I feel absolutely useless

that I allowed this to happen to myself.

I haven't got money to throw away.

But don't worry, we've got a top team of experts on hand

to put right some of these botched building works.

Ah! Now that's a wall!

If you take on board all my hints and tips,

together we can help prevent you from falling into the cowboy trap.

'Today, we're travelling from Bournemouth to Bristol,

'meeting two sets of homeowners who wanted to provide a safe home for their families.

'But they ended up in danger when they fell into the cowboy trap.

'Liz Cutler wanted to make sure her new home was suitable to look after foster children.

'She didn't expect she'd end up with lethal electrics.'

It's had a huge effect on myself and my family.

If the children are here, I'm very concerned about what they're touching, what lights they're using.

'And the grass certainly isn't greener for Lindsey and Chris, whose builder left them with

'an unsafe garden wall. It fell down at the first strong gust of wind and could've killed their kids.'

It's been a very, very upsetting time.

You pay all your savings

and every penny you've got to make a house very special

and to be the lovely home you want it to be.

We're in Bournemouth to meet Liz Cutler,

who just wanted to know whether her electrics were safe and sound.

'Single mum Liz Cutler lives with 13-year-old son Jay.

'They have two dogs, Lily and Ling-Ling.

'Liz is a foster carer.

'When she moved from Wales to her hometown of Bournemouth,

'she wanted to continue fostering.

'The three-bedroom house she found needed some building work to make it suitable.'

The property was appropriate for what I needed.

It was at the right price and it could basically do what I wanted to do

to make it appropriate for fostering, mainly.

Liz has been a foster carer for three years now,

'providing a safe home for vulnerable children.

'So health and safety was her top priority for her new home.'

You need fire alarms put in, fire blankets,

windows have got to be secure and be able to be locked,

and you want your electrics to be safe,

gas appliances to be safe.

And there's a lot of safety and security that we run through to become a foster carer.

'Liz's new house needed central heating throughout,

'but more importantly, her homebuyer's survey flagged up that her wiring upstairs wasn't safe.

'She desperately needed an electrician to rewire the property,

'put in a new circuit board and sockets and issue an electrical safety certificate.

'She could then hand over the certificate to the council

'to prove her new home was completely safe.'

The certificate's very important to me as a foster carer.

Basically, it's the health and safety of everything when you're fostering.

And when you've got young children around, they're forever plugging in things

and unplugging stuff, they've got mobile phones, games are charging.

And not only as a foster carer. I have children and grandchildren

and obviously myself, I want the house to be safe.

'Liz hired a local plumber to do the central heating

'and he recommended an electrician.'

A very nice man, very polite, very reasonable.

Went round, looked at the property, listed down what needed doing

and gave me a quote, which seemed reasonable enough, and then we went ahead with the job.

'Liz hoped the electrician's work would make her home safe and get the certification she needed.

'She went back to her old house to finish the move.'

Whilst I was away, the electrician went to my son's property

to give him the certificate.

My son was able, then, to give him his final payment of £500 on my behalf.

'Liz made a common mistake.

'She handed over cash without even seeing the finished work. So take a tip from me...

'Then you can point out any snagging issues.

'While Liz was away, her son gave the electrician his final payment

'in return for the electrical certificate.

'But when Liz came back to Bournemouth, she had a nasty shock.'

Straight away, I noticed things weren't right with the electrics.

The noticeable part of it all

was the sockets along the top of the worktop were all uneven.

Also, the socket as you're coming through the main door, the light switch,

that hadn't been plastered round.

I did contact the builder as to why they hadn't plastered round the socket

and they told me that the socket itself

wasn't securely fixed to the wall and they couldn't touch that.

'The electrician had issued a test certificate, but Liz was worried.

'She paid £1,600 to have her home rewired

'with new sockets, circuit board and a full electrical safety certificate.

'She was left with loose sockets and potentially lethal wiring.

'It put her and her son in danger and meant she couldn't have foster children in.

'Liz's brother-in-law is a retired electrician.

'He no longer does bigger jobs like hers

'so couldn't help Liz with her rewiring.

'But when he saw the certificate, he knew straight away there was a problem.'

It was not complete.

A completion certificate is probably four or five pages

and there's test results on there, insulation resistance, earthing resistance, things like that.

None of that was there. And there's lots of boxes that you have to tick

to say that you've checked this, checked that, barriers were in place,

continuity of ring circuits are correct. None of that was there.

So it was really ten percent of a proper certificate.

'Worried about the work, Liz called the electrician back.

'He made some changes, but when he left, she noticed something important was missing.'

The test certificate was on the side and the list of jobs that needed doing.

When I returned from work, the test certificate had gone.

Some of the jobs were completed

but I don't feel that he did everything that he should've done.

The sockets are still hanging off the wall, they're still not in line.

'Liz's certificate wasn't worth the paper it was written on.

'If you're getting electrical work done, or need a certificate, take a tip from me...

'When he took away his certificate, this cowboy covered his tracks.

'Liz had no proof the installation was safe.'

OK, as you can see, the sockets, instead of being even, they're at different heights

and over time, they became loose.

The socket should've been about this level.

Instead it's quite higher up and tucked underneath the dresser unit.

I was advised to move the dresser higher up,

which you can't do cos there's no more room for it to go up any higher.

This is the main socket as you walk in through the front door.

This is the first light you put on at night when it's dark.

It's quite loose and falling off the wall.

'With her home left in this dangerous state, Liz had to put her fostering on hold.

'She is very worried about safety.'

It has a huge effect on me. It means that I can no longer pursue my career as a foster carer.

And when my grandchildren are here,

I have great concerns when they're plugging things in

and putting on lights and things.

The supposed electrician,

if he was sat opposite me now,

I'd suggest that he really takes up another trade

because electrical is not his game.

At the present time, he's not a competent man and he should not be doing electrical work.

Liz's dream of fostering kids in a new home is on hold until she can get her electrics sorted out.

Time for me to find out what's been going on.

DOORBELL RINGS

-Hiya!

-Hi. Are you Liz?

-Yes!

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

-Come on in.

-Thank you.

'Liz has been left at the end of her fuse with her frightful electrics.

'I can certainly see why. I can't believe someone could leave this lovely woman in such danger.

'So what can we do to help?'

It's important that we know exactly what you would like us to do for you

in that short space of time that would help you.

The main thing for me is to get my certificate. That is a huge thing.

-We'll make sure you get that certificate. How's that?

-Sounds great.

-OK, good. That's a deal.

-Yeah. Thank you.

'Liz's electrician had left her in a shocking state,

'with extremely dangerous electrics.

'When he disappeared, he took his dodgy test certificate with him.

'We've got a big job on our hands,

'rewiring and testing the whole property.

'We must ensure everything is safe for Liz,

'13-year-old Jay and any foster children.'

Liz really needs to get these electrics sorted, if only for peace of mind.

So it's time to bring on the good guys.

'Coming up, our independent electrical expert has some shocking news.'

The earth wasn't connected properly,

and would've made this whole house unsafe.

'Now we're heading to Bristol. The Prices' growing family meant they needed a bigger home.

'Lindsey's a full-time mum to their four children

'while Chris is a company director.

'They wanted a total refurbishment,

'turning their three-bed into a five-bedroom house.

'These extra bedrooms upstairs would give them more living space downstairs.

'So they decided an extension at the back and side would complete their dream family home.'

We had a very long, thin kitchen at the time

and we wanted to extend that to make it a lovely family kitchen

and really just upgrade the house.

New central heating system,

larger family bathroom,

and just make it a home that we wanted to spend a long time in.

'Outside, they wanted to make the garden safe and secure for their four children,

'Emily Rose, Louis, Jacob and Daisy May,

'so they asked the builder to put up a new wall.'

We spend a lot of time in the garden learning about nature

and we have pets, we have rabbits and guinea pigs,

so we like it to be nice, safe, enclosed and a nice place to be.

'The Price family's garden is an extension of their home,

'so they hoped the builder would do a first-class job inside the house and out.'

We had conifer trees all the way along and a privet hedge

and at the front, we had a front wall.

We wanted the overgrown trees removed

and we wanted a lovely wall put up all around.

'Chris remembered a builder he knew through a mutual friend.

'So they got him in for a quote. And then they began to do some research on his previous experience.'

We asked about the builder.

What kind of work does he do? Is it of a good quality?

Everything seemed to come back pretty OK.

And my husband then went to look at a project he'd been doing

and, to us, we're not builders, but it looked fine.

He seemed a nice, friendly chap

and I fully trusted him to come in and do a great job.

'Lindsey and Chris were won over by the friendly builder.

'Like them, he was family orientated. In fact, his 16-year-old son would work with him on the job.

'They spent a year working on the house, and almost became part of the family.'

We'd start off every day with a cup of tea and a chat.

And even on his son's 16th birthday, I baked a big cake

and decorated the room and bought him a small gift.

And, you know, I felt that they were almost part of our family.

They'd spent a lot of time with us

and our children had got to know them

and I was sure we'd get a great job because of this.

'Lindsey and Chris made the mistake of becoming too close to their builder. So take a tip from me...

'Time is money, and if you spend time chatting,

'it's your money, not theirs.

'..regardless of whether you're friends or bake them cakes.

'Lindsey and Chris were happy with the work both inside and out. Until the builder finished.

'Suddenly, their new garden wall frightened the life out of Lindsey.'

One day, it was a little bit windy and we were out feeding the guinea pig and the rabbit

and the next thing, we heard a slight cracking of wood

and the pillars just came and it was one pillar and then another pillar

and it was terrifying. I mean, I had my little daughter with me,

who at the time was only one,

and the weight of those pillars is shocking, you can't even lift them.

And it was terrifying.

'Lindsey and her daughter had a lucky escape.

'The post and fence panels completely collapsed.

'They were left with a big pile of debris.

'Lindsey's friend, Tuarita, is godmother to one of her children

'and couldn't believe how close they came to tragedy.'

You know, you just think, are the children going to be...

Is it going to collapse on them when they're playing outside?

Cos they're always out in the garden, especially if it's nice.

You could go out one day and find a heap of rubble with one of the children underneath it.

'The cracks began to show in this builder's shoddy workmanship

'inside the house, as well.'

It was pretty bad. We had leaks coming through the kitchen ceiling,

our bathroom was leaking, by then, the bathroom tiles had been laid but they'd started cracking.

And generally, I was starting to feel quite sad about the whole thing.

'Lindsey and Chris paid their bill, £67,000 for their new extension and garden wall.

'They withheld the last payment of £6,000 to fix the snags.

'Inside, their new extension is blighted with leaks and cracks.

'Outside, the garden wall is dangerous.

'Lindsey got straight onto the builder.

'He said there was nothing wrong. But then he agreed to come back.'

He did fix the wall. Exactly the same, he did it within about two and a half hours,

rebuilt the pillars, put the fencing back

and the wall was back up.

'Lindsey and Chris live in fear every time the wind blows.

'If they allow the children outside to play, the wall may blow down on top of them.'

I did raise concern with him, then, that I was worried

that the same thing may happen to the rest of the wall.

He assured me it was completely safe

and that I had no reason to worry.

So I had to take his word for the fact that it's safe.

'Their worries don't stop outside. Inside, the snagging list is long.'

We were left with no upstairs banister or stairs with four young children over the weekend.

One of our young children sleepwalks, so it was terrifying.

The bath leaks. We have... a saucepan full of murky water

coming from the waste pipe, which we have to empty every few days.

'But it's their garden wall that worries them most

'because they fear for their children's safety.'

We heard a slight cracking noise, which was obviously the wooden panelling cracking,

and the wall actually came down.

The hutch, at the time, was situated here,

so it missed us by only a couple of feet.

It was very close indeed.

Since, the builder has come back and rebuilt it,

but it's still very worrying, whether it will happen again or not.

Is it safe for the children to be out here?

'The constant worry led Lindsey and Chris to call in a building inspector.

'He confirmed their worst fears

'and told them the wall must come down because it was too dangerous.'

It was the same as this.

And you could actually push it and wobble it. It was horrific.

The building inspector sent out a letter

saying that it was a dangerous structure.

'The couple are living with the disappointment of the snags inside.

'But they can't live with the danger outside.

'This nightmare has been going on for over a year now.

'It's really been taking its toll on Lindsey.'

I think it's been a big strain on her

and Lindsey has changed quite a bit.

Constant strain of worrying when it's going to be built,

the worry of all the children, their safety and everything,

and she has changed. She's quieter than she used to be.

All that Lindsey and Chris wanted was an extension to their home

to accommodate their ever-growing family.

But all they were left with was one big mess.

KNOCK AT DOOR

-Hello!

-Hello! Is that Lindsey?

-It is.

-Hi, I'm Clive from Cowboy Trap.

-Come on in.

-Thank you.

'I can't believe this cowboy has left Lindsey and her family in such a dangerous situation.

'I want to find out how we can help them make their homes safe again.'

What could we do for you that would make you smile?

-Replace our dangerous garden wall would be the most...

-Priority number one.

-What we will do is, we'll get the good guys in and sort that wall out.

-That's very kind.

This builder left the garden unsafe,

particularly when you consider there are young children around.

It's time to put things right and get the good guys in.

'Coming up, our independent surveyor delivers his expert verdict on their bodged boundary.'

It isn't even poor workmanship, it's dangerous.

'We're travelling south now to Bournemouth.

'Foster carer Liz Cutler wanted to make her new home safe

'so she could continue her fostering.

'After paying £1,600 to have her electrics sorted out,

'she was left with sockets hanging off the wall and lethal wiring.

'The good guys are raring to get started, but before they do,

'I want to get a score for the standard of work from independent electrical expert Tony Cable.'

I was very concerned when I looked at the main earth there

and it didn't look like it was connected

and when I attached it, it actually came off. If you lose the main earth,

that could've been very dangerous, with someone getting a shock or burnt.

At the consumer unit, the fuse board, there's holes in the top.

The regulations state they shouldn't be any more than one millimetre. I could get my finger in there.

That isn't the way a professional electrician would do it.

If you look at the sockets in the kitchen, there's no two the same height

and they're not very straight, either.

I think, being generous, one or two.

But no more than that, cos I think this house was left in a dangerous condition.

'Two out of ten maximum?

'Liz and all her extended family could've been electrocuted.

'Luckily, our good guys are ready and waiting to help Liz

'continue her dreams of being a foster mum.

'They'll be rewiring the bodge job and moving Liz's sockets so that she can actually use them.

'Troy is leading our team today. So what's the plan of action?'

What we're going to do first is a periodic test and inspect.

So we basically go round the house

and have a look at the whole electrical installation, taking off fronts.

Then after we've done a visual, we do a test with the meters.

-OK.

-And we need to put the sockets at the right heights,

-so we need to try and move them into those zones.

-OK.

And also take down every fitting, every socket,

and redo the connections and check behind.

Basically, just go over all the connections again.

Roughly, tell me how long you think it's going to take you to do.

It's going to be about a day and a half's work.

So at the end of two days, we should have it all finished.

-And you'll be able to hand over a certificate at the end of that.

-Yeah.

The certificate will come from... The periodic test report we'll do,

that brings up what work, if any, needs doing.

Then any work I undertake myself I will issue a test certificate for, an installation certificate.

-I'll let you carry on.

-OK.

'While Tory gets started, I want to find out what Liz knew about the electrician she originally hired.'

Did he say how long it was going to take?

-No.

-OK.

-There was no timescale of what it was going to take to get the job done.

Because I wasn't living here, I did leave him with a key,

so he could come and do whatever he liked and get on with the job and get finished

-so I could hurry up and move in.

-Looking back on that,

would you now think that was a wise move, to give him a key?

Did you know him personally?

No, I didn't know him. But there was really nothing here

of value as such for anything to go wrong.

Never leave a stranger with a key. That's like me knocking on the door

and saying, "When you're out at work, do you mind me having the key?"

-True.

-So it's important to realise,

unless it's the absolute last resort,

-don't leave them in the property on their own. They can easily have a key cut.

-Mm.

'Liz was lucky. But take a tip from me...

'If you absolutely can't stay with your builder...

'And if you do leave your home unattended...

'..as they could be damaged or even stolen.

'It could've been a lot worse for Liz.

'But by no means has she got off lightly.'

What kind of electrician leaves a house in a dangerous condition?

Time this cowboy gave us some answers.

'Liz hasn't managed to get hold of her electrician

'since he left with her electrical certificate.'

So, what questions would you like to ask him?

I would like to ask him how he could be brazen to come into the house posing as an electrician,

a qualified electrician.

How he could say that he could give me the certificate I needed

and then to leave us all in danger.

-OK. I'm going to give you, right now, an opportunity to speak to your electrician.

-Yeah.

-Here we go. Just hold that out in front of you.

-OK.

-PHONE RINGS

-Here we go. It's ringing.

Hi, it's Liz. I wonder if you could call me back on this number, please?

There are some questions I would like answering. Thank you.

Answerphone! The thing is,

they know that we're on their case and therefore they go to ground

and you never get them answering, which is a real pain. It might just prick his conscience

and he might phone you back, but we'll just sit tight, wait and see.

'I've got a message for cowardly cowboys everywhere.'

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

And by revealing your cowboy tricks, we'll prevent others from falling into your trap.

'Coming up, I hope Liz is going to be ecstatic about her new electrics.'

Oh, thank you so much!

'Back in Bristol, we're helping Lindsey and Chris Price

'make their home safe for their four children.

'They paid £67,000 for a side and rear extension to accommodate their growing family.

'But they were left with a long list of snags inside.

'Outside, they wanted to make the garden secure for the children to play in.

'But the wall their builder put up has already fallen down

'and been rebuilt once before.

'The good guys are standing by to make it safe,

'but first, I want independent chartered surveyor John Martin

'to check it over.'

The wall moves. When you push it,

and I'm not pushing it very hard, it rocks.

And you've only got to get a strong wind

and it will fall over, because all of these panels

act like sails

and if you get the wind in the wrong direction,

it will just blow it all over.

You just wouldn't build a wall this tall in this construction.

You would probably build it to a maximum of that height.

The pillars should be taken down, all of them,

even the two that are vertical, and start again.

I would give the builder's wall nought out of ten.

Because it is dangerous.

It isn't even poor workmanship, it's dangerous.

Zero out of ten. It's time this builder chose another occupation.

'Jason and his team are ready to get started

'so let's find out how they're going to make life safer again for the Prices.'

Jason, this wall's a bit of a mess to say the least. What are the main problems?

The problems lay in the block work. It's too heavy, the wall's too heavy.

There's nothing there to support it. Literally, it can be pushed over.

So, in real terms, what is your plan? What are you going to do with it?

We're going to take it down block by block, piece by piece,

all the way along, take out all the bad work

and basically build a new fence all the way along again.

How long do you think that will take you?

Weather permitting, it's a lovely day, at least two days.

-Excellent. It's great to have the good guys in. Thank you, Jason.

-You're welcome.

'Lindsey and Chris have been living in fear for their kids' safety

'for over 18 months now.

'I want to find out how extending their family home put them in such danger.'

How did we go about finding a builder?

Well, we knew him through mutual friends.

-OK.

-I'd been to have a look at some work that he did some years back

and he came highly recommended.

Just remind me of what that work was that you looked at.

-I think it was a patio.

-OK.

-We have a very good friend

who said, "Use this chap, he's very good."

He may be good at laying patio slabs

but not necessarily the best at laying bricks.

-Absolutely.

-Everybody has got strengths.

Bricklayers, plasterers, plumbers, electricians, gas fitters.

So did it not cross your mind at all that you hadn't seen any work

where he'd actually laid bricks and done and extension?

He assured us that he had a team of builders that were proficient.

-He thought the job was manageable.

-Yeah.

And, quite frankly, that rapport that we had with him at the time

was a good reason to choose him.

I know people who won't take somebody on who isn't a brilliant talker.

I'm not bothered if they're not brilliant talkers.

If they do the work properly and I've seen their work, I'm not bothered if they don't talk.

'Lindsey and Chris thought going to look at a patio their builder had done was good enough research.

'But take a tip from me...

'..to check their standard of work

'The Prices' builder took on this ambitious job

'without bringing in skilled experts.

'18 months after he finished the job,

'they've still got a long list of snags.'

It's high time this builder accounted for his actions.

So we're going to call him and find out exactly what he's got to say for himself.

-We've got a telephone number for him.

-Yep.

Let's give him a call. All you've got to do is put it on loud speaker. Let's go.

-PHONE RINGS

-It's ringing.

-It's ringing.

'Our luck's in. He answers the phone.'

Listen, can I ask you a few questions?

Because we're now at a stage where, you know, we're pretty keen to get all this sorted.

You know, the wall is still pretty damn wobbly.

'The builder tries to reassure Chris that there was nothing wrong with the wall

'and it wouldn't fall down again.'

But, as I look around it, and as independent surveyors have looked around it,

and looked around the work, first of all, the wall outside was a disgrace for it to fall over.

And you were saying it was wind damage.

Well, the wall next to it that had been up for some time managed to survive and yours didn't.

And you've got to bear in mind, there's kids around.

'The builder says that he's never refused to come back

'and that he will come back to fix their outstanding problems inside their house.'

So, we need to make a list of everything.

You've already got that list.

And I think he should then be offered the chance

-to put it right and complete it to your satisfaction.

-Sure.

OK? So, it's up to you now. Make that contact and let's get this all sorted.

-Sounds good to me.

-Good.

-It's a plan.

-That's a plan.

'The Prices have decided not to take the builder up on his offer

'and have opted to hire someone else to fix their outstanding problems.

'Coming up, I can't wait to see the look on Lindsey and Chris's faces

'when they see their safe new wall.'

Ah! Now that's a wall!

'We're travelling back to Bournemouth now.

'Liz Cutler has a 13-year-old son of her own and she's a foster mum.

'When she moved house, she needed the new property rewired

'to make it safe for foster kids.

'She paid an electrician £1,600,

'but he left, taking the safety certificate with him.

'Now she's worried.

'Our good guys are on the case now

'and I want to know if Troy has found anything wrong.'

Here he is. Problems, Troy?

Er, yeah, quite a few.

-Like?

-Well, the main one, really, is the earthing.

-It's the first one we came across. The earth cable's come off. It wasn't screwed up properly.

-OK.

So what have you got left to do now?

-We're going to test all the new works we've done.

-OK.

Issue test sheets and then, at some point,

-we'll get that registered with Building Control.

-Well played. I'll let you carry on.

'While Troy and the boys crack on, I want to find out from Liz

'when alarm bells started ringing about her electrician.'

Take me to the time when you now realised,

the day has dawned,

that this guy wasn't for real and you're £1,600 light.

I phoned Trading Standards first of all

and they were able to tell me a list of companies, governing bodies,

to contact to see if he's registered with any of them.

I phoned the governing bodies and they did a sweep

and they couldn't find him.

The other phone call I had to make then was to the council

-to check if there was a Part P, is it?

-Yes, Part P certificate. Yes.

The council checked and there was nothing.

-So he wasn't registered as Part P.

-No, there was nothing there at all.

-OK.

-Again, I contacted him

and I said about the works that needed doing,

finishing off, and again he said he would come back and do it

and he's got somebody to sign the work off for me.

So he said that. He's got somebody. Now, all of a sudden,

he's got somebody that can sign the work off for him.

You'd turn round and go, "How come, because you've already signed the work off for me

"and you were qualified." Did you say that?

Yeah, I did say to him, "Why is it that you could sign it off?"

and he still insisted that he could do.

He still could do this. But he said he has got a friend that's been in the trade longer

and he's going to be able to sign it off.

No qualified electrician is going to come in

and sign off anybody else's work at all.

They need to have hands on and to be able to check and test

the whole system. Because it then falls upon them if there's any future problems.

I've come across this story time and time again and, by the sound of it,

I wouldn't have even wanted this guy to put a battery in my torch,

let alone do my electrical work.

'Liz has really had a shock with this cowboy. I hope we can restore her trust.

'Troy and his team have been busy

'fixing the sockets and sorting out that dodgy wiring once and for all.'

SMOKE ALARM BEEPS

'By bringing in the good guys, we've made her home safe

'so she can become a foster mum again.

'I can't wait to show her exactly what they've done.'

The first thing you will notice is all your sockets now,

along with your new tiling and your new splashback,

-are all now in line.

-Yep.

Your fuse board has now been made safe.

Real critical for us was that your earth bonding,

that was loose before, and in places wasn't fastened,

has actually been secured and done correctly now.

So all that is done.

And, of course, your smoke alarms have all been fitted correctly, too.

He's also done a test of all the electrical work that he's covered

-and everything is hunky-dory.

-Lovely.

'Liz's electrician left her and her 13-year-old son Jay

'with potentially dangerous wiring.

'The switches and sockets were wonky, the main earth wire was loose

'and she had no certificate to show the work was safe,

'so the council couldn't allow foster kids in her home.

'We've tested the whole electrical system and rectified all the faults.

'Now it's safe as houses.

'The entire installation meets the regulations,

'complete with light fittings suitable for use in the bathroom.

'We've also tested all the smoke and fire alarms

'which Liz needs to keep her home safe.

'Liz can now have the peace of mind she so desperately needs.

'But I want to make sure she won't be falling for any more cowboy tricks again.'

Just tell me what you've learned from having a cowboy electrician in your property.

What would you do next time when you need to get an electrician

or any tradesperson?

One, I'd check the paperwork.

-Two, clarify that they are actually registered.

-That is so important.

'The best news of all is that Troy can now issue Liz

'with the certificate she needs for reassurance

'and to prove to the council her home is safe for her to take in foster children.'

-Now, I've got some great news for you.

-Yeah?

Yeah. Because in my big dabs,

I have your periodic inspection report

and electrical installation test certificate

all there for you. That is now yours.

Oh, thank you so much!

So that is now massive peace of mind.

It really is, yeah. At least we'll sleep at night knowing we're safe.

So how does it make you feel? Do you feel brilliant about that?

-Fantastic. Thank you. That's what's important.

-That's the critical thing on this occasion.

-Lovely. Thank you very much.

-Nice to meet you. See you soon. Bye!

Liz can now sleep well,

happy in the knowledge that her electrics are safe and sound.

'We're hoping for some more happy faces in Bristol.

'Lindsey and Chris Price have four children

'so they decided to have a new extension.

'While they were at it, they asked the builder to make the garden secure.

'Inside there are lots of problems.

'But outside, the posts he built blew over.

'The parents are very worried it might happen again

'and fall on the children.

'We're in now, making it safe.

'I want to find out how they're getting on.'

Just explain what you've done and if you've hit any snags.

-We've taken the wall down.

-Yep.

-It came down very easily.

-Surprise, surprise.

-No surprises there.

We've put a new fence up, bolted on these posts.

The fence is going to be nice and strong and it's not going to suffer in the wind or fall on the kids.

So how long is it going to take you before you complete?

-A couple of hours.

-Fantastic. I can't wait to show them.

'Well, our good guys certainly don't beat about the bush.

'We've removed the dangerous block posts

'and erected a safe and secure boundary for the garden.

'I wonder what Lindsey and Chris have learned from this experience.'

I want to know what you've learned from having a cowboy builder on your property.

Don't get too friendly with your builders.

-Aww!

-And try to keep it professional.

-Don't get too friendly. What about you, Chris?

-Three things.

-Check references.

-Good lad.

-Check work.

-Yep.

-And don't part with your money before they've finished.

-See?

-How's that?

-I'm liking all four of them.

They're great. OK, now, before we go and take a look outside,

just remind me what it was like before we arrived.

It was wobbly.

It was dangerous.

So what are you hoping for?

A lovely, safe structure to keep the children safe while they're playing.

-And sturdy.

-Yes. Sturdy, safe, bit of privacy.

-Absolutely.

-Let's go check it out. Are you excited?

-I am.

Come and have a look.

Ah! Now that's a wall!

-Now, that looks the business, doesn't it?

-That's a wall, Lindsey.

It's beautiful.

That keeps you nice and private but it keeps you nice and safe,

particularly where the children are concerned. So are you happy?

-Certainly.

-Very much. Thank you.

'Lindsey and Chris wanted to make their garden secure

'so their four children could play outside safely.

'But when the block supports their builder erected blew over,

'they were left living in fear it could happen again.

'We've removed all the wobbly block work and replaced the entire garden boundary

'with a sturdy and strong stretch of fence.

'Lindsey and Chris can rest assured that no ill wind will bring the thing down.

'Finally, there's a safe boundary to protect the children from the outside world.'

Is it worth a cheer? Yeah? You ready? After three. One, two, three.

THEY CHEER

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

It's been an absolute pleasure to meet you guys.

And good luck with the future

-and good luck with your lovely space here in the garden and your secure fence.

-Thank you.

-Lovely to see you.

-Thank you.

-And you.

-Take care. Thank you very much.

-Kids, nice to meet you.

Check out the garden, it goes way down there. Go and have a look.

Well, I think we've made the family very happy

and I hope they'll enjoy the garden for many years to come and in safety.

But remember, if you're not happy with the work your builder's doing, don't hand over your cash!

That way, you won't go falling in the cowboy trap.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd