Episode 25 Cowboy Trap

Cowboy builders are on the loose

and they could be coming to a town near you.

So many different emotions, continuously.

From anger to frustration to...

Helplessness.

I can't believe how many bodged jobs these so-called "builders" leave behind.

I just can't hear anything else wrong with this house any more.

My team and I are here to right the wrongs those cowboy builders have left behind.

-I don't know what to say.

-Fantastic, eh?

-Very, very good.

Stick with me and I'll pass on hints and tips in the hope

it will help prevent you from falling into the Cowboy Trap.

On today's Cowboy Trap, we're in Devon to meet a couple

whose builder promised to extend their bungalow for a special discount price.

But they learned the hard way.

The only thing that came cheap were his broken promises.

If I met him tomorrow what would I want to say to him?

Er, I don't...

Probably think of half a dozen things, but I don't think

I'd be able to get all of them out into one sensible question.

The builder went on a demolition derby with their home and their dreams, but they were lucky

he didn't kill them while he was about it.

In the fuse box, you've got the coppers

that all the live wires come into.

All of those were exposed and had we gone and touched any one of them.

Well, it just doesn't even bear thinking about.

We're in Newton Abbot, Devon.

Rachel and Simon Ballamy have been married 11 years.

Rachel works as a paralegal and Simon a mobility adviser.

Three years ago, they found just the home they were looking for, for them and their dogs, Alfie and Molly.

The unmodernised bungalow had been owned by the same family since it was built in the 1930s.

They knew right away they could transform it into the perfect home for them.

It had a really lovely-size garden and you could see a potential in

what the garden could look like and then a potential with the house to make it into a lovely home.

-And it had stayed in the same family, hadn't it?

-Mm.

It had stayed in the same family, I believe, since when it was built.

It had just been passed through the generations and you could really feel that.

Rachel and Simon had found their perfect home to make their dreams come true

and there was plenty of land for the dogs.

Rachel and Simon planned to extend the bungalow from two bedrooms

to a four-bedroom house with two extra bathrooms, a new kitchen and utility room.

Outside, they would flatten out the long sloping garden

by creating a huge deck area across the back of the house.

The reason they wanted all the extra space was to become a family.

Their own attempts to have children hadn't worked out,

but now they planned to apply to become foster parents.

After a few years of fertility treatment, I think we now can't have children.

We just decided that we were at the right time, I think, in our lives.

You know, kids, if they're being fostered, are being fostered for a reason and usually it is because

they're going through turmoil at home.

Just be nice, if they had to be plucked out of their own homes, that they could be put into a home

that is quite welcoming and normal.

As normal as we'll ever be anyway!

Rachel and Simon hoped their plans to create a large family home

would help their application to become foster parents.

We sort of designed it around

the principles to help to foster kids, so they would have their own area, we'll have our area.

We'll have family areas as well.

To do the process and the lady come round and say, "Yes, you're perfect candidates.

"As soon as you get your house built, the red tape will be done

"and you can have some foster children".

It took a year for the council to grant planning consent for the extensive changes to the bungalow,

so they had plenty of time to look for a builder.

The builder they liked best had lots of exciting ideas.

Even better, he promised to do the job at a discount to help Rachel and Simon realise their dream

of becoming foster parents.

From a money side of things, we were only going to pay 10% above the materials

and the labour would be near enough at cost,

so from a quote point of view, it was always going to come in below everybody else.

Rachel and Simon thought their builder was doing them a favour by pricing the job cheap.

As they discovered, the only thing that comes at a discount is demolition.

They were brilliant at demolishing things,

but when it came to putting back stuff... Taking the roof off, for example.

-Done in two days, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

But the roof was off for six weeks, six-to-eight weeks.

Knocking down the walls, well, that's easy.

They got a jack hammer in and there was dust flying everywhere.

All the ceilings were coming down, windows were being pushed out and that was great.

They were having a whale of a time.

But nothing was being put back in.

The walls came down, the floors came up and the roof came off.

All at alarming speed. The once lovely garden filled with rubble.

Rachel watched their dream home crumble,

but she was desperate to believe the builder had a solid plan.

I would see them daily, literally every day,

asking what they were supposed to be doing today.

At the time, I took what they were saying as read,

because then Simon would come home from work and it would be like, "What have they done today?"

And at one point, I was almost justifying what they had or hadn't done,

because it just seemed quite natural.

But we got to the point where we were scared not to pay him.

Because we were so far behind schedule, we thought, "Well,

if we don't pay him, and there were no materials on site, he would say, "I'm behind schedule.

"You've not paid me." We didn't want to be the ones at fault.

Rachel and Simon had agreed to pay the builder every two weeks, no matter how much work he did.

So when work slowed down, they were worried, but he always had a ready excuse.

He kept promising as well.

We'd have the conversations and he'd have the chat with us and he would make it sound very good.

He was very much of a charmer from that point of view

and he made it very believable what was going to happen, what is happening

and every time we did have a good chat with him, things would happen for a week or so.

So all of a sudden your confidence was back, things started to happen and then it would just lapse again.

The builder was drip feeding them stories, while Rachel and Simon were flooding him with their cash.

We had one conversation with him, he told us to go out choosing taps.

"Go and choose your taps in your bathrooms. " So we did.

And then, what's the point?

Cos we had no rooms to put them in.

But it's laughable now when you think about it.

Rachel and Simon did sign a contract with their builder, but the contract was in his favour.

He received £10,000 to start the job.

Then he would get another £5,000 every two weeks throughout the four-month build.

Take my tip.

But don't agree to time-staged payments

which become due on regular dates.

Make sure the contract states...

Rachel and Simon's build quickly fell massively behind schedule.

There were young labourers on site, but few skilled trades

and they rarely had any materials to work with.

They were nice lads, but they didn't seem to know what they were doing.

It was taking three of them to do a single job.

They also never had any materials, did they?

You'd sort of be thinking, "Well, what are they going to do?"

Cos there was nothing there for them to use.

All of a sudden you'd have a batch of materials, a bit of work would get done

and then you'd only have one guy here, or two guys here,

and all of a sudden there would be a little bit of a surge of work

and then it would all fall back and then you wouldn't see anyone for a couple of days.

That's how it sort of went along, wasn't it?

For three years, Rachel and Simon had been planning a tenth anniversary

second honeymoon to Florida and Jamaica to renew their wedding vows.

Now the builder made a promise of his own.

While they were away for the month, he would transform the project.

The idea behind that was to renew our wedding vows. It was ten years.

The idea, when we're away, the house was going to be first fixed when we got back.

-So the roof would be on...

-Ground floor first fix.

The ground floor would all be done. Electrics, plastering.

We had no contact from him while we were away.

He had all our contact details where we were staying, e-mail addresses, all of it. We were very organised.

-Every single thing.

-We heard nothing for the first couple of weeks and thought everything was fine.

Rachel and Simon thought the builder's silence was a good sign,

because their best friend was staying in the house to look after the dogs.

Unbeknownst to them, Russell didn't like what he saw at all.

They started turning up about 9.30,

going at 3.30, 4pm and then they got less and less.

We had scaffold planks from the lounge to the toilet, no flooring, no kitchen, no roof on.

I'd have liked to have told them, but I wouldn't ruin their holiday.

Both sets of parents joined the couple for the first leg of their special trip,

but they were in for a shock when they got home!

We came back after the two weeks and dropped in

to look at the property before we went home

and absolutely nothing had been done.

Hardly anything had happened.

It almost seemed exactly the same.

Rachel's stepdad decided not to phone Simon and Rachel. He phoned the builder instead.

The builder, in turn, promised immediate action.

So on Simon and Rachel's behalf, rather than worry them whilst they were still on holiday,

I contacted the builder myself, who promised me that there had been problems with sickness

as far as his workers were concerned and that was the reason for the delay,

but he would get onto it straight away.

And true to his word, the builder did act.

He sent round one of his men to show everyone just who was in charge.

He came in on the Monday morning, took the toilet in the bathroom out and just disappeared,

left us with no running water, no toilet or anything like that.

Unfortunately, I had to let Simon and Rachel know then, which her mum did.

She contacted them.

It was the phone call Rachel and Simon dreaded.

The news completely ruined the last two weeks of their second honeymoon.

-The two weeks after that were just...

-Just horrible.

..disjointed, wasn't it, really?

Cos you got so fed up with me being on the phone to try and sort it out.

And we were cycling the Blue Mountain, weren't we?

And Simon took a photo of while I'm on the phone, leaving yet another message to say, "Please, ring us.

"Don't ruin this holiday for us. Just ring us and let us know what's happening".

Despite the early warning, the couple were completely unprepared

for what they saw when they got home.

When we get back,

I think there was about 20 tiles on the roof in one little corner

at the front of the house, tarpaulin still over the whole of the roof.

We've walked in.

There was still no floors going towards the bathroom.

Some of the walls had been plastered, I think.

Yeah, he'd ripped one floor up that we'd agreed not to.

That was to...

-Stay.

-..stay as it was. The kitchen...

I walked straight into the kitchen and I went into a state of almost shock.

I said to Simon, "The kitchen's not going to fit in. The door's in the wrong place".

The builder quoted £50,000 to transform the unmodernised two-bedroom bungalow

into a four-bedroomed house with new kitchen, bathrooms and remodelled garden.

By the time they came home, they had paid £45,000.

They had no water, no electricity, no roof, no floors, no kitchen and no outside deck.

They were devastated.

Almost all the money spent, they wondered how they would ever

fulfil the dream of opening their arms to foster children.

This is our decking, which is, well, not a decking.

Basically, the framework's gone up

and that's about it. We sort of put two chairs on a plank of wood

and that's about where we can sit, but it's not a pleasant place to sit at the moment

and it's really where we want to be sat most evenings.

But, at this point, it's a useless bit of framework stuck on the back of our house at the moment.

Not something to enjoy.

Coming up, our independent inspector gives his verdict on the job.

So the electrics... very poor, very dangerous. There's potential for shock

or fire there and, obviously, an electric shock has potential to kill.

We're in Devon with Rachel and Simon Ballamy.

Their hopes of becoming foster parents have been dashed by a builder

who promised them a discount extension, but delivered them a demolition job.

Instead of a safe haven for foster children, Rachel and Simon's plans

for an extension had turned their home into a dangerous building site.

Time for me to meet them and find out more.

Hi. Rachel, Simon. Hi, I'm Clive. How are you?

Hi. I'm fine, thank you.

-Problems with cowboy builders?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Can I come in?

-Course you can.

-Great. Thank you.

It's a year since the Ballamys' builder left.

They've had to pay other builders to make the property safe, but their home still bears the cowboys' scars.

Just mind your head on there, OK?

Wow, it's Munchkinland.

Right, so this is probably the last room, really, which we need to sort of do.

We've sort of forgotten about this.

Got to do the floor inside the wet room, so we can get the height ready for the drainage.

That's still got to be done.

There's still a few electrical bits and pieces we need to be finished off.

The plumber then has to finish off with the bath, doing all the side panels and, basically,

the last bits of plumbing in here.

Was building control ever invited?

Yeah, they came through two or three times.

And when the second set of builders came in, they came back in and gave them

-a long list of jobs which were needed to do.

-OK.

-Supporting the roof, which wasn't supported in certain areas.

-Wow!

-Yeah.

The new builders have made the roof and the electrics safe inside,

but outside the couple have only been able to afford the structural work, not the cosmetic.

Right, so what we've got here is, we moved the door forward to allow us a little bit more hall space.

And if you took the lintels away, which the second set of builders put in, that's basically as it was left.

-With no lintel?

-No lintel. Exposed.

Little bits of wood just holding the original frame in. That was it.

Now, I have to say, not only are they putting themselves in danger, but they're putting you in danger

and this is the real problem here, that they didn't do that. It's unbelievable.

The huge expense of making their home safe and getting the house

back to this level has taken a year and it's cost them another £42,000.

I've got to be honest with you, Simon, some of this render is appalling. If you just tap it...

-HOLLOW TAPS

-It sounds hollow.

-It does.

A couple of winters, any moisture getting in behind there, freezing hot, it's going to blow out.

This is going to drop off in huge chunks.

-This is what it should sound like.

-SOLID TAPS

-Nice and solid.

-OK.

-You have to do the tap test all around.

There might be certain sections you need to just chunk out and redo, rather than take the lot off.

But I'm telling you now, all that has got to come off.

-Is that why it's cracking?

-It's cracking.

I mean, again, where it's cracking, you'll understand that any moisture now is going to travel through that.

It's going to ingress in behind it.

Once that freezes, bang, it's off.

-Fine.

-Absolute waste of space.

So you're going to need to definitely sort that out.

-I'd rather see that done before the winter.

-Fine.

What is left to be done, Simon?

-From what you've just explained, we've still got some rendering to be done.

-Yep.

There's still bits and pieces which need to be done here, or this needs to be painted or redone.

There's little holes and so forth that we need to sort out.

The whole of the decking needs to be done.

And from our point of view, obviously, the garden because, obviously, that was ruined.

We need to, obviously, make a garden that we can sit in.

OK, brilliant. But I think there's lots of remediate work to be done

and, financially as well, it's going to cost you a few pennies.

Well, if it's going to save the house, it needs to be done.

For sure.

Simon has even turned builder himself to try and get the house ready,

so he and Rachel's home can be approved to welcome foster kids.

But saddled with unexpected debts, they have run out of funds.

I wonder if perhaps there is something we can do

to make the garden safe and take them one step closer to their dream.

In the short space of time that we are here, OK,

what is it that we can do for you?

What could we do for you that would turn things around a little?

Internally, I think we're there.

We've done the hard work there.

What's left, obviously, is we've concentrated inside and we've not done anything outside whatsoever.

The decking was left...

-Well...

-Framework.

-It was a frame, it wasn't decking.

So it was unstable, we had a couple of boards on it and the garden

was just left in piles of rubble which had come from the foundations.

So, of course, from our point of view, from our dogs' point of view,

and when we do foster, we want a garden.

-You want a garden and you want the decking sorted out?

-Yeah.

OK. I tell you what, here's a deal, right.

In that short space of time, we'll sort out your decking, all right?

And we'll sort out your garden, OK?

And, hopefully, that will give you that little bit of push

to get that little bit further to get those foster children in here.

It's going to be a big job to make this huge deck safe and secure.

Because of the steep slope of the garden, it provide essential access at the back of the house.

There is no way Rachel and Simon could foster children with unsafe decking and a garden that's a tip.

I think they need a big pair of helping hands.

Time to bring on the good guys!

Before we get to work transforming that dangerous decking and building site into a garden,

I want independent chartered surveyor Stephen Turnham

to cast his expert eye over the bad-builder evidence.

Overall, from the photographs I've seen, I've seen worse.

I've obviously seen better.

The main thing is that they left before they finished the job.

The actual construction of the deck is fine, to be fair.

It's completely unfinished, though.

The electrics is a completely different issue.

Very poor, very dangerous. Assuming they were left as the electrician's report,

there was potential for shock or fire there and, obviously, an electric shock has potential to kill.

The electrics have been made safe now,

but after looking at the evidence, what score does the Ballamys' builder deserve for this job?

For the building overall I guess around six out of ten in that it's,

from what I've seen and from the photographs, round about 60% complete,

but for the electrics, they were downright dangerous and for that

it would be zero out of ten or a negative.

Six out of ten for the building work and zero out of ten for the electrics. That's a shocking result!

Coming up, I discover there was a big warning bell on this build,

but it didn't save the couple from disaster.

I thought, "You could be an unscrupulous builder, for all I know, coming and knocking on the door

"to try and make me feel bad about my current builder".

We're in Newton Abbot, Devon, helping Rachel and Simon Ballamy.

Their builder was hired to transform an unmodernised two-bedroom bungalow

into a four-bedroom house with new bathrooms and kitchen.

He promised a discount job, so that the deserving couple

could fulfil their dream of welcoming foster children into their home.

But his team went on a demolition derby.

A year later, the couple have almost made the house safe.

Friends have helped do lots of the work,

but we're helping with the final push, making the deck secure and removing the rubble from the garden.

Matt is leading our team today.

I'm hoping he can salvage some of the structure for the new deck,

which we're going to build right across the back of the house.

It's in a pretty bad state.

Luckily, the framework is good.

The priority is, obviously, getting the framework up to scratch, getting the levels correct

and making sure everything's ready to go structural-wise and then we'll bolt from there.

This is a big deck, so we've got the professionals in,

but don't be deterred from realising your own decking desires.

Now decking is a suitable project for DIY, but here are my top tips to keep you safe.

Only lay your deck boards once you've got a strong structure.

Choose the right materials for the job.

Remember, decking is not maintenance-free.

You need to pressure wash it and treat it every year or so.

Remember, safety first.

Well-designed handrails and steps are vital.

While the good guys get stuck in making this deck safe and secure,

I want to track back with Rachel and Simon and find out why their builder offered them a discount job.

We'd invited three... I think it was three or four builders to...

So we could sit and have a chat with them.

-Where did you find them?

-Erm, every single one of them actually came through recommendation.

-Yeah.

-Ooh!

-Every single one of them.

-Even the guy that you had...

-That's the difference.

-That's the difference. Now...

-OK. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

-Yeah. He didn't come recommended. I knew him from my old workplace.

He'd been into my workplace over the last seven years, so I'd built up a relationship and friendship with him

and his partner over this sort of period of time. So...

-Your previously work was selling top-class cars?

-It was, yes.

-OK. So you've got to earn a few quid to order one of them?

-Yeah.

-True. Yeah, very much so.

So, obviously, them coming in, having chats with them and slowly but surely him saying,

-"Well, I'm in the building trade".

-Simon felt that he knew him fairly well

and so we actually trusted him, over any of the other builders that we saw, to a certain extent.

-Yeah, the guard came down.

-Completely dropped.

Very soon after work started, Rachel got a surprise visit from a disgruntled builder.

He warned her to be very wary of the man

she'd already paid to extend their home.

He had seen the building company's sort of advertising plaque out the front.

Ooh, they even advertised.

Yeah, yeah! He told me a story that had happened to him.

I didn't know whether to take him seriously at first or not, because I thought, "Well, you could be

"a unscrupulous builder for all I know coming and knocking on the door to try make me feel bad

"about my current builder".

Anyway, he told me what had happened to him and he said,

"If you don't believe me, this is my solicitor's name and number."

Then, obviously, huge alarm bells going off in my ears now.

Rachel was unnerved by her visitor's warning, so she plucked up the courage to talk to her builder

about what she'd been told.

He gave me the most plausible explanation back and that was that

Mr Jones was a subcontractor and that he'd had a falling out with Mr Jones on a subcontracting basis.

We talked about it and I ended up...

Well, I say I ended up believing the builder.

Even to this day, I still have that scrap of paper that Trevor gave me with the name and the numbers on.

So there was obviously something that just made me think.

Rachel did the right thing when she asked her builder to explain.

But if she'd gone and spoken to the builder's customer, she would have heard a very different story.

Take my tip...

Much better to check out a builder's references before hiring him.

But you know what they say, better late than never.

The disgruntled builder turned out to be a good Samaritan, but his warning had come too late.

He learned the truth about the cowboy the hard way.

The sign board was up saying this company

and I thought, "Well, this is odd,

"cos I'd heard that he had gone into receivership. "

I knocked on the door and she, Rachel, had told me then exactly

what was happening here and how much money she had paid for this so-called "extension".

And I knew, just by experience, that she certainly did not have her money's worth at that time.

The Samaritan builder took the cowboy to court,

but he still hasn't seen a single penny of his £8,000 unpaid bill.

It was huge at the time, cos we were only a small company,

and to have over £8,000 outstanding is a lot of money to us.

We still have to pay our tradesmen.

We have to pay our merchants and that made an awful lot of difference,

cos trading is quite hard at this moment in time and it has been for the last few years.

And it made it extremely difficult for myself and the partners of the company.

Coming up, Rachel takes her builder to court, but the judge has some sage advice.

And her last words to us were, effectively, "You've done the easy part of getting it to this stage.

The hard part is now" getting the money".

We're in Devon helping couple Rachel and Simon Ballamy.

Their plan was to extend their two-bedroom bungalow

into a four-bedroom house, so they could welcome in foster children.

Simon's previous job was at a luxury-car dealership.

The builder was a customer who owned two of the posh cars.

He promised Simon a discount job, but take my advice.

Beware of builders who turn up in flashy cars offering discounts.

Stop and ask yourself, "Who's paying for that?"

The flashy builder with the smart car left the job dangerous and the property half demolished.

Over the last 12 months, Rachel and Simon have hired new builders to make the inside of the house safe.

Now we're playing our part outside to clear the rubble, lay turf

and complete the deck along the back of the house.

Their builder said he would get the job done while Rachel and Simon

were away on their second honeymoon, but he barely did anything.

When they got back, they asked him to explain.

He demanded more money.

The final meeting was him sort of saying, "OK, well, there's still

"money outstanding from the extras."

And we went down this list and all but three of the extras hadn't even been started, let alone finished.

Most of the extras didn't have an amount by them

and it was only three of them that we actually agreed had been done.

We'd already paid for things which hadn't been done already,

which was quite amicable. You know, it wasn't heated from that point of view.

And then, at that point, I turned round to him and said, "Also I'd like some receipts."

And he got really, really angry then.

He went like a sky rocket and I got a bit scared.

Just started cussing and swearing.

Just, basically, swung the front door open, swearing as we went out the front door.

He wheel-spun away from the property.

Rachel and Simon had paid their builder all but £4,000 of his £50,000 bill.

They made the mistake of making payments every two weeks, regardless how much work he had done.

Now with the builder and their money gone, Simon was about to have to turn builder himself.

Did some tiling, so the bathrooms. I had a friend who came and helped.

He used to be a handyman, so he came and helped and guided.

And then just tried to do things like the skirting boards, the coving around the tops and bought

the bits where I didn't have to cut bits out and then just decorating.

So it was really sort of the simplistic DIY stuff. That's what I did.

Simon did what he could while Rachel put to use the skills she learned at work as a paralegal.

She decided to take the builder to court to reclaim the £42,000

they had to spend on new builders to put right all the mistakes.

Our claim was not for the money that we'd paid the builder.

Our claim was for the money that we'd paid the new builders to put right what he'd done

and to complete the job.

I kept receipts for everything, even £1 bags of, I don't know, plaster dust or whatever it is.

I kept receipts. Everything was fully receipted.

We wrote to him saying, "Right, we've sent you our paperwork.

"You're supposed to reciprocate and send us the paperwork that you intend to use to defend the claim."

We didn't hear anything from him whatsoever.

We then, at that stage, went and spoke to a solicitors just to clarify the situation that we were in.

He turned round and looked through our paperwork and said, "Well, there isn't anything

"that I could have done differently to what you've done.

"You're more than capable of doing this at a hearing,

"but do you know you can go for what's called a summary judgment?

"Because although he has said he will be defending his claim, actually he has no defence to the claim

"because he hasn't submitted anything and there is no defensible argument to what he's done. "

So on that advice, we then wrote to the court and said,

"We want to apply to the court for what's called summary judgment."

They agreed. They set a hearing date. We had to go to the hearing.

We represented ourselves.

-We took everything that we were due to take.

-This was read in judges' chambers?

Yes, and the builder was expected to be there. He didn't turn up.

Basically, the judge asked us to demonstrate the contract, demonstrate proof of payment.

He could have the money that I'd paid him.

I wanted the money that I'd paid somebody else to put right what he'd done.

-Yep.

-He didn't turn up.

The judge read through all the information that we'd given and the hundreds of individual receipts

that we'd kept, letters for the new builders confirming what they'd had to do to put right.

She read all of that and then, when she turned round and viewed the photos, she said,

"I don't need to see any more. "

And she awarded in our favour.

And her last words to us were, effectively,

"You've done the easy part of getting it to this stage. The hard part is now getting the money from him."

And that has proved to be the case.

Going to court should always be the last resort.

Always consider very carefully what your chances of success are.

Here are Clive's five top tips on how to take your builder to court.

The court expects you to try and resolve your dispute

and they may penalise you if you don't.

Recommended methods are...

You can get free advice from the Citizens' Advice Bureau.

Know exactly what you want from your builders and give them a chance to respond.

Consider very carefully what you want your builder to do

and what you're likely to get.

Build up your own body of evidence.

Check your insurance. It may cover your legal costs.

You can present your own case to the county court.

This can be costly.

Be realistic about what the judge can do.

You may also have to hire bailiffs.

Don't bank on a successful verdict.

There are plenty of homeowners who have won their case

but never seen a penny back from the builder.

Rachel and Simon won their country court judgment but their cowboy doesn't respect the law.

-I was outraged, decided to give him a call.

-I decided to call him.

And from what I can understand, from what Rach told me,

she spoke with the builder first of all, who was apparently quite accommodating,

but quickly had the phone taken off him by his partner.

She came on the phone and basically laughed.

-Yeah.

-And said, "You're not going to get a penny out of us.

"You're not going to get anything out of us. You need to be talking to the liquidator".

He'd tried to liquidate the firm and her words to me were, "Yes, I know the judgment.

"I know it was found in your favour, but the courts can do what the hell they like.

"We don't care what the courts say. "

She had no respect for the court or the judgment of the judge.

"I don't care what you try and do..."

And it will always stick in mind.

She laughed and went, "You can't touch us!".

Coming up, what would Rachel like to say to the builder now?

Am I likely to see any of the cash back and how does he sleep at night?

In Devon,

we're helping Rachel and Simon Ballamy put their bad builder behind them.

They need their home to be safe and secure so they can become foster parents.

They've had in new builders to make good most of the damage inside, so our team has been busy outside

completing the half-built decking and clearing the garden.

The team are doing a great job. Some agricultural students from the local college

where Rachel and Simon first met have volunteered to rotavate the ground and lay the turf.

While the good guys get on, it's time for this cowboy to account for himself.

You know, I can't understand how Rachel and Simon's builder

could leave them in such a mess and why he didn't come clean.

It's time to give him a call and find out what he's got to say for himself.

When was the last time you had any dialogue with your builder? Can you remember? Months, weeks?

It was two weeks after the court judgment.

I rang him to try and negotiate when we would receive settlement

for the judgment and it was a short, very sweet conversation. Well, not so sweet, actually, conversation.

OK. It might have been a bit of sweet and a lot of bitter.

Yeah, I think so.

If you had the opportunity to speak to him on the phone, what would you like to ask him?

Why he did what he did, knowing the reasons why we'd done the build?

Am I likely to see any of the cash back and how does he sleep at night?

OK.

I'm going to give you that opportunity to make a phone call,

if you want to take that opportunity.

-I'd like you to ring him.

-You'd like me to ring him? OK.

-Yeah. Two reasons.

One, I think if he heard my voice, he'd just put the phone down.

-And two, I don't think, emotionally, I'm strong enough to speak to him.

-No, I can understand that.

All right. OK.

If you just sit tight, I'm going to put it on speaker phone anyway,

so you can hear what he's got to say.

-Even if something he says annoys you, stay calm, OK?

-Yep.

So here goes.

Let's have a go.

PHONE RINGS

Well, I'm hoping he's got an answerphone.

Yeah. He did all the time before.

Has he switched his answerphone off?

He's got stepsons in that house. Someone's got to be there.

-So they're saying, "Don't answer the phone whatever goes down"?

-Yeah.

-So we're getting under their skin. They're not answering the phone.

-Yeah, that's right.

-Just one more for luck.

-PHONE RINGS ONCE

-No.

-Nah.

-He's a coward.

Yeah, you got it spot on.

Cowboy builders, coward and they do not care.

-But as for whether they sleep well at night? Oh, yes, they do.

-Yeah.

-OK, look.

Let's, fingers crossed, one day, he, along with every other cowboy builder, gets his comeuppance.

And if I can stop somebody else being hit, then so much the better.

This builder cost Rachel and Simon dear when he promised to do the job at a discount.

They paid almost all of his £50, 000 bill and then their new builders

another £42,000 to put right all his mistakes and finish the job.

I'm glad we've got the good guys here to help get the garden safe for them.

Eh, all hands on decking!

This is what I'm enjoying.

This job looks fantastic, Matt, I've got to be honest with you.

-Not too bad.

-Tell us what you've done and what you've still got to do.

Yeah, sure. Well, what we've done is, the original framework was good, the post, etc, the concreting.

So we were good to go off from that, so that got passed.

So we've clad it with 32mm deck boards, newel posts,

the balustrading coming through off the fence that Stuart's finishing off.

So that's all good. Went in lovely.

The stringers are in now for the steps.

We're just finishing boxing them off with feather edge

and the void from the decking has been clad with feather edge.

We're loving that. It looks great.

It looks nice and strong. A real showpiece to where the garden is.

-And it's a great entrance and exit to the property, too.

-Yeah, definitely.

So, in terms of time, how long's it took you and how long have you got left?

In total, we've done six days.

We've got about half a day to finish and, obviously, tidy up, which,

obviously, is a key thing at the end of any job. Get it nice and tidy.

-So if you say between six to seven days from start to finish.

-Yep.

Job's a good 'un.

Brilliant. I always enjoy a Matt finish!

-Well, played, son.

-Top man.

-Great job.

-Well done.

Coming up, I can't wait to see Rachel and Simon's reaction when I show them their fabulous new deck.

Our garden.

Our job is almost done in Newton Abbot, Devon.

Rachel and Simon are a step nearer achieving their dream of becoming foster parents.

Their builder promised them a discount job,

but when they let him work on their home, they paid a heavy price.

We've been lending a helping hand to make their garden safe for children.

This is my favourite bit.

We go through all that angst and all of those problems, but the good guys are out there.

But before all that, I would like to know what

you think you've learned from having a cowboy builder in your property.

First thing, run it like a business. Do it with your head and not your heart, without a doubt.

Don't go for the dream, go for the reality.

-Yes. Critical.

-And I think as well, rather than do timed-staged payments, do it, effectively, room by room.

So you complete one stage, you get paid.

You complete the next... Not time payments.

-OK.

-Cos the time slips away and that's where we fell foul.

-Yep.

OK. Well, there's a couple of lessons learned.

Now, here's the bit.

What are you hoping we've done for you?

Well, we're hoping that we've got a garden so I can mow it.

-OK.

-And decking.

And I've got a deck, so I can sit on it.

Something a bit more level than what it was before and decking

which isn't just made out of bits of wood, bits of plank.

The guys have worked really hard, OK?

And I'm hoping to show you something that I personally think is pretty spectacular.

Come and stand in front for me. If you stand there...

-OK.

-Young Rachel. You come this side.

-All right.

-And I am going to say, "Close your eyes just for a minute."

Close your eyes. Keep those eyes tightly closed just for a second or two while I draw back the curtains.

Open your eyes.

Fantastic.

Our garden.

I don't know what to say.

-Fantastic, eh?

-Very, very good.

Yeah. Don't, cos you'll set me off.

What do you reckon, mate? Nice, grassed area there.

I can mow a lawn.

-Yeah.

-You can mow a lawn.

I can stand on here without trying to fall through it, so very good.

I'm just speechless. It's nice to have something good.

The builder left Rachel and Simon's garden looking like a building site.

Our team of good guys stepped in at the final stage

of their long list of remedial work to help them make the decking safe.

We've checked the abandoned structure and extended it as originally planned.

We laid a weed-proof membrane underneath to keep the deck

clear from growth and then clad the structure in feather-edged timber.

On top, we've laid sturdy boards and then, to make the deck

comply with building regulations, we've fitted handrails and steps.

The lawn has been transformed from a rubble-strewn demolition site

to a green and tranquil oasis of calm, thanks to the local students.

Hopefully, now Rachel and Simon can fulfil their dream of becoming foster parents.

Can you see, in the future, some of these lovely foster kids having fun in the garden?

-I've got, in the shed, giant garden games.

-Oh, have you?

-Yeah. So they'll all come out.

-It's a great starting point.

-Give us hug, missus!

-Thank you.

All right. You take care, yeah?

-Thank you.

-And enjoy.

-Will do.

Well, I'm so pleased that Rachel and Simon's hopes for a family home

are back on track and they can look forward to the future.

But just remember, if a price looks too good to be true,

it IS too good to be true, and don't be swayed by dodgy discounts.

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