Episode 26 Cowboy Trap

I'm journeying across the UK uncovering shoddy workmanship

by cowboy builders and rogue traders.

Every time I rang the office to talk to the boss and said, "What about this? Why haven't they got that?

"This bit's missing," that's when he'd turn round and say, "Well, that's not included any more."

You know, I still can't believe the amount of people that are getting caught out by these bodging builders.

Essentially, all the work's been condemned and we've been

highly recommended to get all of it repaired and start from scratch.

But don't worry, the good guys are in town to sort out the mess left behind by these so-called tradesmen.

I love it. I love the colour. Everything's amazing. It's great.

Stick with me and I'll give you the hints and tips

that should help prevent you from falling into The Cowboy Trap.

Today, we're travelling between Newcastle and South Yorkshire.

We'll meet homeowners who bought top- of-the-range bathrooms and kitchen,

but then hired completely the wrong people to fit them.

They left me with, for over a week, with no water and gas

and I had to borrow a camping gas stove from my mum

to cook meals for my little girl.

We're also meeting a doctor who dreamed of hotel-style luxury

with a new wet room, but relaxation was the last thing he got.

The transformer they placed on the top bathroom, which was just

literally placed in the loft, had started burning.

First up, we're off to Hoyland, South Yorkshire,

where project manager Jane Townsend lives with her daughter Elysia.

She longed for a dream kitchen with no expense spared to create a luxury stylish look.

This was no impulse decision. True to her professional field of work, Jane had meticulously done her homework.

I had specs and measurements and a good idea of colours

and what I was looking for and how I wanted it to be finished.

Having set her heart on a kitchen design,

Jane just needed someone to supply and install.

Then, by coincidence, she was involved in a work project

which meant she was dealing with commercial building contractors.

I actually asked each company if they did domestic work

and if they'd be interested to look at a domestic kitchen,

and this company was the only one that said yes, they did that kind of work.

Jane wanted references for the company, but they seemed to be fairly thin on the ground.

He didn't have any written references or any phone numbers I could give,

but he quoted his previous project.

The one reference Jane did get said that the kitchen fitters

had completed a commercial kitchen on time,

so when the company boss told Jane that they could do her kitchen

in five days she thought, "Bring it on."

The timeframe had to be quite quick, I was entertaining that month,

and he said there was no problem,

that they could do what I needed in the timeframe and on the budget.

Even before work started, alarm bells should have been ringing for Jane.

The kitchen company boss had promised to provide

a full quote detailing measurements, what she was paying for, the works.

But the quotes she got weren't up to scratch.

I never did get an accurate piece of paper,

and I've got three quotes now and they're all different.

But we were on a tight schedule, so he said, "Don't worry about it,

"I know exactly what it is, we're manufacturing on site,

"so we've got the right measurements here even though you've not got them on paper, we'll just crack on."

The work began, but with no signed quote or contract,

so Jane had nothing to hold the kitchen company to.

-From day one, it was trouble.

-It was this to-ing and fro-ing.

They didn't turn up, then they left early.

They were on their phones, and that's when I realised

there was this big breakdown of communication,

and every time I rang the office to talk to the boss

and said, "What about this? Why haven't they got that? This bit's missing,"

that's when he'd say, "Well, that's not included any more."

Jane's lack of a written quote quickly became a problem.

Take my tip -

before any work starts get a full written quote

detailing everything that is included in the price.

Make sure you list all the things the contractor is supplying

and all the goods you will provide.

The contract should also state when payment is due.

If Jane had done these things,

she would have been saved from a nasty surprise.

As the job progressed, it was a series of threatening phone calls.

"If you don't pay I'm not going to let the driver deliver X."

"If you don't pay I'm going to have the fitters remove what they've already put in until you do pay."

And so I ended up sort of paying cheques

or cash in increments as things came on lorries.

To top it all, Jane noticed that the kitchen fitters

were also doing her gas and electrics.

I was quite surprised that the head fitter

was the chap that was also doing the electrics and the plumbing,

and he told me he was qualified to do all that kind of thing,

whereas I was expecting a different person for each trade.

After three weeks on a job that was supposed to take five days,

Jane's kitchen still wasn't finished.

The fitters promised they'd be back, but Jane never saw them again.

She paid out almost £10,000 for a stylish top of the-range kitchen, but was left with a mess.

There are cupboard doors missing,

the walls are unfinished and the electrics are positively dangerous.

What I was left with was faulty electrics.

I have no tiles on the walls. I have bare plaster.

My water treatment system is not connected up

and there are cupboard doors missing, just the general finish.

I mean, what doors and drawer fronts we've got are uneven and wobbly.

And the kickboards on the floor aren't fitted properly

and in some cases are just pushed in just to hide the gaps.

But a lot of bits are actually missing.

It makes it very difficult to clean and keep tidy.

It's time for me to see for myself exactly what Jane's been left with.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Are you Jane?

-I am.

Hi, I'm Clive from Cowboy Trap.

-Would you mind showing me around?

-Not at all.

-Thank you.

'Just exactly what has Jane had to put up with?'

So it's definitely unfinished, Jane, that's for sure.

Just explain to me what you should have had.

I can see what you've got, but what SHOULD you have had?

What I should have had was...

pink tempered glass where all the tiling should be instead of tiles.

Flush touch opening units,

and obviously there are cupboard doors missing.

I should have also had safe electrics.

I found that the electrics occasionally spark at you or don't work at all.

-Right, OK.

-And certain things like the cooker point

-shouldn't actually be over the cooker.

-No, it shouldn't.

It's what's called the combustion zone, and it's well within it,

and it needs to be out of that.

They said they were going to move that switch

and put it inside a cupboard, but, as you can see, that was never done.

No. I mean, just looking at those end panels there, the end panels look like they're out of line.

You've got doors missing and this looks... I mean, you've got a granite worktop,

so it looks like this was a very expensive kitchen.

-I think in the end it's cost me just shy of £10,000.

-That's quite expensive, really.

-And how long has it been like this?

-Two years, nearly to the day.

-It's a complete mess as you look at it, and yet it could be fantastic.

-I'm hoping so.

'This certainly isn't the dream kitchen Jane hoped for.'

What can we do by bringing the good guys that will help you?

I think, having my daughter in the house, it's the electrics,

because they do spark and some don't work.

It would be nice to know that when she's making a cup of tea in the kitchen

and she's messing with the kettles and things that there isn't going to be a nasty bang.

So getting the electrics sorted is a big thing.

Tiles to stop the dust from the plaster.

And just being able to keep everything clean.

Well, I'm charged with sorting that out for you, OK?

-So, leave that with me, OK? Shake on it.

-Thank you.

'Jane needs a kitchen that's safe and stylish.

'We need to banish the dodgy sockets and crumbling plaster.'

We really need to help Jane put all her worries behind her and get this kitchen sorted once and for all.

It's time to bring on the good guys.

'Coming up, just exactly what has Jane had to put up with?'

And I was asked to get in the van and come to the bank with them.

Next we're heading to Newcastle.

Fahad Shabbir is a surgeon for the NHS.

He works long days doing a stressful job,

but he had the perfect idea to create a tranquil haven at home.

He wanted to replace both the tired and dated bathrooms at his house

with stylish modern wet rooms.

He'd seen just what he wanted on his holidays.

I'd stayed at some nice hotels in Dubai and Dominican, too.

I've seen a few wet rooms and I knew for a fact that that's what I wanted in my house.

Fahad knew if he wanted five-star hotel-style luxury,

he would need to buy high-quality fittings.

He went out and bought the best he could afford,

smart suites and expensive marble tiles.

Now all he needed was some top-class bathroom fitters

to fit the materials he'd bought.

I had about six or seven people come in.

Some of them hadn't done wet rooms - they'd done bathrooms,

but they weren't particularly experienced in wet rooms.

Some quotes were extortionate, so that was a no-no.

This particular builder, I found their advertisement on the internet,

looked at their website. It sounded perfectly reasonable.

'They told Fahad they'd fitted wet rooms before

'and came in with a good price.

'They said one wet room would be ready in two weeks.'

The initial quote they gave me for the first bathroom

was five grand, which was fine.

Then they gave me a quote for the second bathroom for 3,500.

I didn't have that much money and I said, "Look, I can't afford it right now, maybe at a later stage."

And then instantly he dropped to 2,500, which I was surprised at, but fair enough.

If I'm getting a bargain, why not?

Fahad should have heard alarm bells ringing

when the builder promised a cut-price job

to fit his luxury-hotel quality wet rooms.

Take a tip from me, if your builder drops the price unexpectedly ask why.

If the quote is for labour only, ask the builder to specify

how many days' work are required for plumbers, electricians and tilers.

Ask what their daily rate is. Do your sums to work out

how the builder has managed to reduce the price.

Fahad thought he was paying for professionals, but he soon began to have his doubts.

A couple of tiles they placed on the floor,

two days later the tiles started cracking.

When we finally had the sink installed,

there was no pressure for cold water.

When you turned the hot water on in the shower,

when we finally started using the shower,

the radiator started heating up.

And while the work was going wrong inside the house,

outside was left in a monumental mess.

Fahad may have wanted wet rooms like those in a Dubai hotel,

but it seems it was the builders who wanted to be waited on hand and foot.

We were actually very decent with them.

They would get coffee every hour on the hour.

I had a housemate delivering coffee just about every hour on the hour.

Every time I'd come home for lunch we'd call them downstairs,

make them lunch and sit with them for about half an hour or so.

So, in between long shifts at the local hospital,

Fahad was also serving up a five-star service to his builders.

They repaid him with bodged building work, which led to fire and flood.

We were sat in the lounge after dinner. We were having drinks and a nice time.

A mate went upstairs to the spare room, and then shouted for me.

And when I went upstairs,

water was just pouring down from the ceiling straight on the bed.

It turned out that one of my lodgers had had a shower in the top bathroom

and water had seeped through the floor into the ceiling

and just started pouring out.

And we almost had a fire close to the attic,

or in the attic, with a lot of insulation.

The electrician has actually said it's a matter of time,

weeks if not months, until you actually have a fire in the house.

And if... It's my savings, it's my investment,

it's my house that I've bought.

How can I just sit and watch it burn?

But Fahad stuck with his bodging builders.

He thought he was in too far to stop now.

The toilet's coming away.

There's not enough water pressure in the sink.

The radiator starts heating up when you turn hot water on.

The floor in the top bathroom is tilting away from the wet room

and that's why a lot of water was seeping outside the bathroom,

so, essentially, all the work's been condemned and we've been highly recommended

to get all of it repaired and start from scratch.

The builders said the job would take three and a half weeks,

but after 13 weeks on site, they cut and ran.

They've done most of the work,

but they've left both the bathrooms unfinished

and they've left saying they're away for a six-week course.

They didn't give any specific dates or any specific times

on when they might return to finish the work.

Fahad paid the builders £7,500,

but they ruined his £12,000 worth of quality tiles and fittings.

When they scarpered, they left all their rubbish dumped outside his house.

Fahad fears all his hard-earned money has gone down the drain,

along with his dream.

I'm absolutely exhausted, because, as a surgeon,

you're already working so many hours

and you're bringing back a lot of stress from work.

The last thing you need is stress at home.

Fahad's dreams have been dashed and his house looks like a demolition site.

After spending all that money, he shouldn't have holes in the ceiling.

If you come in, you can see three spots work, three don't.

A nice big hole up there and that's what the electrician's classed as a fire hazard,

because the wires haven't been earthed,

and that's why we've been told not to use the shower in this bathroom.

Dangerous electrics?

They're potentially lethal.

The floors... You can see cracked floors there,

which is quite unacceptable in a wet bathroom.

If you lean over, there's a nice big gap underneath the wall-hung loo,

so essentially,

the floor's not watertight and that's where water can go in.

What you don't want in a wet room is a floor that leaks.

If you switch the shower on, the radiator starts heating up.

I don't know what they've done there.

And that's only wet room one.

Fahad was done not once, but twice.

A lot of issues with this one.

This floor's tilting away from the wet area rather than towards,

so there was a lot of water seeping out of the bathroom there,

going into this bedroom, causing a lot of damage in the floors there.

If you come in you can see cracked tiles there,

and especially in the wet area now.

Because of that, that shower is not usable.

We've been told not to turn this on at all.

This is where they were supposed to put a mirror and demister on.

Have a look at that.

There's a huge tile missing from underneath the loo.

That's where we had the water damage.

Water ran this way, went underneath the loo. There's a huge space in the floor

where they should have placed a tile and that's how water got into the ceiling

and started pouring through the ceiling below.

Fahad's hopes of using his dream wet rooms are on hold until he can get them sorted out.

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

DOORBELL RINGS

-Hi.

-Hi.

-Hi, I'm Clive from Cowboy Trap.

-Do you mind if I come in and have a look around?

-Please do.

-Thank you.

Fahad's wet rooms have been left in a right old mess,

so I want to sit down with him and find out what we can do to make things right.

What could we do that would help you move forward

and to help the process of getting those wet rooms right?

I think, at this stage, if we can have them made electric safe and watertight

and usable at least, that would be a way forward.

OK. Well, look, charge me with getting that sorted, all right?

-And we will get the good guys in and then we'll show you what we've done.

-OK.

OK. Deal.

We've got to get these wet rooms sorted,

make the electrics safe and the tile floors completely watertight.

It's time to bring in the good guys.

'Coming up, Fahad puts his builder on the spot.'

Can you tell us if the electrician you had is a qualified electrician?

We're back to Hoyland, South Yorkshire.

Jane Townsend wanted a top-of-the-range fitted kitchen.

She paid the kitchen company almost £10,000,

but was left with missing doors and untiled walls.

The electrics are dangerous and the cooker switch

has been fitted in the combustion zone.

She'd be unable to reach it if one of the pans caught fire.

The good guys are standing by,

but first I want to get an independent chartered surveyor to give his verdict on the work.

What problems have you found in this kitchen?

The main problems - firstly,

the electrical installation.

Secondly, the kitchen units themselves.

And, thirdly, the tiling on the walls.

I think my main concern is probably the electrical installation.

That hasn't been done properly, hasn't been certified.

That's something that needs to be picked up on.

The thing that bothers me is the fact that switch is in the combustion zone.

Anybody worth their salt in electrical work - if they'd have been qualified,

they would have known that and moved it.

Absolutely right. When it comes to electrical work in houses, you can't afford to take shortcuts.

You need to get things done by a qualified electrician. At the end,

they should give you a certificate to say,

"Here's what I've done - it's in accordance with regulations."

Now, what about in terms of the actual units themselves?

Have you seen any problems?

In terms of the kitchen cupboards, they need finishing off properly and snagging.

-There are gaps and open mitres.

-Yeah.

In terms of the cupboard doors, of course, they're missing from some of the units.

The tiling obviously isn't finished,

which it needs to be really to make the kitchen usable and stop areas of the wall getting damp.

So, marks out of ten, what would you give them?

I think we've got to give it a zero because at the moment it isn't certified,

it isn't safe to use, so therefore you can't really give it any marks.

Zero out of 10?

If these guys are kitchen fitters, I'm the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Our good guys will have to find just the right doors and work wonders with the tiling

to give this kitchen the finish it deserves.

As for the dangerous electrics, we need a professional to sort them out.

-Tell us what your plan of action is.

-Behind the cooker's first priority.

You know, the cable's just in connector blocks.

No cooker outlet unit is on or whatever,

so that's the main job.

There's a lot of cosmetic jobs.

Sockets not being fitted, so we'll do that and we'll take, obviously, the dishwasher out,

washing machine, see what's behind there. Once we've done that, put good.

OK. How long do you think it's going to take you?

Three, four hours today, maybe a couple of hours tomorrow.

OK. Will you be able to certificate the work that you've carried out?

Yes. We'll probably also test the work that's been done as well...

-Oh, that's a top job.

-..while we're here.

-Well played. I'll let you carry on and get those tools sorted.

-Cheers.

While Scott and the guys start putting things right,

'I want to sit down with Jane.

'I want to know how badly things went wrong.'

So the work is carried out and then they leave site.

How does this all culminate in them going?

Things were all wired up, so the kitchen was now working,

but there were leaks and there were things not fitting properly.

But they were saying, "It's only going to be another couple of days."

And then the fitters seem to have some sort of real altercation on the phone

and he came back in and he said that head office

said I was to pay the fitters before they left tonight.

And I said, "No, the agreement was that I'd pay a final bill

"and you get your wages from your boss.

"I haven't employed you, he employed you."

I was told that wasn't right

and they've been told that I was going to pay them in cash that day.

And they insisted that I get in the van with them and go to the bank,

which I did and I drew out the money,

and they signed a piece of paper saying they'd received it.

Do you know, Jane, that shocked me because you are...

very savvy, right?

And...

And they were very big.

Was it intimidation?

It was.

Single woman on her own, single mum.

Three burly guys.

Three angry burly guys because they've not been paid by work,

and, yes, you're intimidated, but also you think,

"Well, hang about, they might not have done a very good job,

"but they're getting messed about, too."

You went to the bank, you drew out the money, you gave it to them.

-Did the job get finished?

-No. They did sign a piece of paper

saying that they'd had the money though,

-so I've got some sort of receipt.

-Mmm-hmm.

And they packed up the van and they said they would be back the following day

to finish up the loose ends and they were going to their head office

to pick up the missing parts which they'd been told were now there.

And I never saw them again.

Urgh. OK.

-How much was it that you gave them?

-£1,300.

Take a tip from me,

don't let the builders take you to the cleaners

and certainly don't let them take you to the bank.

If you're being strong-armed into handing over money,

call a friend for help.

Our team is on the job now, righting all the wrongs.

We've got quite a challenge on our hands to source doors to complete the contemporary look Jane wants,

and plenty of work to make the electrics safe.

'Coming up, I can wait to show Jane just what the good guys can do.'

I love it. I love the colour.

Everything's just amazing. Looks great.

We're back in Newcastle where surgeon Fahad Shabbir wanted to replace

the dated bathrooms in his house with two hotel-style luxury wet rooms.

After 13 weeks on a job

they said would be done in just three, Fahad's builders quit.

They left behind a ton of rubbish, a leaking floor,

damaged tiles, a half hung mirror and dangerous electrics.

We're standing by to fix all the damage, but first,

I want to find out how an independent chartered surveyor scores the work.

My assessment of the work is

it's been carried out to a pretty poor standard.

There's certain elements that are required in a wet room

to keep it watertight which have been missed out,

such as the strengthening of the floor, which is required

otherwise the tiles will crack and begin to uplift.

A tanking system to the floor and walls,

all joints should have been taped,

and also we noticed that the plasterboard they've fitted to the walls and ceiling

isn't the correct type of plasterboard for a wet room.

There's also the electrical installations,

and also there's some items that haven't been finished off.

I'd give it two out of ten.

I feel that the quality of workmanship is poor.

It's not been finished off correctly and there's certain elements

that are required for a wet room that haven't been installed on this occasion.

Two out of ten. This work is shocking.

Top priority for our good guys is going to be getting the electrics safe and sorted.

Dangerous electrics and wet rooms certainly don't mix.

'Today, our team is led by Alan. So what's the plan of action?'

What problems have you found that's not to your liking?

The list is quite extensive, but primarily the main thing for us

is the electrical installation is clearly not safe.

It's been done by an amateur.

Also the integrity of the floor - it's leaking.

The tiling is in an appalling state.

Some of the tiles are so badly cracked that they're leaking water through the ceiling.

That needs to be addressed. And also the plastering work that's been done

has clearly been done by an amateur.

-So what needs to be done?

-The first thing we need to do is address the electrics.

That's probably the most important thing - people's safety is involved here.

Then, of course, we need to understand why the floors are leaking and cracking.

I can't wait to show him exactly what the good guys can do.

While Alan and the good guys get stuck in fixing all the problems,

I want to find out from Fahad how his perfect wet rooms ended up a washout.

What happened was I came back home for lunch,

and as soon as I entered the property, I could smell something burning.

I could smell rubber and plastic and a whole lot of other stuff.

I traced the smell with my housemate upstairs.

It was on the second floor, the second bathroom that they were working on.

There was a bit of smoke,

loads of horrid rubber, plastic burning smell.

Both the builders were outside. I gave them a shout,

one of them came in, switched the electrics off,

stuck his hand into the ceiling, pulled the electrics down

and it turned out to be the transformer that was burning.

So if we hadn't picked it up

there would have been a fire because that was the loft.

-So it was in the roof void?

-Absolutely.

And what they then did was, they changed the transformer

and to reassure me they said,

"Well, we've pushed the insulation away from the transformer."

That didn't sound very technical.

You then did what in terms of speaking to the builder about it?

I told them that I was worried about what was going on upstairs

and it was unsafe.

They sort of brushed it aside as,

"Oh, don't worry, it's not a problem at all.

"It happens all the time, transformers burn,

"it's not going to cause a fire.

"We've pushed all the insulation away, so you'll be safe now."

It still didn't sound right.

It's very important that any electrical work meets all the safety rules.

Take a tip from me...

Check the professional qualifications of any electrician

before they start work.

It is almost impossible to have electrical work certified later

by a qualified electrician if they didn't do the work themselves.

It's time to phone Fahad's builder.

We hope using a different phone number will fool him into answering.

Well, Fahad, when was the last time you spoke to your builder, had any dialogue at all?

It was several weeks ago when I phoned him and asked for

his insurance and he asked why.

I told him that there had been a fire in the house

and there'd been water damage and I'd spoken to my insurance and they wanted details of his insurance.

And then he said, "We've gone bankrupt".

Do you believe he's gone bankrupt?

-No.

-OK, so he just said that to fob you off, in your opinion?

-Yeah.

-I'm going to give you the opportunity to speak to your builder.

What questions would you like to put to him?

The one thing I'd like to ask him is

why has he left a wet room

not waterproofed

leaving us with a water damaged property?

Why the electrics have not been earthed

and they've, apparently, been done illegally and they're so unsafe?

And why has he not come back to sort out the problems?

OK, I think they're three great questions.

The number is actually in the phone.

All I would ask you to do is to put it on speakerphone so we can all hear what he's got to say for himself.

OK.

DIALLING TONE

'Surprisingly, Fahad's builder picks up.'

I wanted to ask why you've left the wet room, the floor in the wet room, not watertight?

'The builder says that Fahad never contacted him to say there were any problems in the house.'

We did contact you to tell you that there's been water damage and there's been a fire in the house,

but you never gave us details of your insurance and you never came back.

You were supposed to come back to finish the work.

'Again, the builder says that Fahad hadn't contacted him,

'but claims he'd been getting threats on the internet.'

I've never put any threats on the internet.

What you're saying is incorrect.

I've made numerous phone calls.

I've got records of several texts I've sent you, very detailed texts.

You've never replied to a single one of them.

What about the electrics?

The electrics haven't been earthed and, apparently, they've been done illegally.

Can you tell us if the electrician you had is a qualified electrician?

LINE GOES DEAD

And he's hung up.

And he's hung up because that hit a huge nerve.

-Yeah.

-I'm amazed, first of all, that he's answered the phone call

because normally they tend not to do that, so it caught him off guard.

He didn't know what that number was, he wasn't familiar with it.

But your line of questioning was great because it really put him on the back foot.

-He had no answer for that at all.

-Yeah.

The most important bit was the electrical factor.

-Yeah.

-The fact that it was unearthed and left dangerous.

Fahad really caught that cowboy on the hop.

The guys he had doing those electrics made an utter mess and I've got a message for these cowboy builders.

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

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

Coming up, I can't wait to show Fahad his wonderful wet rooms once the professionals are done and dusted.

Oh, wow. That's beautiful.

We're finishing up in South Yorkshire.

Jane Townsend wanted a smart contemporary top of the range kitchen, but that's not what she got.

It's two years since her fitters abandoned the job.

Her kitchen has since been discontinued so we've come up

with a radical design solution to complete the missing units.

Andy's been hard at work cooking up what he hopes will be a dream result for Jane.

-Hey, Andy.

-Hello, mate. How are we doing?

-I'm good.

I'm sorry to disturb your siliconing, but I'm loving this.

-Brilliant, isn't it?

-Yeah.

To be honest, I wouldn't have thought it would have gone.

I'd have never dreamt of bringing back a red door to go with this combination.

It was desperation, mate, and I tell you what, we've pulled it off.

I think it's great. I'm hoping she's going to love the colour.

I tell you what, I think she will because she'll love that tiling, as well. That looks the business.

That's where we got the colour from, basically.

-Great idea.

-Yeah.

-So, you're now finishing off the silicon work.

-Yeah.

So, how long have you got left?

We're just about wrapped up, Clive, just about wrapped up.

Just got the silicon to do and we're about done.

Fantastic. It looks like you've done a great job.

-Brilliant.

-I can't wait to show her what the good guys are capable of.

Before we see if Jane's impressed, I want to find out what she's learnt from her kitchen cowboys.

Just tell me what you think you've learnt from having a cowboy builder

in your property, and what you would do differently next time?

I'd certainly make sure that all the paperwork was in order first

and that it had been checked by both of us and signed off.

And that it was very detailed, so I knew what it was.

I'd also speak to more than one company.

I'd certainly take up the references and make sure that they were monitored and we knew exactly

what they were supposed to be doing and the timeframe in which they were supposed to do it.

So it's all about making sure you're on top of the job, really.

-Yes.

-From start to finish, you're in control.

-A business like fashion.

-Yes.

OK, now, before we go in and see the kitchen, just tell me what it was like before we arrived.

I had electrics that used to spark at you.

I had holes in the wall and bare plaster.

I had missing cupboard doors and wonky kickboards.

OK. Now, there is a slight change gone on in there and for the first time I'm sort of slightly worried.

I love it, I hope you're going to, all right?

So, let's go and take a look.

-Are you ready?

-Yes.

-Are you suitably excited?

-Yes.

-Come on then, let's go.

-OK.

After you, Jane.

It's really different.

-What about the door?

-That's a real surprise.

I wasn't expecting anything like that. I love it.

It is beautiful.

-It is amazing.

-Phew!

That was my big worry.

I just wouldn't have thought about it.

That was my big worry, because it's so different, but it's obviously the

-same style, but Andy's done a great job there.

-He has.

I think selecting that colour is fantastic because, I mean, the tiles

themselves, as well, the job on those tiles, what do you think to that?

I think they're beautiful. I love it. I love the colour.

Everything's just amazing.

-It's great.

-And remember those sockets that were on the wall?

Yes, I remember the sockets.

-They've gone.

-They have, they've gone.

They're tucked under nicely, because you remember that switch that was in

-what I said was the combustion zone right above your cooker?

-Yes.

-That's gone now, just to the side, look.

You've got those wonderful stainless steel angles going on there.

And then you wanted the lighting.

Yeah. That's great.

And, of course, the stainless steel reflects the tile colour, so everything just sits in lovely.

-Yeah.

-It's beautiful.

-The reflection on the whole kitchen looks so different.

-I think we've done a stunning job, do you?

-It's amazing.

It is much, much better than I could even imagine it being done.

It's such a relief. It's beautiful.

I'm just absolutely blown away.

I'm absolutely amazed.

And the speed of it all being done when it's been sat in that sort of mess for so long.

-Yeah.

-It's just incredible.

Jane's kitchen misery is now ancient history.

She was left with unfinished walls, unsafe electrics and missing cupboard doors.

The good guys have worked wonders with the dramatic mosaic tiles in shades of pink, red and gold.

We've sorted out the wiring, too.

Now everything is safe and certified.

And to top it off, we've got those stunning red glossy doors which give the whole room a real lift.

Two years after the kitchen cowboys walked off the job, Jane's finally got her dream.

-I've got one final thing to give you and it's very important.

-OK.

It's a piece of paper, but it's an important piece of paper.

Let me tell you what it is. This is your electrical safety certificate.

-OK.

-Because remind us what was happening with your old sockets?

If you plugged anything in they sparked at you.

Yeah, which is pretty dangerous.

OK, these guys have done the job, they've tested all of their work and now you've got an official

test certificate there, so that will be stored away.

Just in case in the future you ever want to sell the property, really important that you've got that, that

it's all been tested and what they call up to 17th edition regulations.

That, I'll be honest with you, to me is as important as this wonderful kitchen. But it looks the business.

I'm going to leave you to get cooking really, I suppose. You're going to enjoy cooking in here now.

Yes, very much.

-Yeah?

-It is, it's wonderful. Thank you so much.

It's been an absolute pleasure and I hope that we never, ever get any more cowboy tradespeople in your property.

I hope so, too.

We're making our final visit to Newcastle.

Fahad Shabbir wanted hotel style luxury wet rooms, but ended up with leaking floors and lethal electrics.

He bought high class materials, but his builders were definitely low rent.

Now our guys have nearly finished making good in both the wet rooms.

Tell us about what you've been doing with the upstairs wet room, and then this one.

So, upstairs, first of all the electrics were very unsafe.

There were live wires in an environment with water, which is an absolute no no.

And, secondly, the floors were leaching water through the ceilings,

so we replaced the floors and we sorted out the electrics.

In here we had the same problem.

We had leaking floors, but more importantly, the electrics were terrible.

All the light fittings here weren't fire rated,

so not only were they electrically unsafe, it was also a fire hazard.

So we replaced the lighting with the correct type of lighting for this

environment, bearing in mind this is a Zone One, which is around water.

Well, I've got to be honest, I can't wait to show the homeowners two safe working wet rooms.

Hopefully, there will be no more cowboys causing havoc in Fahad's home.

But before we see if he likes the wonderful wet rooms,

I want to find out what he's learned about having cowboy builders.

Just tell us what you think you've learned from having cowboy builders in your property.

The most important thing I've learned from this experience,

which I hope no-one else has to go through, is not to hesitate.

Not to hesitate asking for references, checking on

previous work, asking for the right qualifications and insurances and asking to see them.

So, you've learned a lot of lessons in that short space of time.

What are you actually hoping for?

I'm hoping that at the end of the day both the wet rooms are usable.

You can go in, you can have a shower and not have to worry about leaks or electricity or

being electrocuted, and just not worry about any of that.

-So, are you ready, sir, to go and take a look at what the good guys have done?

-I am.

-After you.

-OK.

Oh. Wow.

It's beautiful.

It's made a difference, hasn't it?

Yeah, absolutely. You can see there are no cracks no more.

-No more cracked tiles.

-Yeah.

That looks like it's been redone, because you can see the neat borders now.

That back box in the toilet is now secure, so that when

you sit on the toilet it doesn't feel like it's falling forward.

You're not going to go flying off.

-You're not.

-OK.

-So, that's all been sorted.

-Excellent.

-You remember that hole in the ceiling?

-Oh, God, yeah, yeah.

-It's now gone.

-Right.

-So really it's just waiting for that plaster to settle now before it needs a coat of paint.

The other thing is, of course, we talked about the electrics which are now safe, so how does that feel?

What's your feeling now that you can take a shower?

Well, relieved. Absolutely relieved.

If there's an absolute guarantee that all the electrics are safe and

I'm not going to get electrocuted in the shower, then, yeah.

Do you remember what the problem was with the LEDs?

-Yeah, they didn't work.

-They didn't work.

I tell you what, check this out.

Oh, wow. That's beautiful!

They're working and they're working properly.

It's a beautiful feature, as well.

-Yeah.

-Fantastic. But the main thing is they've made you safe.

-Yeah.

What are you thinking? What's your overall opinion?

-It's amazing.

-OK, so we've seen wet room number one.

-Mm-hm.

Shall we go and check out the wet room upstairs, number two?

-Yeah.

-Come on.

-OK.

'Fahad had double the wet room trouble, but our team has been busy fixing both.'

-Wow. Look at the floor.

-Now, remind us what the problems were with that floor.

Yeah, the whole floor was tilting away from the drain rather than towards the drain.

It wasn't laid properly.

There were plenty of cracked tiles, even inside the wet room.

The whole floor has been redone

and it looks like it is still tilting in the right direction now.

It definitely is. And what do you make of your mirror,

because you didn't have that before?

The mirror's on. Right.

Yeah, we basically, didn't have a mirror there for about 13 weeks.

I'm overwhelmed because not only it looks beautiful, it's usable, as well.

Fahad's wet room woes have now been hung out to dry.

His cowboy builders left him with badly installed bathroom fittings,

dangerous electrics and leaking floors.

But these wet rooms are the business.

The floors slope gently towards the drain so the water flows away.

We've replaced the tiles to provide a watertight finish.

The fittings are secure and the finish is top class.

And, most importantly, the electrics are safe and certified.

This is the kind of finish you can expect when you call the professionals in.

Above all else, it's safe.

-Yeah.

-And that's paramount, as far as I'm concerned.

So, enjoy your wet room, sir.

-I indeed will do.

-And keep those cowboys at bay.

-I will do.

-All right, you enjoy.

-Thank you very much.

-Cheers.

You know, I am so happy that Fahad's dreams of his wet rooms have finally been realised.

And, remember, there are more good guys than cowboys out there.

You just need to do your research and that way you won't go falling into The Cowboy Trap.

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