Episode 6 Cowboy Trap

I've travelled thousands of miles up and down the country

and I can't believe the bad building practices that have been going on.

It wasn't even watertight at that point.

Both roofs were incomplete.

And I was just in the depths of despair.

Cowboy builders and rogue traders cost UK home-owners tens of millions of pounds every year

and it seems that they just keep getting away with it.

The whole thing for doing the extension was to give my sister a downstairs bedroom,

so that the quality of her life would be better. And at this point, she's in residential care.

I know this industry and I'm here to help home-owners who have been badly let down.

Our experts are also here to put things right and offer help to those that were tricked by these con men.

-Clive, this is brilliant!

-I'm glad you're happy.

-Wow!

With my top tips and insider advice,

I'm on a mission to prevent you from falling into the cowboy trap.

Today, we're in the remote West Norfolk village of Tilney St Lawrence

where Leo Fleming hoped to create a caring and comfortable home for his elderly mother and sister

who has mobility difficulties,

but in his desperation to put a roof over their heads, he fell headlong into the cowboy trap.

There would be a room downstairs

which would be a bedroom for my sister

with its own door outside to the garden

because we have a golden labrador called Dougal

and my sister absolutely dotes upon him.

I think the reason why she wants to come back home is more because of missing him than me.

As well as the downstairs bedroom, Leo planned to build a large, open-plan family room-cum-kitchen.

Little did Leo know he was staring down the barrel of a building disaster.

I'd been provided with recommended builders.

And I contacted these local builders.

Three local builders.

Finding a good builder to do an honest day's work for a fair price isn't always easy,

but Leo's story is a tragic reminder that if you ignore all my rules,

your dreams will almost always end in tatters.

I was aware of all the do's and don'ts and I completely ignored them.

Likeable Leo spent 20 years working abroad for the British Council,

teaching in Pakistan and the Ukraine.

But two years ago, he realised he was needed back home

where his elderly mother was caring for his disabled sister.

It was coming back to the UK on holiday

and I saw that my sister was getting worse and it was more of a struggle for my mum to look after her.

Desperate to help, nomadic Leo gave up his life abroad and came home.

My mother had always tried to encourage me to buy a house.

I'd never bought one because accommodation had always been provided for me.

To be honest, I thought I was too old to get a mortgage, but I did.

And so we were looking at houses in King's Lynn or in villages just outside

and I saw this house.

From the moment I stepped inside, I really liked it. It just had a really good feel about it.

Leo planned to extend their modest home out into the large garden

with an accessible bedroom and bathroom and a large, new family room-cum-kitchen.

But then Leo's new life was turned upside-down. He lost his mum.

Grieving, but determined to keep caring for his sister the way his mum always had,

Leo forged ahead with his plans.

I went to the bank, arranged the finance.

I went to a local architect.

He came out and we discussed what could be done.

And, um...he came up with a design,

which incorporated a proper bathroom,

a downstairs room for my sister to sleep in, albeit quite small,

and the main extension would be a kitchen-cum-dining-cum-living area

where we would essentially just cook and eat and watch TV.

Then I just had to find a builder.

Despite the knock-back by all three local builders,

Leo finally found someone to make his dream extension a reality.

I was actually very, very impressed

because they seemed very conscientious, very diligent,

very hard-working.

In fact, they would start very early in the morning. They'd start working at about half past seven.

And they would work through till quite late in the evening.

But this was a big project for Leo, perhaps too big.

He was grieving for his mother, caring for his sister

and after 20 years of living in rented accommodation, he was inexperienced in home improvements.

It took Leo's friend Steve to point out that the builders didn't look like professionals.

Before they'd even put the roof on, I started to say to Leo,

"Are you sure this is right?"

Then the building inspector came out and said there was no wall ties and I was starting to get concerned.

I have to confess, because I know nothing about the building trade, I said, "Wall ties, what are they?"

But then as the breeze blocks were going up, even I thought, "That looks a bit wonky."

Every time I expressed my concerns,

his response to me was, "Don't worry, Leo, it will be OK."

Leo was paying his builders £600 a week,

but by the end of the summer, his total costs hit £35,000.

Despite his concerns, Leo's "glass half full" approach to life

persuaded him it would all come good in the end, but it didn't,

and when Leo's money ran out, so did the builders,

leaving Leo and his sister living in a building site.

The extension had no roof, no doors, no kitchen and sister Sue's new bedroom was uninhabitable.

Conditions were so bad, Sue was taken into care.

The whole thing for doing the extension was to give my sister a downstairs bedroom,

so that the quality of her life would be better

and at this point, she's in residential care

and remains there until the foreseeable future,

until I can actually get the house into some kind of state

where it's fit for her to live in.

Coming up, our building inspector assesses the work.

He can't figure out what these cowboys were thinking.

This will have taken longer to do and will have cost them more money.

That doesn't make sense, Clive.

'Before we bring in the good guys,

'I want to see for myself the wreckage Leo's cowboy builders have left behind.'

-You've had cowboy builders in the property?

-Yes, I have.

-Do you mind showing me round the damage?

-Please come in.

'The front of this house looks picture-perfect, but it's out the back where the problem lies.

'The extension is a building disaster, but worse, it's an open invitation to burglars.'

How long's...?

-This is just a piece of plastic.

-Yeah, it is.

-How long has that been like that?

-Since October last year.

-Wow!

-It was left by the original builders just covered with plasterboard,

so there was no natural light coming in, plus there were gaps.

But security-wise, I mean...

Yeah. No, hopeless. Really bad.

-Whereas a friend of mine helped me to put this clear, plastic tarpaulin up...

-Yes.

-..which was done in such a way to keep the rain and the snow out.

-Yes.

But obviously, I mean, the cold was just coming in all the time.

That really needs dealing with. We need to make sure that's sorted.

It is quite a surprise really that you've lasted that long without...

Clive, it wasn't easy!

-It's freezing today, to be fair.

-Yeah. Uh-huh.

In December, January, it was far worse.

To actually live here, I'd have to put my coat on just to come in and cook and this kind of thing.

It was terrible. You mentioned security.

With the tarpaulin, if somebody had broken in, they'd have had to cut their way in, so I'd have known...

-Yeah, cos that's going to take them a long time(!)

-Yeah.

-Even with a blunt knife, you're going to get in there. You'd do that with your fingernail.

-Right, OK.

It's no security. Anybody that was viewing down by the bottom of the garden, if they had any intent,

monitoring your comings and goings, could have been into your property. I mean, no security.

So that is something we need to address on your behalf.

'Leo has had to spend whatever he could spare bringing people in

'to make good the damage, one bit at a time.'

The first really big problem was this pitched roof here.

It wasn't completed at all, so I had to get some new builders in to carry out quite a bit of remedial work

just to make both this roof and the flat roof sound.

-I take it you've got plans?

-Yes.

-Did it not suggest steel going in there or...?

-To be honest, I didn't notice.

'There should be steel supporting the beams and this roof needs insulating properly too.

'Leo's been living with this huge, gaping hole in his house through the worst winter for 30 years.

'I can't imagine how cold it was.'

In terms of generally looking around now,

I can't quite understand why it's part block and part brick.

Well, the idea was that I would have some exposed brick to give a bit of character to this room,

so that it would be a feature.

But I've since decided not to go with that idea. That was the original idea.

-I'm so pleased. I'm so pleased. I just don't know why they've...

-It doesn't look great, does it?

'This wall's a mess, part block, part brick.

'Laying anything that came to hand should have set alarm bells ringing.

'No need to use brick if it's to be plastered over - expensive and time-consuming.

'There's so much wrong, we can't possibly do it all.'

What could we do for you that would make life a lot easier in this area?

I think, Clive, what's absolutely paramount

is that the original glass doors that I wanted in here be fitted

-because that would be of huge benefit in terms of temperature.

-For sure.

-It would be a lot warmer in here.

So, if the glass doors were in here, temperature-wise, it would be absolutely brilliant.

'All Leo wants is for us to fit the doors he already has,

'but I think he deserves so much more.'

I tell you what, it's absolutely freezing in there.

There's no insulation on the walls or in the roof and there's no doors in either.

Think of the fuel bills Leo's had to put up with, especially through the winter, and I'm not having that.

It's time to get the good guys in.

'This place is a tip. Our team of professionals have a huge task ahead,

'starting with making this kitchen-cum-living extension secure.

'Leo's been done over by one set of cowboys and the hole in the wall is an open invitation for crooks too.

'Then we have to think about insulation.

'Seven months in the cold is a terrible state of affairs and I'm not leaving until it's sorted.

'Before the good guys get fixing, building inspector Larry Russen has a poke about and he's not happy.'

-What have you found that you don't like?

-Quite a lot.

I'm not that impressed with quite a lot of what I've seen.

I'm a bit bemused about the roof.

The original drawings indicate that there should have been some steel up there.

I would expect steel on this type of roof and there isn't any.

One of the first things I saw when I came in. I didn't understand it.

And the timber that's in there now on the longitudinal is not into the wall either.

It's not bedded at either end, Clive, so how or what it's supposed to be doing, I'm not sure.

Interestingly, on this inner leaf here, it's blockwork and brick.

-That's unusual.

-I don't know why they've used brick. They've made it more difficult for themselves.

This will have taken longer to do and cost more money. It doesn't make sense.

If I was to ask you what mark out of ten you would give for the work that's been carried out here,

although remedial has gone on, what would you give the builder?

-Five maximum?

-A generous five, I think.

'I wonder what that score would have been if Larry had come before Leo spent extra money fixing the roof?

'By his own admission, Leo is a novice when it comes to building and his cowboys took full advantage.

'But here's my top tip.

'Call in your local authority building inspector.

'Ask them in early and whenever you think there might be a problem.

'And take their advice. It's all covered by a single fee.

'Coming up, I make a surprising discovery about the identity of Leo's bodging builders.'

One of the students from Poland came up to me and said,

"Leo, my father is a builder and so is my uncle."

'Likeable Leo Fleming gave up his job abroad to set up house,

'so he could care for his elderly mother and sister,

'but a tragic turn of events derailed his plans. His mother died.

'And cowboy builders bodged his home so badly, his disabled sister has been taken into care.'

The very reason for doing the extension was completely negated

by the fact that my sister is now in residential care,

so I just felt really, really awful.

'We've got the good guys in now to fix this awful mess

'and give poor Leo a chance to bring his sister home where she belongs.

'Andy is running our job today and his team has a huge task ahead,

'starting with making sure that wretched roof is insulated and stabilised.'

Andy, in terms of the plan, tell us briefly what you're going to do.

First, we're going to lower the insulation,

-we'll increase the depth of the insulation...

-In the roof void?

-Yes.

-That will give us our air gap requested by the building regs.

-OK.

We'll then put on a layer of plywood on top of the joists,

then we'll put plasterboard on top of that. As for the wall,

we'll put plasterboard round there after finishing the electrics.

-Most important is getting those doors in.

-We've made a start now.

We'll see those go in, hopefully the frame, quite soon.

'So, soon, we'll be looking at a safe, secure and warm extension.

'But I want to track back with Leo and get to the bottom of how his plan went so wrong,

'especially when he started with such good intentions.'

All the builders that I contacted had all been recommended,

either by friends, people in the village and so forth.

And so they gave you prices? They came, looked at the plans...

No.

The first two builders that I contacted, I was forever telephoning, leaving messages,

and explaining that I wanted to have an extension built,

and these guys never, ever got back to me.

That's not good. I've got to be honest. I haven't heard that happen very often.

'Without a builder, Leo got desperate.

'Sister Sue couldn't climb the steep, twisting stairs

'and Leo was desperate to get that ground floor extension built,

'so what did he do next?'

Having despaired of trying to find a local builder,

I remember going into one class that I teach

which, um... All the students are adults from eastern Europe.

-And I remember, I'd seen a documentary on TV the night before about Polish builders, in fact.

-Yeah.

And in this programme, they came off very well.

-And of course, in this part of the UK, we do have a lot of migrant workers, anyway.

-Yes.

And they do have a very big reputation for being reliable, hard-working...

-Grafters.

-Grafters, conscientious.

And I just happened to sort of say jokingly, really, Clive,

"I don't suppose anybody knows any good Polish builders, do they?"

Somebody piped up and said, "I know somebody"?

Yeah. It was funny because at the end of that particular class,

one of the students from Poland came up to me and said,

"Leo, my father is a builder and so is my uncle."

And so then we talked about it a bit more

and he explained to me that both his uncle and father would come across to the UK from Poland

whenever there was any kind of project or work for them.

You didn't get a chance to see any of their work

because you couldn't go to Poland and find out how good they were.

I had seen photographs, though.

The student had shown me, on his phone,

photos of work that had been built by his father and his uncle.

And it looked fine from what I could see on the phone.

'Here's my top tip.

'Don't book a builder until you have references

'and have seen the quality of their previous work

'and spoken to their happy customers.

'Photos don't always tell the whole story.'

-I also was very aware that I should pay in phases...

-Yes.

So, for example, after the footings had been done, pay for that.

After the walls go up, pay for that and so on and so forth.

You know, I completely trusted these people,

and so when they turned round and said, "Look, we would like to be paid weekly,"

rather than in the phases that I had talked about,

because they had to support their families back in Poland,

I felt that was a reasonable request because that absolute trust was there.

And so I agreed to that.

That idea of paying in stages went totally out of the window.

'Leo had complete faith that his student's builder dad would finally get his much-needed extension built.

'Before she died, Leo's mum asked family friend Steve to keep a watching eye over Leo,

'to be his guardian angel.

'Steve was so worried about the way the build was going, he started a video diary.'

Great standard of brickwork(!)

And the state of the roof - God knows what the long beams are for...

you see projecting there!

Very nice work on the window(!)

And the windowsill.

I started to point things out,

but I think that Leo had chosen a path and was stuck on that path.

You know, and, um...

I suppose cos he'd spent a lot of money, he was just hoping it was going to come right.

And this is the state of the garden.

'Guardian angel Steve's video diary even shows the caravan the student's builder dad was living in.'

They had managed to rig up a satellite dish, so they could watch Polish TV.

Yeah, and they had all the facilities in the caravan.

They had a toilet, a shower. They could cook there and so on.

'While the builders made themselves comfy, Leo and his sister were living in a building site.

'Then, in early summer, the money ran out.'

And at that point, they had the walls up.

They hadn't completed the flat roof or the pitched roof.

But as far as they were concerned, it was more or less done, so in June, they went back to Poland.

'It was agreed the builder's son, Leo's student, would finish the job on his days off.'

He claimed that, in Poland, he'd worked on a building site for about a year, so he had some experience,

but I could see that, for example, with the flat roof

that he was looking it all up on the internet.

And when I saw the garage felt, I thought, "This isn't right," cos I also looked it up on the internet!

'Leo may laugh now help is at hand, but last autumn he was desperate.

'For friend Steve this was the final straw.'

I said to Leo, "Right, that's it. We're not having them back."

He was sat huddled in the chair, his worldly belongings surrounding him.

Had it carried on, it would have probably gone to the point of suicide.

'Don't let your builders push you to the brink like Leo's did.

'If you're in a mess like this, don't take them on by yourself.

'Rally your friends and family and let them give you the courage you need to take control.'

Thanks to my friend Steve I had some new builders carry out remedial work

so that the flat roof has been done and also the pitched roof has been done

to a satisfactory standard.

'Leo and Steve brought in builders as and when they could afford them,

'but the number of jobs to be completed outstrips their funds.

'And Leo's sister Sue can't come home until the house is safe.'

The original money that I'd been able to borrow from the house,

I'd used

and I was having to pay for all this remedial work and so on really out of my salary,

which meant I went hopelessly overdrawn.

I had to sell my car

and get an old banger, basically,

to try to help out financially.

Borrowed money from friends. It was just terrible.

'We've called in the good guys to help Leo. We can't do everything,

'but we're installing double-glazed folding doors, new roof insulation

'and lining all the interior walls with plasterboard. I hope this helps Leo onto the final steps

'so he can bring his sister home from residential care.

'Coming up: I'm shocked to discover Leo was taken to court because of his builders - and lost!'

I received a County Court judgment against me...

-With costs?

-Yeah.

'We're in West Norfolk where lecturer Leo Fleming gave up his life abroad

'to care for his elderly mother and sister Sue. After his mother died, he pressed ahead with his promise

'to create extra ground floor living space for his immobile sister.

'Hiring his student's dad to come over from Poland to do the build seemed like a good idea at the time,

'but went woefully wrong and left Leo out in the cold.'

When one of Leo's students suggested that his father in Poland could do the building work,

that was a weight off his mind and it came from someone he thought was genuine and hard-working.

But no matter how well you think you know someone, always do your research.

'The student's dad wasn't the builder Leo hoped for

'and although they were comfy in a caravan, when the money ran out, they left Leo in the cold

'with a gaping hole in the side of his home. But that wasn't all.

'They ran up a huge bill at the builders' merchant, which landed Leo in court.'

Tell us what happened with one of your local building suppliers.

You went in, opened up the account.

I did and then what happened, I introduced my student

and I said he was project managing the whole build, his father was building my extension for me

and I said to please let him have access to whatever materials he wanted.

I had a limit of £5,000,

to be settled at the end of every month.

-Yeah, every 30 days.

-Every 30 days.

Everything was fine and I was keeping an eye... They sent me the invoices regularly

and I was checking everything.

But then at the very end, without me knowing.

he ran up a bill of nearly £5,000.

And basically it was materials that were never ever used

and they were left in the garden, exposed to the elements to rot.

-And presumably at this stage, you'd be pretty well strapped because your money's gone to them.

-Yeah.

At that point, it had all completely gone.

And suddenly I get this huge bill

from the local suppliers, which I just couldn't pay.

'Opening an account with a builders merchant is a great idea,

'but follow my top tip to stay out of trouble -

'good merchants will price up your plans, but set a ceiling

'on the total cost. And always place the orders yourself.

'Failing to set a credit limit to match his budget cost Leo dearly.'

What then happened? They were going to chase you for the money.

So how did they pursue you?

I did sort of contest that I was liable

for this particular debt,

but it went to the County Court

and I received a County Court judgment against me.

With costs?

-Yeah.

-CCJ with costs?

-Yes, yes.

-Which amounted to what, if you don't mind me asking?

Just over £5,000. £5,200.

That's a big sting.

'Leo had budgeted 15 grand for his supplies, but in the end he spent 20.

'On top of that, he's got £5,000-worth of unused materials

'and legal costs to cover, too.

'Add to that what he paid his bungling builders and that's a grand total of £35,000,

'which would be fine if he had the extension of his dreams, but he hasn't.

'He's got a cold, crummy, costly shell and I still can't believe some of the work I'm seeing.

'Fortunately, our good guys can put right the worst of the wrongs.

'We hope we can help get Leo's sister home where she belongs.'

I'm going to let our good guys get on with their brilliant work,

but I want to point out that we are all part of the European Union,

but building regulations vary from country to country.

You've got to be sure that your builder, wherever they come from, is au fait

with UK building regulations.

'Good builders often belong to trade associations

'that ensure their knowledge of the rules and regulations is up to date.

'Helen Osgood from the Federation of Master Builders explains what they do with their members.'

They must provide us with six references,

they must provide us with their public liability insurance.

We also run credit checks on them.

Providing they pass those, they are able to use the Federation of Master Builders' logo.

How do we do a background check on a foreign national?

It's more or less impossible. We have open borders, they can come over here.

They can work.

You would have to try and ask questions of the builder.

How long, perhaps, they've been in the country, have they done any previous work locally you can check?

You could ask for their qualifications. It's going to be extremely difficult.

I don't think if you've got major work being carried out on your home you should take people on face value.

You should ask questions.

This is an important project, it's going to cost you a lot. It's got to be done right.

Be cautious, do your research and hopefully you won't end up like Leo.

'Follow my top tip and check your builder's membership

'of any trade body they claim to belong to.

'Visit the organisation's website and search the membership database,

'or telephone and check the membership is up-to-date.

'A logo on a van or letterhead? Never take it on face value.

'Finally, some trade organisations provide help if things go wrong.

'We're doing all we can to help Leo out of this mess.

'Our good guys are hard at it. The gaping hole has finally been sealed with double-glazed doors.

'And the roof has been fully insulated and supported with strong plywood.

'We've got the electric cables in place and are cladding all the walls with plasterboard.

'Coming up: I hear how Leo's builders didn't only wreck his home,

-'they threatened him for more money.'

-At one point he did actually try and hit me.

'Lecturer Leo Fleming hoped his student's builder dad would do a first-rate job.

'He wanted extra ground floor space to help his sister Sue,

'but they botched the build so badly, Sue has been taken into care until the house is fixed.'

To be honest, it's been really the second-worst experience of my life.

Second only to losing my mum.

The whole house, really, has been wrecked.

I worry constantly. It's plunged me into...

..terrible financial problems.

So I just have so many regrets,

I blame myself on a daily basis.

It's caused me to become quite severely depressed, actually.

'Before she died, Leo's mum asked family friend Steve to act as a guardian angel for her son.

'True to his pledge, Steve banished the builders and has helped Leo rebuild his life.'

I'd known him beforehand and he just...

It was a total change, you know,

from somebody who was always like a bright spark

to death warmed up.

'It's been an awful ordeal for Leo.

'He spent the coldest winter in 30 years with only his Labrador Dougal for warmth.

'This is more a case of picking the wrong guys than a con job,

'but after Steve helped give the builders the boot, it turned nasty.

'One Saturday night, Leo's student came back demanding more money for the botched build.'

He came in with his backpack, sat down. Out of his backpack he produced a very large bottle of vodka.

And he got extremely drunk.

And, basically, it was then that he raised the issue of... I owed HIM money,

according to his reasoning.

It was something like £500, £600. Something like that.

-Please don't tell me you gave him it.

-No, I didn't, Clive.

But when I said, "Look, I think it's the other way around.

"You owe me money because I more than paid you for the work that you've done,"

at that point, because he was drunk, he got very quite aggressive.

And he proceeded to... Not wreck the place,

but he picked up - for example, there was an ashtray on the table.

He picked that up and threw it across the room.

And at one point he did actually try and hit me.

'Take my top tip -

'if things have gone wrong with your builders and you need to talk,

'don't assume they will carry themselves the way you do.

'If you do have to meet them, suggest somewhere neutral and public

'and take a trusted friend.

'Don't invite them into your home if you feel threatened.'

There's not many people who would have allowed him back in, full stop.

-You must have felt very uncomfortable and afraid.

-Well, I did, actually.

Basically, I was trying to speak to him in a reasonable way,

in a rational way.

And he wouldn't accept any of this

and as I was trying to appeal to his better nature, the more aggressive he became.

And, in the end, I just didn't know what to do.

And, in fact, in the end I telephoned a taxi driver.

'Leo's student's dad is Polish and doesn't speak any English.

'Phoning him now won't provide any closure.

'Instead, we've been helping to get Leo back on his feet and, even more importantly,

'trying to make his home safe so sister Sue can come home.'

Andy, you've come a long, long way since I last spoke to you.

Tell us exactly what you've done.

-We started out putting the doors in, as you can see.

-Brilliant. He's going to love seeing them.

Yes. We then went into the ceiling void, lowered the insulation there and increased the depth of it.

We put ply timber sheets across. That's holding everything steady.

We then covered it up with plasterboard underneath that. That's the finished thing you see.

I think we proved there are good guys out there doing a great job.

'Coming up: Leo's not used to building work happening so quickly. I can't wait to see his reaction.'

-Oh, Clive, this is brilliant!

-I'm glad you're happy!

'We're in West Norfolk trying to get Leo's house into a fit state

'so his sister Sue can come out of residential care and back home.

'Leo was trying to extend their ground floor to make life easier for Sue's mobility difficulties,

'but he found that ignoring all the rules when hiring a builder can land you in big trouble.

'So before we show Leo what the good guys have done, what has he learnt?'

With hindsight, I shouldn't have given up so quickly

-on employing a local builder.

-I didn't quite blame you for that.

It's the first time I've come across having so many duds in one go.

That would have frustrated me. It's something I'm not familiar with.

-There are a lot of good builders out there.

-Yes!

Their expertise and their local knowledge is very important,

so I would really be far more patient...

The majority of the time, a busy builder is a good builder.

But you still do your research.

You still need to see work they've already carried out.

I think one of the most important things for you, Leo, is you have to keep a business footing

at all times. You're a very, very nice man. All right?

And I think it's important that you have to have this business relationship

between yourself and who you get in.

We're almost done now with the good guys.

The good guys have been in.

I took a look at what they've done and I'm seriously looking forward to showing you what they've done.

-I hope you're excited.

-I am very excited.

'We're all praying our work will lead to Leo's sister being allowed to come home.

'Steve says all the help has lifted a huge dark cloud from above his friend.'

It's had a tremendous effect on him to the point where he's been suffering depression

because he just couldn't comprehend what was happening and he couldn't see a way out.

Then when he got in contact with you and you got in contact with him,

his whole attitude just changed and he really picked up big time.

'The good guys have transformed Leo's shell of an extension

'from freezing cold brick and blockwork to the enlarged fully-insulated living space

'he and his sister desperately need.

'We haven't been able to do everything, but we've done much more than Leo dared hope for.'

-Are you excited?

-Very excited, Clive! Extremely excited.

You've gone through a lot of trauma, but just remind us what the problems were in here before we arrived.

Well, for example, where there should have been some folding glass doors there was just a plastic tarpaulin.

-Loved that(!)

-For example, there was absolutely no ceiling or anything whatsoever.

Just a single electricity point. It was breezeblock everywhere.

And your security was breached by just having that plastic where the door should have gone.

What are you hoping for? Bear in mind, we've only had a short time.

We'd like to have spent longer, but what would you hope we've done for you?

I think certainly the biggest thing is to see the back of the tarpaulin.

You know, that would be more than enough for me.

-In that case, you're in for a treat. Are you ready?

-OK. I think so.

Come on then, Leo, let's go.

My God!

-My God! Look at it.

-What do you think?

-Clive, it's brilliant!

Wow! Look at the doors! Is it the same place?

-My God!

-Do you notice something? Is there something you notice?

-Bear in mind, we've got no heating on in here.

-Uh-huh.

-Right.

-But there's something I feel already.

-It's a lot warmer!

-It is!

Oh, my God! It's a real room!

The good guys have boarded it out for you. In the roof void, you've now got the proper insulation.

Really thick insulation.

-gather your thoughts.

-It's too much!

-And that's going to keep a lot of that heat in.

-Clive, this is brilliant!

-I'm glad you're happy!

-Wow.

-One thing I'm really interested in is these quad-fold doors. Let's look and see how these work.

-You just release these handles up.

-OK.

-OK?

And then you can push them out. You've got wonderful quad-folders

and when that garden's done, it's going to look absolutely stunning.

Take a look at that.

Now you can feel the cold again!

-It's really steamy!

-Oh, my.

-But I'm loving those doors. That will give you a great view.

'Likable Leo's single request of us was that we fit the folding double-glazed doors he already had

'but couldn't afford to install. Our guys have got them in place and what a fabulous difference!

'The light floods in and the cold, not to mention the rain and snow

'in the coldest winter for 30 years are kept at bay.

'But there's more, much more. Over the last two days, our good guys have made some major changes.

'We've insulated the roof to keep Leo and his sister warm,

'we've boarded all the walls ready for plastering and decorating and the list keeps going.

'We fixed all the electrics ready for sockets after plastering.

'We can't do everything, but Leo's extension is a lot closer to home than it was two days ago.'

-Thank you so much.

-As long as you're pleased.

-More than chuffed!

-That's great news for me.

That makes me feel great.

I think you can safely say that Leo is happy once again and back on the road to recovery

but remember, no matter where your builder comes from, the rules remain the same - do your research

and that way you won't fall into the cowboy trap.

'A month later and there's more good news.

'Sister Sue has come to visit to see all the improvements.

'And, boy, Leo's been busy building on the work that we did.'

It makes me feel that I'll be coming home soon now.

It's more habitable and what have you, as to what it were.

-I'm over the moon about that, obviously. I think you are, Sue.

-Yes, can't wait.

-To see Dougal if not me!

-Yes!

'With the help of his friend, Steve, and our good guys, Leo's life is starting to get back on track.

'I'm well chuffed.'

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Subtitles by Subtext for red Bee Media Ltd - 2010

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