Episode 32 Cowboy Trap

We're crossing the UK in search of more cowboy builders.

And I'm scared! I'm frightened that, if I bring in another builder,

it's going to be for something that I can't afford to have done.

Cowboy builders don't discriminate. They don't care whose home they destroy.

I feel as though I've made a really bad decision.

Obviously it makes me feel that I'm no good a judge of character.

I've lost confidence.

My team and I are here to right the wrongs

and to prove there are good guys out there.

Look at that!

So much better!

If you take on board all my advice and top tips,

together we can prevent you from falling into the Cowboy Trap!

On today's Cowboy Trap, we're meeting the mum

who wishes she'd checked her builder's references

before she let him wreck her dreams and her home.

Wherever I go in the car, any white van that comes towards me,

I'm looking at it to see if it's him, because I haven't seen him since.

After falling into the Cowboy Trap, she's not only in debt - she's in doubt.

She's not sure she'll ever believe any builder again.

I believed this guy for so long. I believed everything he said to me.

And he pulled the wool over my eyes totally.

And I'm too frightened now to hand over my money to anybody else.

I hope our team can restore Karen's confidence

when we show her there are plenty of good guys out there.

WOMAN SOBS I'm glad you were here.

We're in Oxted, Surrey. Pre-school teacher and child-minder Karen Carr moved here three years ago.

She has two boys, Charles, aged 15, and Alex, 12.

Karen decided the small mid-terrace modern house would benefit

from some extra space, and would give her the opportunity to do child-minding at home.

I felt that, in staying at home with the children, my own children,

the best way was to look after other people's in my own home.

So I started off by looking into doing child-minding after school

and so on. I felt then that an extension would be a good idea.

I can move the kitchen to the back

and turn the old kitchen into a downstairs toilet and a playroom.

Karen hadn't been in the new house long.

She had some money left over from the sale of her previous property,

and she was anxious to spend it wisely, improving her new home

for her and the boys. Her friend's husband is an architect,

and he advised it would be easy to transform her little house into a dream home.

The plans were to have a four-metre-square kitchen

with a vaulted ceiling,

there to be a downstairs toilet in the old kitchen,

um, plus a little room, um, for my mum to stay in.

'That was it, really. That was it. It was a dream, really.'

All Karen had to do now was find someone to make her dream come true.

I'd gone round and had three quotes from different builders,

and this guy was one of them,

so, um, I...

He'd come round, had a look, took a look at the plans and everything, and I said I'd be in touch.

He said to me that he would be able to do it for the price.

The difference between him and the other builders were,

he said that he would do my bathroom upstairs

as a... you know, added into the cost.

So it was a couple of thousand, perhaps, that I was gaining that way,

in having the bathroom done as well. It was a bonus, really.

The promise of a revamped bathroom as well as the extension made all the difference.

Karen knew this was the builder for her.

So I knew exactly what I was going to do.

I decided to go with this particular builder rather than the others,

and he seemed, you know... His famous words were,

"Trust me, it'll look great." Um, and I did.

But then Karen had to delay her building plans

because there were more pressing issues on her mind.

I then had an appointment to go into hospital for a major op,

um, in the August, so it was a difficult situation.

I was thinking, "It's not urgent. It's not something I need to do tomorrow."

Karen sensibly told the builder she'd decided to put the new kitchen extension on hold.

I went into hospital,

um, and at the same time, like the day I came out of hospital, my dad...

My dad went into hospital the day I came out.

Um, and the following day he died,

and it was so totally unexpected,

and I still find it very hard to talk about.

But he...he went in with pneumonia,

and the following day he died.

So because of that, I couldn't think of anything else.

I certainly wasn't even considering going into building an extension.

It was furthest from my mind.

In her darkest hour, Karen knew not to go ahead.

Building projects can be very stressful,

so take my advice.

If there are other significant events going on in your life,

building work should be the last thing on your mind.

Some people will exploit your inability to make big decisions.

As the weeks went by, Karen's builder became more persistent.

Eventually he persuaded her the extension would help bring the grieving family together.

As the weeks went on, he called me back, and he came round,

and he said, "Well, you know, it would be good."

"You could have this done for Christmas."

And I thought, "Well, it would be good. I could do it for Christmas."

And I had a change of thought. I thought, "My mum's now on her own."

"It would be nice if she could come and stay."

So, if we did have a downstairs loo, a little washbasin,

and I could make the room into, you know, a downstairs bedroom for her,

so that she had her own privacy. And actually it was quite uplifting.

I thought, "Well, she's on her own now all the time,

and I'd love her to come and stay sometimes with me."

Karen paid her builder 35 grand for the new kitchen extension,

complete with fitted kitchen. He would convert the old kitchen

into a downstairs guest room, utility room and toilet,

fit new central heating, level the garden

and construct a soakaway for the rainwater, and there was to be a revamped bathroom too.

So let's see the kitchen extension and garden Karen got for her money.

This is the extension our builders built for us.

It wasn't quite like this, um, when he left.

There was no rendering on the walls.

We had that done because of keeping it watertight.

The roof wasn't finished either. The electrics weren't finished off.

Er, there's another one here, which is a huge cable.

I've no idea what that's for. I think these are obviously for the lights,

but apparently they're not live, I've been told.

There's plenty the smooth-talking builder didn't finish before he scarpered.

Another of his great ideas was to save on skips

and level out Karen's garden with the soil from under the new foundations.

In actual fact, this is relatively good compared to what it did look...

My neighbour and I... It was piled high with rubbish,

bits of old bricks.

There was old timber left over from the extension, the roof...

It was absolutely piled high, and we've had two bonfires,

and we got a load back in the skip.

If you can imagine, this looks really good compared to how it did look.

If you consider this bad, it wasn't as bad as it was when he left.

Inside, the new kitchen extension doesn't look as bad as the garden -

that is, until you take a closer look.

We could start with, er...

CREAKING ..basically, the floor creaking

and basically moving, and it moves...

It also slopes and dips in the middle,

and, if I stand and bounce... FLOOR CREAKS RHYTHMICALLY

That has made it worse, you know!

Rather than plasterboarding behind the units,

he's, you know, just plasterboarded round it.

Um, you can also see that from round here...

..which you can see the unit actually goes in the plasterboard,

so the unit goes back. He didn't even finish it off.

On top of that, there are things just...aesthetically,

things like the tap and underneath it.

I don't know whether you can see, but it's... It's a good movement.

The bodges aren't only inconvenient, they're dangerous too.

Above the gas hob, the builder has hung cupboards

which could heat up and catch fire. He should have fitted an extractor hood.

Actually, here should have been an extractor fan

that had an outside airflow, and obviously that didn't happen.

But for some reason he's put a wire in there for it.

Um, well, I assume it's for that.

A plumber told Karen her cooker hasn't been connected properly.

You can put one on like that... IGNITION CLICKS REPEATEDLY

..sometimes, when it works. But if you go round and put them all on,

then one goes out. He pulled this back and tipped it up,

and he said, "That looks like you have a water pipe for a gas feed to your cooker,

which means that it is not big enough to take the amount of gas needed to the cooker."

So it won't work!

Is there anything else wrong with Karen's kitchen,

apart from a bouncy floor, the missing extractor hood

and the water pipe for the gas feed? Yes, of course there is! This builder was clueless.

The surfaces all run quite significantly downhill.

Now, I did speak to the builder about this,

and he swore blind that nothing...

That the floor was absolutely level.

But he must have been fibbing again, because Karen has proof.

When you're cooking in the oven, all the cakes or...everything end up

like, really thick one end and really thin the other.

The builder left the gas and electrics dangerous, too.

He bodged the plumbing upstairs, which caused the ceiling to collapse.

The work was all started so Karen's recently widowed mum

could come and stay - but she can't.

The idea was that this would be the bedroom, and, as we go in,

that she would have her own downstairs toilet.

So this was going to be a downstairs toilet and sink.

Now, in here, it just... Nothing got done.

Coming up - an independent chartered surveyor thinks this builder

may have lost more than his spirit level.

When it comes to the floor, he's lost his marbles, too.

I've done a marble test on it,

and the marble runs quite dramatically downhill.

We're in Oxted, Surrey, trying to restore single mum Karen Carr's faith in builders.

Karen decided to extend her mid-terrace townhouse

to create a new kitchen extension for her and the two boys, Charles and Alex.

The old kitchen area would be converted into a guest room

so her recently widowed mum could come and stay.

The garden would be levelled with the soil dug from the foundations

and then landscaped, but the builder bodged the job.

The entire project requires remedial work to make it safe.

The gas is dangerous, the electrics aren't certified,

the kitchen floor is unstable, the units aren't level,

the downstairs toilet and utility room lay abandoned,

and the garden is a demolition site.

The extension was supposed to bring the family closer together,

but due to a cowboy builder's actions, that just didn't happen.

Time for me to meet mum Karen and find out what's gone wrong.

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

-Hello, Clive. Come on in.

-Thank you.

Karen really has lost all faith in builders.

She had to extend her mortgage by ten grand,

but she doesn't know who to turn to to sort out all the problems with her home.

I wonder what we can do to help!

What can we do for you that would make you smile again,

make you have a bit more confidence,

make you realise that there are good guys out there?

-What would make you happy?

-What would make me happy?

Um, bringing in...somebody that knows what they're doing,

especially with the electrics.

The electrics, the gas...

I'd like for the build to be signed off, just signed off that it's safe.

-OK.

-That... That, you know,

to...to be able to have all of that would be the main thing...to have.

The floor isn't level, and it squeaks like mad and bounces around,

and every time I walk into the kitchen I walk downhill,

so actually to have a level floor in the kitchen would be fantastic.

Leave that with me, right? I really hope we can step forward

and learn from the mistakes we've made,

because eventually you will need more people in,

-a plumber, electrician or whatever.

-Probably all of those.

It's time now to help you go forward.

Karen has some money to put towards getting everything sorted,

which is great, because making safe the gas and electrics,

removing the kitchen, fixing the floor and re-levelling all the units

is a big job. We'll also help to get the guest area safe

so Mum can come and stay, and we need to transform the garden

into a space Karen and her boys can enjoy.

Karen really needs to get this mess sorted, both inside and out.

I think it's time to bring on the good guys.

Before the team get stuck in, I want an independent chartered surveyor

to go over this builder's work and give us his verdict.

With regards to the kitchen extension,

there are a lot of issues with that,

the main one of which is the floor is totally out of level

and creaking. I've actually done a marble test on it,

and the marble runs quite dramatically downhill.

Um, the kitchen units have been fixed directly to the brickwork and plastered round.

The electrical installation, part of that isn't working.

'The gas cooker has been installed, but it's very intermittent

'in terms of the gas output from it.

'The walls are not square on the extension.

'The roof was leaking and the owner's had to have that re-clad,

'and the actual render on the extension was poorly executed

'and that's had to be redone by the owner.'

I think I would just about scrape it through to a two out of ten,

and even that's being pretty generous.

What a terrible score!

It's bottom of the class for this bonehead builder.

Coming up - I'm going to have to find out where Karen went wrong,

and how she ended up paying 35 grand to a guy who didn't have a clue.

-Did you tell them how much money you'd got?

-Yes, I did.

-OK.

-And with hindsight, I shouldn't have done that.

We're in Surrey, hoping to prove to mum Karen Carr

that there are plenty of good builders out there,

if you just go the right way about finding them.

We've got two teams of good guys on our job today.

Richard is outside, transforming the garden and dealing with the drainage,

and Lee is looking after all the work inside.

He'll be dealing with the gas and electrics and that terrible kitchen.

So what's the plan to sort out that bouncy floor?

Our plan is obviously to rectify the problems with the kitchen,

to remove the kitchen first. I'll need to get the floor up,

because it's terribly out of level. I don't think it's been constructed

with the right materials, but until we remove the boards,

I'm not going to know what I'm dealing with until we expose it.

While the good guys get stuck into this mammoth task,

I want to track back with Karen and find out why she trusted her builder so much.

-Did you tell them how much money you'd got?

-Yes, I did.

-OK.

-And with hindsight, I shouldn't have done that.

-No.

-No.

-Because the moment you tell them how much you've got to play with,

they will make sure - a cowboy builder will, anyway -

that they eke that out of you regardless. They know that pot of money is there.

I'm a chatty person, so yes, probably my mouth does run away with me a bit.

-So when people do come round... I do trust people.

-Yeah.

You know? And I don't think that's a bad thing on the whole.

-No, it's not.

-But it's let me down in this case.

This guy was recommended by a friend's husband...

-Yeah.

-..if I'm right.

Cowboy builders have all the dialogue, all the bunny as I call it.

And they know exactly how they can milk you. This is the thing.

His favourite words were, "Trust me, this'll be great."

-And "trust me" seemed to be his middle name, almost.

-Right.

-So you had four quotes.

-Yeah.

-What made you go for this builder?

-He offered, on top,

to do my bathroom upstairs, so that was the clincher.

All of the other builders had given me a price just on the build itself.

-Right. OK.

-Um, but he'd said...

He knew what a state the place was in when I moved in, so he'd seen it all,

and maybe, you know, I'd mentioned the bathroom was awful upstairs,

it was leaking and so on. And, er, he said,

-"Tell you what, we'll do your bathroom as well."

-OK.

And the others hadn't. Maybe I hadn't mentioned it to them. I don't know.

But that was the clincher, that I'd get a new bathroom upstairs

as well as what was down here.

-So the first day he starts work...

-Yep.

-..everything was running smoothly.

-Yeah. He brought two guys in

that started to dig out the footings, and that lasted for over a week,

a week and a half, digging out those footings,

probably getting on for two weeks.

But, um, that was probably...the better time.

Within that two weeks, he then asked me for the first payment of 5,000.

-Um, he...

-Did you feel comfortable with...

Well, I didn't know any better.

He was saying I've got to pay the guys for digging out the footings.

I've also then got to pay for the guys to come in

and start doing the structural work.

Karen agreed to pay in equal instalments before the work was done.

It's a very common mistake. Take my advice -

you don't get paid before your first day at work. Nor do builders.

Karen made her payments in equal instalments of five grand

regardless of how much work had been finished.

The two... The bricklayers left,

and then he had one guy to do the roof, um, and himself.

-So they started on the roof.

-The first time he started work?

-Until then he was just the project manager?

-Yeah.

He had other jobs going on at the same time.

How much had you given him by this stage?

About 20,000, I think. Probably 25. I'm not too sure.

-OK. A lot of money, though.

-Yeah. A lot of money had gone.

I was already in for about 25,000,

and in actual fact, at that point you don't want arguments to start.

You're scared that someone's going to walk off the job,

and you haven't got enough money left to employ someone else to finish it.

And that was all the money I had.

-Now, you're getting close to Christmas.

-Yeah.

When does it all come to a head,

and you say to yourself,

"It's not happening. I've got to speak to the builder"?

SHE SIGHS The funny thing is, the week before.

Probably the week before. But he's putting the kitchen in by this stage,

and he's put magnolia on the walls,

and the lights switch on,

and actually it didn't look too bad from a distance.

Um, so...probably then.

When was the realisation that you knew you weren't...?

The week of Christmas, when he walked off.

-He walked off? Why did he walk off?

-He just disappeared one day.

-You rang him?

-Yeah. Couldn't get any response.

Karen trusted her builder, but she made a common mistake -

she didn't do her research. You can only put your trust in a builder

after you've ticked all five boxes on my checklist.

Hiring a good builder is a lot easier than you might think,

so follow my Clive's five top tips to find the good guys.

There are just five steps to builder heaven,

but you must follow them all.

Ask a friend or work colleague for any builder recommendations -

but remember, that's only step one in the process.

You've got to do your background research.

Check your builder's skills by searching the government-backed Trustmark website

and other skilled-trade associations.

Do an internet search on their company to check their reputation.

Draw up a list of your top-three preferred builders

and remember, always get a written quote.

Step two...

Compare the itemised costs side by side.

Remember to check out the references for all three builders, and don't go on price alone.

Step three...

Take your time. There are still two more steps to hiring a good builder for your job.

Go sight-seeing and check out your builder's previous completed works.

A good bona-fide builder will be happy to show off his skills.

Step four...

Cowboys rarely finish their work.

..his timekeeping, and whether they would hire him again.

Insist on a written contract and a schedule of staged payments,

and never pay money upfront - and no cash, ever.

Step five...

..only payable after each stage of work is complete.

Follow my top tips, and you won't go falling into the Cowboy Trap.

Coming up - Karen's mum describes the effect the builder has had on her daughter.

She said, "Mum, I can't talk about it,

"because I'm going to start crying and I won't stop."

We're in Surrey, helping restore Karen Carr's faith in builders.

Her builder said he could have her kitchen extension built by Christmas

so Karen decided to invite the whole family so they could be together,

because her dad had recently died. But Christmas was ruined

when the builder disappeared leaving the job unfinished.

We've got the good guys in now, and there's a lot to do.

Outside, Richard is leading the team

digging the soakaway to comply with building regulations.

Inside, Lee's team has to strip out the entire kitchen

and make the floor secure. And there are some nasty surprises in store.

Yeah. We've removed the wall units to find the old kitchen window,

which hasn't been made good very well at all.

Looks like it's been constructed out of leftovers.

So we're going to have to try and reinstate a piece of wall here

to safely fix the units to. As you can see, it's still bare brickwork

to the right-hand side, so we're going to have to plasterboard that.

It's been made good afterwards, fitted around the kitchen

rather than the kitchen fitted to the finished wall.

To find a few bits like this early on is a bit worrying, but I think we can overcome.

This builder really left Karen in the lurch.

Once he'd had all the money, he walked out on the unfinished job.

Karen had to cancel Christmas.

He just downed tools and left, and didn't come back.

And that was the end of the dream. It was two days before Christmas. I had to put everybody off.

Well, I cried. You know, I didn't have my mum here,

you know, with the plans that we'd had, you know.

I suppose they were my dreams, but my mum was in there with me,

you know, and we basically... as a family wanted to be together because my dad wasn't there,

and seeing as I was meant to have had the biggest house

with the new extension and everything, it was ideal.

But, er... I don't know. It just all crumbled.

Of course Karen's mum understood,

but she couldn't believe the danger the builder left Karen in.

It's been absolutely awful to see what Karen has gone through

with the building work of the extension she's had done.

It wasn't finished properly. The walls weren't rendered,

the floor was uneven, the tiles on the roof were wrong.

They were letting the water through.

The electrics, they were left... Found bare wires.

And quite honestly, I don't know how Karen has coped with the mess.

There was no garden left.

It was absolutely awful, and the workmanship was shocking.

Karen had to have urgent remedial work done to the extension

to make it watertight and weatherproof.

The render had to be redone, and the roof was a right mess.

Karen found her own good-guy roofer to do the repairs,

and he has some professional advice for the original bodging builder.

If I met the builder who'd carried out the original works,

um, I would, um, I think basically advise him

not to carry out any building works in the future

because of the poor standard

and, obviously, the stress he has caused to the client as well.

Karen's builder left without completing essential work.

One of the remaining jobs is to construct a new soakaway.

Many local authorities insist on a soakaway

to stop rainwater from the roofs of new buildings going into the overworked sewer system.

When it does rain, hits the roof the water goes into the gutter,

and down the downspout. But where does the water go after that?

Let's find out.

Richard, lots of people have heard about soakaways. What does it do and where does it go?

-A soakaway is an empty chamber...

-Yeah?

..that takes water in, and slowly, over a period of time,

that water will empty out of the soakaway into the surrounding ground.

-Why do we need it?

-Because we don't want to be irresponsible

and tap into the main sewer or to discharge water onto the highway.

What we're trying to do is keep the water on-site

and allow it to gently percolate into the ground.

Tell us what you've got here. This is the chamber?

For a typical soakaway you might need four or five of these,

-and you'll need to dig a large pit in order to fit them in.

-Yeah.

So here in this garden, it's just out there. You can't see it.

-It's all hidden away.

-It's doing its job.

-That's correct.

-So dress that over the top.

-That goes over the top.

So that fully protects it, stops any weedage, rootage, whatever,

-trying to get in, and keeps that nice and clear.

-Absolutely.

-Now, you've got the pipe there.

-That's right.

-Where does that go?

-Through one of these circular areas at the front.

-Little knock-out?

-Yeah. Knock that out. Pipe goes in.

And then it does its job. It just sits there and happily percolates.

-All day long.

-Perfect! Now we know exactly what a soakaway does.

-Yes.

-Cheers, Richard.

'It's another important step towards Karen getting her completion certificate from the council,

'and it's kind to the environment, because soakaways take pressure

'off the sewers and help prevent flash flooding.'

Coming up - what would Karen like to say to her builder now?

I don't particularly want him back and doing any work.

-No. I'll be honest with you, neither do I.

-No.

We're in Surrey, where Karen Carr's faith in builders has been badly shaken

by a series of serious mistakes her builder made

when he built a new kitchen extension.

The roof leaked, the walls weren't weatherproof, the floor is unstable,

and there are numerous faults with the gas and electrics and the fitted kitchen.

The soil from the foundations was dumped all over the garden.

We're helping Karen get the remedial work done, and, in the process,

hoping to prove to her there are plenty of good guys out there.

Karen's builder walked off the job two days before she was meant to host a family Christmas.

But when the holidays were over, he pulled another surprise -

he came back! But the standard of his work was as bad as ever.

His dad had died, then his nan died, so he wasn't around again.

And by that time I was begging him to come round.

I was leaving him emails, and said, "Look, even if you come round

"just one, two days a week, that'd be fine."

"It gets something done, something finished."

But the work was so substandard, cos he was doing it himself,

that actually it got to the stage where I don't think it was worth him doing it,

because I knew that I'd have to take it all apart.

The builder kept promising from January to March.

Finally Karen realised he would never finish the job,

even though she had paid him almost all of the money - £35,000.

The last I heard, um, was,

in the March 2009,

was he'd drilled a hole through his hand,

and that he was at the hospital and that he couldn't drive

and that he couldn't work. And obviously I've got the emails

saying, "Oh, I'm really sorry", you know, "How's things going?"

and all the rest of it. And there was just £500 left in the kitty.

Um, I then started to find out he hadn't paid anybody.

So the gas guy came and knocked on the door asking for his money.

There was a skip outside,

and they wouldn't take it away until I'd paid them.

It's time this builder gave us some answers.

Let's see what he's got to say for himself.

When was the last time you had any conversation with your builder?

A year and a half ago.

A year and a half back. Can you remember how that conversation went?

-The last conversation was via email.

-Right.

It went backwards and forwards. I no longer had his phone number,

um, that replied, so I tried email,

and the last email that I had from him

basically was saying that he was going to see his accountant

and that he was going to take legal advice against me,

saying that I owed him money still.

-Right.

-So...

If you had an opportunity to speak to him,

what questions would you like to ask him?

How does he sleep at night,

knowing that he's left me in such an awful position?

Not just me - the two children that I have.

It's the safety aspects, the electrics, the gas,

you know - all of that.

I don't particularly want him back and doing any work.

No. I'll be honest with you, neither do I.

-No, because it's only going to be... Well, it was substandard anyway.

-Yes.

-So...

-I think he's best away from it.

-Yeah.

We've got a telephone number for him. We'll make the call,

um, and we'll listen to what he's got to say.

-If you want to just dial that up...

-OK.

-Then put it on speaker-phone.

"This person's phone is switched off.

"Please try later, or send a text."

Right. So I can't speak to him, even.

-No.

-No.

Now, he's gone to great lengths here, because if he's a builder,

he will rely on people ringing him to leave messages to say,

"Could you come round, give me a quote" or whatever.

He's actually contacted his service provider to ask them to remove it.

Now, there's only one reason you'd want to remove it,

-and that's if anybody was trying to get hold of you.

-Yeah.

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

Fortunately we've got the good guys inside and outside,

restoring Karen's faith in builders, and we're getting ready to show her what the professionals can do.

Just talk us through what you've done, what you've got left to do,

and how long in terms of time you've got left.

We've straightened up all the floors, had to renew all the timbers underneath.

-What was that like, under there?

-It was horrible.

He'd used the wrong size timbers for the span, so we had to upgrade them.

In terms of the kitchen, cabinets, doors...?

Kitchen's refitting, rejigging, a few infill panels

and some new end panels we've had to buy.

There was a problem with the gas, as well. How did you address that?

I actually found a copy certificate from the guy that had signed it off,

so I phoned him and gave him the opportunity to come and rectify the problems.

Anything else electrically? Problems there, have they been resolved?

No problems - just things that were left unfinished, really.

-How long do you think you've got left?

-Probably an hour or so.

OK. Listen, mate, you've done a great job, and I think Karen's going to love this.

She's been hit hard by cowboy builders. This is going to lift her spirits big style.

Coming up - I can't wait to see the smile on Karen's face

when she sees just how much we've achieved in such a short space of time.

Oh, look!

Look at that!

Our work is almost done in Surrey. We've been hard at it

by bringing in the right builders to get Karen's kitchen extension up to building regulations.

Our team of good guys have been busy inside and out

making everything safe, and by the time we're done,

the council will be able to sign off the work.

Richard has been leading the team outside, reclaiming Karen's garden

so she and her two boys can enjoy it.

-What was this like to deal with?

-Well, it was a nightmare, Clive.

All that was here was the rubbish the builder had left lying around,

all his old tools he couldn't be bothered to take away with him,

and a thick layer of clay that he'd dug out to make his foundations

and spread it all over the top of the garden, and it had baked hard,

-so it was like rock.

-Wow! And so you had to dig all that rock up!

Dig it all up! Of course, underneath all of that

is a new soakaway and drainage run from the two downpipes

from the extension, because that hadn't been put in

-when the original building was done.

-Which is critical!

-What's left to finish off?

-Finish off?

-You're just about there?

Yes. Bit of a sweep-off, bit of a tidy-up, and we're there.

-Bit of titivation.

-Bit of titivation.

That's what we want. Well played, son!

Karen has been through a hell of a time with this extension,

but before I show her what we've done,

I want to find out what she's learned from this.

I think firstly I would make sure that I got plenty of references,

to go and visit the work they've already carried out,

um, and talk with the people that they've carried the work out for.

-Brilliant.

-Never, ever give cash,

especially not upfront or halfway through. Always wait till the end.

Do your background checks. Really important.

And don't forget, if you have any doubt whatsoever

that that build's going wrong, stop it there and then.

-Yeah.

-And then seek advice. Seek professional advice,

-just in case things are going wrong.

-I think it's not to be frightened

to speak up for yourself

and to stop it when things are not going how you think they should.

-Great.

-Yeah.

And that way, I think you won't go falling in the Cowboy Trap again.

I really don't. You're very savvy, very switched on.

There was lots going on in your life - lots,

and I can really understand how it all went so wrong.

Um, just remind us what it was like before we arrived.

Oh, there was so much wrong! You know,

the garden, the kitchen, the electrics,

the floor in the kitchen was sloping...

-A complete disaster zone...

-Yep.

-Everywhere.

-Yeah. Absolutely.

-So, what are you hoping for?

Oh, what am I hoping for?

For it to just...

Just to have a straight floor!

Unusually, I would be happy with a straight floor!

After walking across a bouncy, springy, creaky floor

that went downhill, even that would be a good thing to have.

And the garden. Obviously the garden would...

It would be great just to be able to sit out there and relax.

Um, any of that.

-I think it's time we should go and see what these guys have done.

-OK!

With two teams on the job, inside and outside, there's a lot to see,

starting with the guest area with the toilet and utility room.

Look up!

SHE GASPS That's brilliant.

'We've fixed the collapsed ceiling and prepared the downstairs toilet.'

Check this little baby out!

Oh, look! Look at that!

-It's so much better!

-Now, listen.

-Brilliant!

-Mum has arrived, right? I'm going to go get her.

-Go on, then.

-Cos this will be your mum's room. I'll fetch her.

You have a look round.

Mum! Come and have a look at this. Come on!

-This is going to be your room, by the way.

-Wow!

-SHE LAUGHS

-Oh, it's lovely, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-It's perfect.

-We've started the ball rolling.

-I can't believe that!

-Brilliant, Karen!

-Yeah.

-When am I staying?

-THEY LAUGH

In the kitchen, we've worked more wonders to banish the bouncy floor.

Come and check this out! Come on.

-Come in.

-Oh, wow!

Mum?

-Wow, Karen!

-SHE LAUGHS

-It's good, isn't it?

-Look at it! Look at the tiles!

MUM LAUGHS And the floor!

-Oh, I like the floor, too.

-You like the floor?

-Yeah.

Have you noticed something about the floor?

-It doesn't bounce!

-No more spring.

-No. No squeak.

-No!

-No squeak at all!

-Oh, done a brilliant job!

-A show-room kitchen.

-It does look just like that, doesn't it?

And finally, there's an even bigger surprise outside.

The garden is unrecognisable!

# Da-daaaah! #

-Wow!

-KAREN AND MUM LAUGH

-I don't believe it!

-What do you reckon?

Absolutely lovely!

I love the decking. You've actually got grass!

It looks too nice to walk on, doesn't it?

-It looks like a carpet.

-It does.

-It does. It does.

It's absolutely lovely.

The guys have worked wonders here, inside and out, to restore Karen's faith in builders.

The guest area is almost ready, with all the plumbing in place in the toilet,

and the electrics and gas are certified.

We've completely remodelled the kitchen. The bouncy floor is history

and the units are now all level. Above the cooker,

we've installed the extractor hood Karen needs to meet building regulations.

Outside, the required soakaway has been buried under the garden,

and what a transformation we've worked here, with new fencing all round,

a large expanse of lawn, new decking,

and we've finished off the outside lighting. What a great job!

Even better, Karen now has everything she needs

to get a completion certificate from Building Control.

Finally she can put this episode behind her.

-You look after yourself, Jill!

-Thank you.

Take care, girls. Enjoy the garden. Enjoy the kitchen.

And you enjoy your nice new little room! All right.

-Take it easy. See you soon. Bye!

-Bye.

-Bye!

Hey!

-It's gorgeous!

-I'm glad you were here.

-Really?

-Yeah.

Well, I think Karen and her family are right back on track.

But remember, if you're having building work done, check out the references!

That way you won't end up falling in the Cowboy Trap.

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