Episode 33 Cowboy Trap

I'm travelling up and down the country

tracking down cowboy builders who could be operating

in a town near you.

The builders put the wrong roof on.

And that particular night, after erecting it, it blew off.

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

All I saw were guys with sledge hammers and rubble and rubble and rubble.

With our team of good guys, we'll right the wrongs and help give people their lives back.

-Oh! Wow!

-What do you reckon?

-Wow!

I'll pass on all my hints and tips in the hope it will help prevent you

from falling into the cowboy trap.

'Today, we're in Cheshire and North Wales,

'two separate stories but with one very surprising twist in the tale.

'Both homeowners wanted work to start quickly

'so hired builders who could start straight away.

'The Hibberts wanted major renovation work done on their new house.

'They ended up with financial disaster.'

I think it's been the worst three years of my life.

I've been ill through it.

It was really bad, the way he left the property.

'Single mum Liz Edge wanted a conservatory to give her disabled daughter more space.

'But her cowboy builder left her with no conservatory and no money, either.'

I used to say to myself how stupid you've been.

I was having flashbacks of counting the £20 notes out to him.

And if only I'd not bothered

and made him wait for the money till he finished his job like I should've done.

'First up, we're in Cheshire where Christine Hibbert and her husband Alan

'bought a seven-bedroom farmhouse that needed a lot of work.

'They really wanted it to be their dream home.'

Well, we bought the property, and it was in a tired state,

it was a working farm, from an elderly couple

and we knew that we'd have to spend a considerable amount of money on the property

to get it to a standard we were happy with.

'The house needed major refurbishment.

'Extensions on each side, a damp course, changes to the layout,

'new woodwork, central heating and plastering.

'Christine and her husband knew it was a huge job

'so they felt reassured when their mortgage advisor recommended a local builder.'

We came across a builder who was recommended to us by our mortgage advisors.

Felt a little bit secure that at least we weren't picking someone out of the Yellow Pages.

We met, we had the verbal discussions around what type of work needed to be done.

We'd already got architects' plans that we'd had drawn up previously

and we gave him those plans and said, "That's what we need you to build."

'The Hibberts' builder promised military efficiency.

'He told them he'd been a regimental sergeant major for over 20 years.

'They were expecting army precision on this building job.'

He kept telling me that he'd been an RSM

and he was used to organisation, planning, getting things done on time, project management,

and said that he'd set up this building company

and they were doing incredibly well and the reason why he was free is they'd just been let down on a job.

When they realised their builder was available,

the Hibberts seized on the opportunity to get their work underway

so they could be back in their home as soon as possible.

'Take a tip from me...

'Experienced builders are usually booked up for months in advance.

'One month in, and Christine was worried.

'All she could see was the builders taking down walls and nothing being put up.'

All I saw were guys with sledge hammers

and rubble and rubble and rubble of bricks.

I saw no materials being delivered to the site.

'Christine suspected things weren't going to plan.

'She called in a building inspector to check over the work.'

I knew there were things that probably weren't right but I couldn't put my finger on them

but I thought if I got some experts, I'd be in a better place.

And we actually... I turned up and met people here.

The builder was already here working away, demolishing stuff,

and the building inspector started going around, taking quite detailed notes.

'The building inspector confirmed Christine's suspicions.'

The building inspector said, "I don't believe these walls are tied in"

and the builder said, "Yes, they are tied in."

And the building inspector pushed the walls and, of course, they collapsed.

And, at that point, the builder just got very irritated

and called all his guys, told them to stop work,

said he wasn't going to be treated like that and walked off the site.

'The Hibberts' home ended up in complete devastation.

'The extension walls had to be taken down.

'Emergency builders were called in just to make their home safe and the work had to start all over again.

'The family had to take out another mortgage to pay for the work to be redone.

'But now they're out of cash.'

We've got a part of the house which we've not been able to finish

and that's a flat roof, which is leaking like a sieve

and way past its sell-by date.

The roof should've been taken off and a hip roof should've been placed back on.

It should've been damp coursed

and, obviously, plumbing and rewiring in there.

The flat roof is still on. We've basically run out of money.

'The Hibberts wanted two extensions

'and a complete revamp inside.

'They paid their builder £35,000,

'but all they were left with was rubble and ruin.

'Remedial work has fixed most of the damage caused by the cowboy,

'but they've still got a whole room that's unusable.

'The flat roof leaks and is causing water damage that's getting worse.'

This is the room that's still a mess. I've made it into a bit of a study

cos I work for myself and I need somewhere to work.

But the ceiling itself is pretty bad.

Obviously, if you went on the flat roof, you'd be able to see how bad it is.

All this damage here is water that comes through the roof.

You can see how old the flat roof is and how it should've been made into a hip roof.

Obviously, that was the extension there that they put in,

but we had to take it all down

because it hadn't been tied into the wall so it was wobbling.

So it was just so dangerous, we absolutely had to have it knocked down.

'Christine wanted to warn others about her cowboy builder.

'She contacted her local council

'but was shocked to find they already knew all about him.'

When I realised he was known to the council, it was just absolute...

I think my whole body shook, actually. It was dread and horror.

I think it was almost as though the dots were getting joined together

and my worst fears were coming to reality.

'And this whole disaster has, of course, put a lot of pressure on Christine and Alan.'

It's put an absolute massive strain.

I've been married for the best part of 30 years

and, like every couple, you have your ups and downs,

but this has put a massive, massive strain on us.

Emotionally, financially. We've argued about it.

Christine's hope of finally completing her dream home

has had to be left on hold until she gets her extension completed.

'I want to find out what we can do to help.'

-Hello. Are you Christine?

-I am.

-Hi, I'm Clive from Cowboy Trap.

-Do you mind if I come in and have a chat about the problem?

-Please come in.

What can we do in the short space of time that we've got

that would help you?

If there's any way that we can get any help,

just to get that flat roof into a roof that is not going to leak

and eventually collapse, then that would be just great.

You leave that with me, all right? We'll see what we can do for you.

Christine really needs to get her extension sorted out.

It's time to bring on the good guys.

'Coming up, an independent chartered surveyor gives us his opinion

'on what the Hibberts were left with by their cowboy builders.'

What I'm seeing is basically a house in a complete state of disrepair.

'Heading west now, we're off to Wales.'

We're in Pensarn to meet Liz Edge

who just wanted an extension to her bungalow

so that she'd have more room to care for daughter Lucy.

'Liz is a full-time carer for 14-year-old Lucy.

'They moved from Manchester to the North Wales coast looking for a bit of the good life.'

I love North Wales. For ten years I've been coming to my mum's caravan.

So I decided then, that's where I wanted to buy the house.

And that's what I did. I've followed my dream.

'Liz wanted to make alterations to her new home so she could care for her daughter,

'including a warm, bright room to make the most of the sunshine.'

I decided to buy the house and put a conservatory on it for Lucy

to make it that bit bigger, cos I'd come out of a large house

and this is a lot smaller than what I had.

'Lucy is severely disabled.

'She's also partially sighted,

'so having lights around her gives her comfort.

'Liz wanted to use the conservatory to give Lucy her own space.'

I just want to use it as a light room for her,

put lights in it, also her wheelchair,

a chair she sits in in the day.

She has milk which she's fed through in her stomach,

so I was going to keep all her equipment in there.

It was an extra room for Lucy, really, and her toys.

During a visit to the local bowling club,

a friendly samaritan suggested a builder to Liz.

But all wasn't as it seemed.

A couple of men approached me and said to me,

"If you ever need any work doing, come in and see us.

"We have the guys who can do work for you.

"You've got to be very careful who you get.

"There's an awful lot of cowboys around and you've got to watch who you have in your house to do work.

"We'll put you onto someone who does a really good job and won't let you down."

'Liz was new to the area. She thought these chaps were doing her a favour.

'She asked them to put her in touch with the builder.

'But she was shocked when he called her within the hour.'

He said to me, "I could start Monday, have it finished for you for Christmas."

I was very impressed.

I had the money there to have it done, so I thought, "Yeah, I'll let this man do it for me."

'Liz had a budget of £10,000 left over from the sale of her previous house.

'She asked the builder for a quote to build a new conservatory

'and to make some minor changes inside.

'She wanted the loft hatch moved, spotlights in her bathroom and a front window replaced.

'He wanted to know how much she had to spend.'

He did ask me how much money I had

and I didn't think, at the time, much about that.

I told him I'd just sold my house in Manchester

and I had £10,000 cash in the bank from the sale of my home.

And his reply was, "Oh, for cash, I can do you a really good job.

"I can do you a conservatory and other work round your house."

'Take a tip from me...'

'..to calculate the true cost of your job.

'Liz agreed the price with her builder,

'all the money she had, and they started work the following week.'

Eight o'clock, the whole lot, four of them,

all started work, the equipment started arriving.

Work started straight away.

But within one week, his workmen had left him.

His joiner and his labourer

had had a row on my property and gone.

There was nobody, only the trainee bricklayer.

So it wasn't looking good after one week, really.

'Things went from bad to worse

'when the roof on Liz's new conservatory blew off.'

It was lifting and lifting and I said, "That's not going to stay on much longer."

And why I laughed, I don't know, but I expected it to go.

And it did. It blew off.

One night on, it blew off.

'This is absolutely shocking.

'The roof was put on one day, and the next night, it was off.'

I phoned the builder, told him what had happened

and he said he would come to the property and remove the rest of it.

Which, three days later, while I wasn't in,

he did come and take the rest of it down.

And that's the last I heard or seen of him.

'Liz's builder abandoned ship.

'But she desperately needed extra space for Lucy

'so she scrimped and saved for another builder to come and finish the job.

'She's got her conservatory now,

'but the other shoddy jobs left by the original cowboy are still in a state

'and Liz has no money left to fix them.'

I haven't got any money saved, I've got nothing.

And I realise I need my conservatory finishing.

And the bathroom, what he done, the loft hatch.

And I've had to save and it's took me nearly 17 months to finish my conservatory

and it's been a real struggle paying for it.

So, really, I've paid twice.

'Liz handed her original builder £9,700 in cash.

'She wanted a new conservatory across the back of her home,

'and inside, she wanted her loft hatch moved and spotlights installed in the bathroom.

'She ended up with nothing but shoddy, half-done work.

'Her bathroom and bedroom ceilings were left in a mess.

'Outside, all she got was a dwarf wall and a concrete base.

'Liz became so ill with the stress that her friend, Bernard, was worried.'

She has lost a tremendous lot of weight, she's depressed,

and it made her job more harder seeing to Lucy.

'Bernard was even more anxious about the impact on Lucy.'

Well, the little girl, he's robbed her.

I mean, how can anybody...

..rob a child who is so severely disabled?

Liz just wanted an extension to make her and her daughter's life easier.

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

-Hello. Are you Liz?

-I am.

-Hi, I'm Clive from Cowboy Trap.

-Pleased to meet you.

-Do you mind showing me the damage that these rogue builders have caused?

-Come in.

-Let's have a look.

-Right.

-Come into the bathroom.

-Yep.

-Yeah. There you go.

-OK. Very nice.

-What was there, Liz?

-A loft hatch.

-All right. And then he's removed the loft hatch.

-Yes.

And put in a chunk of any old bit of timber, which it looks like he mixed mortar on

and then just cut it with a chainsaw and stuck it up there. It's not very good.

Did you want anything else doing in here?

Spotlights. I wanted spotlights in the ceiling, in the new ceiling.

And did he say he could do them for you?

No, he said you couldn't have spotlights in the ceiling.

You can have spotlights.

They have to be moisture-resistant to resist the steam and whatever else

and they also have to have fire hoods on them to protect them from combusting in the loft space.

-So I am glad he didn't do that job.

-Me, too.

Cos I'd be worried about how he'd fitted them. But you can have them.

-Anywhere else we need to look at?

-Yes, the bedroom next door.

-Show me.

'The loft hatch in Liz's bedroom is a mess.'

-I don't like that.

-Nor me.

-That is pretty awful, isn't it?

-That's what you call butchered.

-Do you reckon?

-Oh, definitely.

It's not even level, it's standing proud of the ceiling at one end and flushed in the other end.

-So where else are the other problems?

-Well, the conservatory.

-So, I can see the conservatory's actually up.

-Mm.

So what did your original builder actually do?

The concrete base and the wall and the footings.

-So he did the footings, the building work.

-Yes.

'I can't believe this cowboy has took nearly ten grand from Liz,

'leaving her and Lucy with nothing but a bodged job.

'I want to find out how we can bring some happiness back to their lives.'

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

Just my bathroom, as you can see, has been left like that, and the bedroom.

I just can't get round to doing them.

-I'd be delighted if you could finish them for me.

-OK.

That's what we'll crack on with. We'll get the good guys in and sort it out.

'We've got loads to do, fitting those spotlights, replastering the bathroom ceiling

'and making good the bedroom loft hatch. We need to bring sunshine to Liz and Lucy's back yard.'

What kind of so-called builder leaves a vulnerable family in a state like this?

'It's time to bring on the good guys.

'Coming up, we hear what an independent surveyor thinks of Liz's cowboy's work.'

Very amateurish, rough.

'We're back in Cheshire, where Christine Hibbert and her hubby

'bought an old farmhouse that needed major renovation.

'But when a building inspector queried the quality of their builder's work,

'their cowboy builder upped and left.

'Christine and her family found themselves with nothing but rubble.

'They've had a lot of remedial work done,

'but a leaky roof is still causing chaos.

'The good guys are keen to start, but before they do,

'I want an independent surveyor to check things out.'

Well, the extension that hasn't been completed is in a very poor state.

It's got a flat roof which has certainly gone well beyond its useful life.

The felt is blistering. It's exposed to the sunlight,

so that the bitumen is degrading.

And there are signs of leakage internally.

I've been shown a series of photographs

which describe the state of the building at the time that the builder left the site.

What I'm seeing is a state of demolition.

There's hardly any sign of any construction work.

Based on the photographs that I've seen, I can't give it anything out of ten, so zero out of ten.

'Our good guys are ready to help Christine and her family complete their home.

'They'll be taking off the old roof and replacing it with a perfect pitched one.

'Warren is leading our team today, so I want to find out, what's the plan?'

The plan of action is to strip the flat roof off.

-Yep.

-We're going to build up the end gable,

put a new lean-to across, carry the block work up

-and put a new pitched roof on.

-So you're going to put a pitch on

-rather than a flat, which is always going to be better.

-That's right.

We're going to follow the plane of the existing roof.

That sounds like a cracking little job to me.

-How long is it going to take to do, Warren?

-Two to three weeks.

OK. Two to three weeks, nice pitched roof, I can't wait to see that.

-But, for now, great to have you on board, Warren.

-OK, thank you.

'While Warren gets going,

'I want to find out from Christine how she fought back.

'The Hibberts took their bad builder to court. They gathered evidence and witnesses.

'But despite winning their case and being awarded £123,000,

'their builder hasn't paid them back a penny.'

Take me to a real dark time. Cos you've lost 35 grand.

Well, it's a lot more than that.

-It's a lot more than that.

-Explain. Why?

We got, in the meantime, a quantity surveyor to do a full report for us,

took the pictures, which I think you've seen,

I think there were about 66 pictures,

all of which we used for the court case.

And the work that was assessed, in terms of the damage that was done,

to get the property in a state that we could restart the build again

came to £99,000.

So to literally put right and sturdy the building

and put things in the way that it needs to be to get back on schedule,

because of the damage that had been caused, was £99,000.

That is a shark bite. There's no two ways about it. That is huge.

Which meant that the budget that we'd put aside was wholly inadequate.

But we picked ourselves up

and started taking boards off, one after the other,

and just physically just pulled it together one bit by another and just got on with it.

It's taken us two and a half years to do that and it's been really unpleasant.

And we decided that we would have to take this individual to court.

And that took 12 months or more to get him into court.

And where are you at this very point?

We took him to court and we won the case a year ago.

-And have you seen any money?

-Not a penny.

He's avoided every way of getting out of paying a penny.

Well, I personally hope you get that money back in the end.

I think there's always hope.

'The initial remedial work just to make the Hibberts' home safe

'cost a staggering 99 grand.

'And then they had to start the renovations and extensions all over again.

'They've lost a fortune.

'I want to find out how they ended up with the cowboy builder who led them to disaster.'

How did you go about finding your builder?

Our builder was recommended to us by our financial advisor.

That's a surprise. OK. That's shocked me.

It shocked us, too.

The father and son, who were the financial advisors

who'd arranged our mortgage for us, they've done previous work for us,

and they agreed the funding in advance

because we took the least mortgage possible,

were trusted by us and they said,

"We've got a builder who we know is available,

"we've done some work for him and he's one of our clients. Would you like to meet him?"

This builder, if he's using him as a financial advisor, he's helping put money into his pocket,

and vice versa. They're scratching each other's backs, if you like.

'The Hibberts made the mistake of going for a friend of a friend recommendation.

'Take a tip from me.

'Christine and her husband have lost a huge amount of money.

'With the massive emotional strain that brings,

'they've got a lot of questions they want answering.'

What kind of builder walks off the job, leaving it unfinished and in a total mess?

It's time this cowboy gave us some answers.

If you had an opportunity to speak to him now,

what questions would you like to ask him?

I guess it would be, "What possessed you to take a building contract on

"of substantial value and a substantial size

"when clearly, in court, you absolutely admitted to the judge,

"and it's in the judgement document, that you are not a builder?"

That would be my main thing. And also,

we've got a judgement against him,

he owes us a substantial amount of money, when are we going to get paid?

I'm going to offer you the opportunity, here and now, to speak to him on the phone.

Be nice and succinct and stay calm.

-Regardless, just stay calm. Here we go. Are you ready?

-Mm-hm.

-There you go.

-PHONE RINGS

'Christine does get through, but only to the answerphone.

I've got a couple of questions that I'd like to ask you

and I'd like to give you the opportunity to reply

while we've got the BBC with us,

so could you please give me a call back as soon as you get this message on this number.

Thank you.

OK. Well done. That wasn't very nice, very succinct.

-As I say, the chances of him calling back are pretty slim.

-Mm.

OK, this is always fairly tricky, making the phone call and everything,

so I'm going to thank you for that,

Hopefully, he'll get back in touch with us, but for now,

sit tight, because we've had the good guys in

and I can't wait to show you what the good guys are capable of.

But hopefully, this will steel you to think there are good guys out there who can do the work.

-OK. Thank you, Clive.

-Thank you.

'The builder wasn't picking up today, but when our office spoke to him,

'he said he'd rather not comment for legal reasons. He may want to keep quiet,

'but I've got something to say to cowboy builders everywhere.'

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

And by revealing your cowboy tricks,

we'll prevent others from falling into your trap.

'Coming up, I hope Christine is going to be impressed

'with the roof she's been waiting three long years for.'

Doesn't it look absolutely beautiful?

'Back in North Wales, we're helping Liz Edge and her daughter Lucy

'clear up the mess their bodging builder left behind.

'Liz handed over almost £10,000 in cash to a cowboy builder

'who promised to complete a conservatory, redo the bathroom and move a loft hatch.

'But all she ended up with was a wrecked garden outside and a bodged bathroom ceiling inside

'before he walked off the job. Liz has had to scrimp and save to put right her conservatory,

'but her bathroom's still in a mess. Before the good guys step in,

'I want an independent chartered surveyor to check it over.'

From what you've seen from the outside, before we talk about the inside,

what is not to your liking on the outside?

Well, the render. It's started to break down,

it's been exposed for far too long.

It should've been covered up within a week of the original coating.

The bell-cast strip at the bottom, I don't know where the damp proof course is, could be above or below.

I wouldn't be too optimistic that there is any.

Now, inside, she used to have a loft hatch in the bathroom

and it's just been boarded over. What do you think to that?

Very amateurish, rough. Basically, it needs to be taken down

and the ceiling needs to be re-plated and skimmed.

-And he's also been trying to find joists, as well.

-He has.

By just drilling bore holes all over the place.

Yes, it's trial and error. You're going to hit them eventually.

Which brings me, as our independent surveyor, to our mark out of ten for the work that he's done.

Well, from what I've seen, from this and photographs,

he's definitely a minus man. Probably minus two.

Minus two is simply nothing to be proud of.

Let's hope he gives up and doesn't put anybody else through this sort of thing again.

'Our good guys are ready to get started.

'Evan's leading the team and he's got a plan of action.'

-Evan, what's the plan?

-In the bathroom,

we've got to trim round the hatch, get rid of that old piece of ply,

put some new timber in there, reinforce it and then plasterboard it and skim it.

-Anything else in the bathroom?

-Four spotlights going in. Some new spotlights.

Oh, fantastic! You're going to do the lighting.

She doesn't know about that, so I can't wait to show her. I'm sure she didn't expect the lighting.

And then we've got to paint the ceiling, a couple of coats of emulsion.

-And then in the bedroom?

-In the bedroom, we've got to take the loft hatch,

realign that, get it square again,

put architraves round it, skim, make good the ceiling,

reinforce around the ceiling and paint the ceiling.

What about from the outside point of view? What are you going to do out there?

Outside, the red sand render is going to be hacked off, it's no good.

Take it off, the inspector's here to see if there's a damp course,

then put a new stainless steel bell cast on,

render it in silver sand and cement and pebble-dash it and finish it off.

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

-About three days.

Three days, fantastic. I can't wait to show her what the good guys are capable of.

-Great stuff.

-Cheers.

-Cheers, Clive.

'Liz has suffered at the hands of an utter cowboy.

'After handing over almost ten grand in cash,

'she was left with a bodged, incomplete mess.

'She had to pay a second builder another six grand to rebuild the conservatory.

'And being a full-time carer for her daughter, it's been tough,

'both financially and emotionally.'

How dark were those days?

Because we talk about financially losing £9,700.

But you're now... Say, for instance, you're with your daughter,

your dream is in absolute tatters,

take me to that night, or the day after,

where the roof has blown off,

you're £9,700 lighter.

What is that like? How does that feel?

At the time, all I could do was cry,

He ruined my Christmas.

I did ring his home.

I never asked him for my money back. Never once at first.

All I asked the man to do was come back

and finish what he'd started.

You couldn't possibly leave me like this

knowing, as well, that it was for my daughter

and the situation I was living in.

How could you do this?

I never thought he could. I really thought he would come back and finish it.

What was left to do? What did he need to do?

Well, the whole of the wooded structure had to come down,

so I was left with the dwarf wall

and the foundations were fine, I was told,

so it was, like, a roof,

the structure from the wall upwards,

plastering, everything, really.

They did quote me £7,000 to do it.

-You've got to be kidding?

-To get on with it and start it...

No conscience whatsoever. In fact, he was compounding the whole thing

by lifting your hopes that he was going to..

He said he was sorry to me. It made it worse now.

Now, you've had more remedial work done since. How much has that cost you?

About £6,000.

Ohh! You only had ten grand in the first place!

Yeah, well, it's not happened overnight.

It's taken me about 17 to 18 months to do it.

So you've had to throw another six grand at this.

'Liz made the mistake of paying her original cowboy upfront,

'so there was no reason for him to come back and finish the job. Take a tip from me...

'Liz's builder abandoned the job, leaving her and her daughter struggling to cope with the mess.

'She can't believe how someone could leave them in the lurch like that.

'We need to put things right.

'Coming up, I can't wait to see the look on Liz's face when she sees what the good guys can do.'

Ohh! Wow!

'The last three years have been hard for the two ladies whose stories we're hearing today.

'Two ladies both burned by a bad builder.

'But these ladies had more in common than you might guess.

'They met each other for the first time 18 months ago.

'And they had plenty to talk about.'

Now, here's the surprise in both of today's stories.

Liz in Wales and Christine in Cheshire live 40 miles apart and about an hour's drive away.

But they were both done over by the same cowboy builder.

'Christine was given Liz's number by one of the bad builder's colleagues.'

So I drove round to Liz's house,

knocked on the door and it was very emotional. Very emotional.

'The first Liz knew of her cowboy's other capers was when Christine called.'

Shocked to meet her, really.

But glad she'd contacted me. I wanted to speak to somebody

who'd gone through the same thing, really.

We did have a lot in common and she had a lot of anger for this man, which I had, as well.

'Christine knew she'd done the right thing when she heard Liz's story.'

I think we probably had two hours of just floods of tears and emotion.

And we realised that, whilst my building project

was obviously much bigger, it's all relative, isn't it?

We both went through the same emotion and feelings and anger.

'Usually, a problem shared is a problem halved.

'But this cowboy had caused double the trouble.

'At least after all the anguish, our two ladies had become firm friends.'

She's still in contact with me, yeah.

And that's helped me. So it's been really good of her.

-Yeah. I'd like to thank Christine.

-She sounds like a really good friend.

-She's been good support.

Yeah, she has been a good support.

'We're finishing up in Cheshire now, where Christine Hibbert and her family

'wanted to turn a gone-to-seed farmhouse into their dream home.

'But their nightmare builder, who'd also conned Liz, left them with nothing but rubble.

'They've shelled out for remedial work, but a leaky roof still means a whole room is unusable.

'The Hibberts have paid for the lion's share of the work we're doing,

'but we've sourced the good guys, and I think they'll do her proud.

'But before we show her the good work, I want to know what employing a cowboy has taught Christine.'

What have you learned from having a cowboy builder in your property that you can take forward

to the next time you ever need any tradesperson?

Do your homework, do your checks,

check it out every which way you possibly can.

Take up references. Go see some of the work that they've done,

don't just take their word for it. Check them on the websites if they say they're registered to anything.

Get two or three different quotes, don't just take the first person.

And be very guarded with people who say they can do the work straight away cos a job's fallen through.

Just tell me what it was like before we arrived.

The room was very dingy,

because water had been leaking and there were lots of water marks down the wall.

It really, really was on its last legs.

Now, before we take a look at what the good guys have done,

let me just tell you that we're not quite there yet, there's still some little bits here and there,

but I'm really happy about what I'm about to show you and the capabilities of the good guys.

Now, are you ready? Because I want to go and show you what the boys have done outside with that roof.

-Oh, yes, I can't wait!

-After you.

'After all Christine's trials and tribulations,

'I can't wait to show her the beautiful new room and stunning new roof.'

-Gosh.

-So, this is most unusual

because we're looking at a roof.

A lot of people take roofs for granted,

but this is a class act. It's slate.

It actually takes a lot of work

-to get a slate roof right. And certainly the flashing...

-It looks beautiful, doesn't it?

Doesn't it look absolutely beautiful?

It is just absolutely fantastic.

-Thank you so much.

-We are so pleased.

-It looks brilliant, honestly.

-There's still work to do. They've got about a day's work left.

They'll finish that off nicely and then put your guttering up and that's all you've got to have.

Just to know we're going to be going forward not backwards

is just a massive, massive relief. Thank you so much.

Christine, before it starts to tip down with rain yet again,

-let's go inside and see what they've done with your sun room come office.

-Oh, great.

'Inside needs to dry off, too, but I think Christine will love it.'

-Look at this.

-Oh.

Goodness me. Oh, my God.

I couldn't see this from the outside, I could just see the plastering.

Oh, my God, Clive, it's just... Magnificent I think is the word.

Thank you. It's absolutely magnificent.

Well, I'm really chuffed you like it.

-From the bottom of my heart, I can't thank you enough.

-It's a pleasure.

-Keep those cowboys at bay.

-I sure will.

'The Hibberts' cowboy builder left them with nothing but dangerous work and a demolition site.

'Extension walls that weren't tied into the existing property, unsafe structural woodwork,

'rubble everywhere and a flat roof that needed proper fixing.

'A pitched slate roof is a big undertaking.

'The Hibberts have paid for most of the work we've done. Our good guys have given them peace of mind.

'The slates are stunning, the flashing is fantastic

'and inside there's a perfect plaster job.

'Christine has finally got the spacious room she was after.

'Time to finish up back in North Wales.

'Liz Edge and her daughter Lucy suffered at the hands of the same cowboy

'who did dangerous work for the Hibberts. We've been repairing the scars which are a daily reminder

'of this cowboy's trail of destruction.

'Before Liz sees the finished work, I want to find out what she's learned.'

What do you think you've learned from having a cowboy builder on your property?

I will only go off recommendation or see the work first

before I have anything done.

-Fantastic.

-Yeah.

-And no paying up front.

-Never again.

-Never pay up front.

-No, I have learned.

'Our good guys have been hard at work.

'Evan and his team have been working on the outside walls,

'getting busy in the bathroom and sorting out the loft hatch.

'I want to find out how they've been getting on.'

So what have you done and what's left to do, Evan?

At the moment, we've done the ceiling, all the ceilings have been skimmed,

the hatches have been reformed,

the old loft ladder has been realigned,

-been squared up properly.

-Great.

-It's all been finished off now.

What about outside? Cos you've got Tom busy here at the moment.

He's preparing for doing the final pebble-dash finish,

getting all that ready to go now, so we'll finish all that off.

-A few more hours and we'll be done.

-Brilliant.

'Liz's dodgy bathroom ceiling, no-good loft hatch in her bedroom

'and unfinished conservatory will soon be things of the past.

'But I want one last reminder of how bad things were before I show her the finished work.'

Just remind us, before we arrived, what it was like both outside and inside.

Well, outside was like a builder's yard.

Even just in my bathroom, we've had a big hole there for nearly two and a half years.

And the bedroom, as well. The loft hatch and that.

We've actually done a little bit more than you requested,

so I'm going to show you first of all the bathroom, then the bedroom, then we're going to go outside.

-First of all, we're going to start in this bathroom. Shall we go see?

-Right.

-Come on.

Come and take a look at this, missus.

Ooh! Wow! A proper bathroom ceiling!

Do you see any remnants

-of where that...

-Where's that all gone?

All those little holes, I forgot about them.

-You must notice something else.

-That's just what I wanted. My spotlights.

-Let there be light.

-What I was told I couldn't have!

Now, we have got another room to look at before we go outside.

Check this out.

Come in and have a look at this now.

Ohh. Another wow.

-This is what you wanted originally, wasn't it?

-Yes.

However, there were problems outside

and we decided to tackle them, as well.

So, do you want to come and have a look? Come with me.

-Come and check this out.

-Ohh.

-What do you reckon to that?

-I can't believe it.

That horrible scratch that had been up there all that time,

Evan's taken that away now. New scratch coat underneath

and then you've got your top coat render. There's even more.

-Are you ready?

-I am.

-Let's go out front. Come on.

-Oh, wow!

-There is no doubt about it, that now looks the business.

Just remind us what the sides of the window looked like.

All broken brick, big holes in. Totally unfinished.

As I say, just getting those curves looks so fantastic.

-Brilliant. Thank you.

-Are you happy, Liz?

-More than happy.

-Great! You look after yourself. Good to see you.

-Take care. And look after this house. See you, Liz!

-Bye!

'Liz was left with a clapped-out conservatory,

'a bodged bathroom ceiling, no proper lighting

'and a bedroom loft hatch that needed to be fixed.

'The bathroom now looks the business, with the spotlights Liz wanted and a finished ceiling.

'The bedroom ceiling is sorted, too. A tidy loft hatch and everything has had a lick of paint.

'Outside, the conservatory wall has been re-rendered and pebble-dashed

'and the front window has been properly finished.

'Liz and her daughter can now enjoy their home by the sea.'

You know, I'm really chuffed that Liz and Christine are now happy with their home improvements.

But remember, not all builders are cowboys

and if you do your research, you won't be falling into the cowboy trap.

'Tell us your tale.

'Help us round up the cowboys.'

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